#goodbyerav4

[brandonparrish]

Check me out- I bought a 4Runner! Feels like I ordered it months ago... Was so excited to finally drive it home! #adulting #4runnernation #thatsme #goodbyeRav4 (at Jay Wolfe Toyota of West County)

[avoidantcool]

Fare thee well, old friend

Yesterday I sold my RAV4. I took a pretty big loss on it, but the trade-off was waiting around to figure out what to do with it or having it just sit around. In the end, I know when I have enough saved up I can get another car, but at the same time I truly adored this car (as much as you can adore a car). 

My RAV4 was my first off-road vehicle. Because of that car I was able to explore so many parts of the country that would otherwise have been off limits to me. For example, on our very first off-road trip, we did a very daring trek up Harquahala Mountain in Arizona to hunt for scorpions and a rare chocolate morph of a species of boa (the specific species I cannot recall right now since we never found it):

We saw a lot of cool looking Saquaro cacti, like this zombie cactus:

After stupidly telling ourselves repeatedly that "well, we've gone this far, we just need to go a little further" up the steep, shaley sides, we somehow made it to the top without falling off the side of the mountain:

And that's when I knew she was worth the cost of 4WD.

Unfortunately for me, her 4WD was not true 4WD ("4WD-on-the-fly," basically AWD)... meaning I couldn't flat tow her. 

In the end selling my car was much harder for me than getting rid of my apartment, because in a sense that car offers me a freedom that the RV never will in the back country. However, for now it was the right decision, and I feel a weight lifted off me from that apprehension about what I should do with my car.

I will miss her, but in honor of my RAV4, who so valiantly survived two previous Burns, I decided to use some of the extra money from her sale to attend Burning Man this year. I'm just about finished grieving, so the excitement can commence as soon as my ticket arrives!