Our new “Toad”

Thursday, May 22 — Indeed this was a busy day for us!  We also went out to Naperville to pick up our new “toad” (towed vehicle; many also call it a “dinghy”) – a 2014 Subaru Crosstrek.  This is going to be a great little SUV for us to make runs into nearby towns for groceries and to do laundry, drive around inside the national parks and park areas, drive to trailheads for hiking, and to drive back to Chicago when necessary.

Fred put a lot of research into what we needed for a tow vehicle and came up with this Crosstrek.  It’s a manual transmission model which is required for towing, at least for this vehicle; we need to put it into Neutral while towing.  [You can tow other automatic transmission vehicles but those models are heavier (translation: higher fuel costs for Charley) and we didn’t think as sporty as the Crosstrek.]  We are happy with our decision and excited to have yet another important item checked off our list.

               TOAD – CHECK!