New Van! Well, Kinda...

We decided to go ahead and look for a different vehicle rather than putting money into one that had 172,000 miles.   Finding an 8 passenger mini-van was just not that easy, but we finally found one in our price range that had only 92,000 miles. 

Yep, looks just like our old one--same make, model, and year. The only thing missing is the roof rack and since this is a "must" for us we obtained names of individuals that could install one for us. 

This vehicle does have something that I'm sure yours doesn't even have, though:

Pretty cool, huh?  You don't have that, do ya?  It is almost (but not quite) like finding out your vehicle plays 8-track tapes.  

We feel at peace with this decision and pray this vehicle will take us back and forth to Iowa safely and be a good solid vehicle for us the next three years.