Our New Ride

With the anticipation of adding another adorable Reed child to our family, Lige and I knew we were in need of a vehicle that would be able to contain us all safely, not to mention enough room for our dog and horse...I mean our other dog!

While the van "technically" held 7, poor Amana would have had to squeeze into the tiny center seat without a shoulder strap. And while that would have been legal according to Nebraska State law, we didn't feel comfortable doing that based on best practice guidelines. The girl still weighs less than 50 pounds, and we feel a lot more comfortable with her still in a booster most of the time. So, that didn't leave us many vehicle options.

We had it narrowed down to a Suburban, a school van, and an Excursion. Let me tell you, school vans were in the running for a long time! Yes, it would have been a hit to the ego riding around town in one, but for the price, low miles, and conveinence they were at the top of our list for a while. However, we discovered they were too tall to fit into our garage...and we didn't really want to spend money on a new vehicle AND a garage renovation.

Lige researched online a ton. We drove through more car lots in more cities than I care to do again. By the way, by driving around car lots looking for vehicles to fit a family of 7 you learn a bit about American culture...apparently nobody has 5 kids anymore! In Lincoln there were several lots that didn't have a single thing that would work for us! Finally, Lige found an Excursion in our price range. Did you know that they quit making Excursions in 2005? Good thing we were looking for used! We were able to test drive it with all 4 kids loaded. That's what we needed: a chance to get car seats and boosters in there and see what worked. This worked. And there was a ton of cargo space. So we bought it.

It's huge. I mean, really really huge. When I drive it, I feel like other drivers are looking at me wondering why I'm driving a semi through the neighborhood! But it fits our family. And our pets. And all our stuff. And even a guest or two.

So are you ready to see it? Here you go!

In all her "truck" glory. I hate calling it a truck. But I don't know what else to call it. Excursion gets to be a little long when you're telling the kids "Go get in the Excursion"! Definitely not a van. And way to small to be called a car. I guess it's a truck.

This is the view from the dash looking all the way back. Three rows of wide bench seating means we can sit 9 comfortably if we need to. And there's plenty of room for our horse in back!