A tale of mistaken vehicle identity

A tale of mistaken vehicle identity
The 2000 Plymouth Grand Voyager minivan, aka ‘Blue Ribbon News-mobile’.

ROCKWALL, TX (September 26, 2020) Here’s an amusing story – especially for those who have had the pleasure of meeting my father-in-law of 87 years, and who may remember the old, sea foam green minivan that my husband and I used to deliver papers in during the early days of Blue Ribbon News. (Our kids used to call it the rolling turd, but that’s a whole other story.)

Both my father-in-law, Paul, and the old ‘Blue Ribbon News-mobile’ have their share of endearing idiosyncrasies. And this is the tale of something all of us may have done at one point or another, but perhaps not to this degree.

A few years ago, Paul flew in from Colorado over a holiday weekend. He borrowed our minivan to visit Farmers Market and attend a local parade. He got lost, so he stopped at a convenience store to ask for directions. When he got back in the van, he couldn’t get it started. He called my husband, who reminded him that sometimes the ignition sticks.

“Reach under the driver’s seat, Dad,” Richard told him. “We keep a hammer there. Use it to tap the key into the ignition.”

Paul searched the vehicle but could not find the hammer.

“Try tilting the steering wheel up and down,” Richard suggested.

No luck.

Paul looked around the van and noticed a pair of high heels on the passenger floor. He didn’t figure I’d mind, so he picked one up and started tapping the key with the sole of the shoe. It didn’t work.

“Rich, I need to take apart the steering column,” he said. “It’s not making the connection.”

“No, Dad, keep me on speakerphone, and I’ll walk you through it,” Richard said. Like an experienced 9-1-1 operator, Richard relayed instructions to resuscitate the van.

“Tap the key two more times,” Richard said. “She’s got more than 230,000 miles on her. Be gentle and she’ll start right up.”

Paul began banging the key as hard as he could with the shoe. He worked up a sweat, so he opened the driver’s side door to get some air.

That’s when Richard overheard a deep, unfamiliar voice through the speakerphone.

“Excuse me, sir; you’re in my vehicle,” the voice said to Paul.

My father-in-law was in the wrong car! It was an identical sea foam green Grand Voyager.

Richard heard Paul mumbling something indiscernible like ‘oh, pardon me,’ to the stranger, in an attempt to explain what he was doing in the man’s minivan – holding his wife’s high heels! Thankfully, the gentleman was understanding and he kindly led my father-in-law to our vehicle, which started right up with a turn of the key. Now that’s good news.

My fantastic father-in-law Paul with his beautiful bride, Fran, and my sister-in-law Clare, 2016.

Which brings me to the reason we had so many miles on our minivan. There’s a lot of ground to cover and plenty of good news to share in our community.

Since I first shared this story years ago, the old minivan was sold for a few hundred dollars, and now our local post office delivers the paper to more than 15,500 homes throughout Rockwall County. Paul is doing well and living with his new bride in Grand Junction, Colorado, and we hope to see him soon for the holidays.

By Dawn Redig, Blue Ribbon News. 




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