Press 1 for NO. Press 2 for HELL NO.

Dolari World Tour #1 (1996): http://tinyurl.com/39jszk
Dolari World Tour #2 (1997 - The Trip from Hell): http://tinyurl.com/2se3d5

I ended up going the wrong way and backtracking from Statesville, TN back UP to Virigina, A NAscar Race repeatedly kept me from finding a hotel room, when I did find one, I was sexually harrassed over the phone, I fell asleep for three hours at a McDonald's Parking Lot in South Carolina, and then (although I didn't know it until 2000) had my identity stolen in Alabama.

Dolari World Tour #3 (2000 - Wrong Way, Mom): http://tinyurl.com/yo47o5

We were SUPPOSED to go to Baltimore. I took a nap while Mom drove...next thing I know we're halfway to Nashville ("It's easier to get flights out from Nashville than Baltimore")

The Best and Worse Vacation ever (1990): http://tinyurl.com/3beqte

This vacation is the main reason I'm worried about having my truck make the Seattle trip. It also shows why I love just Going Out And Having Fun. Originally, it was going to be a trip to Yellowstone. My dad overplans everything. He literally was planning how many minutes we would be at restaurants, and how much time we had to see sights along hte way (8 minutes long enough at the Grand Canyon?). It was all so rushed and hurried except for one part: Texas.

Dad knew I knew Texas. And I knew it WELL. I'd already been exploring on my own into Central Texas, and he decided he wanted me to plan out the Texas part of the trip. For the weeks before hand, he was busy poking me - have you planned this out yet - how much time do you need to get us through Texas - how long will be in City A or City B. I hate that. I simply told him, I'd get him to Carlsbad Caverns that evening and then his meticulous macromanaged plan could go into effect. Let me handle it.

Right out of San Antonio, I took US 90 towards Del Rio - dad couldn't figure out what the hell I was doing, since I-10 was obviously much faster. US 90, though, was the old route to El Paso (well, most of it I found out later). I knew we'd be where we needed to be in time, so I told him to relax and enjoy the view. And eventually, he did.

We drove through the Texas Southwest, through Langtry, where Judge Roy Bean presided over the Jersey Lily Bar and Courtroom, crossed the PEcos River bridge, tried to see the Marfa Lights (too early) saw some ghost towns, and came to Van Horn.

At Van Horn, we drove straight through Highway 54 towards New MExico. If I'd known then what I knew would end up happening, we'd never have taken it. Highway 54 starts in Van Horn, ends in Pine Spring 50 miles later...with NOTHING IN BETWEEN. Literally - not a single crossroad, not a single town, not a single driveway. Just miles and miles of Big Sky. Driving down the road, the first omen we had was a man walking down 54 - he dropped to his knees and begged us for a ride, right on the yellow line. He was less than a quarter mile from Van Horn - we let him go, and saw his car about five miles down the way. We continued on down, noticing that there wasn't a single other car within view. We evne got out to stretch our legs without pulling off the highway. Vast open spaces.

We managed to get to Pine Springs, and enjoyed the sight of the Guadalupe Mountains against the orange sky. We left Texas before sunset, and got to Carlsbad, right on time, at about 10PM. We got a Motel 6 and slept the night away.

The next morning, Dad's ready and raring to go, my sister and mom were argued with as they were taking longer than the timetable to get out the door, and, in fact, we didn't go to the caverns liked we planned because (1) they took too "long" (right) and (2) the tour was MUCH longer than dad had anticipated. Instead, we decided to make better time and leave straight for Roswell, NM

Omen #2 - Around Hagerman, the "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" light came on. Dad pulled over and checked the engine - everything SEEMED to be running okay. Then he checked the oil - it seemed to have a tinge of red. We had made up a LOT of time,so dad got some oil and transmission fluid, changed them out, and we continued on.

Omen #3 - We pull into Downtown Roswell, and stop into a diner for breakfast. Who taps my mom on the shoulder by one of my Uncles. Turns out he was on vacation to in nearly Ruidoso, and had come in after church in Roswell for breakfast. Just so happened to be HERE. Talk about your small worlds. After a long and leisurely breakfast, we got on the timetable again, and made our way to Santa Fe, our next stop.

Dad begins to see the failure of his timetable right about here - we're not SEEING anything. We're rushing to make the next stop in the right time. Eventually, HIS Wanderlust gets the better of him, and he asks me to find a detour off US 287 into littler known parts of New Mexico. I'd just picked up a book of county maps for New MExico to study while we drove and we took off down highway 3 towards Las Vegas, NM.

As soon as we hit the I-25 the service engine soon lights up again. We barely make it into Santa Fe, where we stay at a shady slightly scary spot called "The Kings Rest Inn" since some convention was in town, making it hard to actually stay anywhere.

Dad checked the oil again - bright red, transmission fluid was getting into the oil somehow. And so began two weeks in Santa Fe while a dealership struggled to fix our car, and we drove a rental anywhere we damned well pleased. We went to Taos, explored canyons, saw Indian Reservations, visited Los Alamos, saw an ancient Volcanic Crater. In short, the best, and most expensive vacation we ever had. We all loved it. Everyone except dad's checkbook.

After two weeks, making friends with the owner of the King's REst and the autoshop guy (who ended up moving down the street to us in SA and being a mechanic not too far away), we fled. As much as it was a nice vacation WE HAD TO GET HOME RIGHT NOW. We left the Kig's Rest at 10PM and did NOT STOP until we hit San Antonio the next morning.

While I'd love to breakdown in Las Vegas, I don't have the savings dad had to keep us going two weeks...that's the main reason I'm worried about that pickup making the trip. But...it'd prolly be fun! :D

Press 1 for NO. Press 2 for HELL NO.

