Introducing Gracie

Here's our newest set of wheels, a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan that had about 21,5000 miles on it when we bought it on August 14 from Enterprise Leasing. After trying out various rentals this summer, we came back to a Chrysler Corp. minivan because it was the most comfortable and had the most room for the money. This one follows our two previous vans and keeps up our unbroken string of minivan ownership since 1986.

We took our new GC on its first road trip to Tulsa last month, and it performed extremely well. It has power features only dreamed of when we got our first Voyager: adjustable drivers' seat, rear vent openers, side door and liftgate power opener, etc. We can teach it to open our garage door, and it has a nifty "miles to empty" gauge that is extremely accurate! Both sets of rear seats fold down into the floor for cargo room. The middle seats are bucket style and comfortable. We feel fortunate to have 21st century wheels!

So, why and how did we name this van Gracie? Coming back from Tulsa, we tried all kinds of combinations. Since the car is silver, there were suggestions from friends such as Silver Fox, Hi Ho, etc. But then we realized that both of our burgundy vans had names unaffiliated with their color: Minnie and Vanna. So we asked, what can we do with Grand Caravan? We tried some "G" names: Gertrude, Griselda, etc. Then we tried "C" names: Charisse, Clarissa, etc. We tried wordplay: Caravanna. The we thought: GC. Gracie. And it stuck. So say hello to Gracie. We hope she'll be around, transporting us far and wide across the U.S. in comfort, for a long time to come!