Sorry this took so long to post, I wanted to do it earlier but I had to wait until my window opened up on my Fastpost ticket.
Pretty soon they're going to start enforcing the end times too (so the rumour goes),
then you'll feel the crunch. "I gotta post the next chapter by midnight, or my fastpost window will close!!!"
There was no helping it, this chapter is huge, my biggest one ever, so put on a pot of coffee, pop a bowl of popcorn and get the thirty pack on ice
I don't drink coffee, I only eat popcorn for movies and...
30 pack.
Can you believe that I had to google that? I figured it was a 30 pack of beer... and I was right.
But...
I don't drink beer either but in Canada you can get a six, twelve or two four of beer. I don't know that you can get a 30 pack. At least it's the first I've heard of it. So I went to the MLCC (Manitoba Liquor Control Commision - long name. It means: "Buy Booze Here") website and of course there's over 3.24 bajillion brands of beer. I just looked at U.S. beer and you can buy 1 bottle or a case of 4, 6, 8, 12, 15, 18, 20, 24 or 36. But no 30 pack.
I could see her hand
slowly inching towards the newspaper she picked up at the motel before we left, she's dying to read the paper but doesn't want to ignore me.
"Go ahead", I told her.
"Go ahead what?" she asked, confused.
"Go ahead and read the paper, I don't mind, really."
She was shocked, "How did you know I was thinking that?"
"Nebo intuition".
Smidgy doesn't want me to do this. I know it even though we've never spoken about it.
My DW thinks I don't know this, and as long as she doesn't read this, she'll keep on believing it, too.
Every wife out there knows this and are right now thinking, "Oh, no. He doesn't
know. He's a guy. He can't know."
Yes. I'm a guy. Which automatically makes me nowhere near as smart as the other half of the world's population. Oh, sure, if DW wants some math done and doesn't want to drag out a calculator, she just asks me. And yes, I can read a road map and figure out how to get from A to B without turning the map even once. But...
I hate to burst your bubble, dude (and every other male reading this). She knows. She doesn't suspect, she
knows it wasn't "Nebo intuition"...
And right about now women all over are screaming, "No! Don't do it!"
This is what really happened out there on the road.
Action:Smidgy's hand slowly inches towards the newspaper.
Thought process: "I want to read my paper. If I tell Nebo I want to read, he'll sulk that I don't want to talk to him. If I ask him if I can read, he'll say 'Yes' 'cause he's nice, but then he'll start talking. I don't want him to talk. I want to read. If I move my hand ever so slightly towards my paper, he'll notice and smugly tell me to go ahead and read.
Here goes... Darn. Nothing. Too subtle. Sometimes I forget I'm dealing with a male and subtle to them is like a beating over the head with a club to a female. I'll speed it up a bit and just keep it in motion until he notices. If my hand gets too close to the paper, I'll bring it back and start again. Here goes...
One more time...
Pretty soon now...
Four or five more times and he'll catch on...
Won't be long now...
Sigh...
Ah! He glanced this way! Remember to act surprised...
"Go ahead".
He didn't finish his sentence, a little prodding is in order, look confused, that'll work. "Go ahead what?"
"Go ahead and read the paper, I don't mind, really."
Finally! Don't forget to act shocked, "How did you know I was thinking that?"
"Nebo intuition"
Remember to pull newspaper up to hide face before smilling in triumph. Throw him a bone later with the Jumble. Let him win too."
Mission accomplished. You know how you "instantly" reacted to the blowout (more on that later)? And you did several things without thinking about it? Well that's basically how the above happened too. I've dumbed it down a lot for us male types, but it all happens in a split second below the conscious threshold. It's all there. Trust me.
Sorry, buddy. But don't feel bad! You did really well. Most of us wouldn't
ever catch so subtle a motion. Usually our better halves have to resort to much more overt actions to get our attention. For example:
Hand slowly reaches towards newspaper, while
body shifts almost imperceptibly in seat, while
right foot lightly but noticeably scuffs floor, while
slight head toss to get non-existent hair out of eyes, while
"accidentally" kneeing you in tender area with left knee, while
clearing throat loudly enough to drown out noise of radio, car, surrounding traffic and 747 flying low overhead.
Repeat as necessary.
Oh, and don't worry, ladies. Your insignificant other will no doubt forget everything I've just said by the time they get to the next sentence. Oh, heck. I'll guarantee it for you.
