Put It In The Boot

While most Australians have never actually been to Uluru (a.k.a., Ayers Rock), that adventurous American Spirit seemed to beckon: go west, young man (yes, I know Tyler is the only young man in the car), go west. So like any good American would do, we headed to the grocery store first. With 72 more 20 ounce (okay, okay, I’ll use the metric: 600 ml) bottles of water in the boot (that’s what they call the trunk around here), we were ready to venture out into the 110 degree weather of the outback on our way to Uluru. (Just a quick aside: I now know why the Aussies use Celsius instead of Fahrenheit: 47 degrees in January sounds normal to Americans (their main tourists targets).) Wait a minute! With all that water in the boot, there was barely any room for us! For we rented an SUV, so there is no boot. Instead, everything is crammed into the back: sleeping bags (just in case the forecast was actually in Fahrenheit), pillows, Amy, water, spare water, Nerf football, Tyler, spare tire (I think it’s in there), food, ice chest, H2O, soda (one bare necessity any decent American cannot live without), and on and on the list goes. Meanwhile, up front, Susan and I are forced to navigate the outback in the air conditioned front seats listening to the new Jeremy Camp CD. Who said life’s not fair? Well, at least if you are in the front seat.