fine the day before and the day before that, etc. As we found out much later, after having credit card problems in several places, the system went down and millions of people also had problems with their card. Not knowing this, we wondered if someone was telling us something.
Pendleton, Oregon
The Pendleton airport is even smaller than Lincoln International and as soon as we deplaned, all 10 passengers were locked out of the terminal. Once we were let in, we had to climb over the luggage carousel to get our own bags off the cart. Apparently only 2 people work at the airport and they were both busy. We recognized Gary, the Mini seller right away. He was the only person waiting for someone at the airport.
After getting something to eat, Gary drove us to his gymnastics academy for the Mini unveiling. He opened a large door and there it was - a shiny blue Mini Cooper with a white roof and white stripes! I don't know what Marty's first thoughts were (I hope there's no rust?), but I immediately said, "Oh, it's so cute!" And it is! Cute and fast!
Gary assumed that Marty would want a ride right away and was surprised that Marty started crawling on the ground looking over EVERYTHING! When I told him that Marty could be inspecting for hours, he brought out a couple of lawn chairs. Gary and I sat in the parking lot talking and enjoying a beautiful Oregon evening and watched Marty explore every square inch of the car with a flashlight and screwdriver.
Sadly, some (important) things about the car concerned Marty and made him uncertain about completing the purchase. He suspected that the car was a 'bodge job' and, horror of horrors, lifted a floor mat and saw RUST. The rest of the evening can be summed up by Marty's repeating "Gee, I don't know what to do." Compounded by Gary locking us all out of the gym and stranding us outside late at night.
The very first words from Marty upon waking the next morning were "I think I'm going to buy the Mini". Yippee! And so our adventure continued.
In preparation for an 1800 mile drive, Marty worked on the car ALL DAY while I visited the Pendleton Woolen Mills and walked around downtown. Marty had a cell phone and I was to call him when I wanted to come back to the hotel. I nearly couldn't go because I was so worried that Marty would be in Mini heaven and would completely forget that I had come with him and was all alone in a strange town. He patiently convinced me that coming in for dinner 3 hours late at home did not mean that he would abandon me in Oregon.
The Mysterious Rattle
The Mini really goes and it was so scary driving through the mountains that I couldn't look out the window half the time and had a big drink at lunch to calm me down. Although things seemed to be fine with the car, we noticed a very distinct metallic rattle of unknown origin.
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