Lamenting Slow Wits

Yesterday I had an experience that leaves me laughing and chagrined at the same time. I never was one who could think fast when caught by surprise.
I was at my local Aldi's store where you deposit a quarter to use the shopping cart. It's not uncommon to meet up with someone just arriving when you are leaving who offers to exchange a quarter for your cart. So yesterday when this lady practically chased me down and wanted my cart, I didn't think anything of it. But when she preceded to pull the cart away from me without offering the usual quarter, the thought that went through my mind in that split second was that she is trying to stiff me. Being the thrifty Mennonite that I am I asked her "Do you have a quarter?"
She laughed & laughed. "A quarter for a cart!" she said. Her tone totally implied 'that's a good joke! This little Mennonite is trying to stiff me out of a quarter to use the store's shopping cart!'
Now if I thought fast on my feet I would have walked away and let her think I just cracked a good joke. After all, what is a quarter in the general scope of things. But no, not me. When she realized I was serious, she said "Well, I wouldn't know. I'm not from Ohio." She dug through her purse for a quarter.
As soon as I walked away I felt foolish. Somewhere out there is a tourist visiting our great state who will forever remember Ohio as the weird place where you have to pay for shopping carts. I wish at the very least I would have had the presence of mind to explain to her that she will get her quarter back when she returns the cart to the coral. I hope someone explained the system to her so she wasn't truly stiffed out of a quarter.
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I sincerely hope we can make the major decision we're facing without slow-witted regrets. We spent thousands in the last 3 years on our van and are no closer to finding what is wrong with it. We get mixed advice on whether it has redeeming qualities at the high mileage it has. (We had transmission work done 50K ago.) When my mechanically-inclined dh has doubts about whether it will get me to town & back, I lose faith in it fast.
We're ready to give up on it and buy a new set of wheels. That we agree on. But what to buy is another matter. I have this pipe dream of buying something newer that will be very dependable for many, many years. Is the fact that my parents owned the same car nearly all of my childhood misleading my current expectations? I have to face reality that we put on more miles than my parents did, and that things just aren't made like they were in the '60s & '70s.
Meanwhile R is evaluating his philosophy to never buy anything he can't cash off. Little issues on vehicles are just that -little, because he can fix it himself. This has saved us countless $$ on vehicles in the past. Our van of choice is a Toyota or Honda, but they hold their value and are generally out of R's preferred price range.
The real issue is how deeply we want to go into debt for a vehicle. With house payments, now is not a good time to take on van payments. We are blessed with plenty of work despite the economy, yet we're aware some people are in a bind now because they took on too much debt under the assumption their finances will remain constant -a guarantee we don't have.
"When it rains, it pours", they say. You see, we probably should be shopping for a new camper, too. We stored it in the shop instead of the garage over winter, and mice got into it. They chewed holes all over! With the economy right now it's a buyer's market on RVs, but bad timing for us. Till we can afford an upgrade, the economy will turn around and prices will be up again. Sigh. Bring out the duck tape and count our blessings that we have a camper at all... and that we're spoiled from having been debt-free so long.