Adventuring We Shall Go !!

The day didn't BEGIN as an adventure, but then adventures rarely start out that way. 

We went to Bismarck to pick up a china hutch for my sister Mary's growing china collection, and to pick up vitamins and a new printer for me. 

The day was sunny enough for me to need sunglasses, and mild indeed for January in Dakota; we were in great spirits and only got lost once or twice as we wound through unfamiliar pathways to her son Robin, who was to be our guide (we didn't get lost with him navigating) and the muscles of our team. 

After locating the house where we were to get the hutch, we had a much-needed lunch (warning:  that chicken and jalapeno thing at Hardee's is a messy meal but Robin made it through with panache) and proceeded to the address we had already found. 

The lady is selling the house and most of the stuff in it (it's already basically barren) so while Mary and Robin and the lady were otherwise occupied I snooped around. 

I tell ya:  that place is an amazement. 

Five or six families could live there and never cross paths. 

I kid you not. 

I almost got lost in the interior a few times. 

While I was roaming around in the maze, Robin went out to start the pickup and back it up as close to the front door as possible. 

Next thing you know, he's back inside with bad news. 

The pickup that has never failed anyone in anything in its entire life refuses to start. 

Out we go to see if a diagnosis is possible. 

Brother Brian, Mary's husband, is called - he can almost always fix just about anything even if he's on the road a thousand miles away.  He tells Mary what to do, she does it, and voila! 

This time, Mary paid a deposit on the hutch, called a towing company, and the pickup is in the shop. 

In Bismarck. 

A couple of hours from home. 

Robin walked to a friend's (thankfully near by) house and Mary and I rode with the tow driver to the shop where the pickup disappeared and will reappear in due course, fixed. 

Meanwhile, being stranded with no wheels, Mary and I got a ride to the airport from the shuttle service provided by the shop, a very nice and convenient service I have to say. 

No, we weren't going to fly home. 

If we wanted to fly home, we would have gotten a ride to Wal-Mart and bought ourselves brooms. 

We did not want to fly home.  Although the day was mild and sunny, it's still January in Dakota.  Read 'too cold to fly by broom'.

The airport was the only place that we could rent a car to drive home in. 

As adventures go, this one was not as adventurous as some we've had, I have to admit. 

Still it was an adventure. 

I was so excited to be spending the day with Mary that I called her really early this morning (early for us is NOT to be mistaken for early for the rest of the world) only twenty minutes after my alarm woke me, which was twenty minutes after our designated departure time. 

**More 'sister time' for me!  I think I can maybe get used to this concept.  Having two of them near by, I can hopefully garner the benefits of both without imposing myself too annoyingly on either.**

I loved this day.

All the way there we chattered like magpies about this, that, and the other thing.  There's never any shortage of conversation, and she even listened to me belly-ache about my 'issues' like the trooper she is! 

We got the things we had on our lists for shopping (except for the china  hutch of course - there was no way it was going to fit into that little rental car) and drove home with more chattering going on the whole way. 

The rental car got me safely home again, and I'm assuming Mary also made it home safely to feed and take care of her livestock or I'd have gotten a call from her long before now. 

With any luck the shop will call her in the morning and we'll make the trip all over again tomorrow. 

That would not be a hardship for me. 

One thing I did today that I ordinarily don't have time to think about when I'm in the middle of an adventure. 

I came out of it with a memento.  The photo at the top of this post is of a silver dessert server, one of the things the lady was selling as she de-clutters. 

Another thing I got out of this adventure, as opposed to most of my other adventures, is a warm fuzzy feeling. 

And that, my friend, is nothing to sneeze at.