[LarryIII]

Tuesday & Wednesday I was in Cleveland (Willoughby), Ohio for work to test out equipment. The most interesting thing was that Hertz screwed up again and I wound up with a 2004 Ford Freestar (Windstar) mini-van. This is a real big tank on the highways. The ride is soft and mushy and it tries to isolates you from the road similar to the way the Caddys rode in the late sixties. It wallows like a pig around 65-70 mph. and I learned that it takes alot of road to stop. The Outback has much crisper handling. The oddest thing about this vehicle was the control for the rear wiper. This wiper is controlled by a roll swith on the signal light stalk. You can roll this switch either clockwise or counter-clowise to actuate the wiper. The 'Stop' detent is in the middle. This was quite annoying last night driving thru 'lake effect' snow on I-90W to the airport. I kept overshooting the stop detent and the rear wiper kept going. The seats a comfortable but I felt like I was driving a bus. I have driven my wife's niece's 2002 Caravan and it is much crisper riding car and handles way better.
The Ford Freestar does have tons of room. Heck, it has more room than some apartments I've lived in. They should sell an optional John for this thing.