Bob

This afternoon I swung by Trader Joe’s to pick up eggs, butter, and milk for Zoe’s half birthday cake. (I no longer have enough ingredients to whip up baked goods. Who have I become?) While there, I was chatting with one of our favorite cashiers and was telling her about our trip. After asking the where and when questions, like many others, she asked what car we are taking. When I get asked this, I always blush a bit, then take a deep breath and just answer with forced confidence.

We are taking my car. The Toyota Matrix. The one we bought before Zoe was born. The one with 115,000 miles. The one that has been to Florida twice and Michigan and Wisconsin over and over. The one Ellie calls Bob and often encourages it up large hills by chanting, “Come on, Bob! You can do it!” The one that took us on the first road trip.

Here the girls are with the packed car just as we left on this similar adventure five years ago.

We do take decent enough care of the car and there is no evidence that anything predictable will go wrong. There is only one piece that is held together with zipties. Seriously. Zak did just buy stronger zipties for that part, but they weren’t the right size. Who knew there even was a thing as a wrong size ziptie? So, we are heading out on this adventure with almost strongish zipties holding the car together. We are good to go.