Our New Metris Getaway Adventure

For us, purchasing a new vehicle is a bit like bringing a new pet into our household.  It’s a 20 year commitment to an object with which we will form an emotional relationship; an object that will be part of our family - present at our happiest events and saddest of times.  

To put this in perspective, the vehicle we are replacing is a 2000 Volkswagen Eurovan. 

It is a distinctly unique vehicle, with rear facing jump seats behind the driver and passenger, a side table that pops up, and a bench that makes a bed.  All of those seats come out, and the cargo space is amazing. It was with us as our daughter grew from a child to young adult. Her friends fondly refer to it as “The Party Bus.”  In grade school she could easily pick us out of school car line, and she could find us in the parking lot after the high school football games.  The Eurovan was our mobile bedroom, dining room, living room, pick-up truck, beachmobile, and personal U-Haul. We hauled appliances, hay bales, and 300 cases of Girl Scout cookies. It took us tent camping, and then towed our pop-up camper on too many family vacations to list. It hauled Brownie Scouts on field trips, was decorated for our Exchange Student’s graduation, moved our daughter off to college, my mother into a dementia facility, and drove family to Southern Illinois for my Dad’s graveside service. But now it is getting tired.  Parts are harder to get, and Midwest winters have taken their toll resulting in rust. Unfortunately, Eurovans are no longer available in the USA, or this whole adventure would have been very straightforward.  We would have just bought a new one!

Instead, for the past two years we have been researching replacement options. The closest thing we found was the Mercedes Metris with the Driverge or Peace Van upfitting, but the cost of having one made up new was outside of our comfort zone. Instead, we stalked forums and the used market trying to find a good fit.  None of them were in the Midwest, so we figured in the end the cost would include traveling to get it or shipping.  After having several sold out from under us before we could finalize stuff, this happened…

Sunday - June 25, 2023

We were sitting in the back yard enjoying a decent Sunday afternoon.  I was reading in the hammock and Dan was poking at his phone when he noticed a Metris in Florida that met all of our tick boxes, including price - because they had just lowered it! He then noticed that they were open on Sunday (that’s not a thing in Illinois) so we called and put a deposit on the vehicle!  

June 26 - 30, 2023

We spent the rest of the next week finalizing the sale, and preparing to go get our new van.  CEFCU sent them our money, we booked a flight to Orlando, made hotel reservations for the first night, and compiled a Target order to outfit the van for the trip home. 

Saturday, July 1st, 2023

We flew direct from Peoria to Orlando - Sanford on Allegiant.  Despite the news-making amount of weather related flight cancellations across the Midwest that week, our flight was right on time, and very affordable. Allegiant seats are miserably uncomfortable - worse than a city bus - but you get what you pay for.  It was a late flight, so we arrived in Florida at 11:45p and called for an Uber. Despite the low volume of traffic at that time of night, our driver still managed to make the ride on I-4 an adrenaline rushing experience while entertaining us with his life story.  Abdallah was 55, a beef jerky distributor at some point in his past and drove everywhere delivering it. He also “had very bad luck with women” and hated living in Florida.  Despite his crazy need to reach across the steering wheel to use the turn signal, we made it to the hotel intact. It was in sight of the Benz dealership where we would go in the morning.

Sunday, July 2, 2023

THE BIG DAY!

Spring Hill Suites at Mellinia was a very nice hotel. We got up early enough to enjoy the free breakfast and take a dip in the outdoor pool.  

We then walked a greenway trail over to Mercedes-Benz of South Orlando. 

Walking into the Mercedes dealership, we actually felt a little out classed. There were some VERY high end cars on their showroom floor, including a Ferrari Roma in flat black that might as well have been made for Batman!  Staff were all dressed up, and we were in super casual vacation clothes. (It’s really HOT in Florida in July!) We also felt a little like we were “cheating” on our Volkswagen roots.  In general, there is a significant difference between a Volkswagen customer and a Mercedes customer, and we are VW folks.  Regardless, everyone made us feel welcome, and we survived the experience without any major uncomfortable moments. 

Our salesperson was Austin Cella, and he took great care of us throughout the day.  First thing on the agenda was a test drive.  When we went out to the van we were surprised to see that our acquisition included everything they had purchased to stage the vehicle for camping, and then some! Along with the camping lantern, 2 red folding chairs, a bag table and red plastic dishes they got at Target; there were 2 Mercedes Benz logo folding chairs, a MB logo picnic basket with service for two,  2 insulated MB coffee tumblers, 2 MB logo coolers,  and a Mercedes picnic blanket! We were quite happy to see these items, since our plan was to camp on the drive home. For the test drive, we went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. 

