A little break from weightier matters.Singing Owl gives us this fun Friday Five at RGBP:
Maybe it's just me, but I often remember how long ago someting occured or something about it by recalling the car we had at the time. For today's Friday Five, tell us about the cars in your life. Maybe we can even tempt some of the guys of the ring to join us. Specifically, tell us about:
1. The earliest recollection you have of a family car: Ooh, we had a dark green Pontiac station wagon, kind of like this. My mom made these zipper covers for foam pads so we could lie in the back...we took these 1000 mile trips to Florida each year. This was before seatbelts, so much...! How did we ever survive it?
2. The first car you drove when you could (legally) get behind the wheel yourself: You only want to know the legal driving? Okay, then: I think it was another Pontiac station wagon, this one dark blue.
3. A memorable road trip: Cue thunder. It's 4 am and my father and I are standing by the side of the road in a North Florida woods. We are digging through a trailer for something (I think it was a map). He says, morosely, "This is the worst trip I've ever been on." I laugh, maniacally.
We moved my parents from their home in Houston to my mom's family beach house in Florida in 1989. It took 2 prior trips wtih full U-hauls, and this trip was a caravan with a U-haul truck and three or four vehicles, all of which had U-haul trailers attached. IT JUST WOULDN'T ALL FIT.
On that memorable trip: We were delayed in leaving; we took a wrong turn and ended up in New Orleans rush hour traffic; I was driving a standard shift car with a trailer attached, in New Orleans rush hour traffic; my brother-in-law got lost from our group in Pensacola, occasioning much searching and panic (yet he managed to find his own way there, despite having been there only once before); we took a wrong turn in the forest and thus were looking for a map at 4 am...
We draw a veil over the rest of the scene. Gently.
4. The car you drive now. Love it? Hate it?: I loves my car! It's a 2006 New Beetle, grey. I always keep flowers in the holder (my favorite part). It is diesel and has great pick-up, and can tow anything (Ken's favorite part).
5. An interesting story that involves you and a vehicle: (No, I do not have a dirty mind!) The first car I owned was a 1975 Plymouth Valiant, turquoise blue with a white vinyl top (mine was a darker blue than this). I loved it, too. (I've loved all my cars.) I used to change my own oil in it, which I learned to do from a book. I was supremely unqualified to work on the car, but I always tried. I also replaced my own headlights and tried to work on the carburetor (ha!) The car was named Dino, after Dino the Dinosaur from The Flintstones, because when you started it it made a noise just like Dino's...bark? It originally belonged to my brother-in-law (a different one) and he sold it to me for $300.
***crickets***
okay, as my son would say, "Great story, MB!" Maybe it's not fascinating, but I liked it. ;)
