Day 1: On The Road

Everything up to this date has unfolded so beautifully. It was as if each and every day was picked and planned and played out to perfection. Things have just been falling into place.....until today.

Today is the day I hit the road for the big cross country drive. To start the day, I woke up with a sore throat and tightened sinuses. Next, I had to stop at Fedex to ship the last few remaining boxes. I left my phone there, then proceeded to make wrong turns all over town as if I had never driven here before. I had to make a last minute stop at the apartment to pick up things I forgot and to top it off, I needed to do a last minute detox to try to kick the cold before the mild symptoms that were lurking became full blown. After all of that, I was finally ready to pick up my friend, Mapi, that decided to join me on the road.

I haven't seen her in almost 2 years. She surprised me Sat. night and showed up to say goodbye to me. Instead of saying goodbye, she decided to pack a bag and take the road trip with me. A welcomed companion to enjoy the scenic journey through some of the most beautiful landscape this country has to offer. At about 2:30 pm we were finally headed to the 10 freeway. AT LAST!

The drive offered a lot of catching up and a quick reminder to my friend of the meal I had the night before.....oops! Raw onions and close quarters don't make for a pleasurable ride for anyone. We laughed about it, picked up some mints and got re-acquainted for the next 6 hours.

We were about an hour outside of The Grand Canyon when we stopped for gas. I reorganized a few things in the car and locked it up before heading into the station for lottery tickets. My number one rule of the road, anytime you stop for gas, you must buy lottery tickets. Coincidentally, it was Mapi's rule, too.

As I came back out to the car, we noticed something strange about the door locks. All were locked, but one. It wouldn't respond to clicking, so I pushed at it. As I pushed it, it became spastic. I tried clicking again, and nothing.....on all four doors. No unlocking and no locking. We blew a fuse! All the doors were now locked. The car is filled to the rim with luggage and no way for us to get it out. We are in the middle of nowhere with the nearest BMW dealership 100's of miles away. Great....par for the course today!