The Joys of Travel

It sounded like a great idea–see the country and let someone else pay for it. What could be easier? Pick up two small buses at the assembly plant in High Point, North Carolina and drive them 2500 miles to Salt Lake City, Utah. “Uh-oh!” I can hear you sage travelers say, knowing much better than the naive young couple we were at the time the pitfalls of driving an untested vehicle across the country.
     Like moths in the flame, we were dazzled at thoughts of all the sights we would see. We packed bags, farmed out kids, picked up Mike’s parents and hopped a red-eye flight.
     Excitement overrode our travel weariness the next afternoon as we loaded suitcases into buses and headed west. Lush vegetation, new foods, a foreign language they claimed was English: the first day was a marvel. After a good nights rest and a biscuit and gravy breakfast, we fueled the buses and hit the road, ready for another day of adventure. Thirty miles later, Mike flashed his lights–our signal to take the next off ramp (this was LONG before cell phones, remember). Coasting into a gas station, he said the gauge showed empty. We shook our heads because we refueled only twenty miles previously, but he attempted to fill the tank. The automatic shutoff on the nozzle kept clicking off, allowing only a gallon or so at a time to be pumped. By the next day, an airlock in the tanks prevented filling more than a penny at a time in both buses. (We later learned a defect in the chassis installation crimped the vent tubes.) Thank goodness this was when a penny’s worth of gas was more than the fumes it is today, and it only took two to three hours, many angry station owners, ranting from others trying to use the pumps and much frustration on our part to fill the tank.
     Being creative individuals, we amused many, angered more and became the focus of much discussion and finger pointing as we tried rocking the buses, driving up on the curb to create a downward flow and even using a toilet plunger in attempts to clear the airlock.
     At one point I said aloud I’d love to have a book of matches. My wonderful father-in-law took over the nozzle and continued to be the gas-pumper the rest of the way home. No. I wouldn’t have really set the bus on fire, but I sure thought about it!
     Our wonderful “adventure” consisted of many bizarre fuel stops, no sight-seeing, and many late nights trying to make up lost time, but thirty years later we can still laugh about it.

Other Duh's

Isn't this a shocker. I'm actually posting early! I'm headed to Salt Lake to spend a couple of days with a dear friend while she has some outpatient surgery, and since I'm still living in the dark ages, I don't have a lap-top. I'm heading down tonight because she has to be at the hospital at 5:30. YES, 5:30 AM. This will be tough for a night owl. It might be easier on my body to just stay up! :)
     I'm feeling so pleased because for once I'm not Lyn-duh. I've caught others in the DUH act, as follows:
     My mom. (I know--easy target!) She and my step-dad went to IHOP for breakfast recently. As they were leaving, Mom went to wait by the door, while Jack paid the check.  When she saw him approach, she reached out and took his arm for him to help her to the car, except it wasn't Jack and she had the arm of a stranger. He and his wife were gracious and laughed, though I'm sure my mother turned every shade of red available.
     Mike. Last week I couldn't find a big brown tray we use occasionally. I asked Mike if he knew where it was and he said he hadn't seen it. Following a lecture on leaving it somewhere and had I remembered to put our name on it, the matter was closed (though I KNEW I never took that tray out of the house because it's so ugly!). Yesterday, he came to me and said, "I have something to tell you that will make you happy, but mad at me. I found the tray. It was with some of my things." I was so proud of him for not hiding the tray in a different cupboard and "discovering" it later, I couldn't be mad at him.
     Mike. Same day. He had been working in the garage and came in to refill his Windex bottle. After he finished he headed back to the garage, but found instead of the Windex bottle, he was carrying the remote! (Yes, he is male, isn't he!)
     My sister. On pain of death, I have been warned NOT to use her name, so we'll call her Bonnie. Bonnie stopped at a fast food restaurant (What is it with our family and restaurants??). After she left the counter, she heard her phone ringing and started looking for it. She couldn't find it in her pocket, in her purse and it wasn't on the table. Knowing she was on the phone when she entered the restaurant, she checked to make sure she didn't leave it on the counter when she picked up her order. While this was going on, her daughter asked what she was looking for. "My phone," Bonnie answered. "I know I had it when I came in here." After a long pause, her daughter said, "Mom, you do realize you're talking to me on your cell phone, don't you?" And Bonnie isn't even blonde.
     There. I feel so much better!

Quote of the day: Pride goeth before a fall.  I can't wait to see what stupid thing I'll do now after laughing at everyone else!