Trip 111, Cya anon, or more formally, Awe the best tæ yih.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Cya anon, or more formally, Awe the best tæ yih, we said to our old friend the LER. Or if I wanted to get really maudlin I’d post a link to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman singing, Time To Say Goodbye, on Youtube.
Nan Lou says I am a little weird in my emotional connections to inanimate objects and I cannot argue with her--much. Some of these inanimate objects are nothing in themselves but have very strong links to some of my happiest memories. So there-I say no more.
I am writing this a little over three months from the day it happened. I knew once I started I would be reduced to a messy puddle and kept putting it off and off. But, the time has come.
The LER had officially been retired last October when we popped for a larger vehicle. All the personal things had been stripped out of it and it was just another old camper van parked in our driveway and seldom used except for mundane hauling of anything over eight feet long. A terrible fate for our beloved LER. We wanted something that could be towed behind our Class C and we looked for a suitable vehicle, finally deciding on a Chevy Tracker. The last year they were made was 2004. We found one we liked in Muncie. We took the last drive in the LER, changed our 7400 pound van for a 3000 pound SUV. You all know that SUV means Super Ugly Vehicle, don’t you?
There was a certain relief in doing this which mitigated the remorse but as the next few months fled by the longing for the easy driving and parking LER grew and I just felt it was finally, “Time to say goodbye.”
Nan Lou wrote the following shortly after the deed. hb
...final ler log entry?
Is it the end of an era or the beginning of a new? Is it memory overload or anticipation or expectancy? Is it dwelling in the past or is it carefree bounding into the future?
It is the realization that the time has come. It is the full knowledge that better things await. So, with and Arrrgh! And a Wai-iiiil! And a sniffling silent sob, it is time to say So-long, Arrevederci, Adieu, Adios, Ba Bye, and Aloha. We have moved on.
Remember the good times going down unpaved roads and not knowing if we would make it to the end. Remember the steep mountain grades that a frisky young one took with no problems at all. Remember a small hill that the aging one could barely struggle up. Remember causing so many worried looks and hand signals when the brakes were sending wafts of black smoke skyward. Remember the days camping right on the beach with the high tide caressing the hub caps. Remember all the visits to children and grandchildren in the big, big van. Ah yes, the grandchildren are now young men. Remember the time the daughter had to be rescued and the tears as we had to leave all of them. Remember going to the wedding at 12,000 feet, Remember, the mountains, the deserts full of blooms and color, the sea on both coasts and the beauty of Driftwood Beach. Remember my pilgrimage alone to Brown County. Remember the tears and talks to repair and patch. Remember the love. Remember driving through a double rainbow and seeing the enormous moon rise over Fort Myer telling us that all would be alright and be better than before. Remember the love. Remember the hysterical laughing at pornographic rock formations. Remember the awe as we climbed among petroglyphs hundreds of years old. remember hiking to the farthest Western point in the U..S. Remember going to the Fartest Eastern point. Remember the trips to strange emergency rooms and the quick trip home from Arizona to Indianapolis to get to a familiar doctor. Remember the heat and most especially the cold. Remember the night that was the three degrees below zero that still stands as a record. Remember it taking two of us to get a limping van home from Minnesota. Remember all those spit baths. Remember it all and more too. The pictures tell it all.
But the pictures can't capture the adventure, the worry, the pain, the stress, the negative ions, and the love. The memories do that. And, we will keep them close as the new adventure begins. So, Fare thee Well, LER. For 21 years, it's been a good ride......except when you decided to show us who was boss. nl
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Cya anon, or more formally, Awe the best tæ yih, we said to our old friend the LER. Or if I wanted to get really maudlin I’d post a link to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman singing, Time To Say Goodbye, on Youtube.
Nan Lou says I am a little weird in my emotional connections to inanimate objects and I cannot argue with her--much. Some of these inanimate objects are nothing in themselves but have very strong links to some of my happiest memories. So there-I say no more.
I am writing this a little over three months from the day it happened. I knew once I started I would be reduced to a messy puddle and kept putting it off and off. But, the time has come.
The LER had officially been retired last October when we popped for a larger vehicle. All the personal things had been stripped out of it and it was just another old camper van parked in our driveway and seldom used except for mundane hauling of anything over eight feet long. A terrible fate for our beloved LER. We wanted something that could be towed behind our Class C and we looked for a suitable vehicle, finally deciding on a Chevy Tracker. The last year they were made was 2004. We found one we liked in Muncie. We took the last drive in the LER, changed our 7400 pound van for a 3000 pound SUV. You all know that SUV means Super Ugly Vehicle, don’t you?
There was a certain relief in doing this which mitigated the remorse but as the next few months fled by the longing for the easy driving and parking LER grew and I just felt it was finally, “Time to say goodbye.”
Nan Lou wrote the following shortly after the deed. hb
...final ler log entry?
Is it the end of an era or the beginning of a new? Is it memory overload or anticipation or expectancy? Is it dwelling in the past or is it carefree bounding into the future?
It is the realization that the time has come. It is the full knowledge that better things await. So, with and Arrrgh! And a Wai-iiiil! And a sniffling silent sob, it is time to say So-long, Arrevederci, Adieu, Adios, Ba Bye, and Aloha. We have moved on.
Remember the good times going down unpaved roads and not knowing if we would make it to the end. Remember the steep mountain grades that a frisky young one took with no problems at all. Remember a small hill that the aging one could barely struggle up. Remember causing so many worried looks and hand signals when the brakes were sending wafts of black smoke skyward. Remember the days camping right on the beach with the high tide caressing the hub caps. Remember all the visits to children and grandchildren in the big, big van. Ah yes, the grandchildren are now young men. Remember the time the daughter had to be rescued and the tears as we had to leave all of them. Remember going to the wedding at 12,000 feet, Remember, the mountains, the deserts full of blooms and color, the sea on both coasts and the beauty of Driftwood Beach. Remember my pilgrimage alone to Brown County. Remember the tears and talks to repair and patch. Remember the love. Remember driving through a double rainbow and seeing the enormous moon rise over Fort Myer telling us that all would be alright and be better than before. Remember the love. Remember the hysterical laughing at pornographic rock formations. Remember the awe as we climbed among petroglyphs hundreds of years old. remember hiking to the farthest Western point in the U..S. Remember going to the Fartest Eastern point. Remember the trips to strange emergency rooms and the quick trip home from Arizona to Indianapolis to get to a familiar doctor. Remember the heat and most especially the cold. Remember the night that was the three degrees below zero that still stands as a record. Remember it taking two of us to get a limping van home from Minnesota. Remember all those spit baths. Remember it all and more too. The pictures tell it all.
But the pictures can't capture the adventure, the worry, the pain, the stress, the negative ions, and the love. The memories do that. And, we will keep them close as the new adventure begins. So, Fare thee Well, LER. For 21 years, it's been a good ride......except when you decided to show us who was boss. nl
The LER's new replacement. It can't sleep two in comfort, haul a sheet of plywood or a length of pipe, but it can be towed behind A Dragon
