We needed to visit Grandma Johnson...  She lives in Phoenix and we wanted to visit before it "warmed up"...

Karen and I decided that the first weekend of May would be just right...  Karen booked the flights and hotel and left the rental to me... (don't ask, its a control thing...)

"Remember to reserve a car" she reminded me (over and over and over...)

...of course, I didn't remember - or at least that is how I sold it...

Madelyn and I logged on to the Hertz web site to see if they rented any H3 (hummers)...  We were in luck, just one catch, they are considered premium rentals and need special attention during pickup...

No problem!  If I play it right, Karen will just think I am begging for a car since I am so incompetent at travel planning...

The weak link in this scheme was Madelyn...  If she makes a peep, the whole deal is off...  So I had to convince her that this was a special trick...

So we browsed some Hummer Web sites that had pictures of brave (read stupid) souls that take their vehicle to places where vehicles don't belong - then ask someone to photograph it...  Madelyn thought that was cool...  We had a bond...  She would keep quiet...

When we arrived at the (massive) Phoenix rental terminal, Karen was probably trying to find a cab while I sheepishly walked up to the counter to ask for help...  Like clockwork, it took longer than it should as I had to provide endless proof of identity and trustworthiness...

Finally, I had the keys...  I found my family... I said, "Well, they didn't have air conditioning, but we should get great gas mileage!"  Karen rolled her eyes...

As we entered the garage, the H3 was parked in front - Valet style... shiny, black, HUGE...  At that very moment, Madelyn peeped, "Surprise Mommy, Daddy got the Man Hummer!"

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Man Hummer   This 58 second file is 13.5Mb.