Upon returning, we had to do some initial paperwork.  Then, while they processed title, etc… we had a delicious VIP lunch in the on-site cafe.  Yes, they had a cafe with a chef!  If you google the dealership, you get a menu, and they actually do DoorDash!  I had a 4 cheese grilled cheese panini with mixed green salad and chips. Dan had a tomato pesto panini and chips. It was all perfectly prepared! 

Next we met with Joshua, the finance guy, and signed, and signed, and signed some more. Sometimes we signed in ink, and sometimes electronically.  It was a ridiculous amount of paperwork. I hope I didn’t sign away my house or grant them the ability to make medical decisions on my behalf! Actually, I don’t think I did because there would have been a lot less paperwork. 

Finally, they sent us back out to the car with some more (an embarrassing amount, actually) of Mercedes Benz swag! This included a bottle of wine, 2 keychains, 2 coaster sets, 2 more insulated coffee tumblers, 2 cleaning cloths, a whiskey glass set, a duffle, an umbrella, an insulated blanket, and 2 MB logo ball caps. I can’t say we have ever had that much VW swag, even with all the times we have attended Kombis on Kelly’s in our Eurovan. 

The last step before we could hit the road was a quick inservice with one of their techie support gals. She reviewed systems, buttons, dash interface, etc… She didn’t know anything about the Driverge conversion camping add ons, which are really what makes this our chosen vehicle, but we assured her we would figure them out.  In fact, Dan already knew so much from all of the research he has done, that he could probably teach them! 

The van was inspected and clean, and had a full tank of gas so we headed next door to Target where our order was delivered to the vehicle. I had already researched a campground west of Tallahassee, so we programmed MapQuest and hit the road running! 

But you can only run so far before you get hungry. We stopped in Lake City, Florida for supper at Cedar River Seafood.  The decor was old style but the food and service were excellent.  My grandma cooked simple southern style food, and I was thrilled see similar fare on their menu. My plate of fried frog legs, mashed sweet potatoes, Lima beans and hush puppies really got my nostalgia going!  Dan had Flounder Rockefeller with stewed okra and tomatoes, hush puppies and fries. These are not meals we could order anywhere in Illinois, and that made them even better. 

It was 9:30pm when we got to Coe Landing campground.  It was small and quiet, and the mosquitoes were thick and hungry!  Clumsily, we got the van set up without opening the doors to the fierce flying needle nosed devils. We locked the doors and tried to settle in for the night. But, it was uncomfortably warm. And the Target pillows were worthless. And the fans were weak. And the bed was very firm. And it was small. And we were achy from sitting. And there was a full moon. And we’d had a very long full emotion filled day…

Monday - July 3, 2023

After finally drifting off into a fitful sleep, around 2:30am nature called Dan to the shower house.  It was so very quiet as he put on his shoes, but then he opened the side door. We now know that if you do this without unlocking the vehicle first, it sets off the horn alarm!  In his sleepy brain fog, and shock at the realization that we were waking up everyone in the campground, he could not find the key!  In the end, he located one of the spares and managed to silence the beast. Eventually, sleep returned and then I thought I heard a rooster crow and it was morning. 

If you know us, you know that we are opposites in many ways. He likes pepper and I like salt. I like mild foods and he likes spice. I’m always hot and he’s always cold. He drinks coffee and I drink tea but we both need caffeine in the morning, especially after a night like that.  Eager to try out our new camping kitchen, I opened the stove, grabbed the propane canister from the Target order, and tried to set up for breakfast.  But the thing that attaches the canister to the stove was missing.  I pouted about this for a bit, remembered that I ordered cereal and milk in case cooking was not an option and started tearing through all of the bags from Target. We had stuffed them up under the steering wheel and in the passenger foot area, because when the bed is made out, there really isn’t a lot of room anywhere else. Gradually, it became apparent that I never got the cereal, and worse still that the ground coffee was also unaccounted for. But since we couldn’t heat water, tea and coffee were both out anyway. I was getting pretty grumpy and cursing Target pick up when Dan discovered the connector in the drawer under the bench.  Queue the Halleluja music, because that meant a hot beverage for me at least, and scrambled eggs and toast for a meal. I made Dan a cup of tea, and promised him coffee at the first gas station on the way out.  The best item in the Target order was probably the cute little kettle that whistled joyfully when my water was ready, so I was starting to forgive them for missing a bag of groceries.

The morning continued to improve with the arrival of Henry, the campground rooster.  He seemed to want breakfast as much as we did.  I posted photos and my niece informed me that Henry “was an American Game chicken bred for fighting but he didn’t fight or go to chicken judging shows because his wattles were not cropped.” Regardless, we found him quite stunning and perhaps a bit arrogant. 

After breakfast we packed the van in a much more organized fashion, picked up coffee (in both liquid and ground form) and hit the road. Maybe not running this time, but jogging. On the way out we saw a very long grey rat snake. I thought its banded pattern looked like black sewing bobbins spaced out in a long line, and I was happy that our “tent” the night before was up on 4 wheels and had metal and glass sides. 

