Mike Pemberton/Voices: Minivan holds many memories - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette
"Dad, I'm moving to a new apartment the Monday after graduation. Can the Windstar hold my stuff," my daughter, Anissa, soon to turn 22 years old, said the other day. "Well, probably, but not sure about driving it to Rock Island," I said. "Is the Windstar okay. My wife, Yolanda, and I along with our two kids, Michael and Anissa, were speeding along in our tan Ford Windstar minivan on a two-lane highway in North Dakota. Our only company farmers harvesting wheat, air-conditioned combines cruising up and down the rolling hills. "Dad," an 8-year old Anissa said, "are we ever going to return to civilization. I've never dreaded trading a car or longed for a certain type. We bought the Windstar new in 1998, but since then we've spent our money on a solid, if unexciting, used Buick Century and a leg-room-loving Lincoln Continental with 70,000 miles. None of these cars evoke "zoom, zoom" excitement, yet they got us from point A to point B hassle-free. We sold the Lincoln years ago and gave the Buick to Anissa. So Yolanda and I are left with the Windstar and that's fine by us. Over the years we've strapped a bulging canvas carrier to the top, stacked suitcases in the back, wedged a cooler between the seats and taken off from Hoopeston to see America. Twice to the aforementioned Dakotas, the second time a few weeks before Michael went off to college. Source: www.news-gazette.com
