Total BUMMER.

(NaBloPoMo 9)
After an appointment for work today, I decided to drive past the Walter Ware House. It had been a while and I was just a few blocks away. A few blocks from my beloved Walter E. Ware House is another Avenues Gem, which marshals fond memories.

In high school, my friend Ashly drove a BUMMER. It was a Beast, with tires nearly as big as any of it's passengers and twice as big as Janey. We could fit the whole soccer team in it, and did, on a few occasions. This gas-guzzler was the perfect Girl-Mobile on the weekends. We'd sit hip-to-hip, five-across the front, Ash at the helm. Richard, Ashly's dad and the brains behind the Bummer, had fashioned the most amazing heating system for that Bad Boy. The vents on the dashboard were removable and transportable! Attached to a long hose, each vent resembled an elephant trunk, once fully extended. The heaters could reach all the way into the back, and up Elle's shirt, on most occasions. It was ingenious. (On Richard's part. Not Elle's. Well, I guess whatever you have to do to keep warm. I guess...)

We could be heard from miles away. And not just because we were eight girls laughing, screaming and belting Deana Carter at the top of our lungs. That thing drove and sounded like a tractor. There was nothing discreet about it. Why we used it to do "drive-bys" weekend after weekend, is beyond me, but at the time, it didn't phase us.

The weekend brought the routine route, past boy's houses. Post Crush-Cruise Giggle Parade slash East High Honk-fest, Ash would head up Emigration Canyon to 4-wheel it. Here's the thing about Ash: she's absolutely fearless. Whether it's cliff jumping in Powell, defense on the soccer field, or off-roading into the dark oblivion, there's no stopping her. The 4-wheeling would come unannounced. We'd be on the highway and...off we'd go. Like she'd lost it. (But, she hadn't). There was Ash, having a hay-day, as our heads knocked against each other and laughter bounced about the Bummer.

When I saw this house today, it brought back memories of a Bummer of a break down. (Remember, Girls?) One Saturday morning, right in front of this exact house, at precisely the moment the dweller wanted out, we happened to be Bummin' by. She kicked her Mercedes into reverse and...clank. Out went the Bummer. We'd boxed her in. We'd boxed her in good. Still cell-phone free in those days, the only way to reach Richard The Mechanic, was to use her land-line. I remember wanting to bustle right behind Bill (Elle) and Ash because I knew her house was bound to be spectacular inside. Elle didn't come back with details on the house, but she gushed about the size of this Mama's biceps. We didn't stop hearing about them the rest of the day. Elle was bent on benching just as much after she had had two little ones. Truthfully, we were all impressed.

I don't recall the exacts on how Richard rescued us, but he did. Today as I drove past this house, I laughed out loud when I thought of The Bummer Days, Ash the Fearless Pilot, and our 4-wheeling adventures. BBindaBUMMER!