We've done a thing...

We have been concerned about the projected lifespan of the Jeep for a while... it has developed a number of noises (a distinct "clunk" when turning hard at a slow speed, a really annoying creak when opening/closing the driver's side door) and the paint finish has been getting worse and worse. None of those seemed to affect the functionality of the Jee-rage, but when we went to Mexico, the brakes started making a really awful noise. We thought it might just be sand or salt spray...

Carl tried using brake cleaner, but it did not seem to make an appreciable difference.

A view of the exterior of the Jee-rage -- this doesn't actually show how ugly the finish is in places -- mainly the clearcoat is coming off -- just the ravages of being towed behind a motorhome and sitting outside all the time.

When we got married, Carl and I both had toads that we had been using with each of our respective motorhomes. At that time, we sold his CR-V and kept my Jeep -- I pointed out to him that it is sometimes good to have a "beater" vehicle because then you don't worry about each little ding. He had thought that we'd keep it a year or two, but here it is almost 6 years later. He had been doing research on vehicles we might be interested in getting; Carl was particularly interested in getting a hybrid. We were wanting something that we could tow behind the motorhome, though we both knew that it would be hard for us to tow a new vehicle as we know how beat up the vehicle's appearance can get.

He had narrowed his search down to a Ford Maverick pickup truck. Our friends, Steve and Nancy, got one this past summer and are towing it and are pleased with it. He had also researched at a couple of vehicles that are not flat towable (Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4). We went out on Black Friday to look at vehicles. We stopped by the Honda dealership and looked at the 2025 and 2026 CR-Vs that they had in stock, but we were kind of set on getting something we could tow. At the Ford dealership, we wanted to do a test drive in a Maverick Hybrid. Although online we had seen that they had 2026 Maverick Hybrids in stock, they did not, and the sales person we got was rather arrogant and pushy. We did sit in the cab of the gas Maverick and were not impressed with the vehicle -- it just felt "cheap" to us -- and it wasn't cheap in price! (As I understand it, Ford was looking to create a low-cost entry point model, but they added features to the pickup and the price went up, but the design point was still for low-cost.) Anyway, our plans were now askew.

So, over the weekend, we discussed what to do, and by Monday, decided to go back to the Honda dealership to do a test drive on the 2026 CR-V Hybrid. 

The one we liked was also red (like the Jeep). Carl says that he isn't all that fond of red vehicles, but I have pointed out to him how much easier it is to find a red vehicle in the parking lot surrounded by all the other white and black vehicles.

We weren't really planning to buy a vehicle on Monday, so we had not cleared everything out of the Jee-rage...

... but we cleared everything out of the Jee-rage... took our last pictures of our faithful toad vehicle...

... and signed the papers to purchase a 2026 Red Honda CR-V Hybrid (Carl preparing to get into the CR-V and you can see the Jee-rage just behind him).

We're not exactly sure what we're going to do about towing -- for now, our plans are to take shorter RV trips, and we can just drive the RV and car separately. We're not particularly happy about that -- we love the miles on the road together when we can talk and enjoy seeing scenery together... but we are detecting that maybe our days of long road trips are coming to a close, and that maybe a future will be coming which will have us RVing differently than we are now. We haven't made any decisions, but we're considering a lot of alternatives!

And for now, the alternative includes having a much more comfortable car to drive around town or on road trips!