Road Trip

We both love long drives so we were actually looking forward to this portion of our new life. Especially given the zaniness of the weeks leading up to the move and Tom trying to turn everything over to his replacement at work, some mindless quiet highway time was a welcome relief.

First stop was Avon, Colorado which is a gorgeous mountain town (Park City-ish in nature) right next to Vail. We stopped early, settled in then walked to a pizza joint with a lovely patio. Dinner was great & relaxing and Tom couldn't wipe the "I'm on vacation" smile off his face. Keep in mind that we rarely get a vacation that isn't somehow related to his work travel.

Next stop: Hutchinson, Kansas. I was driving this day and quietly minding my own vehicle business in the center lane when something suddenly appeared right in front of me on the freeway. I did consider swerving but given Shaylee's admonishment/ticket from SLC police to hit objects smaller than a horse rather than cause accidents by swerving, and thinking it was a ripped up tire, I hit it head on. Actually I didn't have time to do anything else. However, the crushing sound it made immediately woke Tom up fearing our bikes had fallen off the back of the car. We kept going and everything was fine. Until we pulled into Hutchinson (which we were going to do anyway) and an eerie metal dragging on asphalt sound began. We checked into the hotel and Tom crawled under the car. The metal piece that covers & protects the gas tank was partly ripped off and hanging. Tom tugged & tugged and finally yanked it off. We shoved it in the remaining space we hadn't filled in the car and retired for the evening.

Next stop: Memphis, Tennessee. We decided since the car hadn't exploded on impact, wasn't overheating and the message we'd left with Jed (our friend and Murdock Chev service expert) hadn't been responded to with "Run, screaming from that death trap right now!" that we'd take our chances. An excitement-free trip to the birthplace of Johnny Cash.