Monday, July 18, 2011

Once Upon a Road Trip

Before I depart on my trip today, I want to leave you with this-another travel tale, from another time…

Several years ago, when Stuart and I were college students living in Corvallis, Oregon, we decided on the spur of the moment, one spring afternoon, to drive over to the Oregon coast.  Just an hour on the road would get us there, and we could walk on the beach, have dinner at some seafood joint, watch the sun set, and come home.

 

Our plan had one slight hitch. We didn't have a car. We went everywhere and did everything on our bicycles.

 

A call to a friend quickly provided us with wheels-a Honda Accord.  We were off!

It was an enjoyable trip, and we had a memorable time.  But at the end of the day there was another slight hitch.  As we prepared to return home, we realized we had locked the keys in the car!  What were we going to do?

 

We couldn't break a window. It wasn't our car...


We didn’t want to walk home.  It was too far away…


We hated to call someone to come and give us a ride.  We didn’t want to be a bother…

 

While we contemplated our dilemma, a good Samaritan came over and asked what was wrong. We explained our situation, and he quickly returned with a metal coat hanger. Soon a whole band of well intentioned citizens gathered around us with advice. One man even had a huge key ring full of every imaginable key-but none worked.

 

Just when it looked as though we might be spending the night on the coast, a girl, driving a Honda Accord, pulled in near us. She came over to see what the fuss was about, and when we informed her that we'd locked our keys in our car, she said "Here-try mine." Much to our amazement and joy, her key worked! Our car was unlocked and we were soon on our way. ( I vaguely remember folks clapping and cheering-everyone was pretty excited!)


All in all it was a great day. Our road trip had provided us with a change of scenery, a little bit of drama, a happy ending, and most of all...a fun story to tell when we were safely home.

(And I have to say thanks to all of Stuart's and my ancestors who so kindly took these pictures years ago, so that I could use them for this post!)

Have a great week-and I’ll be back Thursday!

5 comments:

  1. Oh how funny! Great story.

    I think I remember once reading that Honda Accords were one of the most frequently stolen cars. I guess we know why if one key fits any... ;-)

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  2. Okay, these are some of the most awesome photographs EVER. And what a great tale! Sometimes imperfect moments like the one you described really do make a trip perfect, don't they?

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  3. Valerie,

    I hope you have a great trip and I loved this story plus the pictures.

    I took some palm tree pictures for you from Apalachicola, Florida. When you get back, I'll figure out how to get to you...well, if you want them? I also an old picture in an album of this really strange palm tree. If I can scan it, I send it along.

    Have fun:~)

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  4. Shaune and my first car together was a Honda Accord. I must say I find it slightly disturbing that the woman's key opened your car! Hopefully this is no longer the case. The pictures are gorgeous!

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  5. Thanks Lisa-and hopefully Honda has fixed that problem!

    Thanks Katie! I love old photos (no surprise there-hee hee) and I'm glad that I have a pretty big collection of family pictures.

    Thanks Sara-and I'd LOVE to see the palm tree pictures!!

    As always, thanks Kim! It was very disturbing- and a great relief:)

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