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Sunday, October 28, 2012

There Goes Jackie and Tami in Their New/Old Van

Harry with Jackie & Tami - right before they left for home in Virginia

About 5 months ago - I bought an old van. When Lulu's brother Jackie saw it - he asked me to find him a similar one. Although I did not think he was serious - I went on the hunt for another.

Because the price of gasoline is going up - it is not hard to find old vans - but it is hard finding nice ones. But about a week later I got one. The guy wanted $3700 but I convinced him it was only worth $2600. Negotiations went quickly.


Here is Jackie's 1995 Dodge Conversion Van. It has 110,000 miles on it. The body and interior are excellent - no rust - no dents - with faded paint. It is a more luxurious model than mine. It has a V8 engine - it is about 2 feet longer - it has leather seats - it has an electric bed in the back. The tires are new and it has polished chrome wheels. On top it has a 110 volt air conditioner and heater. It also has two separate engine AC's front and back.

More luxuries are cruise control - power windows - power door locks - and a separate radio and sound system in the back. 

It has a 35 gallon gasoline tank - the best you can hope for is 18 miles per gallon - with the wind at your back. 

It took a couple days to clean it up - buff the paint that is left - shampoo the carpets and seats. I was tempted to swap the tires and wheels over to my van - but didn't.

Friday - Jackie and Tami - bought one way plane tickets and flew down. Jack had business to take care of in Panama City - but after that - he came to Tallahassee. We met him with tickets to the Kathy Griffin concert at 8 PM. In the morning - we packed the van up for its maiden voyage - 3 miles to a tailgate party at Doak Campbell Stadium. I landed a Golden Chiefs parking pass so we were parked right next to the stadium. Lulu prepared a very nice buffet - and we partied along with KG and her dad Britt - another story.

I bought for nice tickets together for $10 each. But Lulu wanted to be closer to the field - so I bought another set of 4 for $10 each. Then I sold the first set of 4 for $20 each. $80 income and $80 expenses. We got into the game for free. 

Then - we enjoyed FSU slaughtering Duke on Homecoming Day. The van was great. It was so much fun seeing the cops parting like the Red Sea to wave us thru to our numbered spot. 

This morning at 9 AM - Jackie headed home to Rural Retreat VA. They planned to take the trip in 2 pieces. We hope they make it home safely - never know with a 17 year old Dodge. He promised me he would keep the speed down to 60 MPH and stay in the right lane. 

At 3 PM we got a text message that said they were already past Atlanta GA. The van was performing flawlessly. 

You will notice on the back of the van is an aluminum hitch carrier. Besides being able to haul 500 pounds on it - the carrier masks the license plate from prying eyes  :-)

Did you ever hear of a screwdriver transfer? I hope the state police are not monitoring my web page anymore.


Kathy Griffin entertained us at the FSU PowWow at the Civic Center. What a potty mouth :-)


We had a tailgate party right outside Doak Campbell Stadium. Lulu cooked and we all ate laughed. Harry - Lulu - Jackie (Lulu's brother) - Tami - KG and Britt. Mary Sue - and Scott came later. Paid attendance was 71,000 - but you could not tell according to this picture.



Jackie and Tami ready to roll.


This is Jackie's van leaving our house.


This is Lulu's van at the beach. 


Jackie was partying with the Golden Girls - FSU's exclusive dance team.

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