"Wanna go to Ray's over Thanksgiving?" Seth asked as we settled onto the couch one evening. "No" I replied, quite frankly. Ray's is an indoor mountain biking park in Cleveland. It is amazing, but I had just spent 3 weeks in Ohio with my Mom's family, and I was looking forward to staying home for two and a half weeks til I had to jet off to LA for the LA Auto Show at the beginning of December. (Not that I didn't enjoy my time in Ohio, or my family, but I am quite the homebody, and just love being home.)
"Well, would we go all the way home, or would we just stay in Cleveland?" I asked (seriously thinking that 4 less hours each way might change my attitude). Seth looked at me like I was insane, and said "I don't know about your family, but my family won't let me get away with driving so far and not coming down to see them."
I thought about it for a few more hours, and finally decided that it might be fun to come home for Thanksgiving. After all, my aunt Joan was in town from Hawaii! I'm so glad I did!!! We had a blast. I took off half of Wednesday and we left around 1 in the afternoon. (I told Seth to make sure he was ready leave at noon, since he had the whole morning off. At 11, I knew we wouldn't be leaving at noon...) The worst part of the whole trip was the drive down. We had to drive separately in order to bring the 4Runner that won't break down back to Foreign Auto, since it refused to pass the Vermont inspection (perhaps the first sign that the 4Runner that won't break down needed a new name), and we got a new 4Runner that moves from my wonderful aunt Lisa. Dad lovingly suggested that we bring it home and let Foreign Auto sell it for us, and I took him up on that offer in a heartbeat! It was such a relief not to worry about selling it ourselves, and the hassle of putting it in the paper, making appointments, answering phone calls from unknown persons...thank goodness for Dads!
Since we didn't leave until around 1, we didn't expect to arrive in Cincinnati at any kind of reasonable hour. I was most terrified of the drive from Columbus to Cincinnati, as it would be the latest, I would be the most tired, and it always drags on and ON and OOOOOOON forever, especially when it is late and at the very end of a 16 hour drive. This segment of the drive really makes you appreciate the "HELL IS REAL" billboard in one of the many Ohio fields. Every time we stopped for gas I mentioned to Seth that I needed to stock up on caffeine, or snacks, or that I was planning on saving all my fun music, to make sure that I wouldn't be falling asleep between Columbus in Cincinnati.
We got to Columbus, got gas one last time, and I was completely exhausted. I didn't see how there was any way that I could make it the final two hours. (Seth says it is only an hour and a half.) Once we got out of the city lights, I started eating my snacks, and drinking my drinks, and playing my fun music. In a last ditch effort to stay alert I turned on The Frankl Project. The car was a-hoppin' and I was wide awake until (cough! sputter sputter). Something strange happened and I lost power for just a second, and when it came back the ABS light was on in the dash, and the radio turned off. I thought it was kind of strange that the ABS and radio would both be affected by whatever was happening, being completely unrelated to each other. I called Seth.
"Uuuuummm, the ABS light came on, I lost power for a second, and the radio turned itself off."
"The ABS light doesn't have anything to do with the radio" Seth said.
"I know, that's why I called you."
"What happens when you LIGHTLY TAP the breaks?" Seth asked. (I hadn't thought to try the breaks after the ABS light came on, I had just panicked and focused on why the ABS light and radio had gone at the same time).
"Hmmm," I said, "What if I tap the breaks and wreck? Should I tap them or should I just coast to a stop?"
"Tap them"
"Are you sure?"
"yes."
My foot was hovering over the brake pedal, when another light came on! Then all the lights in the dash started coming on.
"Oh No! All the lights are on now! What is happening! What should I do!"
"Can you stop? What happens when you tap the brakes?" (Poor Seth)
I finally tapped the brakes and affirmed that they worked. I could slow down.
"What if I slow down and then can't get started again? Maybe I shouldn't slow down I should just keep going as long as I can."
"What happens when you accelerate?" asked Seth.
I slammed on the gas pedal (I don't know why I was so hesitant to press the brakes and slow down in a car that was obviously having troubles, but had no worries about slamming down the gas pedal to go faster...I think I need some break-down training).
"Hmmm, I can go, but it kind of sputters and doesn't accelerate very well," I said.
Seth was driving right in front of me, and started to slow down. "Don't slow down!" I snapped at him, "I might not be able to get going again!" He changed lanes and got behind me. Then my headlights started dimming, and I lost the ability to accelerate completely. The car was slowing down and I couldn't do anything about it. Good thing Seth already had me test the brakes! "OK, I have to stop" I said as I turned my blinker on and started moving over to the side of the highway.
