Van Hunting in Naples, FL

"First we eat." Actually we were up and at 'em early driving across the Sawgrass Freeway seeing the Everglades and birds and fishermen. Lured by an eBay van, we met Dan and drove his 2001 Dodge that was pretty good but had a noise in the rear that concerned me. We went to his mechanic who diagnosed it as minor and sprayed lithium lubricant on the leaf springs. It still had a noise but less. We went to lunch at an al-fresco Italian restaurant that was great and discussed strategy. Jason suggested we buy a newspaper and check the "for sale section. " There was a 2003 Dodge at Germain motors We drove and it was acceptable if a little less plush. $13185 was the advertised but with dealer costs etc., ($500!) it came in right at $15,000. We negotiated. We left to go see one Lori had seen parked by Walgreen's. It was four-ish in the afternoon. I called and George Kuntz met us. When we three Roberts shop together we shop- all three drive them and the others checked out everything while not driving. This seemed to be a great van. We went to George's house, sat by the pool and worked a deal. My kids, bless them, went to their cash machine and got their limit raised, wrote a check for the balance and we were driving home at dusk with a new (1997) Van. $6700.00. I wrote the kids a check. None of my banks have a Florida presence.