Dolari World Tour #1 (1996): http://tinyurl.com/39jszk
Dolari World Tour #2 (1997 - The Trip from Hell): http://tinyurl.com/2se3d5

I ended up going the wrong way and backtracking from Statesville, TN back UP to Virigina, A NAscar Race repeatedly kept me from finding a hotel room, when I did find one, I was sexually harrassed over the phone, I fell asleep for three hours at a McDonald's Parking Lot in South Carolina, and then (although I didn't know it until 2000) had my identity stolen in Alabama.

Dolari World Tour #3 (2000 - Wrong Way, Mom): http://tinyurl.com/yo47o5

We were SUPPOSED to go to Baltimore. I took a nap while Mom drove...next thing I know we're halfway to Nashville ("It's easier to get flights out from Nashville than Baltimore")

The Best and Worse Vacation ever (1990): http://tinyurl.com/3beqte

This vacation is the main reason I'm worried about having my truck make the Seattle trip. It also shows why I love just Going Out And Having Fun. Originally, it was going to be a trip to Yellowstone. My dad overplans everything. He literally was planning how many minutes we would be at restaurants, and how much time we had to see sights along hte way (8 minutes long enough at the Grand Canyon?). It was all so rushed and hurried except for one part: Texas.

Dad knew I knew Texas. And I knew it WELL. I'd already been exploring on my own into Central Texas, and he decided he wanted me to plan out the Texas part of the trip. For the weeks before hand, he was busy poking me - have you planned this out yet - how much time do you need to get us through Texas - how long will be in City A or City B. I hate that. I simply told him, I'd get him to Carlsbad Caverns that evening and then his meticulous macromanaged plan could go into effect. Let me handle it.

Right out of San Antonio, I took US 90 towards Del Rio - dad couldn't figure out what the hell I was doing, since I-10 was obviously much faster. US 90, though, was the old route to El Paso (well, most of it I found out later). I knew we'd be where we needed to be in time, so I told him to relax and enjoy the view. And eventually, he did.

We drove through the Texas Southwest, through Langtry, where Judge Roy Bean presided over the Jersey Lily Bar and Courtroom, crossed the PEcos River bridge, tried to see the Marfa Lights (too early) saw some ghost towns, and came to Van Horn.

At Van Horn, we drove straight through Highway 54 towards New MExico. If I'd known then what I knew would end up happening, we'd never have taken it. Highway 54 starts in Van Horn, ends in Pine Spring 50 miles later...with NOTHING IN BETWEEN. Literally - not a single crossroad, not a single town, not a single driveway. Just miles and miles of Big Sky. Driving down the road, the first omen we had was a man walking down 54 - he dropped to his knees and begged us for a ride, right on the yellow line. He was less than a quarter mile from Van Horn - we let him go, and saw his car about five miles down the way. We continued on down, noticing that there wasn't a single other car within view. We evne got out to stretch our legs without pulling off the highway. Vast open spaces.

We managed to get to Pine Springs, and enjoyed the sight of the Guadalupe Mountains against the orange sky. We left Texas before sunset, and got to Carlsbad, right on time, at about 10PM. We got a Motel 6 and slept the night away.

The next morning, Dad's ready and raring to go, my sister and mom were argued with as they were taking longer than the timetable to get out the door, and, in fact, we didn't go to the caverns liked we planned because (1) they took too "long" (right) and (2) the tour was MUCH longer than dad had anticipated. Instead, we decided to make better time and leave straight for Roswell, NM

Omen #2 - Around Hagerman, the "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" light came on. Dad pulled over and checked the engine - everything SEEMED to be running okay. Then he checked the oil - it seemed to have a tinge of red. We had made up a LOT of time,so dad got some oil and transmission fluid, changed them out, and we continued on.

Omen #3 - We pull into Downtown Roswell, and stop into a diner for breakfast. Who taps my mom on the shoulder by one of my Uncles. Turns out he was on vacation to in nearly Ruidoso, and had come in after church in Roswell for breakfast. Just so happened to be HERE. Talk about your small worlds. After a long and leisurely breakfast, we got on the timetable again, and made our way to Santa Fe, our next stop.

Dad begins to see the failure of his timetable right about here - we're not SEEING anything. We're rushing to make the next stop in the right time. Eventually, HIS Wanderlust gets the better of him, and he asks me to find a detour off US 287 into littler known parts of New Mexico. I'd just picked up a book of county maps for New MExico to study while we drove and we took off down highway 3 towards Las Vegas, NM.

As soon as we hit the I-25 the service engine soon lights up again. We barely make it into Santa Fe, where we stay at a shady slightly scary spot called "The Kings Rest Inn" since some convention was in town, making it hard to actually stay anywhere.

Dad checked the oil again - bright red, transmission fluid was getting into the oil somehow. And so began two weeks in Santa Fe while a dealership struggled to fix our car, and we drove a rental anywhere we damned well pleased. We went to Taos, explored canyons, saw Indian Reservations, visited Los Alamos, saw an ancient Volcanic Crater. In short, the best, and most expensive vacation we ever had. We all loved it. Everyone except dad's checkbook.

After two weeks, making friends with the owner of the King's REst and the autoshop guy (who ended up moving down the street to us in SA and being a mechanic not too far away), we fled. As much as it was a nice vacation WE HAD TO GET HOME RIGHT NOW. We left the Kig's Rest at 10PM and did NOT STOP until we hit San Antonio the next morning.

While I'd love to breakdown in Las Vegas, I don't have the savings dad had to keep us going two weeks...that's the main reason I'm worried about that pickup making the trip. But...it'd prolly be fun! :D