Yep, initially, inbetween computer time reading political articles and playing Scrabble there would be hours spent going through 100's of photos of tractor ads. I called it "tractor porn." Natureman was looking for a couple of years for the right tractor. Finally, that search ended when 'The Tractor', a 1939 model was found a little over an hour north of here. Now the question is whether I'd still see the man looking at tractor pics. No, he moved on other vehicle obsessions first it was the Smart Car, followed by the mini Cooper and convertibles over the years we have been together. Eventually when one of his cars had to be replaced more practical vehicles that could haul.
Well, when Bullet Proof bit the bullet, the time perusing the web increased what seemed morning to night. For the last couple of weeks chores waited and those poor goats were bleating for him past mid morning as he checked out what was new on his SUV search. After realizing reasonable used CRV's/RAV 4's were difficult to find/how much hybrid batteries cost to replace he finally set his heart on a Vibe. I had never heard of one but it is a Pontiac SUV made by Toyota with very good reviews. The only problem was there were none available in our area so the search extended.
After our kids left, the human ones, he was determined to get his Vibe and found one right across the Wisconsin southeastern border in Illinois. Two days before we had just driven south to return the grandbaby to her parents in the Quad Cities but it was Sunday and car dealerships as you know aren't open on Sundays ...
Before we set out I asked Natureman if he had checked if the vehicle had been in an accident. Sure enough, the car fax indicated frame damage from a couple years before. Whew, a 6 hour round trip averted. But wouldn't you know there was another the opposite direction with a fair price in good condition, and one he'd consider in Hubbard, Iowa (smaller than Chaseburg) almost to Des Moines.
After a couple of calls, off we got on the road before lunch. We stopped for a late lunch to break up the drive and hunger. Then as was suggested we didn't take the back roads and went interstate but we ended up sitting in one lane highway construction traffic. My greatest fear was arriving and the place being closed. Thank heavens for cell phones, the 'salesman' would be there until 5.
Rain clouds had been following us and spitting on us off and on. It seemed to take an eternity. We finally arrived and I knew that Natureman was set on returning with the car regardless.
The Vibe sat out front, an intense red, on this gloomy day.
Terry, our salesman and Legendary Motors owner gave us the proverbial story that the Vibe's low mileage was due to its elderly owner just driving 5 country miles back and forth to visit her 90 year old sister. It was clean, a little over deodorized, in good shape and while Natureman went to take it for a drive, I headed to refill my tank in the town's one gas station.
The only issue seemed to be the blower fan noise. This city mouse looked at her country mouse and said, "I bet a mouse got in the filter." "Oh no," the salesman negated as he had someone look at the fan and he thought it was just a switch problem. Natureman felt it'd be reasonable to fix. The transaction was done in about 20 minutes, title in hand, off we drove back to Wisconsin.
At our first rest stop, a white faced Natureman told me the noise was worse. I felt the fan motor box under the dash board and it was really hot. I'm not a mechanic but common sense told me to not have the fan running on high, if at all. Something was in there and making it work too hard.
The next day since I was home I opened up the Vibe's fan box and nothing fell out. But as I was down there, the mats were damp so I pulled them up and there was moisture under all the mats from the cleaning and not being totally dry. Sun time. One mat actually had something growing on the underside. A little scrubbing and sanitizing could fix that. Yet, once the dealership's deodorizer dissipated there was a smell, something was dead.
Our local mechanic got the Vibe in the following morning and he said he had never seen any fan so full of dead little mice and corn. Of course I took a pic of what he pulled out. The filter was wedged so far down it was difficult to remove at first and then it came pouring out. The fan blades were a bit chewed up but not bad.Problem fixed and a very happy Natureman with his Vibe.
Another wheels story from the past:
The Tractor
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