"Why?" he asked.
"I'm pulling over.
"WHAT'S GOING ON" he said. (Poor Seth)
"Oh! It is losing power and I can't accelerate anymore." I moved to the break-down lane and slowly started breaking.
"Is there a reason you are still driving and not coming to a stop?" Seth asked.
"I don't want to break too hard" I responded.
"Why not?"
I didn't really have a good reason, so I broke normally and came to a stop. As I did, I turned off the headlights to conserve power. Seth came up, and was going to switch cars with me and try to limp the 4Runner that won't break down as far as he could until we would need to rename it. As soon as he turned the headlights back on the engine stalled, and it wouldn't start back up.
We moved anything of importance from the 4Runner that couldn't into Seth's Volvo and discussed what we should do. I wasn't sure how far away we were from Cincinnati, and it was 3:30 in the morning. The big question was: Should we call Dad now, or in the morning? Hmmmmmmmm, 3 years ago I would have called him now, but I was pretty sure that he and Cindy were both home, which meant that he was probably sleeping, like any other normal person would be, and that he would probably be getting up early anyway. Seth and I were both pretty tired, and now irritable as well, and so I decided that we would just go to Seth's Dad's house and sleep, and call Dad in the morning.
It turned out we were not that far from Cincinnati. We were near the Loveland exit, RIGHT before the big bridge over the Miami river. Sheesh. Ah! Beautiful sleep! I set my alarm for 8 in the morning to get up and call Dad.
"Cricket! Cricket!" My phone alarm sounds like crickets.
"Ugh" I thought, "it is 8 o'clock already!" I called Dad and he didn't answer. "Good." I thought, rolled over and went back to sleep.
Eventually I did get hold of him, and we went up in the rollback to pick up our lonely 4Runner that couldn't. When we got there it started right up. Dad asked if I wanted to drive it back, but I was a little nervous that if I did start driving it, it would lose all its power on the bridge that was right in front of us, and I wouldn't have anywhere to go. So we put it on the roll back and drove back. Thank goodness for Dads.
Ah! Happy Thanksgiving! Our plans were to go to Mom's family's dinner (in Dayton), so that we could see Joan (and everybody else). It turned out that Joan had gone back to Hawaii, but we did get to see everybody else! We also had recently decided that we would try to make it the the Schroder party (In Kentucky) before it was too late. We had a lot of driving ahead of us for two people who had driven 15 hours to be there. We made it to both parties and had so much fun at each! Susanna just about talked us in to visiting her in Africa instead of Elizabeth in Boise, and made great headway in convincing Seth that he would have no trouble getting a Fulbright scholarship to go hang out in Africa for a year or two.
We sped down to the Schroder party and had fun watching the little kids spend their excess sugar before they went home. My cousin Jody's new house is so beautiful! Seth and I have taken to comparing other houses to our own, specifically trying to figure out how many times our house could fit into another house. We decided that our house could probably fit into Jody's kitchen and living room, and she had a lot to be thankful for.
After Jody's we went to Lana's house to play cards (ie - talk) with Lana, Laurie, Anne, and Kelly. It was so fun! Seth didn't even mind being the only guy and the only non-Schroder there. It was fun to stay up late with Schroders again. It reminded me of when we were little, and Dad, Lana, Laurie and Tom would play cards all night long. I think we kids played a little at the beginning of the night and then would go watch movies or play in the basement. What great times we had! It was also fun to have a smaller group of people to talk to than at a big Schroder party. I felt like I got a proper visit, which I hadn't done perhaps since Anne's wedding in 2008.
Honestly, I don't really remember what we did on Friday. We probably hung out at Seth's Dad's house for most of the day, relaxing.
Saturday we drove up to Ray's with Paul, Raffi, Seth's Dad and Thunder. Seth's Dad graciously offered to take Thunder to a dog park, and then our hotel room, so that he would not be alone in a strange hotel room, or left in the car by himself all day. He is so kind! At Ray's Paul and I rode around together and Seth and Raffi (I think) rode around together. We were having so much fun! Paul had never been there before and had a blast! We broke for lunch and then continued to ride around. Seth did a face plant into the floor at one point, Raffi plowed into something else, and when Seth's dad came back he went into a wall head first. Thank goodness for helmets and shin pads!
When we were ready to go Seth's Dad took us out to dinner, and we went our separate ways. Paul rode back to Cininnati with them and Seth and I went to our hotel room to reassure Thunder that he hadn't been abandoned. (He was very happy to see us!) The next day we left for home, and were thankful that we could sleep in, since we had 4 less hours to drive!
