These are some of the hilarious out-takes from our three weeks with the Traverse that just needed to be shared. While the car may be near to perfect – the drivers and passengers certainly weren’t. In case you haven’t been following along, Chevy loaned us a new vehicle to drive across the country for a family vacation / homeschool DC field trip / blog conference. The poor vehicle got here with 3,000 or so miles and I’m pretty sure it had over 9,000 when we gave it back. Hey – but now we know just how far Pennsylvania is from Texas; and that’s important when teaching geography, right?
First off, up top we have the bug splatter. They said we didn’t have to wash it before they picked it up. We took them seriously.
And then there’s the tell-tale sign that we are true TEXAS drivers… the oil-change needed light is on. We Texas drivers like to rack up the miles. And now you know where all those discounted cars have been when you buy a new car on a lot that has 8 or 9 thousand miles already on it but seems to have just been released from the factory. Yep – blogging homeschool families driving half way across the USA. You heard it here first.
Then there’s the ‘hang the $1,800.00 camera and $600+ dollar lens out the window while you are going through a forest with mountain-tunnels’ trick. Maybe not so bad for the car, but certainly not smart, right?
Here we have passenger #5 making a break for the steep drop-off along the edge of the tallest peak East of the Mississippi. Granted, we outnumbered him 3 to 1, so it is likely we would have caught him before he went careening over the escarpment… however, family holidays are full of these little ‘cliffhanger’ moments, aren’t they?
The stress of driving long distances – with kids – is made one-hundred times worse by the amount of JUNK you have to pack in the back of the vehicle. It seems that every time you want to get out and ‘grab something really quick’ it is buried deeper than China. It also helps to have about 10% visibility out of your rear-view mirror. [Shhhh! Don’t tell Chevy.]
These last two shots are just the kids goofing off. It was our last day with the “Precious”… or so we called the Traverse… and they wanted to show how much they loved it before we had to give it back. I’m not sure what emotion they are trying to express here – but who does understand 11 and 13 year olds. Really?
For a more polished and respectful review of the ‘Sweet Ride Chevy’ adventure – you’ll have to browse my previous Chevy posts. Every now and then, we like to let it all hang out over here (including arms, heads, and expensive photographic equipment) – even in a moving vehicle.
*Want to read more about Relevant and our trip to DC for the kids along the way? Follow along in my sidebar under the Relevant section!
Kimarie @ The Cardamom's Pod says
Hahaha! Thanks for sharing! I agree about the junk stuffed in the back buried deeper than China. We always were positive it tunneled deeper while we were driving. Good memories, though, I'm sure.
Stacy @ Delighting in the Days says
Looks like you all had a great time! It is always amazing just how much stuff gets crammed into the vehicle for a trip. Even when packing "light" – which I'm not sure I ever do!
We always have to hunt for shoes at every stop. Don't know how they disappear so easily. But they seem to get lost under the seat (or under all the stuff we crammed in).
Glad you reached your fund-raising goal and were able to attend Relevant!
Samantha says
Glad you liked it! We are still loving ours, and have never seen the oil message yet, although I hope to keep up on ours, and never see that message 🙂 I am hoping to keep this one for a long time!
Brandy says
LOL looks like y'all had a lot of fun with it! 😀
I don't even want to think about hte last time we had an oil change. I hate car maintenance lol
Crystal Starr says
I love all of these picture of your sweet and fun family!!! {{hugs}}
Shell in your Pocket says
Looks like a great time!
sandy toe