Sometimes things just fall right into place, like this last week. We have been talking about how we would like to replace our van with a less “broken in model” for almost a year now. This week we had a little more incentive. Our van started to shift real hard and is misfiring for some odd reason. It still runs but I don’t trust it for a long trip.
Jodi sent me a link to a 2005 Honda Odyssey on eBay, it immediately looked too good to be true, but I bid on it anyway to see what it would do. I then noticed the auction closed it 23 minutes! This made things a little more interesting and exciting, I watched it closely as it drew closer to closing. in the last 4 seconds I up my bid just to make sure I would get a good chance as well as set the max I would pay. To my surprise I won the auction, over 30 bidders and I took the cake, so to speak :-), I was pretty excited and immediately started looking at my options for getting it home.
I decided to catch a flight out there and just drive it home as it was much less expensive. I tried to get a ticket for Paul too but they wouldn’t let me using mile companion ticket and skymiles together. I ended up taking a red eye flight to Atlanta on Thursday night, where I tried to get some sleep before my early morning flight to Little Rock. What a long night, not very easy to sleep on a hard chair. I didn’t get much sleep in but I did get caught up on the NFL and NBA games. The dealer in Little Rock met me at the airport and gave me a ride to his dealership. He pointed out that gas was down to $1.81 a gallon! We finished up the paperwork and off I went.
You know they say that the journey of 1000 miles starts with one step. Well I had to travel over 1600 miles so I was anxious to get rolling. I passed some real pretty places along this journey. I had my iPhone set to send my GPS coordinates as I drove so that Jodi and others could keep an eye on me. I first traveled through beautiful Arkansas into Oklahoma, it was so pretty so see the fall colors in full swing down there. I had a little fun as I traveled through Muskogee OK, “Merle Haggard – Okie From Muskogee”. North to Kansas, Mom and Dad skyped or chatted with me (maybe both, it was a long day) just before the Kansas border and that was great. I headed west at Salina, KS straight for the Colorado border. In Denver was where I had to make the decision, do I stop here and spend the night or keep on moving. I had to stop for fuel anyhow so I grabbed some energy drinks and some corn nuts to chew on. Seems like everyone wanted to talk to me at once, Andy my boss was giving me some good advice on the route and telling me to be careful. BTW 287 is a great short cut to Laramie, it is newly paved and smooth sailing. Jodi’s Dad was chatting with me to keep me alert, and Mom and Dad Skyped me to make sure I was good as well. They were just heading our for their morning walk. After all the excitement I decided to keep on rolling. From there it was north again to Laramie, WY then west to Rock Springs, WY and north to Jackson Hole. The sun came up around the Hoback junction. I was sure surprised to find a nice thick layer of snow and ice on the Jackson pass.
It was strange to travel from nice fall weather to winter in such a short period of time. It was sure great to see the Idaho state line. Almost home now! Jodi called me about Driggs to see how it was going, she had thought that I spent the night in Rock Springs because I lost coverage once I left there, and forgot to turn my Phone back on. I just had to see if I could do it, I left Little Rock, AR at 10 AM Friday and returned home at 8 AM on Saturday morning. With the time changes that was 24 hours of driving straight. I would not recommend that again, it was surely a marathon of driving. But it was all worth it to see my family run out to meet me as I drove down the lane. They all love the new ride. It’s great to be home again.
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 Nuclear Power Plant? |
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 Where’s Dad? |
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 There he is! |
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Comments:
Paul said…
What about the new car? no tienes fotos?
Sunday, November 09, 2008 12:07:47 PM
Mom and Dad P said…
We enjoyed talking with you in the morning when you guys are usually sleeping. We liked the new technology of following your journey on the computer. Happy trails. Glad you’re home safe.
Sunday, November 09, 2008 3:04:03 PM
Paul said…
Nice set of wheels! I expect a ride in it.
Sunday, November 09, 2008 5:57:42 PM
michelle p said…
crazy story-you guys know how to find the deals! Can’t wait to see it!
Sunday, November 09, 2008 9:14:00 PM
Lance said…
It seems like not so long ago we drove to Denver for the last Van. That was a long day and a night! Sounds like you had a good adventure.
Monday, November 10, 2008 1:32:24 PM