I always thought a car should have a girl’s name, and when this gorgeous Kia Optima was delivered to my house, I thought for sure we’d have a new girl in the family.

I mean, all cars are a “she”, right? As soon as I sat in the cushy Nappa leather seat of the Kia Optima SXL, I knew that it wasn’t a she at all.

It’s a He.

This is going to sound completely crazy, but I’m used to that. The car spoke to me the first time I drove it, and what it said to me was,

“Yo, what’s up? My name is Gus”.

I was confused at first, and Madilyn wanted its name to be Silverberry, but the car’s name is very clearly Gus.

Gus and I have gotten to know one another really well over the course of the last 8 days we’ve had together. Gus drove me to New Orleans last week so that I could attend Dad 2.0 Summit. We left Destin after I had my hair done and my out of place rib pushed back into place by my chiropractor.

We pretty immediately hit traffic, and it took me a hot minute to figure out how to use the NAV system while also listening to Rolling Papers by Wiz Khalifa on full bump. I kept missing my cues to turn before I finally realized that NAV has its own volume and that it was on absolute low while Wiz and I were rolling at absolute high.

Once we hit the open road, Gus and I let loose.

At one point, I looked down and was cruising right along at 99 MPH. I realized at that point, I should probably put the cruise control to the test so I backed off and set my speed to 79MPH. I’m not about getting speeding tickets or points on my license, no matter how exhilarating it is to drive 100MPH.

The cruise control in the Kia Optima is ridiculous.

And by ridiculous, I mean basically my favorite thing ever. I love that I set a speed but when I get behind someone who is going slower than I am, it slows down to their rate of speed and stays 1, 2, 3, or 4 car lengths behind them.

Four car lengths is a little long, especially if you’re trying to pass people in the right lane, but three car lengths is great. I basically don’t have to touch the gas or the break once cruise control is set to ON, and aside from steering, the car drives itself.

This car is so sleek and so sexy, I just can’t get enough of it.

Gus is so spacious and comfortable that we’ve decided we are going to begin taking family day trips in him. Look how cozy all three kids are in the back seat!

Northwest Florida and southern Alabama have so much to explore and we haven’t done much exploring. On the itinerary are the following locations:

• Mariana Caverns
• Falling Water State Park
• Ponce de Leon Springs
• USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park
• Port St Joe
• Gulf Breeze Zoo
• Auburn University

Let us know if there are any other locations you want to see!