The Unicorn

Thankfully my husband is basically a magician when it comes to vehicle purchases.  Throughout our marriage, I can’t even count the number of wheels we have owned - but what can you do?  It’s in his genes!  Stuart and Jude’s first words were “bus” and Charlie is following in their footsteps with his love of wheels.  All that to say, when our engine blew, what could we do but pivot?  

We’ve typically preferred GMC’s but after this engine blow, we were a little spooked.  Stu started the hunt for how to get us home.  Trucks that seat 6 are few and far between - thus the stretched truck we used for hauling the nine living creatures that we cart around the country!  We were in San Fran on the hunt for a tow vehicle and Stu found a Ram 6 seater about three hours from our campsite.  Yesterday around noon, Stu, Charlie, and I set out on the mission to buy this truck.  We tried to make a dealer swap from San Francisco the day before, but the dealer wouldn’t give it up.  They had four Saturday appointments for folks looking at it.  We gave an over-the-phone agreement and drove three hours to pick it up.  After that, we had to drive another two hours to empty all of our gear,

The trailer hitch, and tools out of our GMC.  While we were already in Monterey, we went ahead and turned in the mini van we had rented.  We arrived back at our campsite after midnight.

This morning consisted of packing up and rolling out.  After solving a hitch issue, we headed up to Lake Tahoe!  We literally rolled in on fumes!  Five miles away from the campground, the truck said 39 miles to empty.  We lost five miles of fuel for every mile traveled.  We got to the campground on “low” and when Stu got to the gas station, he filled 49.5 out of 50 gallons.  Whew!  We’ll never cut it that close again!  

We’re so thankful to be here for a few days and see family in Tahoe - and rest and recover from all do the trip craziness - and praying for some smooth sailing days ahead!

Testing out the back seat - will it fit two teenagers, a toddler, a 80 pound golden retriever and two cats??  Why yes, it will!