Hello!
If you have ever considered taking a road trip every year and turning it into a family tradition, watch out. Road trips have side-effects. They can make you a bit picky.
I, for example, order my coffee and tea from Vermont. My honey comes from New Mexico. I crave New Hampshire’s blueberry jelly.
And I have a favorite of everything. Even a favorite license plate. It's New Mexico's turquoise one, with the Zia symbol in the middle.
Road trips can also make you develop feelings for inanimate objects. It happened to me...
I love my car.
For the last ten years, my RED has carried my family and I around the country. RED got a tattoo for each of the 48 states it visited (and for Hawaii, which we visited on our own). It traveled through highways, dirt roads, and even a road with a sign that said, “Travel at your own risk.”
RED sheltered us when we woke up to snow and hail while camping in South Dakota. And from wild mosquitoes in Wisconsin. It protected us from the heat in the California desert.
RED watched wild horses in Wyoming and bison in Montana. It saw deer, elks, and bears. Oh, my!
RED got a flat tire in California. It lost a door trim to the wind somewhere in Kansas. And it had many broken windshields in the rocky Colorado.
RED drove through flood waters in Ohio. It escaped a tornado close to home. And it experienced a sandstorm (or was it just blown sand?) in Utah.
RED witnessed many laughs and lots of crying. My son was less than one when RED joined our family. My daughter was just eight.
Now, my son is almost 10. My daughter is almost an adult...
And RED is retiring.
After driving 165,000 miles, RED is no longer going on road trips.
I feel slightly ridiculous for being so sad. RED is not a person. RED is not a pet. Maybe RED is a metaphor for my children’s childhood. And, like their childhood, RED is soon to be just a happy memory.
Enjoy every moment!
Ana
