This is a bit out of order, forgive as there is just so much to catch up on.
The divorce didn’t leave me with much. I got lucky on several things except for my method of transportation. I was left with the car my now ex-wife had when I met her, a 2001 Kia Rio. I referred to it as the “Clown Car.” As there was literally no leg room in it in the back seats when I sat up front.
So I did what I had to do. I didn’t make enough money to afford anything. I was trying to save my house at the time. I took ownership of it, did some maintenance on it, tinted the windows as it was the hottest vehicle I’ve ever seen in my life.
That was until I took my daughters on a shopping spree for that Christmas following the divorce.
We were on our way back from Indianapolis, when suddenly smoke started filling the car. We suddenly had no heat. I knew any repairs to this car were going to be costly. The car was only worth about $1500 as it was.
Throughout the divorce process, I had been interviewing for the job I currently have. When this car broke down, I made enough to afford that car payment and extra cost for full coverage insurance. So I started thinking, just what do I want?
That’s when I came to the sad realization that manual transmissions aren’t something you can get easily in a lot of vehicles these days. It broke my heart. I wanted a manual transmission, as I’ve had several issues with automatics.
So it came down to the final 3. It would be either a Jeep Unlimited (4 doors), a Chevrolet Colorado (4 door) or a Chrysler 200.
I ended up just buying the first Jeep I saw. A 2010 Jeep Unlimited Sport. The first thing I did was jump in the back seat – to make sure my very important passenger would have enough room. This was critical to me. Boy did it.
Even though it was used, I still had to pay out the nose for it. My credit had been ruined by the ex-wife, so I had to pay an exorbitant interest rate and my monthly payments are almost as much as my mortgage payment.
But seeing the smile on that little girl’s face, makes it all worth it. Every single penny.
Two and a half years later, I’ve put over 40k miles on it. We’ve criss crossed the country. Going as far west as Yellowstone National Park, and as far north as North Dakota in it.