This morning, Roxy, Chris and I were driving to my father’s house in Camarillo, one day away from returning to San Francisco. The three of us were talking about the return to “normal” life when Roxy brought up a good point…
The trip is not over yet.
With 36 days left until we get married, we’re just over halfway through with our journey. Sure, we’ve covered most of the major mileage (over 13,000 miles in 44 days!), but we still have California to consider. That’s right- we’re syncing up with the peeps we’ve loved and admired over the past two years. We’re going to head up to the North Bay to chat with Anna and Jim, parents of one of my favorite people in the universe, Leif. We’ll shoot out to the Central Valley to chat up Kindra, a former swim friend and faithful Wedding Road Trip follower. We’ll hit up the wedding of Will and Jenny, two young Republicans with an optimistic view on life and love.
At some point during the next 36 days, we’ll also talk with all four of my biological grandparents, our brothers and sisters, and several other people who have had an influence on our lives. By the time we get married, we hope to chat with everyone on our list about what they think about this whole marriage thing.
So buckle your seat belts, there’s more to come. California’s a big broke state and we’re going to cover all of it.
P.S. Yes, if we haven’t written about you, we’re going to- consider Monday and Tuesday of this week a little bit of catch up while Roxy gets a nice, long nap.
As most of you know, Ford Motor Company graciously donated a car to us for our wedding road trip. She’s a 2010 Ford Fusion that we named Roxy. We get a lot of questions about her from our “guests,” so she deserves a little more explanation.
First, I need to make an awful confession: I don’t like cars and I don’t like driving. Never have. My Dad is really into cars, was an auto mechanic once upon a time, always changed the oil himself, explained carburetors to me when I was six, etc. He was sure that I’d share his love of cars.
But I just didn’t. Driving for hours bored me when I could instead walk or bike and explore a city in a very personal way, interacting with people and seeing storefronts and details instead of roaring past endless asphalt at 45 MPH. This feeling intensified when I moved to NYC and later SF, where cars are hard to park and go slower than subway trains.
However, for the Wedding Road Trip, we obviously needed a car (“wedding train excursion” and “wedding stagecoach ride” just don’t sound the same). We wanted to support the American car manufacturers in some way, and thought we could promote a car and get some people interested in buying a Ford instead of, for example, a Kia. This isn’t blind patriotism – rather a policy that keeps jobs and unique skills, as well as money, in the US at a tough time. Ford was interested in a partnership, particularly as they are looking at ways to reach out to younger generations through social media marketing via blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.
To make a long story short, I am happy to report that the Ford Fusion rocks. I have never liked a car before, but I love Roxy. Let me count the ways:
30 MPG on average – and she’s not a hybrid (though a hybrid version is available).
Comfortable seats. Really. My butt tends to go numb after 90 minutes in the car, but I have been in total comfort despite driving more than eight hours some days.
Little details that matter, like a USB port, multiple power plugs, a rear view camera for backing up, and separate temperature controls for driver and passenger.
She easily fits 4 people plus a big trunk and yet is small enough to readily park on the streets on NYC. For reals…I didn’t know that was possible.
The car has pickup – it barely hums at 70 MPH and we have accidentally driven above 90 many times because it feels like 40. And when you need to accelerate, Roxy takes off. She’s a speeding ticket waiting to happen – oh wait, it already happened.
A stylish look – she’s a pretty car.
In short, Roxy Fusion has been the perfect road trip car – fuel efficient, fast, spacious but not too big, and cool. She works well in the city and the country. And let me be clear – if I didn’t like the Fusion, I would have no qualms about ripping it, and I certainly wouldn’t promote it. But take it from a car-hater: the Fusion is worth checking out.
For those of you who didn’t know already, Scott Monty, the social media genius at Ford Motor Company, gave us a 2010 Ford Fusion Sel I4 to drive for our Wedding Road Trip. The only caveat? I had to wake up at a god-awful hour this morning to fly down to Los Angeles to pick it up. Until today, I firmly believed that the hours between four and six in the morning didn’t exist.
Clearly, I was wrong.
However, that didn’t stop me from donning a huge pair of dark sunglasses and a pretentious look as I entered the parking structure to pick up the car. The parking attendants stopped and stared at me, jaws dropped, as I sauntered over to the Fusion, inserted the key, and drove off into the sunset.
Okay, so maybe that’s how things went down in my head. In reality, the parking attendants were probably yawning because they hadn’t had their coffee yet. And the sunglasses? Let’s just say that it was the foggiest morning of the year and I looked like a complete tool.
No matter.
I have to be honest. I wasn’t expecting much from the Ford Fusion. I thought it would just be an updated version of the world’s greatest granny and door-to-door salesman car, the Ford Taurus. I’d had the pleasure of driving in a Taurus while dating a pharma salesmen post-college and had felt myself age with every yawn-induced ride.
But then… I met Roxy Fusion*. Parked next to a silver Audi, Roxy looked like a superstar with her fancy grill and sweet wheels. The next moment can only be described as this: instant car love. Why I fell in love with Roxy is deeply personal, but I promise to share each moment with you as this trip evolves.
On my drive back to San Francisco, I asked my mom to snap a picture of her (above). Note how clean she is right now… ya… that’s gonna last about ten seconds. (Um… sorry Scott- I mean, we’re going to clean it with a toothbrush every night, I promise.)
* yes, we’ve named the car. Deal with it. You would have done it too.
Ok, this might sound a little bit obsessive compulsive, but… I went to Target and purchased various sizes of green and purple plastic storage bins to organize our stuff for the Wedding Road Trip. I mean, serious, nothing says amateur like bringing a five-hundred pound suitcase into every house we visit while on the road. Plus, Roxy has a huge trunk, which means we can fit plenty of stuff (nice!).
At first, Chris was not convinced of my Green Box, Purple Box strategy. Separating his sundries from his clothes sounded way too complicated and pointless. I quickly won him over, however, when I pointed out how nice it would be to have our own space in Roxy’s trunk, versus everything being thrown into one big mess. I guess we’re not quite ready to cohabitate yet, because plastic box independence sounds like heaven to both of us.
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This morning, Roxy, Chris and I were driving to my father’s house in Camarillo, one day away from returning to San Francisco. The three of us were talking about the return to “normal” life when Roxy brought up a good point…
As most of you know, 
For those of you who didn’t know already, 
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