Son David and I chatted this morning. About this and that, including confirming that he intends to join me for the southern swing back across the country. I'm ecstatic. Elated beyond imagination. This trip seems to be like having all my dreams come true.
So I run the idea by him that I've been contemplating. Maybe it's not a good idea, I say, to bring my car, the little convertible Lexus that I love so. I give him all the rational explanations -- maybe it's too small, maybe it's a problem that there's no spare tire, and maybe that's too much mileage to put on the car. What are your alternatives, he asks?
Well, I say, I've started looking into rental cars. Boy oh boy, they are expensive. And that's for a crappy little car and probably doesn't cover mileage, which of course will be considerable. So how's this? (Now I think I'm all smart and have figured out a brilliant, stunningly smart solution.) Why don't I take the money I'd spend on a car rental and use it, instead, to fix up our old Acura and use that. We could switch cars for the duration. Bigger car, bigger trunk, spare tire. Brilliant, no?
To which David points out that he thought the whole point is that I've spent years working hard to have a nice life with a nice car and why would I want to take off to drive across the country in anything but my little convertible that I love to drive? So what if it's not completely practical? People have been driving across country for years in all sorts of vehicles. Where's the "just do it" idea?
And as soon as he said it, I knew he was absolutely right. It's exactly what I want to do.
The Lexus it is. Hope UPS can ship in a tire if I get a flat in Montana!
David's right...but having ridden with you in Wash. in the Lexus, you will have to learn to SLOW down. There's some big, bad, trooper bears out there!!
ReplyDeleteWe had the experience of having a tire UPSed to us many years ago. We had a hot Volvo 850 with low profile tires and one of them developed a bulge in the sidewall that a gas station attendant noticed. Luckily we happened to be at our destination, in Sun River, OR, and even in that back water, they shipped us a replacement pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with David that you should be driving your dream car. One of the downers of going on vacations, I think, is that you end up in these disgusting, no count rental cars that often reek of tobacco despite being "non-smoking" vehicles.
How about a temorary luggage carrier that clips onto your rear trunk lid? My Healey had one and I carried my spare tire on it which allowed me to have more room in the trunk, called boot in the UK. I used that in the UK when driving over there as well as when I drove to Lake Tahoe and back. BTW, round trip to Tahoe and back with a stop in Milwaukee was about 6500 miles. There are tire shops anywhere you go though if you don't have room for a spare. If you don't already have AAA get a membership with the towing package just in case. There really isn't much of a scenic drive along the western edge of Lake mIchigan, it's not like the Pacific Coast Highway in CA. Maybe there is but it must be very 2nd class roads. Allen
ReplyDeleteAs a convertible owner I will remind you of one little black cloud. They can be broken into so very easily by cutting through the top. Do you want to haul all your stuff out of it every night?
ReplyDeleteLaura