Fonda Odyssey

To kick off our road trip, we purposed to buy a car in an unfamiliar town, buy a new car seat for Ava, and end the day two hours south of said unfamiliar town. So we hopped out of bed at the crack of nine, and were on the road well before noon (stop laughing, those of you without babies and jet lag). Our first stop was the lovely town of Dublin, CA, at Dublin Honda. There we met Roberto, the car salesman and father of eight, obviously desperate for a sale. His boss, however, was that man that they have at every dealership I've done business with, whose job posting must read something like:

Help wanted to discuss money issues with potential car buyers. Must have Italian surname; Gambino or Hoffa name a plus. Must be humorless, dour, and scare small children and first time buyers. Greasy hair required. Mafia nickname optional.

Vince (his real name) was not interested in giving us a good deal on any car, and we weren't excited about the former rental cars that littered the lot. So we excused ourselves for lunch and did not return.

Early afternoon found us at Honda of Oakland, where the used car we were most interested in had been sold days earlier. They were much more interested in making us a deal, and gave us an offer on a brand-new Odyssey that was too good to pass up. So, after only a few hours of deliberation and input from everyone I could think to call, we had agreed to buy a new car, the base model at a sub-bargain-basement price.

Then the real fun began. We drove up the street to Chase Bank, where I had deposited some money several weeks earlier in anticipation of this transaction. I walked past the Chase sign into the bank, spoke with the teller wearing the Chase shirt, and asked to withdraw money from my Chase account. "I'm sorry," he said, "but we are not a Chase Bank." It so happens that this was a former WaMu bank, as are all Chase locations in California, and as such does not yet have access to Chase accounts that were never at WaMu.

After the branch manager spoke on the phone with someone at the corporate office for half an hour or so, they figured out how to give me the money, and gave me a cashier's check made out to Fonda of Oakland. The teller did not find it as funny as I did, but did correct it.

So an hour after we left the dealership, we strolled back in and talked their finance guy, who I'm sure was related to Vinny from Dublin -- equally humorless, intimidating, and downright mean. Even Ava could not coax a smile out of this man. But he did the job, and the salesman handed us the keys, and away we drove in an Ocean Mist blue van with 53 miles on the odometer.

Our economic stimulus package was not tapped out, though -- we then proceeded to buy a camera from a seller on Craigslist, whom we met in a Wal-Mart parking lot south of Oakland. After picking up some supplies and grabbing dinner, we rushed back to the airport to return the rental van, sliding in a few minutes shy of 24 hours. We left for Monterey a few minutes before eleven and arrived after an uneventful drive at 12:30 am with a wide-awake baby (video to come).

Alas, the car seat had to wait...