I gave you a preview of what’s been happening the last 10 days, but I failed to mention that when Sydney gave up, I was in Boise, Idaho. What’s a woman to do? Especially one who knows nothing about cars and is nowhere near her actual home. Thank the good Lord for family and friends! Here’s how it played out…..

I was making my way from the Glacier area to Boise – cruising the Bitterroots, visiting the Lewis and Clark trail, and enjoying a beautiful drive through the Salmon River Canyon. Who would have thought parts of Idaho could be so pretty!? Little to no traffic, no businesses, very few houses, and a sweet curvy road to drive. All I saw was river, rocks and mountains, then in the middle of nowhere

Fiddle Sticks Fruit Stand. I had to stop, mainly because of the sign, but I was also curious how they survived. It was a cool place and everything looked delicious! I bought some creamed Huckleberry honey – can’t wait to try it!

Anyway, shortly after this pleasant stop, Sydney gave me a warning that my Coolant Temperature was high – did this mean I was about to overheat? In the tiny crossroad town I rolled into, there were no auto parts stores, BUT Family Dollar carries auto supplies and they had some coolant, so I filled it up. I wish I could say this solved the problem, but you know this isn’t true.

I milked my way into Caldwell, Idaho to my aunt and uncle’s house and called Subaru. It’s amazing, in every state except for Colorado, you can get into the Subaru dealer right away! So that’s what I did the next morning, and you heard what happened – thousands and thousands of dollars to repair. Such a bummer.

The following week was a madhouse! I convinced the dealer to buy back my car for pennies (not something they normally do without someone buying a car from them, but those of you who know me know that I was in tears by this time); it was going to cost me almost $1000 to rent something to drive/tow to Sacramento so my uncle offered to drive me (amazing!); we dumped Oggie off at my aunt’s in Reno; my friends took me in while I was homeless; I met the next angel who did hours and days of research, test driving, and negotiating for me .(he even put up with me taking 6 tries to pass KBA just to prove who I really am!) ….. saving me the time and frustration of car shopping, and I found my new chariot! Still unnamed, but it’s a Lexus RX50, so I’m kicking around Lex, Rex, or as Elaine suggested Lancelot (since he rescued me) – Lance for short.

My car angel does this for friends and family, but he shall remain nameless – I hope he knows how much I appreciate everything he did (I hope he has caught up on his sleep by now since he was sending me cars at 4AM!). Wonders of wonders, I was able to get a hitch installed two days later, and it was back to Reno to pick Oggie up and hit the road! I know it’s a strange tow vehicle, but it DID have a factory tow package, a higher tow rating, and it’s an all-around good car I am hoping will last me 10 years.

A couple of pics of my new rig, with Aunt Susie (faithful reader) in the back ground saying goodbye. Thanks for helping me out! Love you guys in Northern Nevada!

My last two nights on the road were pretty uneventful. As always, I saw weird things on the side of the road.

and Cliff was up to his old goose chase tricks. Trying to get to Elko, Nevada, I copied an address out of Harvest Host and pasted it to my Maps, then drove on my merry way. I thought he was taking me on a short cut, but when I hit a dirt road (NOT in MY new car!) with no signal available, I had to back track about 30 miles to get back on track! Turns out that there is a Pintail Rd in both Elko AND Fallon, NV (and I certainly wasn’t heading toward Elko). Geez!

Anyway, I tried to stop at some interesting places – like an Olympic City (Park City, that is)

And took my last hike of the trip

I arrived back in Colorado exactly a year after I left and have taken over my son’s living room since I can’t move back into my townhome until November.

It will be a great week catching up and loving on my kids – it’s the first time the three of us have been together in a LONG time! I promise to share a picture soon.

It’s nice to be here. To my Colorado readers – let’s get together and catch up!

You’re not done with me yet – I’ll have at least one more blog. Bye for now!

Tip of the day: Know where your coolant goes. I almost put it in the radiator. Thank God a Good Samaritan caught me before I dumped the first drop! I think I need some basic car lessons.