Thumbcocker
09-21-2016, 08:53 AM
No. 1 has given me permission to post this in other areas of the forum since not everyone goes to the our town section.
6 years ago this forum was able to help Sam (grey wolf) and Julie (wise owl) get a vehicle. That vehicle is no longer worth repairing and has a finite number of miles left in it. Sam and Julie live in rural Maine 3 miles from a paved road. Maine weather and the fact that they live in the mountains set some of the parameters that a replacement vehicle will have to meet.
A replacement vehicle needs to be an SUV of some sort. 4X4 is a must, remember we are talking rural Maine here. Reliability is also key so we need good tires, good battery, no major mechanical problems, and not something with a history of problems.
In prior posts I have mentioned that locating a vehicle might be a good first step. After thinking about it some more it is pretty clear that Sam and Julie can do a lot better if they have cash in hand before they start looking. Another factor is that their current vehicle only has so many miles left in it so it makes no sense to have them running all over the north east using up those remaining miles to find something and then trying to get funds for it.
At this point I think that we are better off focusing on getting the funds together. Looking at various online car sights it is pretty obvious that any decent SUV is going to be at least $10,000. Of course we all hear stories about someone's brother in laws best friend's cousin finding a mint condition SUV for $2500. If that happens here great, but in the real word $10,000 is a realistic figure. There is still a possibility of a family member finding a deal several states away and if that happens renting a UHaul car towing trailer and towing the car to them is not off the table but with cash in hand Sam and Julie will have much more power in any negotiation.
There may be some folks who might feel that this is an awful lot of money for a vehicle especially if they are driving a vehicle that cost less that that. That may be true but the facts are the facts it is what it is. We could go with something cheap to get them through the winter but then we would be right back here in a year or so. It just makes sense to do this right and get all involved peace of mind and solve this problem. One way to look at this is 25 cents per member would do this.
This gets us to the mechanics of the thing. I have never honchoed anything but am willing to forward funds to Sam and Julie if asked. Sam and Julie are set up for paypal and of course snail mail still works. I spoke with Sam this morning and he and Julie would be willing to keep the family updated as to where we are on the goal. I will be happy to forward mailing addresses or paypal information in response to any pm. You can also pm Sam and Julie directly.
Sam and Julie are family and have contributed to society and this country. They contribute valuable life and boolit experience to this forum. When I was a kid running around the woods with a Benjamin air rifle Sam was wearing a uniform that told the world he was willing to put his life on the line for me. That carries weight and deserves to be honored.
Many of us complain about the state of the world or the country or political deadlock and lots of other stuff that we can't do much about. We CAN do something about this situation. Let's FIX this thing because it is the RIGHT thing to do.
6 years ago this forum was able to help Sam (grey wolf) and Julie (wise owl) get a vehicle. That vehicle is no longer worth repairing and has a finite number of miles left in it. Sam and Julie live in rural Maine 3 miles from a paved road. Maine weather and the fact that they live in the mountains set some of the parameters that a replacement vehicle will have to meet.
A replacement vehicle needs to be an SUV of some sort. 4X4 is a must, remember we are talking rural Maine here. Reliability is also key so we need good tires, good battery, no major mechanical problems, and not something with a history of problems.
In prior posts I have mentioned that locating a vehicle might be a good first step. After thinking about it some more it is pretty clear that Sam and Julie can do a lot better if they have cash in hand before they start looking. Another factor is that their current vehicle only has so many miles left in it so it makes no sense to have them running all over the north east using up those remaining miles to find something and then trying to get funds for it.
At this point I think that we are better off focusing on getting the funds together. Looking at various online car sights it is pretty obvious that any decent SUV is going to be at least $10,000. Of course we all hear stories about someone's brother in laws best friend's cousin finding a mint condition SUV for $2500. If that happens here great, but in the real word $10,000 is a realistic figure. There is still a possibility of a family member finding a deal several states away and if that happens renting a UHaul car towing trailer and towing the car to them is not off the table but with cash in hand Sam and Julie will have much more power in any negotiation.
There may be some folks who might feel that this is an awful lot of money for a vehicle especially if they are driving a vehicle that cost less that that. That may be true but the facts are the facts it is what it is. We could go with something cheap to get them through the winter but then we would be right back here in a year or so. It just makes sense to do this right and get all involved peace of mind and solve this problem. One way to look at this is 25 cents per member would do this.
This gets us to the mechanics of the thing. I have never honchoed anything but am willing to forward funds to Sam and Julie if asked. Sam and Julie are set up for paypal and of course snail mail still works. I spoke with Sam this morning and he and Julie would be willing to keep the family updated as to where we are on the goal. I will be happy to forward mailing addresses or paypal information in response to any pm. You can also pm Sam and Julie directly.
Sam and Julie are family and have contributed to society and this country. They contribute valuable life and boolit experience to this forum. When I was a kid running around the woods with a Benjamin air rifle Sam was wearing a uniform that told the world he was willing to put his life on the line for me. That carries weight and deserves to be honored.
Many of us complain about the state of the world or the country or political deadlock and lots of other stuff that we can't do much about. We CAN do something about this situation. Let's FIX this thing because it is the RIGHT thing to do.