Scarlett Johansson, Kate Beckinsale, Halle Berry, Miranda Kerr, Keira Knightley, Katherine Heigl, Megan Fox...
That should do it.
After a while she asked if I wanted to play the Jumble that was in there with her, I told her of course.
Hey Nebo! I bet right now if I mentioned "Throw you a bone." You'd have no idea what I'm talking about, right?
(that sounds funny doesn't it? like she's in the newspaper as well)
Well, if you're just going to go and take all the fun out of it, I'll take my keyboard and go home.
"Ok, I havent looked at the words yet either", she told me as she folded back the paper.
"Are you ready for your first question?"
I thought about that for a second,,, "Wait a minute, wasn't that just it?"
Go Smidgy, Go! Umm.... I mean. Ha, ha, Nebo. You really got her there!
Jessica Alba
"You asked the question are you ready for your first question and I thought that was it." "You see, it was a question that asked me if I was ready for the first question,
which was not longer possible since the first question was the original question inquiring about it."
And this is the final chapter, only it isn't 'cause you're going to write a wrap up chapter so it's no longer possible for this final chapter to be the final chapter unless the next chapter is the final FINAL chapter which makes this one the penultimate final chapter.
She didn't say anything this time, just glared at me, I have that
effect on women.
On that, I have no doubts. No doubts at all.
"Ok,,,,,,first word ,,, yelral," she said, then spelled it out for me.
"Really" I immediately said.
She was disgusted.
So am I. I'm not good at those, at all. I love finishing crosswords... but hate starting them. I'd rather do the wordfind then the Jumble any day. And yet my grasp of the english language is impec... imspec... picapepp... real good.
Before long we were in Kentucky, she tried to nap a bit which was just as well because she hates going over the bridge that crosses the Ohio river I believe, it is in Paducah, right before you cross into Illinois.
I'm tellin' ya. Women + cars = nap time.
While she is trying to sleep, I'd like to take this moment to talk about the subject of driving.
That sounds suspiciously like, "And now a word from our sponsors."
Like most men, I have just about always considerd myself an excellent driver,,,(picture Dustin Hoffman saying that).
Of course I am!
(I'm an excellent driver. Uh oh, fifteen minutes to Judge Wapner.)
Oh, I wasn't always, I was brutal in my early years,,, I totaled my Camaro after only owning it for 3 weeks, it was my first car,
Okay, be honest. You cried at least a little, didn't you?
but somewhere around age 21 I matured a lot and havent' had a real ticket in almost 30 years now, with no accidents either.
I guess I'm still waiting to mature...
But I would have beaten that one too due to illegal signage, in Illinois it's illegal to lower the speed limit more than ten miles per hour at a time.
Huh. I wonder if that's more common in other states or uncommon. No, don't look it up, I'm not
that curious.
From 1982, when we moved out of the city,
In nineteen hundred and eighty two, Nebo moved his family too....
I drove almost 70 miles every day commuting to work and back;
this is on Chicago's expressways and tollways and if could get kinda hairy.
For a couple of years I would drive (one way) 143 miles (230 Kms) to work, work two 12 hour shifts (sleeping or whatever in between) then drive home. Only killed one deer and one skunk.
Another thing I have gotten better at is my attitude towards other drivers, I no longer believe I need to share my thoughts and suggestions with them all, now I keep my mouth shut and never, make hand or finger signals, although I never did that in the past either.
Welllll..... usually, I'm pretty easy going. But there have been instances when somebody is blatantly baiting me that I might have waved at them using only one finger. (Canadians are usually polite... they make up for it when they get behind the wheel)
All my experience on the expressways and tollways came in handy up ahead.
Hang on, let me buckle up. Okay, go ahead.
a few miles down the road we passed by Ina, this is the town where we stopped for gas on the way down and all the fun started with the hissing tire.
We were getting low again on gas once again now, but I'm sorry, no way did I want to stop prematurely for gas, especially back at the place where our troubles all started.
Stopping there would definitely be like spitting in the Beast's eye. Come to think of it, considering what's up ahead, maybe it wouldn't have mattered.
Smidgy was back awake now,
And is probably thinking, "Why, oh why didn't I just keep sleeping?"
Even though we are back in Illinois, we still have about 360 miles or so to go.
That does sound strange, doesn't it? When I was 7 my DDad's Sister, husband and two boys came to visit from Germany. We took them for a drive as far as the west coast. They had
no idea that these huge distances with
nothing in between could be possible. Two years later, we visited them. I remember being amazed how, when driving down the highway, one town would end and another would begin almost immediately.
