Minivan Adventure Days 3 & 4, Plus a Bonus

OK, everyone. I'm back home safe and sound. I left Subway long ago, and you can stop watching for my name on CNN.

Here's a picture of the van. Nothing extra fancy, but it will fit our needs very well.

The problem with the air conditioner turned out to be many small leaks in the tubing. They finally decided to fix this using some kind of spray-in goop that seals the holes. Obviously this just postpones replacing the lines for (hopefully) a year or two, but it's less expensive and allowed me to leave by 2:00 MDT.

While I waited, I did a bunch of work and an even bigger bunch of writing/editing.

The drive back home was very boring until the Highway Patrol got involved.

It seems that the temporary tag isn't terribly visible in the midnight hour, and troopers like to pull over cars that are driving without any plates. Fortunately I was minding my speed very carefully (with a little help from the car in front of me) so the little traffic stop was just a five-minute inconvenience.

Today I got the state inspection taken care of, and for some reason while the van was hooked up to the machine I was a nervous wreck - probably because there would be very little time to get issues fixed. I'll head off to the DMV this afternoon to get real Texas plates, and we should be set.

Bonus:
As I was driving through the nothings of south-eastern New Mexico, Kara called and said "Well, if you didn't have anything to blog about today, now you do."

I thought to myself, This is not good.

She said "Alyssa found the magic marker, and now everyone will know where she lives."


Perhaps she's learning to write in binary?


Comments

Serious Sam said…
I'm glad you're home safe. Two days at Subway must have been awful.

Look on the bright side. When Alyssa grows up to be rich and famous, then your autographed car will be worth millions.
7/2/08, 10:39 AM
Nicole said…
Princeton got pulled over once for the exact same reason. We were moving from CO to AL and he had a temporary tag on his new-ish truck (long story.) I was following behind him in our other car and he wasn't speeding or anything, when in the middle of the day (actually, it might've been in Texas, hmm) he got pulled over.

The policeman told him that car thieves often remove the plates from stolen vehicles and use a fake temporary tag hoping to avoid getting caught. Once Princeton showed them his actual temporary registration paperwork and his license they let him go with a "have a nice day." I hope that in your case it was "have a nice night."

Aahhh...Magic Markers. I have heard that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser will get that off - maybe Alyssa would enjoy rubbing that on the door and the car too. :)
7/2/08, 12:16 PM
Don said…
Yeah, that's pretty much how it happened - "Thank you and drive safe."

To be honest, I'm surprised it only happened once.
7/2/08, 4:55 PM
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