Sullivan, Clinton and Broadhead Trail 1779

Day 3: September 5th, 2000 Pittsburgh (Car Search)

I am up again early. It’s half past six when I am at the Bob Evans for breakfast. My server still remembers me from yesterday. I am back at the Motel around half past seven. During my driving yesterday I saw a bunch of car dealers along Highway 19. This is my first destination for today. I drive Highway 19 all the way to Pittsburgh and back. But I am not able to find something interesting. Therefore I travel on to the suburbs.

Just before Zelionople I see a car dealer who also has older vehicles — one of them is a Ford Bronco II. This would be one of the type of cars I was searching of. Unfortunately the dealer is currently not at the office. But his secretary is able to reach him on the phone. But the price is way above my desired $3000. It is not negotiable at $4000. I tell him that I may return later. I still hope to find a better offer. But I am starting to realize that I have to pay at least $4000 for a reasonable SUV.

I search the area for the whole afternoon. Another dealer also has a Bronco. But this one already has 130,000 miles on the odometer compared to the other one with 90,000. The other one build 86 is in a better condition than this 87 build. Also the other Bronco only had one preowner.

Back at the Motel I think about visiting the first Bronco again. I arrive around half past six but it looks like the dealer has already closed. I take another look at the truck and I get the impression that this will be my truck. When returning to my car the dealer comes out of his office. He shows me the truck and we do a test drive. He demonstrates on a parking lot how good the 4WD works and that there is no slippage. I try to hide that I have no experiance about 4WDs. At least I know now how a 4WD feels at the parking lot. After the test drive I ask him for time to think about it. I was not able to do a test drive myself because I oinly have a German drivers license which will most likely not be honoured by the dealer’s insurance.

When returning to the Motel I think about going for dinner. The guy at the Motel shows me the way to an Outback Steakhouse not too far away. As it is not weekend I get around half past seven a table without waiting. When looking at the menu my eyes are immediately drawn to my favourite from last year — the Outback Special. Surprisingly they now offer 9 and 12 ounce steaks. Last year there were only 12 ounces on the menu. My server explains that the 12 ounce was too much for many people. Therefore they decided to add the smaller 9 ounce. But I will stick to my 12 ounce despite the bad exchange rate of 2.30 DM. The steak is great as always. This was definitely not the last one on this journey. Around nine I am driving back to my Motel.