I was originally hoping we would be able to beat the afternoon rush hour, but Stephen King's "The Mist", John Carpenter's "The Fog", and Charlton Heston saying, "So it is written, so it shall be done," along with traffic and delays in Tennessee have ruled that out now.
When in doubt. Blame the classics. Books or movies. Your choice.
With her back awake now, I was relentless;
What? You couldn't wait until the rest of her woke up? What about her sides? Or her front?
"Ok, where do you want to request if we stay in Coronado, and I think I recently read that the first 3 buildings are now preferred in the Casitas."
See this is where you have the advantage. I'm betting that Smidgy was at least tolerant if not downright enthusiastic about the conversation. My DW? Not so much.
As she was thinking about it we entered a construction zone where the speed limit dropped to 50, right then I caught up to a big 18 wheeler and just settled in behind him, last thing I want is to get a speeding ticket passing him in a destruction zone where the fines are doubled.
No excuse for that. I'm from another
Country and I know that.
But as soon as you mentioned 18 wheeler (remember when that was considered big?) I started to get nervous.
Also right then the little gas pump lit up on the dashboard signifying that unless you like taking long romantic walks along lonely highways you might want to put some gas in the car posthaste.
First impression? Car quits right after you've passed said semi and move in front of it. Nothing makes a semi driver happier then when somebody cuts in front of them and forces them to brake... me too actually.
I wasn't too worried though, there's usually more left in the tank than they want you to believe,
Yeah, I believe in the gas 'fudge factor' too. I really don't feel like testing my theory, though.
I didn't mention that thought to her.
Discretion is the better part of valour. Plus, you don't want to get "The Look".
The huge semi moved back into the right lane, I stayed in the left and punched the resume button again to activate the cruise control again,
And right here I thought: "Okay, low gas, looking for an exit... it goes by hidden by the semi on the right and they run out of gas."
once more we are going about 72, after passing the truck I moved back into the right lane, keeping the left lane open like you're supposed to.
I'm still looking for an exit, and we came up on another big semi so I moved over to the left to begin passing him also.
Okay. Now I'm ping ponging back and forth trying to figure out if you'll pick from column A or column B. Didn't think there was a column C (for crash) up ahead 'cause there's no way I could've gone this long without mentioning it.
But looking in the mirror, from way back, I saw a pickup truck that was really far back, and checking the mirror again I see he is really hauling butt and caught up to us as I was alongside the semi, he clearly wasn't happy with how fast I was going, and was right on our bumper.
Uh. Oh.
I started hearing a noise that I not only couldn't place, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from.
Ah! It's the catalytic converter again! Okay, no biggie... They ride out the rest of the trip with the noisy version of a Santa Fe and complain to Disney, etc...
Nope.
There's only two lanes here, with us in the left lane, and the road is just beginning a long turn to the left, when suddenly the sound got extremly loud imitating a drum roll. I put both hands on the wheel and tersely told Smidgy, "HANG ON!"
The left rear tire blew completely, totally flat, and the car shockingly tilted down on the left side and the back end wanted to catch up to the front!
HOLY CRAP!!!!!
DUDE!!!
Did
not see that coming!
With the full load that we have, there is a lot of weight in this SUV, and it is all working against me now!
I read this the first time and went "Hoo boy". But now I'm wondering if it really did. Wouldn't a light vehicle be
worse than a heavy one? Depending on were the center of gravity is I guess. Hmmm... Santa Fe = SUV = easy rollover. So does that stuff in the back pin you down or make you top heavy?
I know if the car hits the shoulder it's probably going to roll over
Either way, I agree with you on that one. Low CG or not. You hit the shoulder and buh bye.
and I won't have to worry about paying the new exhaust bill anymore,
Always a silver lining, eh? Or is that the light at the end of the tunnel?
so I had keep it under control and let the speed drop naturally. With the huge 18 wheeler right next to me I could not just pull to the right and get it off on the shoulder, I had to keep it right where it is until the truck pulls clear of us, and that shoulder that would probably flip us was only a couple feet away!
I'm also thinking you don't want to start an uncontrollable 'S' wave where your choice is shoulder and flipping or semi and scrunching.
At least the jerk behind me saw what was happening and really must have just about slammed on his brakes,,, he's way back there already,
Good thing... otherwise... <shudder>
and as the semi pulled away again in front of me, I slid into the right lane and only when we we got under 50 did I start applying the brakes and pull off on the shoulder as far as I could.
