We were very lucky to have transport options before we finally managed to buy and insure our own car. We had access
to Kathy's car (a people carrier) when she didn't need to use it and Dawn was happy to let us use her car while she was
staying at Christmas.The picture shows Todd and Kim's van. They very kindly decided they could live without it and leant it to us for as long as we needed it. This thing was BIG! It's a conversion van, which means the back seats adjust to give the user a full queen size bed. When James was in his car seat behind me and needed a tissue for his nose I had to reach my arm back as far as I could while he reached forward as far as he could.
One day we went out to look for televisions in the green van and decided we would look around a few more car lots while
we were out and about. Several hours later we drove back in the Jeep you see pictured here! At time of writing we still
don't have a tv!
The Jeep has a V6 3.7 liter engine. I haven't seen one with a smaller engine than that. Most vehicles here are much
bigger than the vehicles on English roads. It's a challenge when you're used to driving a fiesta! This picture shows the way the back opens. Clicking a button on the key fob pops open the back window. The main door
swings around side hinges so it opens like a car door rather than like a hatchback.
As you may be able to see from this picture, the automatic gear stick is on the floor in the center. Cars in Wisconsin
are almost all automatic and many have the gear stick coming out of the steering wheel column. There is a small lever
to control whether it is two or four wheel drive. On the steering wheel are the cruise control buttons. You can set
these on a long journey when you don't need to change speed, then take your foot off the accelerator.