It's A Miracle!

After a nice visit at Nancy and Greg's, we set off on the rather monotonous
drive across southwest Oklahoma, north Texas and eastern New Mexico.
We're very happy with our Toyota Corrolla. It gets excellent gas mileage
too. Since we left on this trip, we've averaged about 35 miles per gallon.
There is a pretty neat little feature that tells you the "Range" of your fuel.
In other words, it lets you know how many miles you have left in your
tank before you're on empty...or in this case, On Walk! Driving west of
Tucumcari, New Mexico, we started to run low on gas and I nervously
watched the gauge as the mileage available got lower and lower. A few
minutes earlier, I had passed up one station, because it was too expensive.
I regretted that decision as I turned off the air conditioner and tried to
coast down hills on Interstate 40. The only signs I saw for gas noted that
it was 15 miles away. My "range" meter said I had 10 miles left. Uh oh.
But then...on the horizon, we came up to this station, named MILAGRO,
which is Spanish for Miracle. How appropriate! I looked at the "range"
meter and it said 6 miles. In other words, I would have run out of gas
in 6 miles. After we got into the car, I measured the distance to the
previously advertised station, and it would have taken us 9 miles to get
there. In other words, I would have been walking for 3 miles one way to
get a can of gas, and another 3 miles back to fill it up. I promised Lynn
that I wouldn't let it get that low again. Someone was definitely watching
out for us!

Toyota Recall

Last fall, before I went down to the Ice, we leased a 2010 Toyota
Corolla. We're very happy with it as it gets great gas mileage, is
sporty, affordable, and generally gets us where we want to go.
However, we were on the list of recalled vehicles due to the gas
pedal sticking problem. We took it in today and even though it
took us longer than we had originally planned (they didn't tell
us that we had a reservation to get it fixed sometime during the
day, not at 8:30 like when we thought it would be fixed), we
were happy with their service. I have no idea if they actually fixed
it or not. The only way I could tell they were in the vicinity of the
gas pedal was that the floormat was missing (we later found it in
the trunk). However, as long as you don't see me careening along
the road at 100 miles per hour, with police cars trying to slow me
down, you can assume that the problem has been solved!

Our New Ride

It's been about five years since we've owned a car.
Working out of the country hasn't necessitated one
since we've been able to borrow a set of wheels.
However, with Lynn staying in the States this year
and not heading to the Ice, we were forced into
looking at our options. We decided to lease a
Toyota Corolla. This week, we visited our local
Toyota dealer and talked with Craig, the sales
person and just a few days later, we drove off
the lot with our car. Leasing turned out to be a
great option for us as the payments are fairly low,
little down payment was needed and in three years
we get to decide whether we want to buy the car,
trade it in on a different model for purchase, or
just turn over the keys and possibly sign a new
lease option on a different car. Plus...it gets almost
40 miles to the gallon on the highway. No small
amount in these days of expensive gas. I think
we'll be very happy with it.

Colorado-Oakland-Reno

It seems that we can never stop traveling. This morning, we flew
out of Grand Junction's friendly little airport and after a stop in
Salt Lake City, found ourselves in Oakland, California. We had
to fly to Oakland so that we could pick up the Truckasaurus.
Truckasaurus is Lynn's sister Lenlee's Toyota 4Runner that we'll
be borrowing for the next 6 weeks. It also means a very long
drive for the next few days, as we slowly make our way east to
Indiana to visit my Mom.


This drive is an adventure for both of us as we have never driven
the stretch between San Francisco and Colorado. After leaving
Mill Valley, we made the obligatory stop at In-N-Out Burger and
feasted. I mean, who can't stop at In-N-Out Burger if given the
chance? Crossing the Sierras wasn't a problem since it's July, but
I wouldn't want to drive this route in the winter since it gets literally
feet of snow at a time! We stopped at Donner Pass which is famous
in history for the struggles (and not-so-tasty food choices) of the
participants on their way west.


The Sierras are beautiful though and although we couldn't spend
much time here on this trip we vowed to return someday. Lots of
really pretty mountains, lakes and vistas...with clean running rivers.
Similar to the mountains of Colorado...but different.


Once we crossed the Sierras we found ourselves in Nevada.
Neither of us had been to Nevada before so it was something
different. We stopped at a CVS drugstore in Reno (it was huge!)
and they actually had 20 slot machines in the store! Probably
not uncommon for Nevada, but certainly different than what we
are used to. We drove a bit longer than we wanted to but we had
reservations at the Red Lion Hotel and Casino in Elko, Nevada
and we pulled in about 9:00. It was a really nice hotel. When
we checked in, they gave us a coupon book for free stuff and
after we ate dinner, played $5 worth of free slots and ended up
losing $10 more. They wouldn't make a lot of money off us,
but when in Rome...or I guess in this case, Elko...