"Well, would we go all the way home, or would we just stay in Cleveland?" I asked (seriously thinking that 4 less hours each way might change my attitude). Seth looked at me like I was insane, and said "I don't know about your family, but my family won't let me get away with driving so far and not coming down to see them."
I thought about it for a few more hours, and finally decided that it might be fun to come home for Thanksgiving. After all, my aunt Joan was in town from Hawaii! I'm so glad I did!!! We had a blast. I took off half of Wednesday and we left around 1 in the afternoon. (I told Seth to make sure he was ready leave at noon, since he had the whole morning off. At 11, I knew we wouldn't be leaving at noon...) The worst part of the whole trip was the drive down. We had to drive separately in order to bring the 4Runner that won't break down back to Foreign Auto, since it refused to pass the Vermont inspection (perhaps the first sign that the 4Runner that won't break down needed a new name), and we got a new 4Runner that moves from my wonderful aunt Lisa. Dad lovingly suggested that we bring it home and let Foreign Auto sell it for us, and I took him up on that offer in a heartbeat! It was such a relief not to worry about selling it ourselves, and the hassle of putting it in the paper, making appointments, answering phone calls from unknown persons...thank goodness for Dads!
Since we didn't leave until around 1, we didn't expect to arrive in Cincinnati at any kind of reasonable hour. I was most terrified of the drive from Columbus to Cincinnati, as it would be the latest, I would be the most tired, and it always drags on and ON and OOOOOOON forever, especially when it is late and at the very end of a 16 hour drive. This segment of the drive really makes you appreciate the "HELL IS REAL" billboard in one of the many Ohio fields. Every time we stopped for gas I mentioned to Seth that I needed to stock up on caffeine, or snacks, or that I was planning on saving all my fun music, to make sure that I wouldn't be falling asleep between Columbus in Cincinnati.
We got to Columbus, got gas one last time, and I was completely exhausted. I didn't see how there was any way that I could make it the final two hours. (Seth says it is only an hour and a half.) Once we got out of the city lights, I started eating my snacks, and drinking my drinks, and playing my fun music. In a last ditch effort to stay alert I turned on The Frankl Project. The car was a-hoppin' and I was wide awake until (cough! sputter sputter). Something strange happened and I lost power for just a second, and when it came back the ABS light was on in the dash, and the radio turned off. I thought it was kind of strange that the ABS and radio would both be affected by whatever was happening, being completely unrelated to each other. I called Seth.
"Uuuuummm, the ABS light came on, I lost power for a second, and the radio turned itself off."
"The ABS light doesn't have anything to do with the radio" Seth said.
"I know, that's why I called you."
"What happens when you LIGHTLY TAP the breaks?" Seth asked. (I hadn't thought to try the breaks after the ABS light came on, I had just panicked and focused on why the ABS light and radio had gone at the same time).
"Hmmm," I said, "What if I tap the breaks and wreck? Should I tap them or should I just coast to a stop?"
"Tap them"
"Are you sure?"
"yes."
My foot was hovering over the brake pedal, when another light came on! Then all the lights in the dash started coming on.
"Oh No! All the lights are on now! What is happening! What should I do!"
"Can you stop? What happens when you tap the brakes?" (Poor Seth)
I finally tapped the brakes and affirmed that they worked. I could slow down.
"What if I slow down and then can't get started again? Maybe I shouldn't slow down I should just keep going as long as I can."
"What happens when you accelerate?" asked Seth.
I slammed on the gas pedal (I don't know why I was so hesitant to press the brakes and slow down in a car that was obviously having troubles, but had no worries about slamming down the gas pedal to go faster...I think I need some break-down training).
"Hmmm, I can go, but it kind of sputters and doesn't accelerate very well," I said.
Seth was driving right in front of me, and started to slow down. "Don't slow down!" I snapped at him, "I might not be able to get going again!" He changed lanes and got behind me. Then my headlights started dimming, and I lost the ability to accelerate completely. The car was slowing down and I couldn't do anything about it. Good thing Seth already had me test the brakes! "OK, I have to stop" I said as I turned my blinker on and started moving over to the side of the highway.
"Why?" he asked.
"I'm pulling over.
"WHAT'S GOING ON" he said. (Poor Seth)
"Oh! It is losing power and I can't accelerate anymore." I moved to the break-down lane and slowly started breaking.
