D. C. Southwick

I have returned from spring break!
{A day late and more poor than expected!}

Where to start: so much to write about.

This story begins one week ago, as I pack up to leave Iowa City…

I wanted to get out of Iowa City early, as I would be leaving home (Des Moines) early sunday morning to drive to Colorado. Unfortunately, I had a paper due Friday morning, and that means I would leave friday, get home friday night, and spend saturday unpacking and repacking. Not somehting that I wanted to do. SO the drama begins with me losing my supposedly “locked-in” ride. I ended up meeting up with a former classmate from Des Moines who was leaving Thursday evening, Shannon Boshart. Thank god for Shannon, otherwise I might have never left.

It’s worth mentioning that I put off that paper until a couple hours before I was scheduled to leave Iowa City. Needless to say, It wasn’t a quality piece, and I ended up leaving it to my friend and neighbor to deliver. Cutting it pretty dang close, I must say.

I was able to meet up with my friends, and enjoy a relaxing Friday in Des Moines. I even had time to get my piece-of-shit-9-month-old macbook to the “genius bar” for repairs. I wish mac “just worked” …but thats another story.

The car ride Sunday was un-eventfull, aside from the time-zone mixup. That particular Sunday ( 3/11/07 ) was Daylight Saving Time. This, mixed with our mountain time incompotence made for some slight panic, but all was well: the Daylight Saving cancelled out the time zone shift.

Due to our time goof, we arrived in Colorado much earlier than expected, and had time to pick up rentals, shop for groceries and drop off our bags in Keystone, a small slope-village outside Dillon, CO, all before picking up our 4th member from Denver Intl. Overall, the trip was well-needed by all members, and the snowboarding equally enjoyed. Aside from relational awkwordness from Sam and Debbie, all was well! Mr. Sam’s uncle (whom we only knew as ‘Bob’) drove out with enough food for an army, and cooked for us! It doesnt really get much better than that, folks!

The next bit of excitement comes on the way home. The leg of the trip from Colorado to Omaha, the home of Mr. Sam, was un-eventful. When Maria and I switched to my vehicle in Omaha, the drama begins! About an hour outside of Omaha, the engine overheated. So we pull off the interstate, and pour some water into the now-empty coolant resivor. This buys us time to get to the nearest town (10 mi) with a 24-hr Wal-mart. Once there, we buy a container of anti-freeze and fill up the radiator. The heater is still kicking ice-cold air, instead of heat, so I assume it’s an air bubble in the system. Boy was I wrong. After walking around Wal-mart for about an hour (1:00 a.m.) I went outside to play with the engine some more. A 17 year old local boy offered to help me, as he had just experienced this problem yesterday with his girlfriends car. God I love the practical knowledge that comes with rural Iowa education. He pinched some hoses, trying to force the air-bubble out (he also concluded that I definetly had one.) Walking around the car to the ignition, I noticed a snake coming out of the underside of the car. Ah-ha! That’s no snake! its my engine coolant running all the way down the Wal-mart parking lot!!! Random misfortune had struck: the metal coolant lines that run down the undercariage to the rear heaters had rusted through. Needless to say, we weren’t going anywhere for the night, as Atlantic, IA, has no 24 hour service centers. The next morning, we were able to get to the local mechanic, Rick, and were sent on our way. Thanks be to that kid at Wal-mart at 1:00 in the morning. Without his help, I probably would have still been there trying to force the non-existant air bubble out of the radiator.

Thats all on the trip for now. I will continue with my future plans in a different post.

[Pictures coming soon!!!]