Linda was down this past week! It was a very spur of the moment thing, but she came down to give Nancy and Todd a puppy. While she was down, we hung out with her, Ciera, Kayla and her dogs. She got in Sunday night and the next day we went down to Dog Beach. We took two cars because we wouldn't fit into one car and then that way we weren't taking three cars. Nancy, Aaron, and Mason were in Nancy's car and Linda, myself, Rainer, Amanda, Kayla and the dogs (Kaza, Sasha, Duke, and Spiderman) were in Linda's car. It had been awhile since we had gone to the dog beach, so Nancy followed us and we used my GPS.
On the way home from the beach, Nancy again followed us. We were very careful to make sure that Nancy was behind us. Linda didn't go too fast and she always made sure that Nancy changed lanes first before she made the lane change too.
As Nancy was following us, she got into a following mind set and stayed behind us even though she knew where she was. Up to this point, we had driven east on the 22 then north on the 57 in order to go back to Grandpa's house. But once we started going west on the 91, essentially backtracking from where we'd just come (the 22 and 91 run parallel), Nancy was a little confused and couldn't figure out why we decided to go that way, but she followed us anyway. After all, we had the GPS so she thought maybe there was some secret way to go or maybe we knew the 57 had bad traffic. The further west we went though, the more confused she got ... but still, she followed. We finally got off on Euclid and as we made our way on the surface streets, she tried to figure out where we were going. We had talked about going to a Costco to get some puppy supplies, but she didn't see why we were doing it this late in the evening. All she wanted to do was get home. We finally made our way to a small shopping center and parked. Nancy scanned the few stores that were there and decided that we must be going to the Pet Grooming store. She figured this must be one special pet grooming place for us to have backtracked this far especially with it being as late as it was. Well, she parked right next to us and rolled down her passenger side window to ask us what we were doing. Imagine her surprise when "Linda" got out of the driver's seat of the other car and was in actuality a big burly guy wearing a tank top and had tattoos all over his arms!! She had been following the wrong car all that time! When she realized her mistake, she quickly started her car back up, got back on the road and made her way to Grandpa's house -- but not before the guy she'd been following for the last 10-15 minutes gave her a strange look.
When Linda and I (and everyone who was riding in Linda's van) got to Grandpa's house, we really didn't think any thing of the fact that Nancy wasn't there too. There was some heavy traffic coming back, so I think we just figured that she had got caught in it.
Sometime later (way later) she finally arrived at Grandpa's. She then told us what happened. We laughed so hard, especially since as we were passing the 57/91 interchange, Amanda has looked back and informed us that she didn't see Nancy's car following us anymore. But I assured Amanda that it was OK because Nancy knew where we were and could get home on her own.
(Side note: Back in college, I took a trip with Nancy and some of her friends. We went up to the Bakersfield area to do some camping and hiking. Nancy rode with Bruce in his Mazda truck and Shadow rode in the back. I was in the other car with two of her other friends. We followed them on the freeway and into town. It was a great trip--lots of laughing. At one point while we were in town, I looked up and pointed out that the car in front of us, the one we had been following, was not a Mazda but a Toyota. We had no idea how long we had been following the wrong truck. Luckily, we managed to find them again and continued on our adventure. So when Nancy told us what had happened coming home from the beach, I couldn't help but think of my own experience of following the wrong car. I laughed so hard I about collapsed.)
(I wrote this with Nancy's collaboration--just to make sure I got all the details right.)
On the way home from the beach, Nancy again followed us. We were very careful to make sure that Nancy was behind us. Linda didn't go too fast and she always made sure that Nancy changed lanes first before she made the lane change too.
As Nancy was following us, she got into a following mind set and stayed behind us even though she knew where she was. Up to this point, we had driven east on the 22 then north on the 57 in order to go back to Grandpa's house. But once we started going west on the 91, essentially backtracking from where we'd just come (the 22 and 91 run parallel), Nancy was a little confused and couldn't figure out why we decided to go that way, but she followed us anyway. After all, we had the GPS so she thought maybe there was some secret way to go or maybe we knew the 57 had bad traffic. The further west we went though, the more confused she got ... but still, she followed. We finally got off on Euclid and as we made our way on the surface streets, she tried to figure out where we were going. We had talked about going to a Costco to get some puppy supplies, but she didn't see why we were doing it this late in the evening. All she wanted to do was get home. We finally made our way to a small shopping center and parked. Nancy scanned the few stores that were there and decided that we must be going to the Pet Grooming store. She figured this must be one special pet grooming place for us to have backtracked this far especially with it being as late as it was. Well, she parked right next to us and rolled down her passenger side window to ask us what we were doing. Imagine her surprise when "Linda" got out of the driver's seat of the other car and was in actuality a big burly guy wearing a tank top and had tattoos all over his arms!! She had been following the wrong car all that time! When she realized her mistake, she quickly started her car back up, got back on the road and made her way to Grandpa's house -- but not before the guy she'd been following for the last 10-15 minutes gave her a strange look.
When Linda and I (and everyone who was riding in Linda's van) got to Grandpa's house, we really didn't think any thing of the fact that Nancy wasn't there too. There was some heavy traffic coming back, so I think we just figured that she had got caught in it.
(Side note: Back in college, I took a trip with Nancy and some of her friends. We went up to the Bakersfield area to do some camping and hiking. Nancy rode with Bruce in his Mazda truck and Shadow rode in the back. I was in the other car with two of her other friends. We followed them on the freeway and into town. It was a great trip--lots of laughing. At one point while we were in town, I looked up and pointed out that the car in front of us, the one we had been following, was not a Mazda but a Toyota. We had no idea how long we had been following the wrong truck. Luckily, we managed to find them again and continued on our adventure. So when Nancy told us what had happened coming home from the beach, I couldn't help but think of my own experience of following the wrong car. I laughed so hard I about collapsed.)
(I wrote this with Nancy's collaboration--just to make sure I got all the details right.)
That is so funny. I'm glad you got to visit with Linda. I wish I could have been there with all of you. I miss you all.
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