Everybody should have a sound track like they do in the movies. If you start to do something dumb, you'd hear people start to boo.
Yours right about now would be people wildly cheering.
The Santa Fe came to a stop, I turned the key off,
and then I shook.
After a few deep sighs,
Diane's first words were "I love you." No, she wasn't suddenly feeling affectionate, I believe it was her way of saying "Nice job, thank you for keeping me alive."
Very nice.
I just sat there for a while, I could NOT think, and I didn't know where my thinking should begin.
I know just how you feel. It's almost like your mind has gone a million miles an hour for a second and now it's gonna take another second or two before it starts firing on all cylinders again.
I know one thing though, I really hate where I had to pull this thing off ,,, it's on the outside of a turn to the left, meaning that all these trucks flying past at 70 mph had better be paying attention to the curve in the road, if not they will be wearing a Santa Fe as a hood ornament!
Geez, like you didn't have enough problems already. I think everybody's seen at least one video of the cop who pulls the car over and something or somebody gets hit by a passing vehicle.
I looked at the tire and I expected to find it shredded, but all it looked like was flat. Once again I'm saying how glad I was to have done the proper thing and get all new tires before the trip.
Not an ounce of sarcasm to be seen here folks... move along now.
I have changed many a spare tire in my life, especially in my younger days, but never the Santa Fe's.
You coulda ended the chapter there. But, Nooooo. It's a Nebo and Smidgy TR where bad things don't just happen in threes. Oh, no. Not our intrepid travellers.
I have also never even seen the spare, and I'm assuming it's one of those "donut" types, not a real tire, and let's see, the car is a 2003, this is 2011, so that tire has been sitting under there for 8 years, what are the odds of it haveing any air in it?
I don't know any SUVs that don't have the full size spare. As for having air...
I used to own a Beetle. 74 Super Beetle if memory serves. Very modern car. Windshield wiper fluid was air powered. From the spare. If it was messy out (think spring) you couldn't drive too far without pulling in to a gas station. Not for more fluid, oh no, had plenty of that. No, you had to top up the spare 'cause it didn't have enough air left to power the squirter.
It was explained to me this way. "Hey! It's a VW. They have to borrow power from
everywhere."
But let me give you the real reason I don't want to change the tire myself:
People are often killed on the side of a highway doing just that.
Good move... although I noticed later on that you do wind up "doing just that".
I don't know if they have come up with a scientific phrase yet for it, but it's a proven fact that cars on the shoulder of a highway will actually DRAW other cars into it!
When you are losing control of a car you should look where you want to go. So it stands to reason that if you're busy rubber necking you'll:
1. Not notice that the rubber necking driver in front of you has pretty much come to a complete stop; or
2. Automatically drive towards what you're looking at; and
3. Hit
something.
This is especially true at night, when lights are in play, especially police cruiser lights, cops hate pulling over cars to ticket them at night.
That's got to be right up there with Mine Clearer or Lion Tamer.
Diane said it then, and I agreed:
"Why don't you call
AAA? Isn't that what they're there for?"
Cop, Mine Clearer, Lion Tamer and AAA tire changerer. Check.
Note to all you kids out there. Stay in school!
I really felt wussy doing this, but heck, that is what they are supposed to be for, right?
Absolutely, and all those pit crews at the Indy 500 aren't macho at all! Just keep telling yourself that Nebo!
I have never called them in my life, I had no idea how that worked with them, I just join to get the Disney and motel discounts, that's why I had to be careful when I just told the story about locking the car keys in the car before her surgery, for that was then the SECOND time I called them.
First off. Nice one on being careful about the second call to AAA. I'll have to go back to make sure, but I don't think you let anything slip.
Secondly. You've never called AAA? Never needed a boost? You live in a northern State for Pete's sake! Howd you manage
that
The dispatcher asked if we had a spare, I told Diane to tell them yeah but it may be flat, whoever comes out better have a compressor to fill it with.
Considering the result, next time ask for a fuzzy cup or a 'special' Sunny D.
Just a thought.
How many of you think that at a time like this, it wouldn't be right
if it didn't start to rain?
Oh, all of you, well, you're all correct, a light rain started.
Of
course it did. It wouldn't be a Nebo and Smidgy TR otherwise. Somewhere there's a director yelling, "Aaaaaand cue the rain..... now!"
By the way,,, the pickup truck that was tailgating us and saw what happened kept going, no offer of help from him.
