The End of an Era

Last week, Ryan sold his Jeep (Joop).

When Ryan and I first started dating I remember him telling me that he wanted a motorcycle. He said the idea of driving around with no top/whatever was pretty awesome - I thought he was crazy. At some point or another he changed "I want a motorcycle" to "I want a Jeep". One day a few years back I guess my brother came across "an awesome deal!" and the ball was put in motion for Ryan to buy his Jeep.

This thing was nothing special to look at. It was a '92, it needed a paint job and the interior looked rough, but Ryan loved it. He had big plans to fix it up and get it painted and drive it all the time. Shortly after he got it though, he had it looked at and there was something BIG wrong with it. I don't know all the car lingo, but basically whoever put the lift kit on, didn't extend the steering wheel properly to where the bar that makes the tires turn. EEK. Ryan was basically told that this particular part was on the verge of breaking and when it did he would have no control of steering.

So the Jeep sat. At the time we were also saving for the wedding, so it was just not in the budget to put out money for these parts. However, for birthdays and Christmas and any other holiday they could come up with, my mom and Curt bought Ryan gift cards to the company he needed to get these parts from. After awhile he had everything he needed and Curt put the pieces together for him at the beginning of this year.

Ryan was more than elated and drove the Jeep on and off through the summer.

Unfortunately with me not working full time, having four vehicles (he still has his first truck too) just made no sense. When given a choice as to which one to get rid of, his Jeep won. So, last week, someone put in an offer, we accepted and he drove it away. Even though I had no emotional ties to it, even I was sad to see it go. I did promise Ryan though that at some point in his life, he will have another Jeep.