I need to bring the family on a trip like this!
Great write up!
I need to bring the family on a trip like this!
Great write up!
A bit of an Epilogue, I guess, is in order.
After five days on the road, we spent 4 days in Phoenix. But the reality is, we had a nine day vacation. Someone once said, it's got to be the going, and not the getting there, that's good. And while we did have good times in Phoenix, we also had a blast with our impromptu Route 66 drive.
Still, Phoenix was a relaxing change of pace. We slept in, and went to bed late. We would make breakfast at the Air BnB we stayed at (Ten Fingers B&B in Phoenix, would definitely go back), spend time with my wife and her family, grab a nice dinner somewhere, and come back to the BnB and crash for the night. We opened gifts Saturday morning, and then went and played in the park across the street from my B-I-L's apartment. Sunday we went downtown for an art fair/ food truck gathering. Even the food trucks are neat out there.
Since we were leaving the Jimmy with him, he let me take his Miata out for a stroll around the neighborhood. When I asked him where to turn, he said, "Do you want to take a drive around Pheonix, or do you want some twisty roads?"
Yeah, you know what I said.
He took me down some twisty roads that, since it was the middle of the day, were fairly open. There were a couple of roundabouts on them, too, which were extra fun. I'd forgotten just how stable and planted and responsive an NB was. Even with the slushbox, it still had decent power and worked well. I found myself wishing I could select my own gears a few times, when it would downshift mid-corner as opposed to what I would have down (downshift pre-corner) but it never got loose or felt like it was going to spin. At one point, an E32 (7 series) pulled up next to me at a light, right before some hard turns and a traffic circle. He took me off the light, but as soon as the curves came up he was far, far back. Just before I entered the circle I glanced in the rearview and saw his porpoise wallowing through the last turn, practically on it's door handles. I laughed. The Miata never even caught a tire.
Despite the Fun, Mrs. VCH wouldn't let me take the NB home. Just as well, you saw how well the car seat fit in it. And then she would have had to ride in the trunk. We did pass this place, though, and I was tempted to find some other wheels for our trip back East.
Or grab something a bit more vintage-y...
Despite all the temptations, though, early Tuesday morning we had B-I-L take us to Phoenix's Harbor in the Skies where Mrs. VCH made the hand-off of Lucy official:
I won't say there weren't tears shed. It was a touching moment. My wife had Lucy for 10 years- all through college and dating me and us beginning our lives together. I'd even become attached to it; we took her camping, hauled a few cars together, went off-roading and made more than one trip back and froth from South Carolina to Maryland when we moved a couple years ago.
Of special note: when I graduated from college and went to work for GM, I was working at the assembly plant when Lucy rolled down the line. I checked the door sticker- yup, the date on the sticker was right in the middle of my time at that GM plant. 10 years after that, I married the girl who was the second owner of this truck. Life's full of fun coincidences.
Anyway, enough digressing. So, there was a plane ride...
..and 6 hours and two time zones later (technically three, but Arizona doesn't change time in the winter, so we were 2 hours off East Coast time instead of 3) the VCH family climbed back into Black Betty the Suburban (which we'd left parked at the BWI airport for our return), retrieved Sadie the Dog from her temporary puppy parents, and, finally, set foot again on home turf. We didn't decorate much for Christmas, due to being out of town for most of December, but Mrs. VCH did pick up this little tree, which we adorned with our Winslow, Arizona momento.
So, we're home. Back to normal, minus one compact SUV. I miss her, a little. The trip west was a bonding experience between the three of us, but also in a small way with our mechanical horse. She rattles and leaks a little, the interior plastic (in true 90's GM form) is coming apart, she burns a little oil, and the paint's no longer perfect, but she's still a solid little truck and will hopefully live out the rest of her good years in a home where she's loved. B-I-L plans to refer to her as "Lucille", both due to its formality and due to the leaking seal around the driver's door (get it? 
) As of this writing he's already taken her for a bath and vacuum, and after getting her smogged in AZ, plans to change the oil (which has a cross country trip plus some other miles on it) and try out some mountain trails.
Happy trails, Lucille.
She actually rode off into the sunset,another happy ending. Thanks for making us part of it 
We need an adventures part of the board. Maybe not another forum section, I really like ongoing journeys in the main forum because they're easy to see, but a place to move completed trips so they don't get lost. Writing like this should be saved.
Agreed. Not another subforum, but an archive feature.
I will look into the possibility of this. 
Glad to hear you all made it back home safely. What an awesome trip.
Well done. Thanks.
mazdeuce wrote: We need an adventures part of the board. Maybe not another forum section, I really like ongoing journeys in the main forum because they're easy to see, but a place to move completed trips so they don't get lost. Writing like this should be saved.
Wow. Thank you for the compliment. My dad always told me that fancy schoolin' I got would pay off.
Thank you to everyone for the kind words. Part of the reason I wrote this was so we could remember our trip- getting to share it with folks who have become my virtual friends was a bonus.
I look forward to reading more of your adventures!
Although, if this is going to be archived, I really need to go back and do a little editing for spelling and grammar. 
A fine read, Sir. I like your command of the English language
Perfectly fine as is...thanks for sharing the adventure with us.
That was a great read! Great pics and story!! Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas!!
In reply to volvoclearinghouse:
We have a new Adventures forum now. This thread definitely qualifies, let me know if you would like me to move this thread over.
In reply to EastCoastMojo:
Sure, sounds great! Thanks for thinking of the time where we subjected our first born to a week strapped in a car seat in the back of a cramped, 15 year old compact SUV, and drove her 2,200 miles in the middle of winter to spend Christmas with her Uncle.
For those of you thinking about Lucille and wondering about how she's enjoying life out West, here's a few pictures of some of the adventures she's been on with her new owner:
This was in May. Yes, that's Arizona. In May.
By June, the snow had melted, even at 7500 feet.
She's definitely having fun! B-I-L reports smooth travels, no overheating, A/C working great and oil changes being performed per schedule. 
Nice deal thanks
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