It's All OK In Cloquet

Have you ever tried to fit 3 car seats into the back seat of a mid-sized sedan?  Neither had we until last week.  It wasn't pretty.  The third seat just wouldn't cram in there, and ended up sort of tilted and perched on the edge of oblivion.  Groan.

We knew that we were going to need to do something about our vehicle situation, but were totally not looking forward to going car shopping, especially amidst all of the other chaos that happens this time of the year.  We inwardly cringed at the thought of giving up our pickup in exchange for a minivan...or a full sized van...or maybe even a bus!  So we trudged to the car dealership, and thus began our search for the "right" vehicle. 

We went to Cloquet Ford, and as we walked in the door we actually kind of felt sorry for whoever was going to have to help us.  We had no idea what we wanted, and we weren't especially happy to be spending a Saturday shopping for vehicles.  Enter Jimmy Saice, sales consultant.  Unfazed by Jason's grumpiness or our lack of direction, Jimmy hung in there with us until we narrowed things down. 

We started looking at SUV's with 3rd row seating.  They were ok, but that 3rd row felt so far away, practically in its own time zone.  We haven't waited all these years for kids just to put them as far away from us as possible.  We decided to look at a crew cab pickup more as a "rule it out" kind of move.  Lo and behold, we actually loved it. 

The pickup we test drove didn't have running boards, and I, the graceful thing that I am, had to do sort of a belly flop onto the back seat to try and get in.  Good thing I am not proud, and good thing that Jason was the only one to see me do it.  The car seats all fit in the back seat, no problem.  Jason and I sort of like the idea of piling the family into 2 rows of seating.  Hey, I had to do it with my sisters when I was a kid, and although I am sure we all felt tortured at the time, I actually have some great stories and memories from being crammed together in the backseat.  I could write another whole blog post on that topic...

Anyways, Jimmy was a real trooper.  He kept things light, but was informative at the same time.  Then came the time to talk numbers.  Jason and I had a bottom line number in mind that we would be happy with, and Jimmy was able to beat that number.  Imagine our surprise and delight...an early Merry Christmas to us, and a big thanks to the fine folks at Cloquet Ford.  And, because he was such a great guy to work with, here's his plug:  If you need to buy a vehicle, go see JIMMY SAICE at Cloquet Ford!!  Thanks for everything, Jimmy!



Jimmy giving us the keys to the crew cab pickup