First of many goodbyes

This is going to sound really silly. Chalk it up to the pregnancy hormones or the fact that a lot is going to change in our lives in the next month or so and this is just a warm-up, but I cried when we sold my 10-year old Prius yesterday.

In March 2003 we sold my purple Jeep (I think that I cried then, too, now that I think about it) and bought a new Prius. This was version 1.1 of the Prii that were just being introduced in the US - version 1.0 only came in pastel colors while version 1.1 came in all of the colors. I remember it being a BIG deal about the hybrid system - the fear that the batteries would suddenly die or the electrical system would electrocute someone. We've come a long way from then!

JD and I have done more with the "Gizmo" as we called it, than some people ever do with their SUVs - carrying bikes, loading it full of stuff, JD even used to cart his kayak around IN it!

We put over 192,000 miles on the Prius in 10 years. This was our main commuting car, and who ever had the longer commute got the Prius. It did the Sandy to Portland (~30 miles one way) commute for a year, and also did the Rhododendron to Wilsonville (~50 miles one way) commute, not to mention many trips to SkiBowl!

The reason we sold it is that selling a 10-year old Prius with almost 200K miles is infinitely easier in Portland than it would be almost anywhere else. We're also hoping that we'll only need 1 car where we end up - that we'll be able to walk and bike almost everywhere (Gainsesville also has a good public transit system; if we end up in Hanover, we'd need a 2nd car, but I'd want it to be 4WD or AWD). 

When we first got the Prius, everyone was concerned about whether JD would fit or not. The proof is in the picture . :) We have a similar picture from the day that we brought it home.  In reality, JD fit in the Prius really well - it was why we chose it over the Honda Civic hybrid.

Now the Gizmo has gone to its new home and new owner. We hope that our friend who bought it will enjoy it as much as we have. And this was one of the easier goodbyes I think that I'll have to do. At least the Prius couldn't cry, even if I did.