The Last Trip We Had Money

On Friday, Cody and I sat out for what was supposed to be the following:

-Happy Babymoon to us!
- Our only summer vacation!
- Let's celebrate our new job responsibilities!
- It will never be this easy again to take a weekend trip, let's do it!

We were so cheerful and perky as we headed out for our long weekend in Ruidoso. Two hours into the six hour trip though, our tune quickly changed...

- Why is it so hot?
- Are you feeling any cold air?
- Um, WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR AIR CONDITIONER?!?!??!?!?!?!?!

Yep,  we had to make a lovely pit stop on the way down:

We basically spent an hour at a mechanic shop, only for him to charge us $20 to say, "Um, I think I know what the problem is, but there's no way I can fix it tonight."   While there is obviously never a good time for someone's AC to go out, we were literally at the half way point of our trip. We could either drive back home for 3 1/2 hours in the miserable heat,  or we could press on for the same amount of time and still try to make a good weekend out of it.

Knowing that we wouldn't have another chance for a loooooong time,  we decided to press on. We headed to Allsup's to change into shorts and tanks (Stacy & Clinton would have a few choice words about what I wore!) paid way too much for a styrofoam cooler and a bag of ice, rolled the windows down and pressed on.

(stopping for a dinner break from our sauna of a car)

I am so thankful that we did press on and get to enjoy our weekend in Ruidoso. We spent some great quality time with family, enjoyed a few great meals and fun games and overall had a great vacation.

And then it was time to come home.

We tried to leave rather early in the morning to beat the heat. For an hour of our trip, it actually felt rather enjoyable in our car.  And then it started warming up. At first it wasn't so bad. But then we crossed over into Texas territory and things changed. I wasn't so sure this pregnant lady was going to make it home fully clothed y'all and I wouldn't have even cared who saw this bare belly if it helped cool me off.

We did get rather creative in our cooling systems attempts:

(that would be a baggie full of ice, stuffed down his shirt)

You want to know the worst part of the story? Cody and my dad took the car to a mechanic in Ruidoso and found out that it is (most likely) the air compressor that went out. Based off of some googling, this is apparently a common problem in Honda CR-V's. We called our Honda dealership in town to get a quote on what it will cost to get it fixed... $1,100.

I know. Ouch.

We'll actually take it to the shop this week and are keeping our fingers crossed that it can be fixed cheaper.  While it stinks that it happened on such a long, hot road trip when we needed it, we know it would have eventually happened anyway, so at least we don't have the guilt of knowing we did something to cause it. 

So, all in all, our vacation was great. The traveling part might have been rather miserable, but it certainly makes for quite a memory! I'm sure Little Mr. Griffin will get very tired of hearing our stories about The Last Trip We Had Money!