Around Christmas time, Mr. M found a car that he had been
eyeing on a dealer website and monitored price reductions until it entered the
realm of what he deemed to be reasonable.
The price hit that magic number on Thursday, ironically coinciding with
a crippling snowstorm that hit the city where the car was located. A city in the Pacific
Northwest region with 12” of snow and ice. This city and region usually
declares a state of emergency at 1-2” of white precipitation due to hilly
terrain and the news stations deem any snowfall SNOMAGEDDON of the year. Even when nary a flake falls.
We decided that this was too good of an opportunity to pass
up and began plans to go retrieve the vehicle.
We took our 30 year old trusty rusty 4WD pickup and a set of chains
purchased in Seattle for the new car as – hmm, in the greater Portland area, no chains of this
size were to be found. Embarking just
before rush hour, the first few hours of our trip were breathtakingly
beautiful. Evergreens dusted with a
light powdered coating of snow. Rural towns resembled alpine villages. Small
lakes and creeks frozen over, brilliant blue sky and a vibrant sunset;
temperatures hovered in the teens. The freeway had been plowed and groomed, so
the few lingering ice spots were avoidable.
Until we hit our exit to the car dealership… to say it was compact snow
and ice would be an understatement. More
like driving on jello. Then we had to
navigate the unplowed dealer lot, amid spanking new Mini Coopers covered with
snow. I was sure we were going to look
like a demo derby and cost us dearly in insurance deductibles, but Mr. M has
mad skills. The indoor negotiations were
brief and we decided to return and pick the car
up in the AM, due to weather and not being familiar with the area OR the
location of the cars safety driving features and such. Wise decision in retrospect…
A hotel reservation had been made close to where Dan attended
high school so he was sure he knew where he was going. Apparently, a few more roads have been
created since his graduation three decades ago, and it all looks vastly
different under 6” of snow. We made a
wrong turn and ended up in a residential area that had not been plowed and
GPS directed us to a steep downhill grade in our path, with cars parked on either side of the street
as well as several at the bottom of the steep hill. A shift into low 4WD gear
began our descent, and also began a slow horizontal SPIN, which resulted in a
very dramatic but graceful egress ending with our back wheels against the curb
– and MISSING every single parked car. I
would like to make special note that there was no screaming nor soiling of
undergarments. Breathing resumed soon
after that.
Finding the hotel was fairly easy. We just needed to look for the tall red XXX
Strip Club sign right across the parking lot.
Wise decision to leave car at dealer was again confirmed. Found a
pizza place still open and shared the sumptuous warm repast in our room while watching random
cable TV shows and then CRASHED for the night.
THE BED WAS EXCELLENT and the HEAT was ON! Breakfast was negligible – weak coffee and
plastic wrapped Danish, but the heat and warm shower and comfortable bed were
well worth the bargain price booked by thrifty Mr. M. Hole in the ceiling of the bathroom during my
shower made me keep checking for rodent voyeurs.
We arrived in the early AM where the dealer wanted to show us how the top retracted into the trunk. I happened to mention that since it had been outside overnight, the mechanism MIGHT be frozen and that might not be a wise maneuver. We embarked slowly over the frozen tundra heading north to get home. After a few missed connections and dicey icy bridges we were into smooth clear roads. Around WA milepost 47 the temperature rose to a balmy 36 and the snow and ice flew off the car to the chagrin of drivers near us. I parked in a Shari's lot and cleared the rest before proceeding.
Did I mention we were purchasing a Lexus
hard-top convertible? A recommended snow
car, it isn’t, although we did discover later – after getting it home, that
there is a SNOW setting as a feature. We
figured it automatically calls and signs up for AAA membership. We’ll have to
research what it really does as we peruse the 300 page PDF owner’s manual. It's these intrepid adventures after being together 30+ years that reignite the anecdotal evidence to keep the cooperative level of mutual amusement alive. A partner you can laugh with about sliding down a snowy hill backwards and living to tell the tale is a keeper.
