Friday arrived with its usual mix of exhaustion and gearing up for a weekend full of kids sports, catching up on chores, and getting to church. What wasn’t business as usual was the invitation to swing by Jim Burke Lincoln and pick up a brand new Nautilus and a gift card to Bakersfield’s own Zama. 

Before fun, we put this Lincoln to work, loading if full of kids and sports equipment. We shuttled between basketball and soccer games, amazed by the wrap-around dash display and the hands-free option that piloted our crew down the Westside Parkway.

Like anyone with a new car, we opened it up for our friends who settled into the leather seats and breathed in that new car smell. I may have forgotten to mention that we had to give it back on Monday. Sometimes you want a daydream to last a bit longer.

Saturday evening, finished with the day’s games, we unloaded the gear, got ourselves gussied up and headed downtown to Zama. Again, the Nautilus drove us across town, following the Kern upriver, hands free.

Zama is always a treat. If you haven’t tried their tropical ceviche, or salmon, or enchiladas suizas, do yourself a favor and make a reservation.

I was born into a Ford/Lincoln family. Our family photo albums are festooned with Continentals, Galaxies, a ‘34 roadster hot rod, and plenty of pickups. Our family even spent a day at the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan this summer. 

This date weekend was a great gift and only solidifies my loyalty to the brand and our local dealer, Jim Burke Ford Lincoln (where we bought our Expedition).