I’m getting close to my first fillup on the Grand. Since it’s a bigger tank, it will probably cost me more, even though it gets me further down the road.

After one week, I’m even happier with the Grand than I thought I would be. The more I look at it, the things that I liked most at first are now some things that I’m not so crazy about: the Dark Khaki is a nice color, but kinda bland; and the front headlights are a bit … goofy. Or something.

I was at lunch in Delhi Park on Wednesday afternoon and pulled out to go back to work. Another brand new Dark Khaki Grand went down the road in front of me. That’s when I sort of noticed the blandness of the color and the back end.

Still, I like the boxier look and it feels like a nicer version of the Cherokee which I missed so badly the last four years. I love the heated seats and leather and the smoothness of the ride and the stereo system with the wheel mounted controls. It’s nice to have a cruise control again (even though I don’t use it that often) and the remote entry is fabulous.

So far, it hasn’t cost me anything. The only wrinkle: I got a nasty letter from Chrysler Financial yesterday demanding over $1700 for ending the lease on the Wrangler ‘early.’ Guess they weren’t informed of the ‘pull-through’ program. I hope this isn’t a harbinger of big-time pain with them in the future. I’ve got a call in to the dealer to find out.

Meanwhile, it’s great to drive. Frank hasn’t driven it yet, but that’s going to have to be corrected this weekend.

An historic moment: « the first US passenger jet to land in Vietnam since 1975 lands at Ho Chi Minh City ». Oddly enough, it was flown by bankrupt United Airlines, and odder still, carried as a passenger … wait for it … David Hasselhoff, of all people.

‘United Airlines Flight 869, from San Francisco, arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, at shortly after 10:00 p.m. Friday (10 a.m. EST). The flight — carrying 260 people, including some Vietnamese who fled their country after the war — was first U.S. commercial plane to touch down at Tan Son Nhat International Airport since the wartime capital of South Vietnam fell to the communists in 1975. … Many Americans who fought in the war have vivid memories of Tan Son Nhat airport, where they caught Pan American “freedom birds” home or to rest stops such as Hong Kong and Japan. Now-defunct Pan American was the last commercial U.S. airline to fly out of Vietnam before Saigon fell on April 30, 1975. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s state-owned airline has expressed interest in opening its own route to San Francisco by the end of next year, or early 2006.’

Now about that Domino Theory, among other things …