Vroom Vroom

I would say it was a productive weekend, I feel like I actually accomplished some things, which is always nice, and uncommon for me.

Saturday I got my driver's license renewed, then we drove to Dayton to look at a 300C. We thought both the car and the dealer were sketchy. We grabbed lunch in downtown Dayton, and then headed home. Two notes of interest about this experience:

(1) DH finally understands how questionable my current car has become. As he had not ridden in it for weeks/months, he apparently did not take me fully seriously when I described the various noises it makes or said it was literally falling apart. We were almost to Dayton (DH slept most of the way), when all of the sudden he sort of snaps to attention and realizes there are all sorts of weird noises. I told him they have become normal to me (though there is a new sputtering related to the air conditioner fan I believe). We NEED to get this car replaced ASAP.

(2) Dayton does not feel very big, at all. I just looked at Wikipedia and its population is 166K in Dayton proper with a metro area of over 800K. When we were downtown, it felt no bigger than Duluth MN (my hometown), which has 84K in Duluth proper and 275K in the metro area. It had a couple more tall buildings (not taller than those in Duluth though), but it had a lot less medium height buildings. It seemed very compact for such a large area. We came up for two possible explanations for it feeling so small - either the population has decreased dramatically since the 2000 census (which really would have nothing to do w/the buildings), or it is just more spread out, since it is not up against a lake and hill.

Anyways, we made it back to Columbus and headed for the Mercedes Benz dealer at Easton where we had test-driven the first 300C. They had been steadily dropping its price since we looked at it. I am sure they just wanted it off their lot since most the cars they sell are worth so much more. We had them assess my car and then we decided we are going for it, put a down payment on the car and will go back Tuesday to finalize everything. Hope my car lasts until tomorrow evening!! We think it may be about the worst trade in that place has ever seen, seeing as it specializes in the luxury brands. So, hopefully tomorrow night our car concerns will be resolved. In the words of DH (this is actually sung as a little song) "we're getting a chryyysler were, were getting a chryysler". LOL.