V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

Let's go on vacation! How about one of those once-in-a-lifetime cross-country trips? Let's go with friends because four of us will be better than the two of us. We can see Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, the Golden Gate Bridge, and everything else that looks good. Now that we know what to see, we have to decide how to get there. Let's rent a car! Something that will hold us and enough clothing for three weeks+ because if we're going to drive over 8,000 miles we're going to need lots of clothing and shoes (some of us more than others).

After extensive research, we decided on a Grand Marquis; not your father's Oldsmobile, not even your grandfather's choice of wheels. Grandpas everywhere are now driving Camrys, Sebrings, and CRVs. You can't even buy a new Grand Marquis, since they're only sold to fleets. For a car that has sunk to an all-time low in popularity, there are an awful lot of them around. If the drivers in the Grand Marquis Club were to wave at eachother the way bikers do, they would all get carpal tunnel syndrome.

Renting a car online is the way to go. Shopping for coupons, reserving months ahead, and making sure you get unlimited mileage makes you feel you've gotten the best deal. If you're going any place that might pose a threat to your rented Grand Marquis, which includes everywhere except the rental parking lot, you might think about getting the loss of use coverage. We knew up front that at Yellowstone, anything might happen; we could be charged by a male elk if we got between him and his harem, or a grizzly bear might like the scent of our chocolate chip cookies from Subway, and the damage to the Grand Marquis could be devastating. With the coverage, voila, the rental company would bring us a new, undevastated Grand Marquis, and we would be on our merry way. No one ever said this coverage would be cheap, but once we chose to get it, we lost no sleep worrying about what ifs.

On The Big Day, when we went to pick up The Grand Marquis, we were somewhat dismayed to see that the rental agent was away from his post. We waited for a bit, but we aren't know for patience. We looked at the three other car rental desks adjacent to ours, and they were all manned/womanned. Hmmm. Off to the A1 rental desk with our rental agreement went one of our party, while another held a place in the B2 rental desk line. Time is money, he who hesitates is lost, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and the next thing we knew, we had a beautiful beige Grand Marquis for $350 less than our reservation price. This was especially nice because when renting online, we weren't required to use a credit card, so there was no skulking back to B2 to cancel the first reservation and the exceptionally nice people at the A1 desk took care of the cancellation. We were off with our keys before the B2 agent had returned "from the lot". The Grand Marquis had only 2,235 miles, and it had no idea what lay ahead.