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Odometer

One spring day when I was about 14, my mom announced, "Okay, everyone, time to get in the car! We're going on a quick drive!"

We piled in and she explained, "We are so close to hitting 200,000 on the van. We'll just drive around until we reach it." And so we did, up and down the streets of Providence, heading through the parts that I didn't even know existed. On our way back from the outskirts near the coyote research farms, my mom shouted, "Come quick everyone! Watch it change!" By the time I had unbuckled my seat belt to peer at the dashboard, it was too late.  But at least I had been there for a momentous occasion in our family.

Not too long after that, I was at the store with my dad talking about it, pointing out how weird it was to go on a drive dictated by the odometer. He smiled and told me that when he and my mom were fairly newly married, the old brown car was also about to reach 200,00 miles. And so they went for a drive until it hit 200,000 miles. And then once they reached 200,000 miles, they kissed.

"That's a dumb reason to kiss," I said.

"It was a great reason to kiss," my dad corrected me.

Today, all our little errands around town finally added up, and after visiting a family in the ward, we were sitting at 49994. (We don't drive much.)

"Kevin! I'm going to a baby shower tonight! You're not going to be with me when the odometer hits 50000! We've got to do it now!"

And so even though we hadn't eaten our own dinner yet, he was a good sport, and we drove around admiring the changing foliage and the changing mileage.

Then, right after the roundabout connecting Earhart and Geddes, the digital display suddenly changed from 49999 to 50000. At the next stoplight, we kissed to commemorate it.

And my dad was right. It was a great reason to kiss.
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  1. StephanieSeptember 18, 2014 at 8:05 PM

    That's hilarious. My family totally did that too--we drove around to reach 200,000 miles on our van. And then took a picture. And my parents had us all recite memories of fun places we had gone in that minivan. Haha. Glad we're not the only ones.

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  2. mommykaySeptember 19, 2014 at 12:58 PM

    Our blue station wagon reached 100,000 miles on the causeway to Antelope Island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. After our excursion to the island, we went back to Layton and announced that the car had turned over in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. Your great-grandmother Rytting was more than a little concerned and upset until your Grandpa reassured her. Wish I had thought of the kiss.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CatherineSeptember 19, 2014 at 4:45 PM

    I really love this anecdote! I really don't have anything to say other than that, but I really liked it :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. MarenSeptember 19, 2014 at 7:29 PM

    We did the exact same thing a couple months ago for our car to hit 100,000 miles. It's a big deal!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amanda JeffsOctober 6, 2014 at 12:01 PM

    cute story :)

    ReplyDelete

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