On Saturday, we caught a flight to Boston to pick up a car we purchased through eBay. Most A few people think we’re crazy when we do something like this but honestly, we’ve had good experiences. We bought a car in Texas a few years back and it worked out okay plus we’ve sold cars, motorcycles, trucks, etc on eBay and had no issues. We bought this particular car “right enough” that if we got it home and hated it, we could flip it, get our money back out of it and chalk it up to an adventure.
Anyhow, back to the story. We bought a Honda Civic. Those of you who know us, know we are not vertically challenged. I am 6 foot tall and Dan is 6’4”. Again when we told people we bought a Honda Civic we received more surprised looks than not. However, we fit and fit rather well. The car was surprisingly roomy and comfortable. I guess they re-modeled the cars for 2012 to add more interior room. Well, whatever they did, it worked.
So we flew into Boston on Saturday, spent a couple of days driving home taking in parts of New Hampshire, Vermont and New York (never been to any of those states) and arrived back home last night.
So what did I learn on this trip…
1) When going through the metal detector at the airport, a person really needs to take their belt off or the TSA agents aren’t very happy with you. :( It really didn’t help when asked if I had anything around my waist and I said no. I honestly, never thought about my belt. Yes, I received a pat down and didn’t especially enjoy it. However, DH thought it was pretty funny since he sailed right on through.
2) With Spirit airlines, you get what you pay for. The flight was cheap – Yea! However, the backseat of our new car has more leg room. :( Poor DH was stuck in one position for the whole flight with his knees jammed between the seats in front of us. Thank goodness it was only a two hour flight. Also, there was a really strange noise that sounded like a barking seal before we took off and again when we landed. Not sure what it was but the flight attendants didn’t seem concerned. To be honest, it freaked me out. I had all sorts of thoughts going through my head – was it an engine? was it landing gear? Then, it was a bumpy flight at times – not fun! DH said it was average bumpiness but it was too much for this chick! I don’t fly well anyway so I really don’t need anything adding to that, thank you very much!
3) Things aren’t always what they seem. Yes, a Honda Civic is a compact car but this tall dude fits! :)
4) New Hampshire is beautiful. We will come back and spend more time here.
5) Vermont is beautiful and we’ll come back to spend more time here as well.
6) New York? We weren’t a fan of the Adirondacks in New York. I’ve always wanted to see upstate New York. We took a scenic route (which I neglected to take a picture of). It was supposed to go over the mountains. You couldn’t prove it by us. It was close to 100 miles of tree lined curves where we saw nothing but trees on both sides of the road with an rare glimpse of a lake. The mountains were probably there but we couldn’t see them. Disappointed. It probably didn’t help that we got behind a bicycle race of which due to the trees and curves there wasn’t anywhere to pass.
New York did redeem itself with the Finger Lakes region and Allegheny Mountains the next day though.
Lots of wineries and gorgeous lake views. Unfortunately, it was early Memorial Day morning so nothing was open yet.
7) We were reminded how blessed we are to have good black soil here in the Midwest. We think it was corn they had planted here. 
8) Lake Erie is still really cold this time of year.
9) My husband has a competitive streak I never knew about. Imagine 33 years and not knowing this! He was so proud of himself that he was able to get 40 mpg with the car. Let me just say that he drives slow like a grandpa (love ya honey!) carefully or maybe I should say he obeys the speed limit. I on the other hand have a bit heavier of a foot. He was pontificating of how he was getting 40 mpg because of the better way he drives than me. When it was my turn to drive so he could take a nap, I woke him up and show him I was getting 43mpg at 70 mph. Take that! After that it was game-on. I have to concede that he is the better fuel efficient driver as this was his top reading. Shhh…don’t tell him I actually said that, ok? 
10) After sitting on my backside in the car for 4 days, I shouldn’t have thought I could go out and weed flower beds the day after she gets home. It might be a tad tough to get the muscles moving tomorrow morning when I get up to go back to work. Limitations, it’s all about limitations.
