Road Trip with My New Car

Well, it wasn't actually much of a road trip, but we did want to take my new car, Holly, out for a spin.  We picked up Nathan on our way to Gresham.  I hadn't explored downtown Gresham before. We were looking for a restaurant with outdoor seating.  We ate at Nicholas Lebanese. 

I should have taken a picture right away.  It was puffed up twice this size.  It was good food.  

Some cool art

Then we checked out the Japanese Garden and the city park.

Then we drove to the Leach Botanical Garden.  It had some interesting benches. 

Some early flowers

Then we drove home.  I drove out and then George drove back.  It was his first chance of driving my car. It used the electric feature (EV) the whole way there and then part of the way home before it switched to gas (HEV).  There are some little things we have been learning about the car.  George has spent some time researching little things. Like, why couldn't we get sound with the navigation system?  He fixed that, once we got home. 

PS. Cider is growing

New Car

 Our Honda CR-V is a "1997".  Our Honda Civic had been a "2000", but it was totaled in 2019.  We have been a one-car family for a while.  George usually rides his bike.  So, it has worked out fine.  I thought it was time to invest in a new car, which had more safety features and was better for the environment.  I don't like large cars but I thought that I should get something larger than the Civic. Our joints will only be getting older and stiffer.  Many of my friends have Subarus and have liked them so I was looking at the Subaru Crosstrek, a compact SUV.  When we got down to seriously looking we also looked at the hybrids.  On January 29th we actually started looking.  We looked at Subaru Crosstrek Limited and Hybrid, the Nissan Leaf, the Honda CR-V Hybrid, the Kia Niro Electric, Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV), and the Hybrid.  I LOVED the color of the Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid but it was very uncomfortable and had almost no trunk. The Limited was also uncomfortable and did not get good gas mileage.  The Honda CR-V was way too big (it is larger than my current CR-V).  I am not quite ready to go completely electric so the Leaf was out plus it was even more uncomfortable than the Crosstrek.  That left the Niro. It was comfortable and the plug-in Hybrid gets better gas mileage.  So, we decided to go with that.  Sunday, we test-drove both Niros. I wanted some color that would stand out.  The only choice was red so we went with that.  There happened to be the only one available in the Northwest, but we had to plunk down the financial commitment right away.  Whew.  We bought the car on January 30th.  They had to drive down to Medford OR to go get it on the 31st.  We went to pick it up on February 1st.  So we got the car with 283 miles on it.  Donovan synced our phones and gave us a rundown of all the features.  I drove it around the parking lot a few times.  Then George followed me home.  

Kia Niro PHEV

They had not put much gas in it so I went and filled it up right away and then we plugged it in. Now I will have to learn how to use it.  Thank you Donovan and Jacob at Ron Tonkin Kia in Gladstone. 

It was a good sign on the day we came home with the car.

They both fit in the garage.  We plan to pass the CR-V on to Robbie.

My friends asked me what I was naming my car.  I haven't done that since my very first car, Limbu (which means lime in Marathi).  That was what color it was.  So, now I have a red car but it is good for the environment - so a "green" car, maybe a Christmas name.  I came up with Holly (red and green).  I tried, unsuccessfully, to think of some name with PHEV (plug-in electric vehicle) in the name.  One meaning of the name Niro is a green plant with red berries.  That would fit with Holly.  So, I guess, HOLLY it is.   

ADDENDUM: 8/19/2022 - I had been planning on seeing how long I could drive the car until we needed to get gas but then George read that that is not good for the vehicle.  The additives in the car can thicken and get gummy.  So we decided to get gas.  George put in 9.7 gallons.  It is an 11.9-gallon tank. I guess we do need to try to use the gas every once in a while. 

 ADDENDUM 9/12/2022 - On August 31st I went out to the car to go run an errand and I found that the battery was dead.  Argh. It took us a while to figure out what was going on.  When we called the Beaverton Kia and they said that they could get us in in October.  The Gladstone Kia could get us in in 2 weeks.  Ugh, but we needed the car now.  Finally, George got the neighbor to come over to jump the battery of the car.  That got it working.  Everything seemed ok.  But then on 9/12/2022, it did the same thing.  George had bought a portable charger so we got it working right away.  But now what.  Then we found a "Service Action IGPM Sleep Mode Operation Logic Improvement (SA 497)" The bulletin provides the procedure to update the software logic of the Integrated Gateway and Power System on vehicles produced between June 2, 2021 and March 8, 2022. It addresses the concern with parasitic battery draw when the vehicle is turned off which can lead to a discharged 12 Volt battery. When we called the Beaverton Kia back and told them about this Service Action they said that we could bring the car in tomorrow.!! I do hope that this works.  

Madeline and Roman's visit

Wednesday, January 12th, Robbie wasn't feeling well.  He tested positive for covid.  This put a halt to many of our planned activities.  He quarantined in his room, Ice moved to another bedroom. We wore our masks more when we were together.  Nathan decided not to come over. Ice left on Saturday the 15th at midnight.  She tested negative in Chicago.  None of the rest of us have gotten sick.  Madeline and Roman had planned to come to visit that weekend.  They postponed it to the following weekend.  They missed seeing Ice, but at least we were healthy by then.

Madeline and Roman drove down with Ivan on Friday the 21st.  They went straight to their Airbnb.  It was the same one they stayed at before.  

                                           

We drove to their side of town for lunch.  It took us a while to pick a place to have lunch: no outdoor seating, not in the sun (it was cold), only vegan options ... on and on.  We ended out at a food court that had several choices.  I had a sandwich that was probably one of the most delicious sandwiches ever - maple bacon, caramelized onions, chevre cheese - yummy. We ended out eating at the front steps of the Airbnb.  

After lunch, we went to Alberta Park.  It is a very close park.  It was cold.  I had not dressed warmly enough.

Nathan and Robbie

When it was time for Ivan's nap, we left and headed back home.  Robbie was cooking dinner. Ivan and Cider meet.  It didn't take long for Cider to think that he was in charge.  We ended out having to move Cider to the back room.  

 He was making his famous fajitas.  It was quite the feast.  I missed most of it because I was on a Zoom call. Luckily, they saved some for me. 

Sweet potatoes, black beans, tortillas, pepper/mushroom, guacamole, steak, plus salsa, sour cream, and cheese.  Wow, what a feast.  

Sunday, Madeline and Roman came to our place.  We headed to the BG Food Cartel for lunch.  We all picked something different for our lunches.  I tried the ramen.  It was very tasty.  It was a gorgeous day. 

Robbie, Madeline, Ivan, Roman, Nathan, and George

Ivan is much more mobile this visit.

Ivan and Madeline

Then we went to the library and the park near the library.

Quite a selection of hard books.

Madeline, Robbie, and Ivan

One last slide ride before heading home for Ivan's nap.

Nathan and I made pasta for the parmesan black truffle pasta.  It was supposed to be flambeed but the cognac absorbed too quickly with the fresh pasta so it didn't light. Oh well.  It still tasted good.  

Madeline and Ivan were back after Ivan's nap.  Roman wasn't feeling well so he stayed back at the Airbnb.  

Asparagus with manchego cheese

George made the salmon

My plate: the purple cabbage salad, Madeline made.

Nathan had fun building the Brio train tracks.