Our New Car Adventure

Right after the wedding Tim decided we needed another car in our household and went all out with researching which car would best suit our needs. He finally decided on a Jeep Liberty, but the kicker was that he wanted the diesel version. Of course, they only made these in 2005 and 2006 and not very of many of them. Tim did all kinds of research and then found one he really liked....in Champaign, Illinois. About the same time we got an invitation for my sister's surprise 40th birthday party in Austin, TX. Being the adventurous sort that we are, we decided we could do both! Woo Hoo...let the adventure begin.

First, we didn't know if we were going to be able to go or not because Tim got called up to be on a strike team to the fire at Lake Tahoe, NV. Fortunately, he got off in time to come home and pack for our trip, but I was getting ready to see about getting refunds on our tickets for a while.

After attending two days of VBS and making sure everything was going to be organized for the remaining two days of crafts I wouldn't be there (thanks again to my most AWESOME committee), Tim and I flew off to Indianapolis, Indiana. I do have to say that I love that moment I get to the airport and realize I cannot do anything more to prepare for my trip and begin to relax. We then rented a car in Indianapolis and drove to Champaign, Illinois. We got to the car lot about 5:30pm and did all the paperwork to buy the car and then drove to return the rental car. Of course, the place I chose to return it was closed and so I quickly checked my handy Pocket PC (one of my lifesavers during this entire trip) to see where else we could return it. There was another place a few miles away and Tim even let me drive the new Jeep while he drove the rental car. We then found our hotel and got something to eat so we could go to bed as early as possible since we planned to make it clear to Dallas the next day.

The new Jeep as it looked when we started out

We got up the next morning and it was raining (this tended to be the theme of our entire trip). We got on the road early (not as early as we had hoped, but still early) and headed south to Dallas.

Our first state to travel through was Illinois (of course). Forgive me if some of my pictures are not quite accurate as to which state we are in, but I tried and then couldn't quite remember which state was which.


Next state was Missouri....I do know these pictures are accurate as this is the St. Louis Arch and I do KNOW this is in Missouri (give me an A in geography, huh?).



After Missouri, we passed through Oklahoma and, yes, Kristine, there are a TON of trees there despite what those of the rest of us might have heard. Because of all of the rain the whole middle of the country has received, everything was SUPER green. It was kind of cool to see as most of Nevada has been dry and brown and green was a welcome color. I didn't mind the rain as much as Tim did as I wasn't driving and was just being grateful for the coolness the rain brought.



Of course, we did see the world's largest McDonald's on our way through Oklahoma and I did get a picture of that because isn't it all about the scenery?



We then arrived in Texas and in Dallas. We spent two nights with two different friends in the Dallas area and then headed to Austin to surprise my sister. Her husband had planned to have her party on a barge on Lake Travis, but because of all the rain, the company canceled the barge and he had to quickly find another place to hold the party. Fortunately, he found a hotel suite and so we all headed there. Again, thank goodness for my Pocket PC and GPS program which helped us find our way. My sister was totally surprised (I will post the pictures from the party in another post) and we had a great time. We spent two days with them and then headed to Houston to visit some other friends for one night. We came back to my sister's for July 4th as that is her birthday. (I'll post those pictures and detail it later too). We got a bunch of fireworks and lit them off which was great for Tim and my brother Joe as we all live in Nevada where fireworks are illegal (and for very good reason as the recent fire in Lake Tahoe is evidence).



The next morning we got up early and headed for home. It was raining....again...and just as we were heading west right outside of Segovia, Texas a deer ran out in front of us and we hit it....yes, in the brand spankin' new Jeep! Tim swerved some, but it hit the right front part of the car and jammed the passenger door shut and ruined the right front part of the car. It was still driveable, though, and we made it to Albuquerque, New Mexico that night before we had to stop to sleep (we only had one headlight at this point and didn't want to drive to far in the dark). We found a place to stay for the night and didn't get to bed too late.


The next day we got up early again and headed out of Albuquerque. We got about thirty miles out of Flagstaff and our Low Coolant light went on. Aaaaaagh! Tim checked and saw that the radiator hose had been rubbing on a pully and had made a hole in it. We filled it with coolant and made our way to Flagstaff. I had talked to the insurance and they advised me that it would be difficult for our auto body shop to tow it to our home town and so we suggested we rent a U-Haul and car trailer and make our way home. It ended up being about 1/4 of the cost and they were very happy with us. Of course, because of the extra time in renting the Uhaul and since we had to go slower, we had to take an extra day to get home.


Arizona...before Flagstaff, you can see my broken mirror so we were still driving the Jeep


They claim this is the most BEAUTIFUL gas station in the world...what do you all think, and who were the judges?

Our lovely Nevada desert

We made it through Las Vegas and spent the night in Beatty, Nevada at a kind of cute little hotel. The next morning we got up fairly early and made it the rest of the way home. Yeah! Tim has taken the car to our Auto Body shop and we are hoping to have an estimate of time and money by Friday.

The older three girls left for camp on Monday (Alyssa and Jenna are recreation staff leaders and Sammy is going to Jr. High camp in the same place) and Tara and I have had a really nice week with Tim being here about half the nights. I'll post more about that later too, but I wanted to post our car adventure pictures posted.


Here is the jeep post-deer encounter. We feel blessed that it wasn't any worse and no one was hurt (except the Jeep, of course)