It's been a few weeks since I felt motivated to blog. Sometimes its hard to have a sense of humor about life, but there is one thing in our life that we never lets us down in the humor department and that is our 1993 Blue Dodge Grand Caravan.
Just a short time after John retired almost 9 years ago, we were driving down Bridge Rd. and as we passed this house there was a van sitting in the front yard with a for sale on it. I had been noticing it for a couple of days and I told John that maybe we should stop and check it out. We stopped and a lady came out and told us she wanted $2,000.00 dollars for it. She had bought a new van after her husband died. She let us take it for a test drive and I told John that we maybe should buy it since we had been looking for something to haul our antique stuff in. We got back to her house and looked at the van a little longer. Finally she said that if we wanted it we could have it for $1,500.00 because the tags and insurance and everything would probably run about $500.00 and she would just like to get rid of it. At that point we owned the Blue Dodge Van with 110,000 miles on it.
The first trip we took in it, we drove from Killen Al. to Lincoln NB over to Ft. Bragg NC to Myrtle Beach SC then back to Alabama. It was a very uneventful trip as far a the van was concerned. We thought we had hit the mother load of Dodge vans.
Our next trip that I recall was to Lincoln NB when Sarah had Luke. Cody was on his first deployment so Sarah decided to come back to stay with us until he came home. When we started home John drove the van and I drove Sarah's vehicle. Luke was about a week old and Sarah had had a C-section so she was still a little medicated or she would probably have chosen to have ridden with John. We were coming through Kansas City and I had already moved over into the far left lane to make the exit heading south when John suddenly shoots off to the right and onto the off ramp. I don't know how but I managed to cross the four lanes of traffic and off the ramp without hurting someone, but I did. We managed to make it to service station and they got us running again. After a grueling trip we made it back to Alabama in one piece. To this day I say thank God that Sarah was on medication.
Then the next time I remember was a trip to Myrtle Beach and coming home we came down through NC to have a more scenic ride. As we were merging onto the interstate heading south just outside of Greenville, the van sputtered to a halt. So here we sat with cars speeding past on both sides doing ninety miles and hour, the temperature must have been 100 degrees. At this point I was learning cuss words that I didn't know John used. Finally I don't know how John got the Blue van running and we made it home one more time.
The next time that I recall, I'm sure there were more times in between, John, Mark and I made a trip to Ohio to visit family. On our return trip as we were coming into Nashville, right in the busiest construction area at the time. The Blue Van gave a little sputter and stopped right off the edge of the interstate. We literally were so close to the concrete barrier that we had a hard time getting out of the van. John couldn't get out on his side because the cars passing were too close. As we were crawling over the barrier a construction worker shouted at us, "You know, that's not a good place to park you car". I just rolled my eyes and said "You think?" We found a tree to sit under for the next 30 minutes or so. John was able to get'er started again and motioned for Mark and I to get in. We crawled back over the barrier and headed south toward home.
Another memorable trip was when the family decided to take a week long trip to Gulf Shores. Sarah drove her own car down because she had to be back to work in three days. That left us with Luke and Charlotte to spend the remainder of the week. The kids were fine after Sarah left and we had fun with all the kids and grand kids. On our way back we made it to the north side of Montgomery and yet again a little sputter and there we were sitting on the side of the road . So here was John and I with two babies in a pretty rough section of town. We managed to get a car rental agency to deliver us a car and when they came to pick us up you could tell they were a little leary of the area and told us we should be more careful about the exits we get off at. "OK" . We had the van towed to the dealership and got a motel room. After three nights in the motel they called and said they couldn't find a thing wrong with the van. Finally we made it home again.
Now, John just handed me a note with some of the places we have been stranded in with the Blue Van beside the above mentioned. St Louis Mo., St Joseph Mo., Huntsville Al., Huntington WV, Corinth MS., Memphis Tn., Bowling Green Ky. and there are smaller places that you have probably never heard of. I will have to say that the nicest place to be stranded was in Corinth MS. A man in the Wal-Mart parking lot and his wife asked us if we needed help. John ask if he could boost us off. He didn't have jumper cables but he took his battery out of his car and turned it upside down on our battery and jumped us off. The lady at the Chevron station offered for us to use her car to go to the dealership and a young girl at the Sav-A-lot offered us a meal on her. Both offers were declined, but I was touched by their kindness. So if you break down hopefully you will be in Corinth MS.
I'm just about through but I have to tell you about our last trip. On my spring break we decided to go visit John's family in Galapolis OH. We got within less than a hundred miles from our destination. You guessed it put-put. There just happened to be a wide shoulder on the road so we rode it for what seemed like miles. It started to rain and again you guessed it the wipers stopped. After a bit the wipers came back on and the car stopped sputtering and John stopped cussing. We made it into Galapolis stayed overnight and drove on over to Marrietta OH the next day. Why you ask? I guess we just like to live dangerously.
It should be rolling over to 300,000 miles soon. We could have purchased a Cadillac with all the money we've spent keeping her running, but for some reason every time we decide to get rid of it something holds us back. Maybe the old man was really ticked at his wife for selling it and continues to live on in the form of a 1993 Blue Dodge Grand Caravan. Doo doo doo do (to the sound of the twilight zone).
