Oregon

The fact that the current hood for Nic's Coronet is warped and the paint is cracking literally keeps him awake at night. Which also makes it fun to point out when I feel like bothering him beyond belief. But of course there isn't a replacement hood in Utah; the closest one was about 1,000 miles away. So instead of just driving there and immediately back like we did in Washington for his '49 Ford, we decided to make a trip of it. Well, actually, we have a child now and can no longer get away with driving all day and sleeping in the back of the truck. So we also bought a truck-bed camper complete with heating, A/C, a queen bed, sink, toilet, shower, and fridge. I'm never camping for real again.

All this for a weekend trip to Oregon to get some car parts.

I predicted that it would either be awesome or be a complete disaster filled with a screaming baby and frustrated parents. Luckily, it was totally awesome and we kind of can't wait to go wherever we're going to go next. Norah was incredible with no freak-outs and she even kept to her normal sleep schedule. I call that a win. Plus we got to spend all day every day with just our little family. So. Fun.

With the help of GPS we found the hidden junkyard of Nic's dreams outside of Portland that is filled with only Mopar cars no earlier than like 1979. Norah doesn't seem quite as excited, but she did get to help Nic pick out his new hood, which to me is adorable.

We camped right next to the ocean. And if you couldn't tell, we were really excited to be on the beach with our baby.



And apparently the deer at our campsite have no fear. I thought this was awesome until it got a little too close for comfort and all I could think about was When Animals Attack. And then when I had to walk down the path by myself in the dark I was sure that I was going to get sideswiped by one of these guys. It made him seem not quite as cute and cuddly.

But I survived and we were all still smiling by the end of our adventure.


I guess that's how it goes when you spend five days with your favorite people.

Getting out

This is the second year that Nic has participated in the Keep On Rollin' charity car show at Brighton. Last year he won the Diamond in the Rough award for his Coronet; this year he actually got to drive it up the canyon instead of towing it on a trailer, which is a huge deal to him. Norah and I came up on our own because we require much more Saturday nap time and need air conditioning in our vehicle.

Norah was a champ. She went to the car show and took a stroller ride around Silver Lake all without giving me any anxiety at all. She is seriously such a good baby.

"A glorious day"

I intended on helping Nic wash his car for the first time, but it became quite clear that I was the third wheel. I had no idea that this was such a milestone. Nor did I know that a car wash can take more than an hour. I'll say one thing for Nic: He is thorough. And slightly crazy.

I asked Nic if I could describe this moment like his car was getting baptised, but I didn't expect him to say yes. So from now on you can rest assured that Nic's car is saved.

And Nic? Nic is a happy man.

Minus the new car smell

The past month has been an exciting one for Nic: He got the Coronet running! And even though Olive and I don't always get along (Alissa, you know what I'm talking about), I have to say that our little Nicolas has some serious talent and I'm SO excited for him. I mean look at how this car started out:

It's nuts! He made an entire new vehicle. BY HIMSELF. He even sewed the seats. Who does that?

The puppies are in love as always. All they are thinking is: You mean Nic really likes this? I HAVE to sit in it! Let me in! What? Erin who?

"It's even better than I'd imagined"

After nearly a year of dreaming about this day, Nic informed me that his now-fully-painted Coronet beats what he could ever come up with in his head.

The only problem? Now when he asks to buy stuff for his car I can no longer hold him at bay by saying that it isn't even painted yet.

Lately

No new cars. No crazy kitty drama. No new foster Labs. None of the stuff I usually blog about has been happening lately. Which, when I think about it, is actually a good thing. I did just get some of the pictures off of my camera, so here's a little bit about what we've been up to the last little bit.

Summer means more car shows. I'm markedly less supportive this year and only stopped by the UVU car show for a few minutes on my way to the gym. I did hang around long enough to give away Stewart Specialty Services' award for favorite car. I chose this beauty. I only wish you could have seen the look on the people's faces who owned the white car next to me. They were super pissed that this car didn't even have a real paint job and won an award over them. I say it has character (plus a sign that said "please touch").

Nic spent a LOT of time after regular work working for the Corsa race team. He painted their hybrid race car and did an excellent job, plus he even got a brand new paint gun out of the whole deal. This picture is from the race car's first race at Miller Speedway. It looks great right?

I asked nicely and Nic took me to baby animal days at This Is The Place state park. I will never tire of looking at small, fluffy animals.

Most exciting is that Nic is finally painting his Coronet. It's been nearly a year of body work and repairs to get to this point. His car looks AMAZING. I don't know if you can see in the picture, but I'm holding up a drawing of what the finished car will look like. Nic is scheduled to paint the rest of it on Saturday and I'm pretty sure that he gets actual butterflies in his stomach every time he thinks about it.

Coincidence of wants

Hobbes' hospital stay combined with taxes left Nic and I sans extra spending money. Me, I started packing my lunch. Nic? He just got pretty much everything he wanted for free. Really, it's kind of infuriating in that I'm super jealous and wish I had SOME sort of mad skills that I could use for barter.

First, he wanted new tires for his Coronet. No problem. Nic worked on this guy's car one Saturday morning and he straight up gave him the EXACT wheels and tires Nic has apparently always wanted.

Next, Nic is almost ready to paint his Coronet. Well, it just so happens that he is friends with some guys at a paint shop who also need some work done. Now, Nic has free paint and primer for life.

After paint, Nic needs a new exhaust system. The same guy who gave Nic the tires has a friend who does exhaust and also needs some work done. New exhaust? Check it off the list.

Beyond these large-ticket items, Nic has also worked out a deal to fix his brother-in-law's boat for a wiring harness and somehow picked up a free radiator. And this is just the stuff that he's told me about recently.

I learned about coincidence of wants in an economy unit years ago, but didn't think that it actually existed much anymore; not a whole lot of people looking to trade a chicken for a barrel of wheat or whatever. But Nic has taught me that you really don't need money to get what you want; you just have to have something that you can trade.

Anybody out there need some editing done?

Puppies heart cars

We've gotten into a new habit at our house on Saturday mornings. Me, I like to sleep in. Nic, not so much. So instead of me trying to make Nic sleep in or Nic trying to get me up (which almost always ends badly) Nic spends his Saturday mornings at his shop working on his Coronet. The only stipulation? He has to take the puppies so I can rest in peace.

Nic usually ends up getting up earlier than he does on the weekdays so he can spend as much time with his car as possible. And if the alarm isn't good enough to get him out of bed, all he has to do is ask Moxie if she wants to go to the shop and it's over, no more sleep.

What I love about Saturday mornings is how in love our dogs are with Nic's cars. No matter what else is going on, they always have to be around to inspect his work. These pictures are from last Saturday after Nic had shot a fresh coat of primer. Sup's face kills me in the second picture: He's totally ready to go for a drive.

Nic hearts America

Nic's weekend turned out a lot better than he expected when I agreed that he could buy a 1967 Dodge Coronet 500. It may not look like much now, but according to Nic this is the Mopar he's always wanted.

Plus, it's hard to say no when I just bought a massive amount of tile and he's in the process of redoing our entire main floor. And just look how happy he is.

So now we have the Coronet:

And Mater: And the silver Jeep:
Not to mention Nic's other Jeep Wrangler, his Ford truck, and my Jeep Patriot.

I don't know how I let this happen. But I do know that if Nic ever tries to call me un-American again, I'll just start counting cars, because I'm pretty sure this is as "American" as I can get.