26 going on....20??

When I was younger, 14, 15, 16 etc., I always got told I looked 21, 22, 23...which at the time I loved, of course, not as much as my parents ;). I always felt older than I was too. I dated older guys, had older friends and was often told I was mature for my age when people found out how old I really was.

Now that I am older not much has changed. I am married to a guy that is six years my elder, and I don't necessarily feel older than I am, but I feel like I'm still pretty mature for my age, or at least for the age people think I am. Now that I am passed my early 20's I get told I look younger ALL the time. Which I suppose is fine, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it more when I'm 30+, but being that I have owned my own business for 4 years now, it would kind of be nice to at least look my age. People look at me and think I must just be starting out cause I'm so young, so how could I have possibly been doing this for very long?! They are shocked when I tell them this is my fourth year in business. Not to mention I have a younger sister that people always think is my older sister....she's 20! So if I'm the younger one, how old does that make me??

I met with a client a few weeks ago who looked to be in her mid 40's, as we were talking she made mention of her 3 children, the oldest being 18. She then talked about her wedding date, being on September 18th, and I mentioned to her that that was 2 days after my birthday. She looked at me with all sincerity and said "oh really?! How old are you going to be....20?"

I told her I am actually turning 27 and her eyes about popped out of her head! The whole time I'm thinking, "great, this lady is sitting here with me trying to decide if she wants a girl SHE thinks is barely older than her oldest child to photograph the most important day of her life". It's a good thing I told her my husband is going to be 33 AFTER I told her my age. Could you imagine the look I would have got then, if she thought I was still 19?! haha

So, alas, for now I guess I am a 26 year old in a 19 year old's body, trying to prove myself in a world where people don't take youth all too seriously and in an industry where it pays to have experience under your belt. Hopefully as I continue to get older, this whole thing will pay off....

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I booked her wedding.

In a completely unrelated post, Rob and I took the Chevelle out last weekend for a little Sunday drive. We went up American Fork Canyon and took some pictures, here are some shots from the day.

Saved by the....Chevelle

So the other night Rob and I went over to my parent's house to visit after dinner. They live in Saratoga Spring, Ut and there is a long stretch of road to get to their home that was recently widened from a two lane to a four lane road. EVERY time I drive down that road I see several cops, without fail.

So, it was no surprise that as we were driving back we were side by side with a police car. Now we weren't speeding or anything like that so it should have been fine, except for the fact that we were in our yet-to-be-registered Chevelle with Mississippi plates. Sure enough, the cop ran our plates and within seconds his lights were flashing. Rob looks over at me and tells me the he had forgotten the bill of sale and title at the house. Greeeeaat!

The cop comes over to Rob's side of the car and says "ok, so what we need to do is get side by side, and wait til no one's around", joking that he wanted to race us. Rob was oblivious and thought he was saying we were going to need to follow him down to the station. haha.

Then he told us he ran our plates and nothing came up, we explained to him that we had just purchased the car and driven it back from Mississippi and hadn't had a chance to register it yet. Hoping he wouldn't ask for proof of purchase. The cop said that was fine and was impressed by our ride and the 396 under the hood. He asked Rob if he's ever seen how fast it can go. Rob told him we drove Route 66 back from MS and at one point got it up to about 105-110. The cop laughed and seemed amused. He then leaned into the car and said "ok, so after this car you're clear and there isn't going to be another cop for at least two miles. So we'll just pretend I'm not here. You guys have a good night".

So the cop is basically telling us he wants to see the Chevelle in action. So what does Rob do? He floors it! I think we got up to 90 miles an hour before letting off the gas. The cop followed for a minute then turned around once we slowed down and went the other way.

I think that's the first and LAST time we'll ever get told by a police man to speed. It's a good thing we got pulled over by a cop that appreciates classic cars and big engines.

7 states in 7 days

Today was the final leg of our trip and what was supposed to be an easy 4 hour drive, turned into a very loooong 11 hour journey. We've driven about 2000 miles across 7 different states and seen half the country, when suddenly our luck ran out. I was all snuggled up with my head on Rob's lap, taking a nap on our comfy bench seat, when I was abruptly woken up by a terrible knocking noise in the engine. About 150 miles south of home, right smack in between Beaver and Fillmore... we broke down.

We had the car towed to Cove Fort which was only about 10 miles up the road where they had a small service station that was fortunately open on a Saturday, and the guys were happy to take a look under the hood.

Not knowing what the issue could be, Rob and I had our fingers tightly crossed that it was nothing major. Soon after removing the valve covers the problem was staring us right in the face... a broken rocker arm.

Luckily, this is an easy fix, IF they could find the part. The thing about these 396 engines is that they are no longer in production, so finding a working part can be a bit of a hunt. The shop owner headed out to Beaver to begin the search. Roughly 3 1/2 hours later he returned with the trophy. He told us he was just about to give up after searching all the local parts stores and having no luck, when he ran into a farmer friend who just happens to own several hot rods. Our luck soon returned when he found the exact part we needed, in his barn full of classic cameros and vettes. The guy even told him we could have the part for free as long as it was for a cool car. The shop owner assured him, it was "a very cool car."

So about $200 and 6 hours later, we were back on the road.

With large gray clouds overhead and the sun quickly setting we were worried about hitting more bad weather. But fortunately we were able to make it home and FINALLY get our new baby safely in our garage.

