The Open Road

I am writing this while sitting in a moving vehicle just outside of Beaver, Utah. Isn't the modern age crazy? So you may be wondering why I am just outside of Beaver,Utah. Well, Jeanette and I are on a little bit of a road trip.

Since moving to L.A. we have been driving David's truck. The truck has served us well but it was time to move on. I am not exaggerating when I say that it is the most beat up and dirtiest vehicle in the entire state of California. It was already a bit worse for wear when we first got to L.A. but it has only gone downhill from there. David got his official "welcome to L.A." salute by getting rear-ended a few months ago. The body damage was bad enough to write off our truck but it was still drive-able. Did you know that you can wait for a year to make an insurance claim and continue driving the vehicle? Well you can!

Since then I had a bit of a run-in with a parked truck made of solid steel resulting in a wee bit of a scratch. The truck has also started backfiring and I'm a bit scared of getting stranded on the side of the freeway with my kids in the back. So, it's time for something new, don't you think? I'm all for being frugal but come on now. I recently went to Beverly Hills for a choir rehearsal and someone asked me if I saw the Beverly Hillbillies to which I replied "I WAS the Beverly Hillbillies!".

Long story short, my sister sold us her old Rav 4 which Asha lovingly christened Amelia Bedelia. It's the perfect vehicle for us. Unfortunately my parents' neighbours' teenage son backed into poor Amelia and destroyed the driver's door. This is one of those occasions when I thank my lucky stars that David is not only the kind of guy who can get straight A's in grad school but also the kind of guy who can find a new door for a vehicle and put it on in record time. It was going to take the bodyshop over a week which wouldn't have left us enough time to drive to L.A. before David and the girls arrive. The only door for a Rav 4 in all of Alberta was red and there wasn't time to get it painted so poor Amelia Bedelia looks a little ridiculous. We just can't escape our hillbilly ways! Don't worry. We will get it painted once we get to L.A..

So that brings us to two girls, two dogs, and the open road. Jeanette was planning on visiting us in the new year anyway so she came along for the ride! Luckily David is also the kind of guy who can be left with his two kids while his wife Thelma-and-Louises it up with her best friend! Don't worry, we're staying away from Brad Pitt and the Grand Canyon.

Just outside of Red Deer we started to notice a peculiar sound coming from Amelia's front left wheel well. We immediately called David and tried to get him to listen to the sound through the phone. When we pulled over and looked we couldn't help but notice the mud flap hanging down rubbing against the wheel. When we told David he sarcastically said "I love that you called me before you even looked at it. ". Whatever. He loves helping us damsels in distress.

As we carried on further south we were told that there were not one, not two, but THREE fires burning in Southern Alberta.  In January. What the hell? The highway had been closed because of smoke as well as winds so strong that they were pushing over semis and RVs. This led to a minor detour but we managed to cross the border without a problem. The border security guy waved us through quite quickly. It might have been that we were little nervous and became giggly and annoying. Why is it that I always get nervous at customs even though I have nothing to hide?

So the rest of the trip has included 2 provinces, 5 states, several bathroom breaks, and a covert operation to sneak Stobie into a hotel room. We have seen the Big Montana sky, the beautiful mountains of Idaho & Utah, and we're entering the Nevada desert. We'll be in Las Vegas soon. Oh dear! Hopefully we can survive Sin City!