May 2, 2017 ... The adventure begins

More or less on a whim, I bought this beautiful beast. Scarlet is an 1998 Ford Econoline E350 Club Wagon XLT. She's running a 6.3L V10 with 130,000 miles and can carry 15 passengers.
And she smelled like cigarettes.
I bought this van for $5000 with the intention of taking the family on a series of road trips. We have 3 kids, one of whom is a 15 year old who was a 6'3" when I bought it. Now he's 6'5". There was a bench for each of the childrenses, the other 2 being a 3 year old and a 13 year old, which as anyone who has taken family roadtrips will attest, is the perfect ratio of of bench seats to kids for extended driving time.
As I handed over the cash to the dealership, I imagined all the adventures that Scarlett would take us on. I didn't let the fact that I'd just spent all the money we might have used for those adventures on this van douse my euphoria at having this blank slate of a vehicle to make my own.
Here we are, 7 months later, and I'v…
And she smelled like cigarettes.
I bought this van for $5000 with the intention of taking the family on a series of road trips. We have 3 kids, one of whom is a 15 year old who was a 6'3" when I bought it. Now he's 6'5". There was a bench for each of the childrenses, the other 2 being a 3 year old and a 13 year old, which as anyone who has taken family roadtrips will attest, is the perfect ratio of of bench seats to kids for extended driving time.
As I handed over the cash to the dealership, I imagined all the adventures that Scarlett would take us on. I didn't let the fact that I'd just spent all the money we might have used for those adventures on this van douse my euphoria at having this blank slate of a vehicle to make my own.
Here we are, 7 months later, and I'v…