We had the time of our lives on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip traveling a classic route in a classic car.

homeward bound

Well today is day six of our trip and we're finally almost home. We had a last minute change of plans when the weather turned on Thursday morning. We went from a warm and comfortable 80 degrees to a brisk 40 degrees overnight. Not only that, but a huge wind storm came into Amarillo and it seemed like we couldn't drive out of it. The strong gusts followed us all the way from Cadillac Ranch to Winslow, Arizona were we pulled off to "stand on a corner." When we went to hop back onto the I-40 it looked like a train a hundred miles long had parked itself on the freeway. We've never seen so many semi's on the road at one time. The freeway had been closed due to a bad wind/sand storm and was backed up for as far as the eye could see.

Wanting to avoid further bad weather, we scrambled to find an alternative route. After a few phone calls and about an hour of deliberation, we found a small highway that took us away from the dusty desert plains of Arizona and into a lush national forest of beautiful pine trees and shimmering blue lakes. What seemed like a long trip out of our way, turned into a fortunate and beautiful detour. Once we arrived in Flagstaff however, our luck changed. We hit a nasty snow storm as we rolled into town and having no heater or functioning windshield wipers, it was definitely not a pleasant experience. We decided that instead of heading north from Flagstaff and up through Kanab, we would go to Vegas and stay with Rob's sister to ensure better weather.

Today we drove to St. George to stay with my grandma since Fillmore got 4 inches of snow and Beaver and Nephi looked to have the same fate. Tomorrow we go home. We decided to take advantage of the red rock backdrop while we are here, and took the car up to the golf course to get some sunset shots. We couldn't get a good vantage point as there were cars parked in the ideal location, overlooking the golf course and red cliffs of Hurricane. So, with little convincing, we got the club house workers to allow us to park our Chevelle on the golf cart path right on the green. It's amazing the benefits you get with a car like this.

My grandma couldn't resist getting behind the wheel

We've seen 7 states in 7 days, made LOTS of new friends on the highway, and taken advantage of many great photo ops. It's been an incredible adventure but I'd be lying if I said we weren't a little anxious to finally be home.

Here are some more shots from our amazing trip:

Glenrio

Rob, leaving our mark at Cadillac Ranch

"takin it easy" in Winslow, AZ

Flagstaff, AZ

The adventure continues...

Well day four of our trip has finally come to an end. It was a long day filled with some really awesome sights. We saw what some consider to be the best part of Route 66 as we drove through Texas and New Mexico. We photographed the famous Cadillac Ranch, drove through Glenrio ghost town, explored Motel row in Tucamcari and saw some of the old motels and cafe's, stopping off at the Frontier Restaurant to get some delicious sticky buns, in Albuquerque.

Today was incredibly windy, but other than that it was a lot of fun. We pulled off of I-40 to jump back on the 66 somewhere back in Texas and we saw a little turtle chillin' in the road. So as I photographed the historic Route 66 sign, Rob came to the turtle's rescue by removing him from the middle of the road. The turtle happily repaid him by peeing on him. Maybe next time he'll let him stay in the road...lol

Here are some photos from today:

Cadillac Ranch

Abandoned gas station and motel in Glenrio

Abandoned Juarez Cafe in Glenrio Ghost Town

On the way to New Mexico

Route 66 in Tucumcari, NM

The famous Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM

Santa Rosa, NM

Dreams do come true...

Rob and I have been talking about two things for as long as we've known each other. One: owning his dream car, a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle, and two: cruising and taking photos on old route 66.

This spring we were finally able to make both dreams become a reality.

After years of searching we finally found "the one" and on April 25th 2010, after months of planning and negotiating, we flew down to the small town of Seminary, Mississippi to pick up our new "baby".

Drinking some cokes in a bottle with our new ride, outside Cranford's Drugstore in Seminary, MS (Population: 340)

We decided the best way to see how solid she was, was to drive her over 2000 miles back across the country and to our garage. We figure, if she can make it home, she can make it anywhere. And since we're out here, why not take advantage of the history and culture route 66 has to offer by making dream number two come true as well.

It's the start of day four of our adventure and so far so good. Car's running great and we've seen some amazing things.

We've driven through the lush countryside of Mississippi, stopped off and had some amazing Louisiana BBQ with a side of Southern hospitality, and brushed up on our history with a quick stop in Dallas to see the infamous site of JFK's assassination.

The book depository where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot JFK from.

Our new ride sittin' pretty in the Texas countryside

We stopped at Red's Drive In in Quanah, TX for an old fashioned hamburger and some vanilla coke.

Yesterday we finally made it to the northwest part of Texas where our Route 66 journey began. So far we've been through Shamrock, where we saw the U Drop Inn, Conway to see Slug Bug Ranch and we crashed for the night in Amarillo where we will be enjoying our breakfast at the famous "Big Texan" restaurant, home of the free* 72 oz steak. (*yeah, free if you can eat it all in an hour).

It's been an exciting adventure so far and we've learned that everyone's your friend when you drive a classic. We get lots of thumbs up, big smiles and lots of waves. Did I mention that not only did we get a free upgrade to a suite at our hotel (and at a discounted rate) but the hotel manager was more than willing to let us park our new ride in the drop off area right in front of the hotel entrance over night.

With a little over 800 miles down and roughly 1200 to go, the adventure has only just begun. We'll keep updating everyone on our long journey back home.