We woke early to deal with the ear infection, and start on our way to our first destination: Colorado Springs. Before leaving Texas, we had armed ourselves with an antibiotic on the chance that the maybe ear infection turned definite. Baby Morgan had his first dose with breakfast and was pleasant and even jolly despite his fever. Let me stop here for a moment and relish the fact that this is the easiest going baby in family history. Ahhhh!!!
On our way out of town we had plans to stop at Cadillac Ranch. This is an art installation in the middle of a farmer’s field that is brow furrowingly fascinating. If it wasn’t fun and funky enough to see 10 junky cadillacs buried nose down in the field, observers are actually encouraged to add to the art with spray paint. The boys found this deliciously irresistible and spray painted with zest. And they weren’t the only ones. On our way out of the farm gate, we met a large group of the members of the Harley Club of Germany. They were decked from head to toe with leather and metal studs, so arguably a group you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. However, transcending the language barrier with hand gestures, the boys offered their leftover spray paint to the bike riders. At first, the bikers refused gruffly, but once we explained what the paint was for, they gleefully thanked us in German and hurried off to add their own art.
The rest of the day was driving. I slept most of the trip to make up for the night before and woke with a start somewhere around Pueblo, CO. I can’t remember exactly what Gary said but his utterances indicated something was definitely wrong with the car. We had recently had the transmission repaired on the old van and as soon as it hit the mountains of Colorado, it got cranky. We whipped into a transmission shop and they did a quick diagnostic. Turns out the transmission control module was malfunctioning. In layman’s terms, this meant that we weren’t in immediate danger, but our transmission had no idea what gear to switch to in the mountains. So, as a status check: definite ear infection, definite car trouble. Perfect.
We limped along the last 30 miles, collectively holding our breath. Gary determined that he would need to do some research to decide what our immediate car needs would be. After checking into the Colorado Springs Travelodge, Gary and the boys took off for the pool,while I headed for the grocery store. Before leaving home, I bought some of the groceries that we would need for the week, but there were still some things that I needed to complete our meals. I loaded the groceries into the room and we enjoyed our dinner in our room before heading off to bed early.