Intentionally avoiding Atlanta, from Tallahassee we headed north, but before we had even gone an hour, a series of about 20 or more Burma Shave style signs promising all kinds of strange and wonderful wares hooked us into stopping at the last souvenir shop before leaving Florida.  

We bought Mayhaw and watermelon jelly, salt water taffy and boiled peanuts, which were weird but tasty in salt water gargle kind of way. 

The rest of the day was just about putting miles behind us.  We had a picnic lunch in the van with the A/C running because it was too hot to eat outside. This gave us a chance to use the freestanding table, which was quite handy. Around Birmingham at 5:30pm the night before a holiday, when the traffic was heaviest, we drove into an intense thunderstorm. Not fun, but the water sensing windshield wiper feature on the Metris became my new favorite thing!  I didn’t even have to turn them on. They went from slow to rapid wiping based on how much rain we were driving through. The lights came on automatically as well.  Cool!

Some of the other “cool” MB features include the blindspot sensor and lane assist. In the Eurovan, I never had a blindspot, but there is definitely one with the Metris. The side mirrors have red indicators to let you know when there is a car beside you that you cannot see.  This was great for heavy traffic.  Visibility in general is nothing like what we had in the Eurovan.  You do sit up higher but the rear window is a mere sliver and it is tinted.  I’m not sure I will ever get used to the back up camera, so I really miss the big rear view. Lane assist lets you know when you cross a line on the highway.  I haven’t learned to appreciate this feature yet.  The van takes premium unleaded - not so cool $$. The A/C is powerful - literally very cool! The front seats are comfortable. The auto shut off at stop signs is annoying, but there is a button front and center to turn it off. Dan noticed at bit of “turbo lag” when passing on a two lane, but during regular driving the ride is smooth and you don’t feel the speed. 

Unsure how far we could get before needing to collapse again for the night we held off making a campground reservation until after midday. At that point, picking a route that avoided Nashville, we set our sites on Clarksville,TN and Spring Valley Campground.  Supper was a quick grab at Wendy’s, and we rolled into Clarksville at 9pm - right when the entire population of the town and all the surrounding counties were converging on the downtown area (which we had to drive through to get to our campsite) for their holiday fireworks display!  It was sort of like being stuck in a parade that you really had no intention of joining.  All we could do was smile, princess wave, and creep through the masses of people lined up on both sides of the road for at least 3 miles! 

We finally emerged on the other side, and made it to the campground. Setting up the van went much better the second time around.  During our many hours of driving we had discussed some procedural changes which included pulling the mattress from the pop-top and using it on the lower bed. We felt brilliant for having thought of it! We had also inventoried our assets, and stopped at Walmart to fill in the gaps and purchased two more (much nicer) pillows.  The little USB fans from the Target order did a better job in TN than they did in FL  and we got a decent nights sleep. 

Tuesday - July 4, 2023

Morning came early, as it always does, and this time I was more prepared. Hot tea for me and a pour over coffee for Dan in one set of our insulated MB mugs; orange juice, scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast under our attached awning; a little bit of packing and some more organizing and we were ready to go.  

After less than an hour passing through Kentucky, we were back in our home state - Illinois!  We stopped to visit Dad’s grave in Creal Springs, had a picnic lunch in Marion’s city park then pushed on towards Peoria.  

We grabbed supper from Culver’s in Morton and got to East Peoria in time to pick up my Stepmom and go to the fireworks in Hopedale.  It was really nice knowing we had everything we needed for the evening in the van with us already - folding chairs, picnic blanket, and snacks! 

That night, as I watched the sparkling explosions of color above me I couldn’t help but ponder the journey and wax philosophical over the changes it represented for us.  We are moving away from the VW world, which obviously makes us a little sad.  But more than that, we are closing a door on one stage of our life and driving towards another. We are watching the generations shift in our family and finding the need to carry the torch at a different level than before. Hopefully, this change is one that will include more free time for us in the next few years and the ability to take our new Metris on many more exciting adventures.  

Wednesday - July 5, 2023

We still have a few things to take care of, and definitely a lot more to learn about our new van.  We need to get our vanity plates ordered, and we are hoping what we have chosen will still be available at that time.  We want DOMVAN3.  

Our first van was a 1989 VW Vanagon, then the Eurovan, and now the Metris.  

I drove the new van to work today and parked where I always put the Eurovan before. I proceeded to have another ordinary day in my fairly ordinary life, but kept thinking about the fact that we now have another not so ordinary vehicle that suits us well. They say you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a new vehicle every twenty years or so, and enjoy the happiness that comes from owning something new and just a little bit different, even if it is a Mercedes and not a Volkswagen.