Trip #3

Third and hopefully final trip to Colorado (at least for this purpose).

Day Two: Game On!


Transfer went about as well as we could have hoped for...Now the waiting game begins. After a minor scare with her having too high of blood pressure and body temperature (most likely brought on by anxiety) we were able to get those under control - i.e. valium and me fanning her down with magazines, along with her little booklet of soothing bible verses Melissa gave her.   The doctor we came all this way to see was the one to do the actual transfer (they rotate) and was very optimistic about both the condition of the "little suckers" and how things went. In all we were only at the clinic for about two hours...the good thing was that we had our own room and she didn't have to be transferred all over the place like before at CMC. Our room was even complete with a "Pure Moods" type CD playing, serene nature pictures on the wall, and current copies of Star and US Weekly magazines - perfect recipe, no?

Now it's back to hotel for 48 hrs of bed rest...I'll be busy playing nurse after a Blockbuster and Target run to stock up the room and the car for the trip. All we got is time on our hands now so feel free to call or text either of us...we'll be thirsty for entertainment and conversation.



Day One - Planes, Trains, and (new) Automobiles

Everything has gone relatively smooth to this point, except for flight from Denver to Colorado Springs...The flight was only 30 minutes long, but a small commuter jet combined with 30+ mph wind made for quite a roller coaster ride. I'll put it this way, it was rough enough for Catherine that had we originally been scheduled to fly back home, we'd probably be driving home now anyway.
Car purchase was rather uneventful as well. The Pathfinder was about what I expected from viewing it online...a few cosmetic scratches that would be expected on a 7 yr old car, but the low mileage and engine condition should make it seem like it's only about a 4 yr. old car - and thankfully it drives like it. There were only a few issues to work through, the biggest of which in Catherine's opinion was the non-matching floor mats. So I was able to get them to swap out the black floor mats for some charcoal gray ones that better matched the interior...Not like that was a huge negotiating victory, because I began to realize that I was in about as unenviable position as any car buyer ever could be. There we were, a thousand miles from home, having just arrived off a one-way flight, and this car was our only means of transportation while in Colorado as well as to get back home. Had it not been CarMax where they were stuck to charging me the sticker price, other car dealers would have salivated over having my vulnerable situation in their hands and begin tacking on all sorts of extra fees and charges. So my comprising position, combined with the fact that at CarMax you're paying the sticker price regardless of discovering any scratches you didn't see online meant there really wasn't anything I could do about anything - not that I would have, it all turned out fine. (Besides, I'd already paid a transfer fee to get the car here so even more reason that I was driving that car off the lot regardless).

Had to top off the day with our standard routine:  Free Fat Tire at Hotel Happy Hour, getting reacquainted with our friends on the hotel staff, and followed by trip to nearby PF Chang's. 

A few pictures from Day One...




Trying to relax in Denver Airport in between flights...also sitting back to allow medicine to take effect.

Sideline Marketing's first company car...President and CEO driving it off the lot.

First of my 'before and after' pictures with the odometter, stay tuned for the 'after' shot once we've pulled back into the driveway...I'll put the over/under at 52,400 miles (1900 for this trip).