This Thanksgiving break I had the opportunity to drive 12 hours down to Mesa, Arizona to surprise my sweet mother for the holiday. It's usually a 10hr drive, but this time we drove with an interesting crowd. It was me, my cousin, Stanton Nielsen, and two of my closest friends, Robert Carroll, and Taylor Hilton. Well thats how it was at the beginning anyway. A few hours into the drive we stopped in Hurricane, Utah to pick up Robert's grandma, who we called Grandma Doe. I had heard so much about this lady and what a firecracker she was. She was everything I imagined. She was sassy, demanding, and in every way, hilarious. Oh, did I mention we also brought along her two wiener dogs? We pulled up to her house to pick Grandma up, and within 30 second I had been kicked out of shotgun and into the middle back seat.
We ended up stopping probably twice as much as we really needed. This was partly because I started the trip with a 44oz Dr Pepper, and partly because Grandma Doe insisted we let the dogs out every once in a while to stretch their legs.
Throughout the drive, we learned much from Grandma Doe. She gave us advice on everything from how to drive, to how to get married (Which was really fun because she's been married 3 times). She made the whole drive a lot more fun. Did I mention she LOVED to feed us? When we picked her up, she brought along sausage, cheese, about 10 apples and oranges, and a whole pizza just for us! She also loved to offer us chocolate pretzels. I usually don't like them, but this trip, I learned to love them. At first I was scared to turn her down when she threw the bag at me, then I started to grow on me. We wrote down the funny phrases she used, and even started an Instagram account for her, @GrandmaDoe, where we posted photos we had secretly snapped of her. It seemed like we were constantly laughing. I can't tell you the number of times she exclaimed "OH MY COW," or called something or someone a "whatchya -ma-doodle." When Taylor got behind the wheel she said, "Pedal to the metal and hang on!"
The drive back turned out to be just as entertaining. Taylor and Stanton went in another car that would arrive in Provo sooner, so it was just me, robert, and Grandma. Becasue me and Robert are in the band together, we spent a pretty good portion of time talking about the band and music in general. Grandma Doe had her own opinions on music too. When we told her we'd make a playlist for her, she said "I'm making a playlist, and I'm checking it twice!" We got a great kick out of this. Like grandmas do, Grandma Doe was constantly looking after us. She bought us food, snacks, and even offered to take us to Sizzler for dinner. When we dropped her off at her house, she fed us her famous sausage, egg, & cheese biscuits, and sent on the road again.
The last 6 hours it was just me and Robert. He's such a busy guy usually, so I was going to soak up every minute I had with him. Twelve hours in a car with one person can drive you to hate them, but that never happened with Robert. We talked about music, life, ideas, for memories for hours and hours. We made the ultimate Christmas playlist, and even learned the 12 Days of Christmas song as a duet. Look for it on our next EP in January (just kidding). It was actually the most fun I had had on a road trip in a very long time! I usually dread that drive with all my heart, but this time I actually enjoyed it! I guess the secret recipe for a great road trip is family, best friends, two wiener dogs and an 80-year-old woman. Oh, and lots of chocolate-covered pretzels.
where do i get that shirt??
ReplyDeletethis made me laugh unreasonably hard.
ReplyDelete