Under the Hood

Every road trip really starts with a check under the hood, and that job usually falls to the man of the house. Basically you're checking fluid levels. Making sure that everything is where it should be. There's not really much else to do under there, it's not like you're going to notice the alternator is falling off or anything. If it's visible to the naked eye when you open the hood, then something has gone terribly wrong. I do it anyway and it gives a sense of security to the whole undertaking. There are some modes of transportation that legitimately warrant a walk around before a trip. I like to imagine myself checking the shoes on my horse or the rigging on my schooner or the propeller on my plane. Those all seem more constructive than checking the wiper fluid. Everything checks out, my stamp of approval has been given, the journey may commence. It's serious business.

Looks good.

A friend of my wife told her yesterday that he's always nervous when our family makes a cross country trip. If something terrible happens, it happens to the whole family. It's a concern I suppose. If we split up then theoretically some of us would get caught up in whatever catastrophe unfolded and the rest of us could just come upon the scene later. I do kind of like the idea of a convoy.  We'd need CBs of course. And cool names, like Big Daddy and Mamasita. I'd have to say 10-4 and Roger a lot. This sounds much cooler to me than to my wife. I volunteered to drive separately by myself to test out the convoy theory. As usual, my wife didn't think my idea was quite as awesome as I did. I was really quite excited about it. Hey, I'm just looking out for the family here.