Bought A New Dodge Durango For Our Summer Trips

Summer is here and it is hot as hell! Arizona shows no love for its residents during the summer months. Our electric and water bills go up with the temperatures. Not cool, literally and figuratively.

Every summer we plan a little vacation to get out of the city and up into the hills in Northern Arizona where the temperatures will drop 10-20 degrees. What a retreat that’s become for us and the kids! We were planning on driving up to Purgatory in Colorado to have some outdoor adventures at their facility but the raging wildfires spoiled that trip so we will resort to hitting Sedona for a week.

Sedona is beautiful, if you have never been you need to go! There is something spiritual about the place that creates a vibe for free thinking and living, except that nothing there is free… Not even close.

Last year when we went up to Flagstaff our AC unit went out in the Yukon and we had to have it repaired up in Flag. The vehicle was aging and I hate driving around with a car full of kids in an unreliable vehicle. So, I did what any sane mother would do – I took some money from savings and bought a new Dodge Durango. My husband was really wanting a new truck, but he has a truck and isn’t the one playing Uber with the kids Monday through Friday. He then complained that I got such a small vehicle, and insisted we take it back and trade it in for a Suburban. Well, again, he isn’t the one driving it through the city like I am, navigating a full sized Suburban with a car full of kids is not appealing. The Durango gives me the seat count I need to shuttle the kids plus a few friends, has a V8 engine and is an extremely comfortable ride.

 

 

We will be heading up to Sedona this year on comfort and without worry that the AC will fail us half way through the trip. Sometimes you just need to spend the extra money, to get the extra things, that relieves you of the extra stress.

I have had the Durango for about a month now and it’s already taken a beating on the inside. With the kids being out of school for the summer, I have been their personal taxi driver, shuttling them all over town for birthday parties and playdates. I hate fast food and will trash talk it every chance I get, but if you were to pull out the car seats you would probably find a happy meal toy and a few fries. It drives me nuts, and yet somehow I still allow for it. I swore there would be no eating in the new car, no drinks, no chocolate, no messes period! When you have a litter of children it becomes next to impossible to stay true to your word. When you are constantly on the go, you have to transport the children from location A to location B and find a moment to feed them in-between… Except there is no in-between! This is why fast food becomes so convenient! Whatever, don’t judge me.

So now I have a brand new car that needs a deep cleansing before we make our trip to Sedona. The last thing I need is for my husband to climb into the driver’s seat of the car and smell a rotten Big Mac that’s been tucked under the back seat for a week. I pulled all the car seats out and headed over to the self-serve car wash to detail the Durango myself. They have everything I need there to do a good job, I would have rather hired a professional car detailer but I was in the mood to dig in and clean it myself. Before I hit the road though I jumped online for some tips on cleaning my car. I’ll be using a microfiber cloth to detail the Durango like a boss, plus some streak-free cleaner for my windows and leather upholstery. The tip I liked most though was about detailing my car rims! With all the dirt kicking around on the roads in AZ your rims get filthy quick. Add some break dust to the mix and you have some dull looking rims that need attention.

The trip to the self-wash was successful and the Durango is detailed and ready to make the trip to Sedona. Hopefully, we can squeeze one more road trip in before school starts in August. My husband just notified me today that school will be starting the first week in August, that is F’ing unreal! I’ll be back for another blog post before August kicks off, maybe to showcase our 4th of July BBQ. Not sure yet, but I’ll be back soon. Bye!!!