One thing I do suggest to my friends is to check out websites like thecarconnection.com website.  In addition to reviews of gazillions of cars, they also list prices – both of new and of used cars.  So it is as easy to find bmw x5 prices and toyota rav4 prices as it is to find chevy colorado prices  or nissan maxima prices.  Just a few clicks of the mouse and you can find all of the information you could possibly want on new or used cars.  I appreciate having a guide like that before I make a decision to buy or sell a car.  Isn’t the Internet great!

It’s not like living in a big city, like Houston; that is for sure! In a large city like that I’d have to rely on some other method to find a good Houston auto repair shop. And in the big cities like that, often the shops specialize in a certain brand of car. So I couldn’t take my Acura TL to just anyone – I’d have to do some research to find out which places service them. In a way, I’d feel hostage to the big companies in that way. Yeah, I’m sure glad I live in a small town. There’s a feeling of security and comfort here – even though the gossiping can turn against you in the wink of an eye!

Having these special plates, often called “vanity plates” costs more when you register your car.  Because of that, I’ve never gone ahead and bought one for myself.  I’ve always had other important bills that needed to be paid!  But I understand that there are several states that use the money raised by the sales of these plates for worthy causes, such as supporting youth sports programs.

I think that is a worthy cause, and I’m going to check and see if my state does that too.  If it does, then maybe I’ll go ahead and order a plate.  The challenge is in finding a plate that I like that isn’t already being used by somebody else already!

The ringing phone blew those plans apart – my sister-in-law called us, in a panic. Her daughter had borrowed her car and hit a deer on the way home. The car is undriveable. She was calling me to ask me to go out with my truck and find the daughter and take care of the situation as best as I could. Since the accident was closer to my place than to hers it was hard to say no.

So my wife and I bundled up and hopped in the truck, off in search of the wrecked car. Sure enough, the front end was bashed up pretty good. We called for a tow truck and drove our niece back home. Thankfully she wasn’t injured herself – the deer was a large six point buck! Too bad for the deer, it didn’t survive the crash.

So the new year is off to a bad start – a car wreck on New Year’s Eve! Well, maybe that’s just a bad ending to the decade and we hope that this new year will be an improvement….

The first one I ever saw belonged to the bait dealer in town where I live. He wanted something that would go anywhere anytime he wanted without worrying about getting stuck. The kit was an extra $3,000 but he said it was worth every penny. Now there are two of them in town! It’s camouflage green, so when you park it in the woods in the summer you can barely see it. He keeps asking me to come over and go for a ride, he says I can drive it, but I just haven’t had time. I hope to do it soon!

For some reason, he can’t seem to keep rear tires on the car, it doesn’t matter which size. He has a problem leaving the remnants of the tire in the road where ever he leaves from! Last week he told me the State Police were getting tired of getting complaints about the noise that this car made. I said “which noise, from the tires, or from the exhaust?” He laughed and said “both!” He said that now he has to go down back roads and play with it when he wants to, and we all know what I mean by “play with” – screech screech vroom vroom! He gave me a ride in it, he’s a real good driver, but I don’t want to ride in it again!