Spring 1996

Around February I finally saved up enough money to start looking for my own house. With a little help from my parents and grandparents and after some tense moments I finally found the perfect first home, and yes, it had a garage, a home for the jeep. Three bedrooms, one bath, a deck, and...a TWO CAR GARAGE!!!

The drawback was now that I had a house and a mortgage. I couldn't spend a lot on the jeep, but I had already done the big things, it was just little things now and then that I needed to work on. The best thing was being able to start a project, take some stuff apart, then leave things spread around the garage until I got back to it. No more wondering if I would have time to finish up, and cleanup my tools and mess from off the street. No more last minute emergency repairs in the rain and the cold. No more gravel. I could leave the top off all the time.

Some people said all I cared about was my garage but that wasn't necessarily true. I was happy to have a garage but I was also happy to have a place to call home. A place to make repairs and additions that would belong to me and not a landlord (well, I guess the bank is the real owner but that's a different story).