Nice. Where's Klinger with a good Lebanese curse when you need one?
45 minutes later,, another pick up truck pulled over and I thought it might be our guy,,,, uh uh, it was a guy who could barely speak English, but asked if there was something he could do. I told him no, but thank you, and he left.
Nice to know there are still
some nice folk still out there.
Hopefully we'll be able to find a place this afternoon that can match up the same tires,,, they gotta have a Goodyear in Effingham, then once again we can leave in the morning in the never-ending story.
Effingham. Does that sound like someone cursing a slice of ham, or what?
It was bad enough I'm being a wuss and not changing my own tire, but I'm not going to be looking like Mary Poppins when triple A pulls up!
At this point, do you really think it matters? I think your dignity left a long, loooong time ago.
Oh, settle down. I'm just pulling your leg, Mary.
An hour passed, still no call, Diane tries to call them back.
But now she can't get service,,,,NOTHING, no service to anywhere,,,, and the battery is NOT dead!
...
Would you believe it? They had JUST NOW killed the phone service for not topping off, even though it should have been done automatically!
That is the icing on the TR cake. If this was a movie, I'd walk out right about now with a, "Oh, come on!" I mean really! There's no way.
"Okay, here's the pitch. So they're stranded right? And they use their cell phone. And just at that time Virgin cuts off their phone!"
"I'm not buying it. What if they have automatic top off?"
"They do! But just for this one time, it doesn't work."
"So let me get this straight. They have a phone which automatically tops up, they have a blow out even with brand new tires. On an outside curve. While passing a semi. Then the phone works one second and doesn't the next. Does that about sum it up?"
"Yeah!"
"Get out."
Here we are, stranded on the side of a highway, and Virgin Mobile chooses now to turn off her phone!
I still don't believe it. I mean, I do, 'cause you said so... but...
I don't freaking believe it!!
Then a cub scout got out and walked over to us.
Aren't they supposed to always be prepared? You know, maybe with an air compressor or a screw driver?
He did not look like he had even started shaving yet, and I knew in an instant I was going to hear, "Like" an awful lot in the next 20 minutes.
Like, Thumper_Man already, like, covered this one, like, really well, like, for real.
As I said, I've never done this before on the Santa Fe, and I didn't know right away where the "crank" down thing is,,, AAA said it's inside, underneath our life's belongings
Probably got that off a computer. Which still can't substitute for brains.
"Oh yeah man, pretty sure, that's, like, it." And he's looking at me as if
I had just made the most incredible discovery.
Next time tell him to try Google
Images
"Hold it, don't you want to break the lug nuts loose, first?"
Just how new was this kid??? I can understand you or me or whoever not knowing that. But if you work for AAA, shouldn't that be something you'd know?
He got 3 broken loose, but then he was stumped, he's not strong enough to do it on the fourth and fifth nut and now he has the wrench on it and he's about to jump up and down on it.
Note to AAA. Hire people who can actually do the job.
I had pictures of him falling backwards into rt. 57 in front of a semi
Quote from my favourite author, Evolution in action. Like boy jumps on wrench and falls in front of semi. Average usefulness of the AAA work force goes up a notch.
I know. I know. You dont want the poor sot to get splatted. You gotta take care of em
like kittens or puppies.
and disgustedly told him to get out of the way, and I went and busted the last two loose, which now put a look of awe on the guy's face.
So now youre Smidgys
and this guys hero. Youre on a roll. Now if only you could avoid injury long enough to gather all the accolades.
There it is, what looks like a huge piece of plastic,,, or better yet, pottery, was stuck in between the treads.
I was going to ask if you went to complain about the quality of the tire, but no tire is going to survive a puncture.
Well, okay. Runflats will.
But a normal tire? Not so much.
Pottery?
On the highway during a construction zone?
What, are the IDOT workers having Arts and Crafts Shows during their lunch hours?
Dont be silly. If theyre government workers, or on a government contract theres no Way theyd do pottery during lunch.
Thats reserved for work hours.
Lunch is for lunch. Thats when you take a break from pottery. Sheesh.
He looks at the cover plate that has to be removed first that has a huge long slot in it, and asked me for a screwdriver.
Was he there to perform
any of the functions that AAA advertise so heavily? You know, like helping stranded motorists?
Yes, yes. I know. The maps and guidebooks and discounts are all wonderful. But isnt the whole point of AAA supposed to be peace of mind? I feel like you should give them a piece of your mind, alright.
