Of Sir Francis Drake and Minivans

For those of you who do not know, my family is a descendent of Sir Francis Drake, the first European to circumnavigate the globe. My mother's family has lived off the sea as fishermen for over 200 years and many cousins in my generation were fishermen for most of their lives. My father's family is from Norway from an island named Reksta, so I am sure they spent some time on the Nordic seas as well.

I can make the argument that I come from a long line of seafaring people. In fact, my mother was actually named after her father's schooner, the Lucy Mary (see below). Yes, she grew up in a culture where the children were named after ships and not the other way around.

Fast-forward over 350 years from the birth of Sir Francis Drake and you get to me - a marketing manager living in Atlanta, Georgia. I yearn for the cold seas of the North Atlantic but alas I am trapped in North Atlanta. We are in a drought and there appears to be no chance of getting a ship out of port. One day I may sail on the seas like many generations before me, however today I must just drive to work.

Yet, the call of the sea is still in me.

So....this weekend we transitioned from a one car family (for almost a year) to a two car family. I believe it was my pining for the sea that caused me to purchase a new flagship for my Asphalt Armada. We bought a Silver Kia Sedona minivan. I now have 2 minivans in my armada...the fleet is growing. Sir Francis Drake had his ship, the Golden Hind and therfore I shall now refer to my new minivan as the Silver Hind. She is a glorious vessel and my entire "crew" is very excited about the new flagship.
Stock Photo


As an additional footnote, I would like to add that we bought this minivan outright. We walked in, negotiated our deal, wrote a check and walked out with the van. 4 years ago, I would never have believed we would be able to do this and it was a great feeling. I thank my wife for getting us on Dave Ramsey's debt elimination plan which helped make us believe this was even possible.