How or Why...

did I end up with Selma Lee???

Dave and I moved to our current location for a job he'd accepted, after being essentially itinerate for some nine months- since the fall after I graduated college. By my count we traveled through 15 states in that time including a longer stay at his parents house in Ohio at the end, as a home base while Dave solidified job offers and we planned for a more permanent move.

Before we left on this adventure we sold Callie, the fuel efficient VW Jetta, and bought and modified Josy- the XTerra. Josy made fine living conditions during a number of those months when we weren't semi-settled somewhere else (like our two month stay in St. George, Utah- home of the one hundred foot tall retaining walls, but that's another story).

So we lived a blissful life with only one vehicle for quite some time. I like being able to live somewhere with only one car and not have it be a nuisance... when we lived in Moab we still had two cars, but more often then not we would drive neither of them and either walk down the street to the grocery store- or- if we were in a real hurry- we'd ride our bikes, as during Jeep Safari you could actually get around town faster on a bike then in a car... now that's my kind of town.


Anyway- when we settled in the current area- The Tri-City Area... it seemed like we were going to need to get a second vehicle. As the Tri-Cities are twenty minute drives away from each other, and no one city has everything you need... plus Dave's work was thirty minutes out of even the closest of The Cities. However- Dave's work provided some transportation that was a good bike ride away and I started working in our town and could take the bike path in front of our house half the way to work, with a nice big shoulder along most of the rest of the way. We were living a fairly blissful one-car life again... sort of... except when one of us needed to make a run into an adjoining town for anything... and then winter set in- and Dave's work transport became more complicated- and after a month of waking up early to spend an hour driving Dave to work and back, getting home with barely enough time to get myself to work... we decided to stop talking and actually get a second car.

Now in the mean time, one of our neighbors, several blocks down our street, had had a car parked out for sale. It was an amazing car- a mellow but happy shade of pale olive green, older and boxier... but with just enough curves to be truly pleasant on the eyes. It was old, but was still an automatic- with only 120,000 miles, a sunroof, and an adorable old factory roof rack. And it was a diesel- how charming, and what options for fuel use!!! I was in love.

The car was a 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300D.


Well they were asking $2,100- with both the A/C and power windows broken. I was charmed by the car- but we hadn't been in town all that long and hadn't totally decided about getting another car. I put it on the back burner... but every time I drove that way down the street I'd check to make sure it was still there. I did a little research, found that really- the price was reasonable... except Dave kept joking that I'd have to pick up the car at 4am, once the interior had cooled down with the evening air- and drive it immediately to a repair shop, because you can't drive a car with no A/C- windows up- around the desert in August.

I finally decided just to call- ask a few more questions about the vehicle... and was told it had been sold- $2,000...

At this point I was heart broken... my car!!! My perfect car!!!

So I started stalking eBay. And the discussion of whether or not to get a second car continued... and the more cars I saw sold on eBay- the more I realized I should have grabbed that beautiful green hunk of metal when it was just steps away from my house- but so be it.


Eventually it became obvious that we wanted another car. I won't say necessary and I won't use the term Need- because perchance those terms don't apply... but the convenience factor was too high and we gave in.

We started looking locally for a car. I still wanted one just like the one down the street- which meant a 300D sometime between 1976 and 1982- but I was open to other possibilities. However- this was a golden opportunity for me- we weren't going to spend much on the car. It just had to get me to work and back- as anytime we left town we'd want Josy for her sleeping capabilities and her four-wheel drive. This was going to be my little around town car- and as long as it ran I could get what I wanted. Now you'll have to consider that I've never really picked out a car before... my first car was handed down by my parents from my sister (that's the one that caught fire being driven through Nebraska at 2am by friends while we were several states away...) but we still had Dave's Subaru (which was lovely and I liked, but I also killed it against a highway barrier driving back from cross-country skiing in Minnesota). At which point we needed a car, fast, with great gas mileage as Dave's commute from our little college town to his work wasn't small my senior year- so we got the first thing that fit in our price range- Callie the Jetta. Then we needed a vehicle with four wheel drive and enough space in the back for us to lay down- plus we were shopping for this vehicle in Iowa- not out west- so the options were a bit more limited in the used market (not so many 4WD anythings). In the end, I wanted this Isuzu Trooper we found as it had a bit more room in the back- Dave wanted an XTerra which I thought looked utterly pompous and ridiculous... we have Josy the XTerra now- so you know who won that debate... so- when an opportunity arrived to pick out a car- and it just so happened the the car I really wanted was also totally within the price range and other requirements... how could I not take advantage of this most fortuitous occurrence.

But Dave was getting frustrated with my day-dreaming and lack of results- so I made a deal with him- in the next five days there were four Benz that met my qualifications closing on eBay. One in our state, one in a nearby state- and two on the other side of the country- South Carolina and Georgia. The one in Georgia closed last. I told him- if I didn't have a car via-eBay in the next five days I would buy the first local car I could find- which was most likely going to be a Very-ugly Volvo station wagon (there are cute ones- but this was an ugly one) for $1,500 that I passed every day on the way to work.

The first two were in great condition and quickly cleared my budget... in the last 36 hours I had a decision to make- of the two cars- South Carolina and Georgia- South Carolina looked like it was going to close somewhere Very close to my limit, probably a couple hundred dollars over- Georgia was harder to call- it closed 12 hours later, but knowing the eBay market at this point, my gut said it would finish within my range... adding to this the procurement cost of Georgia being quite a bit less then South Carolina I had a difficult decision to make. Should I bid South Carolina above my goal but guarantee myself the car I want... or take a chance on Georgia and possibly end up with the Very-ugly Volvo if it exceeded what I was willing to pay for it. Considering Georgia wasn't in as good of condition as South Carolina- and the limit I was willing to pay for Georgia was not the limit I could possibly spend- I knew I might end up wanting to spend more then Georgia was worth because I could- but if I was going to spend a couple hundred more than I wanted to- wouldn't it be wiser to spend more on South Carolina and get, potentially, the better car...

In the end-as you know- I followed my gut and let South Carolina slip by- Georgia closed for about four hundred dollars less then I would have been willing to pay for her- and Georgia became Ms. Selma Lee Suiby (pronounced SUE-bee, for all those who haven't heard my pronunciation rants in person...).


Not knowing more about the condition of the Original Green Car- I don't know whether, in the end, I wish I had just bought her- but I do know I would have missed my 102 Hours of Adventure, retrieving Selma Lee... and in the end- Experiences are what it's all about- right???


Right.