New (To Us) Car

We found and bought a 2020 Kia Soul with the EX trim package. The car was purchased from a dealer in St. Charles, Illinois. Here is the story and a few dealer photos of the car.

I found the car on AutoTrader.com and it had the option package I was looking for. After a few calls and e-mails, the salesman and I arrived at an acceptable price and I prepared a wire transfer to pay for it.

The price included [an unwanted] $374.26 charge from the State of Illinois, as the dealers do not issue titles; only the state does. All paperwork is sent in and the state will issue a title in my name. Right now the car has an Illinois temp tag on the back. I can’t license through Iowa without the Illinois documentation.

This was the listing photo from the dealer, St. Charles Motorcars:

The color is Platinum Gold under a Clear White top. This combo was only available in 2020; it was gone in the 2021 and later models.

These are a few more dealer photos from the listing:

I drove the F-150 and trailer over to St. Charles on Wednesday and took the car for a short test drive. This Soul is a major upgrade from out 2004 RAV-4! Once I had the car loaded on the trailer I drove about another 30 miles to my sister’s apartment in Elmhurst. Kitt (and Matt) and I had a very pleasant evening with an excellent meal (prepared by Matt) and lots of conversation.

Thursday morning I headed west to Iowa. The round trip was about 700 miles, but worth it for the savings on the vehicle. Here are a couple on-the-road photos:

Everything went well and the weather was good. The truck and trailer handled the load with no problems. Gas prices were about $3.00 in Iowa and $3.30 – $3.50 in Illinois.

Once home I unloaded the car, contacted the insurance agent to get coverage, and began reading the Owner’s Manuals. (The Infotainment system has a dedicated manual of its own.) It will take some time to get used to the features we will use most, and knowledge of other features, such as the navigation system, will come over time.

I hope this is a good purchase for us. Now I need to sell the RAV-4, as we really don’t need a 3rd vehicle here in Iowa. Craigslist and FaceBook Marketplace will soon see a listing for it. If anyone reading this needs a 5-speed all wheel drive vehicle in fairly good shape for around $1,200.00 let me know!

Moving on to holiday news…

Elma staged its annual Parade of Holiday Lights last Sunday. The parade lasted all of 3:52 minutes and you can see the entire parade below. (Short parade in bitter cold temps.)

Parade of Lights 2023

The Heart House outside lights were very “showy” by parade time, having been installed during the mild weather. I decided to take some video; the resulting clip has a run time of 4:21.

Heart House Lights 2023 The upcoming week should see us returning to our [mostly calm] schedule. A trip to the tree farm to cut our live tree is on the agenda; it’s not a major drive. Weather should turn a bit milder for the tree farm trip next week, although NE Iowa is expecting some snow tonight. I would like to get one more leaf cleanup finished before winter sets in for good, but we shall see.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

While Himself was on his auto purchase adventure, I enjoyed a quiet evening with my steak and kidney pie – plus tea, of course.

Heart House holiday decorations will soon be unpacked and selectively distributed in various rooms, subject to the destructive antics of the resident kittens. The season is upon us.

Happy Trails.

Update:

Fray Bentos’ Steak and Kidney Pie is a dish Pam encountered in Great Britain in the early ’70s. During the ’80s and ’90s, mad cow disease led to bans on importing this dish into the US for many years. (Some bans, worldwide, lasted until 2019.) I had ordered a couple of Fray Bentos as a gift for for Pam’s November birthday.

Now you know!