2021-04-22 — New Wheels… Again 🙃

Holar, y’all. 🙂

Happy… Thursday? Hope you’ve had a lovely day. 🙂

I took it super slowly again today. Didn’t leave for my first job (which turned out to be my only job) until like… noonish? I don’t remember for sure. I slept in a little bit, put Captain Universe first again once I woke up, and I had a good, happy morning. 🙂

Then I went out to work, had a super simple first job (was just a dead battery)… contacted who I thought might be next on the work list, and when the didn’t reply, I chose not to worry about the rest of the people I could go to today and instead drove to Oklahoma to look at the van I was interested in buying.

The peeps were really nice. I took the van for a test drive. I didn’t inspect it nearly as thoroughly as I ought to have, but… oh well. I took it for a test drive, and the drive brought a smile to my face. They were asking $4200 (dealers are selling the same year van with more miles for $12k in other states). I offered them $3500, and the accepted my offer.

🥳🥳🥳

Let’s hope it’s a good van. 🙃

By that point, it was after 5 p.m., so I chose to end my work day right there because my Haven Hill sister Chrysti arrived home today, and there was a big homecoming get together for her, and I wanted to be there for that and not be out working like I always am.

So I came back, joined the get together, and that was great. 🙂

After that, my buddy Jimmy was kind enough to drive me back to Oklahoma to pick up the van I’d bought earlier, and I drove it home, stopping off at the only CNG gas station I’m aware of in NWA, and filling the tank (which was a little adventure in and of itself, as I’d never done it before, and it took me a little bit to figure out how to even fill the tank, confused because I thought I’d done it correctly, but nothing was happening, so I disconnected, tried again, and it made a loud noise, and then started pumping.

First time I’ve ever filled up a car with fuel and worried the whole place was gonna blow. 🙃

Managed to make it home rather uneventfully, and wahoo, I have a work van. Finally. Right as I’m about to retire from cars. Go figure. 🙃

The van does need a little help. The driver’s fender is dented from a small fender bend, and there’s some minor damage down the driver’s side, but it’s not really too noticeable. Needs some headlight bulbs. Brights are burned out and one of the regulars as well. Radio doesn’t work, but I don’t listen to the radio anyway.

Overall… so far… I’m really pleased! It made the 60+ mile trip home without any problems

So… 2010 Ford E350 5.4 V8 CNG (compressed natural gas) work van (but with windows, not panels, although the CNG tanks make it so you can’t see out the windows very well anyway). 84,000 miles and I managed to snag it for $3500!!!

It’s a gamble. The price is so low that perhaps there’s an unknown issue, but it’s also a rather undesirable vehicle because of the lack of CNG infrastructure, which could end up bein a deal breaker for me, too, but if it turns out to be a big issue, I’ll just sell it, and I can probably make a good amount of money on it as well. So… even if I have to rebuild a tranny or something, I’ll still come out ahead, but with only 84k miles, and it being CNG, it’s probably… gonna be good CNG engines burn so cleanly the engines can last a super duper long time. 400k, etc. Diesel-engine longevity.

Oh, and gas is only $1.39 a gallon. 😁

Yee haw.

So… it’s a little gamble, but well worth it, I think. And it might not work out all that well with the CNG stuff in the way of the side doors, but hey, we’ll see. I’ll give it a go, and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I won’t cry about it.

#1. I’m grateful for another lighter (emotionally and spiritually) day.

#2. I’m grateful to have gotten an apparently screaming deal on this work van.

#3. I’m grateful for Jimmy for driving me to Oklahoma to pick the van up.

#4. I’m grateful the van was out in the middle of nowhere at a cattle ranch, so it wasn’t snatched up before I could get there.

#5. I’m grateful that I was able to let go of the mountain of cars I could have done today and chose to do the important things first. Mr. Big Man first. Future business preparation. Putting family ahead of work. Etc. Good day.

#6. I’m grateful to have had wonderful conversations with a dear friend today. We talked for hours while I was driving, and it was wonderful. Gospel conversations. Life conversations. Learning, growing, overcoming, becoming conversations. Great stuff. Highlight of the day.

Loves and hugs, all you wonderful people, you. 🙂

Lift the World

~ stephen