California or Bust!!

The weekend of 15th-21st of February found us traveling to California for a Surprise 50th Anniversary for Grandma Mere and Grandpa Milton. We left Thursday on our way to meet up with the caravan of cars, that left ahead of us, in Winnemucca. We should have known that we would be doomed when the vehicle started having a hard time climbing a hill after Windover but, we pressed on. The next morning before we all left Dad, Steve, and Dave found themselves looking under the hood and even running the computer to see what would cause the engine light to come on and off, but to no avel nothing appeared that would cause the problem so off we went again. We had not been on the road long when Addison exclaimed I need to go to the bathroom, we pulled off the next exit that had a bathroom and in we ran. With the bathroom crisis solved we were ready to go again and try to catch up to everyone. Not long after getting onto the freeway we started in with problems again while climbing a hill. We told everyone of the problem and that we would meet them in Boomtown needless to say we didn't make it that far into Reno before are fate was sealed....stuck in Reno. We tried to make it on surface streets but nothing seemed to work. Steve, Alyssa, Mckinley and Dad all turned around to come to our aide. All I can say is we are truly lucky that Dad, Steve, and Dave know things about cars and more importantly that Steve brought his tools with him. We love having a mechanic in the family! After many phone calls back and forth to James (Steve's boss) he said head to NAPA I have a friend who is a mechanic there and they will let you use whatever tool you need. After stopping at NAPA and thinking that it might be the fuel pump and NAPA needing to order the tester we drove to a mechanic shop and they were not only kind enough to test it but to also replace it. In the meantime the Bowen's and the rest of the family was still sitting in Boomtown waiting. After the shop had ordered the part we contacted mom and told her the good news. We also decided to go to Circus Circus, eat and watch the show. Mom got lost coming to where we were and by the time they got there they were lowering the vehicle back to the ground we were fixed! So needless to say we never made it to Circus Circus but drove through and stopped to eat in Auburn. I should clarify that Dave and I both told them many times to go on with out us, that eventually we would follow but that was in vain, Mom and Dad would not go on without us.
Needless to say the trip to California was full of adventure and learning experiences. Dave's comments over the two-way radios, Steve's Garmin and slow driving, Bowen's lack of sleep, and finally arriving sometime around midnight to waiting open arms. Great news is that we all had a wonderful time creating memories and all made it home without a problem, might I add in 10 hours including stops.