The death of a whale van

It may be the end of the line for our "whale" van--the Chevy G-20 full size van that has taken us on many a camping trip, hauling our trailer across the miles, from Illinois to Wisconsin and throughout Minnesota. It has hauled numerous young adolescents from church to home. It has been to the grocery store a dozen times every month, and served me well as I work in Bloomington during tax season--a 30 minute trip (one way) in good weather.

Now it may be time to retire it. We just went on our last camping trip of the summer, and took it in to get serviced. It had an oil leak, which we hoped was minor, but would turn out to be a major repair. We found out that the gas tank is leaking also. And, of course, we knew that the air conditioner needed recharging twice a summer to make it through the Minnesota humidity of July and August.

It's taken many an exchange student to and from, it's traveled to our church camp and even to Tennessee in the winter. It's transported our family to and from church every Sunday.

Now we only have two children living at home, instead of the four we had when Luke was at home and we had an exchange student. Mark drives pretty much everywhere he needs to go, including taking his sister to and from school.

The death of the whale van is just another transition in our life that keeps changing, downsizing. On to the next step.

Good-bye dear van. We move on to the next stage with sadness, yet many fond memories of ye.

Till next time,


Suzi