Don't Ordinarily Trade Cars Yearly, But --

Yesterday was quite a day. Over the Labor Day weekend I went on line to see if I could find any used 2006 Toyota Scion xB's for sale. I bought a sharp little Scion xA a little over a year ago and although I loved the car dearly, it wasn't long after I purchased that I realized I should have bought the slightly larger "wagon", which is what the xB is.

Tuesday morning I began calling the dealerships that were listed as having xB's available. I first connected with V&H in Marshfield. I thought we had done most of the deal on an '05 over the phone, so I told him to hold it for me and started driving to Marshfield.

After getting out about 40 miles, I receive a call on my cell phone from a very apologetic salesman who tells me the car sold on the previous saturday.

So I returned to the office and continued down my list of possibles. The next was an "arctic white" in Rochester, MN. The salesman told me he was certain it was on the lot but I told him to go check. Good thing I insisted because he returned to tell me it had sold last saturday also.

Next I tried dealing with an outfit in Minneapolis that basically wanted to rape me.

Then I put a call into Rosemurgy Toyota and bingo! I found a black, 2006 with only 5,500 miles on it, I spent the rest of the day driving to Wausau, negotiating a final deal, and returning home with my new "pre-owned" vehicle.

I was particularly impressed with my salesman at Rosemurgy, Matthew McCleod, a 24 year old former marine who just got back not too long ago from serving one hitch in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan and a second in Iraq where he was involved in a classic Iraqi ambush -- first hit by an IED, then RPG's and small arms fire.

Matthew's injuries were mostly to his right leg and knee, which is now held togethr by two titanium pins. A finer young man you will never meet. I am just glad he is out of harm's way and didn't die for George Bush and Haliburton. If you are in the market for a good new or used vehicle, I recommend you contact Matthew at the Rosemurgy Auto Mall just off Highway 51 North, Wausau. His e mail: mmcleod@rosemurgy.com. Cell phone: 715 212 0643.

Hopefully this is the last car I will have to buy in this life time. Toyotas have really good reputations as long runners and I will probably have my license taken from me for being too old to drive before I get this one paid off!