He doesn't have a screwdriver,
What?!?!? Geez, even I have a multi tool in the car. You know, it gets thrown in the glove box just in case and never sees the light of day again. This is AAA and the guy doesnt have a
screwdriver???? Seriously?
Oh.
Was he an excellent driver? Did you ask for I.D.? Was there a big AAA on the side of the truck and a big L on his forehead?
and now he's just staring at the plastic cover with the slot in bewilderment.
Oh. My.
I sighed, pulled a quarter out of my pocket and removed the cover with the quarter in the slot.
He now has a look of shock and awe on his face, he wouldn't have been more impressed if I had parted the Seven Seas Lagoon so the tourists could reach the Promised Parking Lot.
I am
so tempted to do that pic. But I have a choice here. Post this now, or do the pic and post this in two or three days.
Maybe later. It
would be a fun shot, no? Love the visual though.
"Oh wow man, are you like in that high IQ club only a few dudes can get in?"
"Well yes," I had to tell him, "We both have been in Mental for over ten years now.
In one of my last jobs, there was this guy who was very arrogant and condescending to pretty much everyone. He loved to parade his usually useless knowledge in front of his supposedly less intelligent brethren.
A few years earlier, I had taken the Mensa test that was in Readers Digest. I passed. Trying not to brag or anything but its important for the story that you know.
Anyway, this guy was showing off, I suppose, for my benefit. He asks me if Ive ever heard of Mensa. (Geez,. I may not be as smart as brilliant boy here, but many people have at least
heard of it.)
I can already see where this is going
one more boast, coming up. <sigh>
Theres a time for politeness
this wasnt one of those times.
So I say, Oh yeah, I know about Mensa. I wrote the test a few years ago, but Im not going to send somebody $50 just so I can carry around a little card that says Im smart. Im not that stupid.
He sheepishly replied that he had a membership.
Oddly enough, he didnt bother me much after that. Go figure.
Using the same lug nut wrench, he now is killing himself trying to crank down the tire, this is something that has never been done before and it's a bit rusted and not moving too smoothly.
And again, he wasn't strong enough and I had to do it.
So how much is AAA paying you for this?
Well, in the end, Hyundai surprised me:
The tire that was under there the last 8 or so years still looked real good, PLUS it was a full size tire.
I stuck my tire gage on it and it showed 22 pounds, better then I ever would have guessed.
Going with the theme, it really should have been flat
or missing altogether.
I asked Dude if he had an extra gallon of gas in the truck for me, I figured that would be a staple, but he just stared at me.
I asked him if he had a compressor to fill the tire up with,,,,yes, that's right,,,
he just stared at me.
I asked him if he knew the difference between left and right
he just stared at me.
I asked him if he knew any words other than like
he just stared at me.
I asked him to stare at me
he just looked away.
I watched him the rest of the way, when he was all finished I gave him ten bucks for a tip, although I thought he should have tipped me. If I had done it all myself we would have been done a lot sooner, although his hydraulic jack was a big help and a lot quicker.
Youre a better man than I am. I dont think I wouldve tipped him. Plus I dont think it wouldve taken you an hour and a half to change the tire if youd done it yourself from the get go.
And yes, I get not wanting to do it on an outside curve and die in the process.
5 miles up the road we exited and at the top of the overpass was a gas station/air.
Gee! Only 5 miles? Boy thats lucky!
Some people get all the luck!
I can't really describe the car's mood the rest of the way home,,,, when we thought no more could go wrong, it STILL did, but oddly, even though our confidence in all things driving and trips is now shot, I/we, feel like we can deal with whatever gets thrown our way.
I would imagine that you were on pins and needles right up to the moment you opened your front door.
Getting into Chicago around 6:30 had us missing most of rush hour, so that actually worked out well for us, pulled into the driveway at 7:30, just as it started darking out.
More good luck! Boy you guys are so lucky!!
Just before she hopped out to move the Elantra out of the garage to make room, I stopped her by grabbing her arm, leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek,
"I love you too."
Aww. But she sure deserved that. You both did.
Thanks for the chapter, I await the wrap up with bated breath.
like nebo says, he will wrap things up, and hopefully, post a very important picture (to me).
We'll miss you too Buzz. We'll miss everyone actually. It's like we all went on vacation together and now it's over, and we're all headed back home. At least until we meet again for Nebo's & Smidgy's August trip TR.
If you ever do a trip report, I think it may take you 3 months of writing to get the car backed down the driveway!
