Another EDA
Well, we did it again! On a recent long weekend, we packed up and went on another EDA (Eos Driving Adventure) that was great fun. This time, however, we found a hotel that let us bring our dogs and my wife insisted that they join us.
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Side Story:
Walmart sells some really great things. They also sell some not-so-great things. Everyone knows this, but because their prices are usually excellent, we continue to buy things with the "hope" that we get one of the "good" ones. What we got looks very similar to the one found
HERE.
Two problems: First, it needs to wrap around the headrests in order to hang down from the front and also from the back. We can't wrap anything around the headrest in the back because that's where the roll-over protection resides. Second, the plastic clips that it uses to secure to the headrests were junk. I'm talking brittle useless junk.
But, we were ready to go and I had to McGuyver the hammock in order to make it work.
End of Side Story
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We started the morning of our departure with a power failure at the house, and while we managed to get ourselves ready in the dark, it took me a while to figure out how to "unlock" the garage door and get the car out. (we now have flashlights hidden all over the house)
A trip from Vancouver, BC to Penticton and Kelowna (also in BC) was just what the doctor ordered. While the trip was great and I highly recommend that anyone going on an EDA with their spouse purchase a Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS map thingy-- that's another story-- we got there using main highways and toll roads. It was great fun and top down weather most of the way. A guy in his new BMW convertible ghosted us all the way.
We ended up hating the hotel. Spent one night there and it was horrible. We could hear every sound from ANY room within 200 feet-- being a long weekend, the place was full. We were witnesses to a massive argument between a younger couple-- apparently one was drunk and was really upsetting the other.
We left the following morning to take a tour of some of the local wineries. Most were really happy to accommodate our dogs, as we don't like leaving them in the car (especially in the high-heat). Most had water bowls, and rooms to put them in. Some even had staff willing to play with them while we looked around.
In retrospect, more as a warning to those who follow us in this type of adventure, it is easy to get "free taste-test happy" at the wineries. <sigh> Drive responsibly. Although my wife enjoyed the samples, I really tried to minimize mine due to my "official chauffeur" status. Although she threatened that she would, my wife never actually bought me a chauffeur uniform, so, thankfully, there was no special "driver" hat to blow off in the wind. I'm sure I had more tastes than I should, but much less than I could-- if that makes sense.
So, we started back towards home. I'd had enough of the "100 lane highway" and wanted something more. I fiddled with the GPS gadget and managed to find a way to skip "major" roads. I also was able to force it to "detour" the planned route through some small towns on the way back.
Narrow roads that snaked around and up hills or mountains. We drove along side of a fairly active river with the water almost at the road level. All the while flipping between paddle-shifting manual mode, sport and regular drive.
It was a great drive and we met some very cool people in the small towns along the way. I have to recommend that anyone taking trips like this try and plan something that takes the "back roads" and visits the smaller towns. What a treat!
When we finally got home, we gave the beast a bath (the car, not the dogs) since every bug between Vancouver and Kelowna seemed insistent on being apart of our trip.
I think this weekend is going to be a good weekend to clay-bar the car, and do a full rotary buffing, polishing, and waxing. I'll try and put up some before and after shots.
Sorry to have droned on and on, but it is so easy to talk about the Eos.
Safe and happy adventures to everyone!
--Jon
