The BEAST!

The BEAST! That is how we lovingly refer to our new, old van! Imagine my surprise when Cole came home and mentioned that there was a VAN he thought we should buy! A van, really?! We, thus far, have been proud SUV people and quite frankly, although at times I had debated the convenience of vans, I thought we were very content with our current vehicles.

 

Begrudgingly, I consented to at least SEE the thing.  In fact, we went with Ladd and Krystal.  The whole way, Ladd and Cole were trying to convince me that it really wasn't that bad.  I immediately began to be leary.  As we pulled up to the thing, I'll admit, the outside could have been worse. Ladd was ahead of me and pulled open the passenger door.  Thankfully I was a few feet behind him because no sooner had he opened the door then did he DRY HEAVE! Yes, DRY HEAVE! At that point, Krystal and I stopped in our tracks and booked it back to the truck! Apparently someone had tried to clean the van, but instead of helping, it made the "odor" it had...100 times worse! Needless to say, it was not the "love at first sight" meeting Cole had hoped for.

 

Next, Cole took my other brother-in-law, Caleb to see the van.  They both came home trying to convince me it was really a good buy.  I asked Caleb, "So you really don't think it is disgusting and horrible and going to hurt my kids or kill them with any nasty fungi or anything?" He said, "No, I really think the only thing it will hurt is your pride!" Haha! Rude!!!

 

So after a few more convincing talks, I went again to see the thing. Cole assurred me the "odor" was much better. When we got there, the doors were all open and we test drove it with the windows wide open.  Still...it was gross! The seats hadn't been fully rebolted after its thorough cleaning, so with every acceleration and stop, I rocked back and forth.  When we pulled in to a gas station to add a little gas (because it had been sitting so long), the attendant (who is a friend of Coles) said, "Man, that thing stinks! It smells like a chicken coop!" Yes people, this is the car my husband is trying to convince me to get! Geesh!

 

HOWEVER.....yes, that is a BIG however! The longer we drove it, the more I began to notice a few good points. And yes, the mere savings in fuel prices would be tremendous. So with much trepidation, I allowed Cole to get the dang thing!

 

And with that, we added a new member to our vehicle fleet!  Meet....THE BEAST!

The first thing we had to do was some major sterilization and cleaning. Despite being professionally cleaned...the thing was nasty!

Seriously, check out that carpet! (Or at least, what was left of it!) I have never seen whole sections of carpet literally eaten away! Nasty!

We pulled out all the seats and cleaned those. Sterilized every touchable surface...

Pulled the old carpet and foam pads up...

And removed all of the nasty stickers...

Then we replaced brand new black carpet and foam padding...

Put all the seats back in....

Hung a few air fresheners... and VOILA! I have to admit...I am beginning to like the ol' thing! In fact, we took it to San Diego, baseball tournaments galore, a few BYU games and a dozen places in between and, with the exeption of a few things, the thing runs like a champ.  Plus, gasp...I have even decided to trade the ol' SUV and BEAST in for a newer van! I gotta say, I kinda like the things! ;)