2001 was a pretty good year for our marriage. It was the last year the company I worked for did well. Later years saw it file for bankruptcy and become acquired by a competitor. Yes, 9/11 also happened, but overall it went great for us.
Early in 2001 I won a merit based contest. This was a big deal since it involved over 1000 employees and was based on the impact you’ve made to the organization. The prize was a all expense paid trip to Las Vegas. Not just a trip, but a luxurious trip. We were booked into the Bellagio and had a reservation for a top of the line SUV.
Las Vegas has been a part of most of our marriage. We’d gone every year from 1994 to 2001, so it was great the trip was covered by the company.
When we went to Las Vegas in the past it’s been to cover Comdex, the computer show. We decided in 2001 to go at the same time as Comdex, but really, we were just looking for a good time.
Oh, and the cool thing is we’ve never rented a car in Vegas, so having the SUV was fantastic.
The SUV allowed us to see many of the sites of Vegas and Nevada we’d never seen before. The Hoover Dam and Lake Mead were two of those attractions. Seeing the dam and lake together humbles you and they are magnificent.
After we were done looking around, we crossed the border into Arizona. After traveling a few miles in the barren desert, we turned around to head back to the Nevada border. As we approached the border we saw a small gravel covered road named Kingman Road. I’ll never forget the name of it.
The road seemed to go on forever. It was roughly six feet wide and followed a series of hills. We thought about taking the road, for about two seconds, and turned on to it. I didn’t think we should do it, but my wife insisted. Her thought was the road had to run into Lake Mead at some time and we had full rental car insurance, right?
As our SUV crept along the gravel, we marveled at how beautiful the desolation was around us. No vegetation, no animals, just us in an SUV going where it looked like others never went. The speed never exceeded 10 mph, so we were able to discuss things like a gold mine at the end of the road, how screwed we were if the SUV broke down and how many people have made love out here. Our conversation came to an abrupt end.
We had climbed a steep hill and were now at the top. As you looked out of the SUV windshield all you could see was pale blue sky. It was the edge of the world for us and we were frozen with panic.
What do we do?
My wife slid out of the car to let me know she had about four inches of space to move around the SUV. As soon as the door closed I couldn’t see her. I heard her say we were screwed, though. Turns out the SUV, if we went over the top of the hill, might get stuck. It would balance in the middle at the apex and we would effectively have a well appointed teeter totter. Decision time.
As she jumped back in the SUV, my wife told me to go. I did and we made it.
Now, I had enough fun, but the wife wanted to play some more. After we found a place to turn around she decided to sit in the open trunk on the way back. Even at 10mph she was jostled about like a shoe in a dryer. I heard the thumps, but she wanted to keep going. Eventually she cried Uncle and moved back up front.
Our adventure over, we headed back to the hotel. We stopped to get some lunch, and while I was waiting for my wife I killed some time reading our rental car papers. Turns out offroading is not covered by their insurance. Go figure.
Today’s Gift: The wife likes to play explorer adventurer on the road. We’re about to head out to Washington DC as one of the gifts, so if she wants to take a “short cut” or explore an area, we’ll get off our directions and go look.