Chevy & GMC Vans

I haven't been around the site much since around Aug07 when my wife suffered a ruptured brain anyuersm. She's slowly coming along and although it's been a long road so far we still have quite a way to go. We don't see a return to work even considerable until at the very earliest Sep08.

As some of you know, when this happened I listed both of my vans .. the 99 LS and the 94 LT for sale, deciding to keep whichever one didn't sell first. The 94 sold, it was the sexiest IMHO.. Thus ending my longterm goal of doing a V8 in it. I talked to the girl that bought it for her family hauler and she's loving it and has had no problems other than a burnt headlight since she bought it in Sep07. I was kind of hoping she decided to get rid of it and I could buy it back .. hehe

I've since used some of the money to buy my mom a mint 92 New Yorker that I got all safetied and emissions tested for a trade deal for her 1988 Delta 88 for my son to learn to drive on (he turned 16 on Dec18th). It's low mile and decent shape .. just old. After she drove the New Yorker she loved it's luxury level but decided she was uncomfortable with all the power options she called 'gadgets' (she's 75 yrs old). So, I listed it for sale and made a little money on it.
Enter Jen (my wife) saying we should get something fun. On somewhat of a lark, I ended up bidding on and winning a well cared for, low mile, never seen snow, custom lowered Mazda B2200 pickup from North Carolina. After getting it here (Ontario, Canada) and on the road within a couple of weeks we found out that my wife was going to have to wait for disability to kick in (from 4 - 6mths .. yikes!) ... I decided to list the newly aquired mazda for sale..... another 'wasn't meant to be' thing. I wasn't really disappointed, where there was one diamond there will be more. Besides, having food on the table and a roof over our heads was a tad more important.
After plenty of tire kickers I decided to replace the huge (for a mazda) 18" wheels and tires with stock 15" chrome ones.. I listed the wheels and tires for sale. SOLD! Then I dropped the asking price and within a month it found a buyer looking for just such a custom ride .. SOLD! Let me tell you, winter in Ontario is NOT the right time to sell a lowered, custom painted, never seen a winter, vehicle.. LOL [-X
I made a bit of profit on that one too. This reselling gig is kind of fun and mildly profitable to boot.

The day after I dropped the mazda off to it's new happy owner don't we get a letter saying her disability has been approved and will be on it's way soon. =D>

So, now I have the all money from the initial sale of the 94, the profits from the New Yorker and B2200 covered our regular monthly expenses from Dec 1 - now as well as all of Christmas and my sons birthday. Very cool how everything works out.

We talked about shopping around for another vehicle even though we don't need one yet and she's now kind of stuck on 98-01 Cadillac STS, DTS or DHS. They have horrible resale value which is good for me and post 96 are actually a decent, reliable (not to mention sexy) car. I'm secretly shopping around for another astro/safari though shhhhhh

I found one that I love but, the ebay seller in Mississippi won't drop his price and has relisted the thing around 10 - 15 times that I've followed it.. maybe more. ](*,)

Anyone live in or around Jackson, Mississippi that can go talk some sense into this guy?? LOL

anyhow.. it's cool to be back... I missed all you guys

Man, I had no idea that you & the wifey'd been going thru this ordeal. I'm very happy she's doing better. If there's anything I can do to help cheer her up (I can email you some nudie pics of myself in a very "compromising" position with a goat, for example), please lemme know...

Rob,
Good to hear your doing better.I too didn't know about the problems you where having.Hope it continues to improve for you and yours,

Gary

thanks guys... much appreciated. I don't really recall .. I'm burned out to an extent so my memory is patchy at best. I guess I may have only mentioned it to a couple of members in a pm or something... the last 6mths have been a blur of sorts. I do well to get up and showered for work everyday.. LOL

peter wrote:Man, I had no idea that you & the wifey'd been going thru this ordeal. I'm very happy she's doing better.

Yeah, what it said.

Sorry this happened to your family.

Good to hear you guys made it threw the tough times, cant wait to see what you get next.... watch out for those Caddy's parts are redicuously expensive...

I didn't know you were going through this. I'm glad that your wife is getting better. I hope that things start to return to something resembling normal soon.

Someone wrote:.... watch out for those Caddy's parts are redicuously expensive...

you forget I work at a parts store Tristan.. everything is actually pretty reasonable... .. unlike a front hub assembly on an AWD Astro

toughest thing to do is a starter... need to remove the intake to do the starter ... can't be any worse than the plugs on our vans

Hey it's good to hear from you dude. I've been wondering what became of you as of late. I'm glad to hear Jen is doing better and that everything is starting to work out for you.

did you ever sell the 99?? I know you were putting it up and seriously considering selling it due to an offer you got.

hey potskie.. actually the 99 I kept. Once the 94 sold we still needed one vehicle. We'll see what plays out over the next couple of weeks. If I can get that seller of the one in Mississippi to flex some on their price I'll probably be listing my 99 and flying south to get that one.

Let me tell y'all .. this is one experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. The amount of stress has been huge at times. The first month when Jen was in the hospital working all day and driving back and forth to spend time at her bedside was very difficult. I thought it would only get better from there. Once she got home was when the real work began though. Not having a fulltime nursing staff around to watch her and tend to her needs was really hard. Having to buy a cane and a rent a bathchair from Red Cross, having to be there to help her bathe and get dressed was pretty hard. Man, she's only 40.
Thankfully, she's able to do that for the most part on her own now. She is just very tired all the time and like I mentioned.. the short term memory is non-exsistent. She jokes about the memory loss saying "OMG .. I've become a man".. LOL .. ain't that the truth?

We just take it one day at a time and if we get through that one, we're doing well. 2008 is going to be a far better year than the end of 2007

again guys, thanks for all your kind words.

Glad to hear your wife is doing better and hope and pray she continues on a very fast and sucessfull 110% recovery.

Hi Mr Crash,
Holy cow, you guys have been through a very difficult time. You're a good guy Mr Crash. You did what you had to do. Glad to hear the wife's getting better. Prayers go out for a speedy recovery.

Man, I had no idea that you & the wife had been going thru this. I'm very happy she's doing better.