2003 Mercury Marauder - 2004

So what's the significance of that photo? We were in the marauder when we first spotted the location of our future new home. So as the lot began to get prepped for an early Spring construction, the Marauder was tucked away for the winter as an expense-cutting measure.

So in late March the car was on the street again, much like the 2003 season. Again, snowfall kept the car parked, because its factory BFG KDWS tires were close to useless in snow. Nonetheless, as the weather improved in April, the car shuttled the family to the construction site now and again.

All was not smooth in the spring of 2004... some idiot on her cell phone rammed the rear of the car in traffic at a rather high speed. No one was hurt, although her car was destroyed. The only damage to the Marauder was a scuffed bumper cover. It looks much worse than it is with the camera's flash... but it did the job: my family was in the car at the time, my little Civic probably would not have fared anywhere near as well.

Nonetheless, some fun was had. There were a few visits to car gatherings, although the new-house construction kept us all very busy and short of leisure time.

And speaking of the new house construction, this large automobile did come in handy when transporting the tremendous amount of stuff we had accumulated over the 6 years we owned that house. A lot of good memories in that house, and it was tough to say goodbye. The moment I fired up the Marauder after double-checking that all was removed from the house was quite emotional. But it was time to move forward and begin to enjoy our new neighborhood.