Welcome to Victorville...

Well Kimbre and I were headed to BYU where we would spend the time getting her room put together, stocking her fridge with groceries, and becoming acquainted with her new home. Little did we know that we were in for quite a different adventure. We left on Wednesday morning early and had only been on the road for a few hours when the car started acting really weird. The car wouldn't go over ten miles an hour and yet we were about to red line in first gear and it smelled like burnt rubber. The first tow truck of the week (Fast Trac Towing) came to our rescue complete with a very interesting driver and took us to a town called Victorville. Now I am sure that there are many wonderful people and places to go in Victorville but the part of the town we were in was special. We spent hours at the Hyundai dealership waiting only to find out that Kimbre's car needed a new clutch which was of course not covered bwarrantyee. All the people we encountered at the dealership were well... car dealers...and felt like because we were women they could take advantage of us and charge an insane price for the labor on the car. We were told that it could be fixed by six o' clock the next evening and that then we could continue on our way. We were shuttled to a hotel that the "nice" people at the dealership recommended and arrived at the Easy-8 Motel. Well this was the most interesting place I have ever stayed at, and by interesting I mean dirty, old, creepy, and somewwouldn't wouldn't have stayed a minute longer had it not been dark outside and miles to the next hotel. Upon contemplating whether we should take our purses and get mugged, or leave them and have them stolen, we took them and practically ran to the first food place we could find. We stayed in Coco's as long as we could and then ran back to the room where we fell asleep to a marathon on TV of "America's next top model." Oh by the way I forgot to mention that Kimbre ran a fever all night and had stomach flu. However, mom called around and found a wonderful couple (Bob and Laree) whose nephew just came back from his mission in Korea and was up at BYU. She told them about our dilemma and they offered to fix the car for half the cost of the labor. The next morning we were shuttled back to the dealership and bought the parts for the car. Along came tow truck number two (Marquez Towing) and towed us to the town of Hysperia to Bob's Transmission. This tow truck was sporting a flame paint job, had a GPS system, high definition sound system, and a DVD player inside of it. Have you ever felt like you are living the same day over and over again? We felt like we were stuck in the twilight zone. Kimbre and I about cried when we walked into the shop and there hung a picture of Christ on the wall. Bob and Laree were wonderful, they said they would get the car done in a hurry and Kimbre and I headed out on foot to find food once again. We walked and walked and walked and finally found some lunch, we were starting to get in better spirits when the phone rang. It was Laree, not only was Kimbre's clutch bad, she needed a new flywheel. Now if there is anything that you should know about flywheels that I now know it is that they are extremely expensive and yes you guessed it...not covered by warrantee. Not only that, but the part couldn't come in until Monday. On top other everything else, no one would let me rentwasn'tar because I wasn't twenty five yet, even though I was like six weeks away. Laree asked us where we stayed last night, when we told her she looked surprised and said, "Oh that's on seventh avenue, not a good part of town." She took us to an Econo Lodge that was much cleaner and felt much safer. We told the hotel manager what we had been through and what was paid to have the car fixed, he replied, "Well at least you have made some wonderful memories." I looked at him tiredly and said, "We've decided to put a cap on our memories, nothing over $150 with the exceptions of marriage and birthing of children."The next morning we were able to find a place that would let me rent a car as long as we paid their "underage driver fee" and so we loaded all of Kimbre's things into the borrowed PT Cruiser and off we went. We left Hysperia at nine o'clock that morning and rolled into Provo about seven o' clock. We spent exactly twelve minutes at Kimbre' s apartment unloading and then back into the car we raced for the airport. We reached the airport twenty minutes before my flight left and I ran through the airport barely making it on my plane. My dad picked me up in Phoenix; we met Deke and the kids in Anthem, and arrived in Prescott Valley at 2 a.m. Saturday morning. Between planes, shuttles, cars, rental cars, and tow trucks I feel like I have used most of the modes of transportation, traveled through four states, and yet achieved what I came to do which is get Kimbre to school. I told Kimbre that next time we make a Provo trip lets at least break down in Vegas. There must be something really wonderful waiting for her up there because of all the opposition trying to discourage her from going. I had a good cry on the plane anticipating all the happy things life has in store for her in this next phase of her life. Good luck at college Kimbre we love you!!!!