Ode to a Volvo

Ode to a Volvo

Before we left for Washington, I was talking to Mike's family about my U-haul worries. I said that, since Mike was going to be the driver, I needed to soak up all my worries and stress and not stress him out. I said I felt like one of those towels that soaks up a ton of water (a Sham-Wow, as seen on TV). But what I said was, "I feel like a huge Stress Shamu." Oops.

I realized over the course of these past few days that I didn't really need to be worried about the back of the car/trailer. Something about doing a ton of test and ensuring safety before allowing your U-haul product to be manufactured and hitched to a vehicle. No, I didn't need to be focused on the back of the car; I needed to be focused on the front. That wonderful, awesome Volvo engine. It was having some issues with heating, so we pulled off the highway. This guardian angel man in a camper pulled off too and told us to try driving with the heat blasting out of the vents. Apparently this allows the engine to get rid of some of its excess heat. So we drove for at least six hours with heat being blown around the car and whipped out the open windows. No music either, so Mike could pay attention to the sounds of the car. It wasn't bad.

Without music, I had to fill the time somehow, and what better way than with made-up songs!

Here is my favorite one:

Ode to a Volvo (made up on the spot)

-Sung to the tune of some Lutheran hymn-

Verse:
I love you, Volvo. I hope you will be kind.
I hope you don't poop out on us and make me lose my mind.
I just want you to keep doing the good things that you do
And get us safe and sound to our apartment in Bellevue.

Chorus:
Volvo V 70 XC!
I love you; I hope that you love me!
We want you to succeed and go as far as you can go!
We promise never ever ever again to make you tow!

Nice, huh? That got me through at least half an hour.

The Scavenger Hunt

A week before we left, Julia casually slipped me a Scavenger Hunt to complete on our road trip. It was fun to look out for these various topics. Here are a few (plus my comments):

• Drive past a cornfield in North Dakota. (People who live in/love North Dakota, please step away for two minutes.... North Dakota is BORING! I tried to come up with a song about North Dakota and corn, but it ended up being too boring. The end of North Dakota was almost cool enough to be worth driving through the state. Almost. We drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. See?)

• Fill up gas in the middle of nowhere. (This happened a lot. Especially in Montana. Because twelve people live there. We stopped in a small town called Wibaux, MT, and the gas station was so remote-feeling, it was one of those times that when we walked in, the two old tobacco-chewing men in cowboy hats looked at us like we didn't belong in these parts.)

• Speaking of Montana! Drive through Montana and make a comment about how nice it actually is. (Montana was beautiful and exactly what you would imagine (think "Home on the Range.")) Montana was where we checked off a lot of items on our scavenger hunt: 
• See someone with a cowboy hat and boots. 
• See an antelope. 
• See a sign for anything relating to Lewis and Clark. 
• See a sign for a ranch. 
• Sarah, make up a song when you get bored -- bonus points if Mike gets annoyed. 

Montana was never-ending, but every single part of it was interesting to look at. Here, see for yourself!

Tonight, we finally made it to Spokane, Washington! Only four more hours! Oh, and in case you were wondering, this is what I look like after twelve hours of driving (and six hours with the heat blasting and the windows down). Note the wings of hair sticking up off the top of my head.

Peace!