Suzuki Road Trip

All’s well that ends well. That’s what I can say today, after a good night’s sleep, a leisurely breakfast, and an afternoon tourist train ride in Leadville with Sammy. Yesterday was a different story. I woke up at 7:01 a.m. in Paonia, in a panic. My landlord was to do her inspection of the rental house at 9 a.m., and I had floors to mop, two beds to drag down the street to a neighbor, who had lent them to me, and the Suzuki Samuri to pack with more stuff than I could possibly put in it. Two nights before, I had a bon voyage party, with 50 plus people, a surprising turnout, plenty of fun, and a last minute mess of a house to deal with...

After two hours of frantic moving, packing and cleaning, I showed the house and it passed inspection, so I got back my full security deposit. I made a final trip to the storage locker, to shove a last item in (wall-to-wall packed), stuffed the back of the open Suzuki to the roof, tied down the load, put the cats in their carrying cases in the front seat, and went to pick up Sam at the park, where he was playing with our neighbors, mother Mary and son Calen. He arrived at the car for our 4 hour roadtrip soaking wet and fussy. I’d been dreading the drive for weeks, because the Suzuki is a wreck of a car, with bent bumpers, flapping soft top, and a maximum speed of 50 mph. Ryer wants the car back when I am in Dubai, and I’ve sold my “real”car to my sister Alison. The Suzuki was all I had to get myself, Sam, two cats, and all of our belongings going to the UAE over two mountain passes in the screaming midday heat. And then there’s the Latin crooner Hector Lavoe tape stuck in the tape deck, looping continuously at full blast. Nothing to be done about that.

We were having an inauspicious beginning. A rock cracked the windshield in the first 5 minutes, and then Sam started complaining that he was cold. He also didn’t like the two meowing cats on his lap. In one hour’s time over McClure Pass, he told me he wanted to stay in Paonia, he hated me, and he wanted a new family. He also asked me to pull over so he could let the cats out by the side of the road. Never mind that the Suzuki was shaking as it neared the dreaded 50 mph, the roof was flapping and cracking like a jib, and the cats were yowling in their cases. As we reached the top and coasted down the other side of the first pass, the temperatures began to soar with the mid day sun. By the time we reached Carbondale, it was ninety, I was drenched with sweat, Sam was dry, and both cats were panting in a scary way.

We met Als in a parking lot across from her work to say a final goodbye. “You look like the Beverly Hillbillies!” she exclaimed when she saw us. She helped us retie the load. Sam “peaked” here in the baking sun. He ran around the car, unplugging all the tire plugs. Then he asked if he could move in with Als. instead of move to Dubai. I reminded him about the camels, and he momentarily reconsidered. Then, another fit, as Alison tried to get him back in the car, seatbelt him in, and place the cats safely on his lap. In a last desperate attempt to break away, as we pulled out of the lot, Sam unlatched the door (no small feat, as the door handles are broken), which swung out into the street. Alison’s last glimpse of us was of me shrieking at Sam and leaning over him to relatch the door.

I’d like to tell you it gets better, and it did, but not before two traffic jams, and Sam crying that he had to go to the bathroom that second (no warning) or he’d pee in his pants. The sun beat down, the roof flapped, the cats panted, and Sam whined as we crawled along in our faulty car.

And then, we were in Aspen! And it got better! Ryer drove over Independence Pass to Aspen to escort us over Independence Pass, which is the highest pass in the state. We met him at Johnny McGuire’s Deli, where Terrence, the owner and a longtime friend, comped our lunch. Ryer took half my bags (which was lucky, because at this point, one bag was hanging over the side, connected to the car by a cat leash tied through the handle. I was wondering why someone in a red car was following a quarter mile behind me in that traffic jam) and my kid, and followed us up and over the cool, breezy pass. The Suzuki cruised like a champ. “I was admiring how zippy the Suzuki was going over the pass!” Ryer commented later. The cats cooled down, I cheered up, as did Sam, now that he was in a cool, air conditioned SUV, and by 4 p.m., we pulled into Leadville. We were in bed by 9 p.m.

I told mom it was one of my top 20 most harrowing days, due to the age of the car, and its questionable running condition, the yowling cats and miserable kid. But Ryer saved the day, and we are here in Leadville safe and sound, and right in time for Boom Days before leaving the country on the 12th of August. Meanwhile, I peer off Ryer’s porch and look admiringly at the Suzuki, the car that didn’t let me down!