"Is there a reason you are still driving and not coming to a stop?" Seth asked.
"I don't want to break too hard" I responded.
"Why not?"
I didn't really have a good reason, so I broke normally and came to a stop. As I did, I turned off the headlights to conserve power. Seth came up, and was going to switch cars with me and try to limp the 4Runner that won't break down as far as he could until we would need to rename it. As soon as he turned the headlights back on the engine stalled, and it wouldn't start back up.
We moved anything of importance from the 4Runner that couldn't into Seth's Volvo and discussed what we should do. I wasn't sure how far away we were from Cincinnati, and it was 3:30 in the morning. The big question was: Should we call Dad now, or in the morning? Hmmmmmmmm, 3 years ago I would have called him now, but I was pretty sure that he and Cindy were both home, which meant that he was probably sleeping, like any other normal person would be, and that he would probably be getting up early anyway. Seth and I were both pretty tired, and now irritable as well, and so I decided that we would just go to Seth's Dad's house and sleep, and call Dad in the morning.
It turned out we were not that far from Cincinnati. We were near the Loveland exit, RIGHT before the big bridge over the Miami river. Sheesh. Ah! Beautiful sleep! I set my alarm for 8 in the morning to get up and call Dad.
"Cricket! Cricket!" My phone alarm sounds like crickets.
"Ugh" I thought, "it is 8 o'clock already!" I called Dad and he didn't answer. "Good." I thought, rolled over and went back to sleep.
Eventually I did get hold of him, and we went up in the rollback to pick up our lonely 4Runner that couldn't. When we got there it started right up. Dad asked if I wanted to drive it back, but I was a little nervous that if I did start driving it, it would lose all its power on the bridge that was right in front of us, and I wouldn't have anywhere to go. So we put it on the roll back and drove back. Thank goodness for Dads.
Ah! Happy Thanksgiving! Our plans were to go to Mom's family's dinner (in Dayton), so that we could see Joan (and everybody else). It turned out that Joan had gone back to Hawaii, but we did get to see everybody else! We also had recently decided that we would try to make it the the Schroder party (In Kentucky) before it was too late. We had a lot of driving ahead of us for two people who had driven 15 hours to be there. We made it to both parties and had so much fun at each! Susanna just about talked us in to visiting her in Africa instead of Elizabeth in Boise, and made great headway in convincing Seth that he would have no trouble getting a Fulbright scholarship to go hang out in Africa for a year or two.
We sped down to the Schroder party and had fun watching the little kids spend their excess sugar before they went home. My cousin Jody's new house is so beautiful! Seth and I have taken to comparing other houses to our own, specifically trying to figure out how many times our house could fit into another house. We decided that our house could probably fit into Jody's kitchen and living room, and she had a lot to be thankful for.
After Jody's we went to Lana's house to play cards (ie - talk) with Lana, Laurie, Anne, and Kelly. It was so fun! Seth didn't even mind being the only guy and the only non-Schroder there. It was fun to stay up late with Schroders again. It reminded me of when we were little, and Dad, Lana, Laurie and Tom would play cards all night long. I think we kids played a little at the beginning of the night and then would go watch movies or play in the basement. What great times we had! It was also fun to have a smaller group of people to talk to than at a big Schroder party. I felt like I got a proper visit, which I hadn't done perhaps since Anne's wedding in 2008.
Honestly, I don't really remember what we did on Friday. We probably hung out at Seth's Dad's house for most of the day, relaxing.
Saturday we drove up to Ray's with Paul, Raffi, Seth's Dad and Thunder. Seth's Dad graciously offered to take Thunder to a dog park, and then our hotel room, so that he would not be alone in a strange hotel room, or left in the car by himself all day. He is so kind! At Ray's Paul and I rode around together and Seth and Raffi (I think) rode around together. We were having so much fun! Paul had never been there before and had a blast! We broke for lunch and then continued to ride around. Seth did a face plant into the floor at one point, Raffi plowed into something else, and when Seth's dad came back he went into a wall head first. Thank goodness for helmets and shin pads!
When we were ready to go Seth's Dad took us out to dinner, and we went our separate ways. Paul rode back to Cininnati with them and Seth and I went to our hotel room to reassure Thunder that he hadn't been abandoned. (He was very happy to see us!) The next day we left for home, and were thankful that we could sleep in, since we had 4 less hours to drive!
Joanna, this sounds like the trip from hell! Thank goodness you had some good visits to make up for it. I know I enjoyed talking/playing cards on Thanksgiving. Happy Holidays to you and Seth! Lana
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