Chapter Three: All aboard the Halesmobile
"Venice! Venice? Are you coming, it's half past nine!" shouts Icing up the stairs.
"I just need to pack. . . I just need to pack. . ." comes Venice's voice from her bedroom.
"Well you just needed to pack last night, Venice!" shouts back Icing, swinging on the end of the banister, the car revs up outside. "Barkley's just started the car, if you're not down here in five minutes we'll go without you!" She picks up the multipack of potato chips from the counter, 24 pack of bottled mineral water and goes to the car. Venice stumbles downstairs carrying an assortment of almost-forgotten things and locks the back door behind her. She gets into the Dodge and hands the keys forward to Barkley who puts them between the drivers and passengers seats.
"Are you sure everywhere's locked up? Mom's not gonna be happy if she comes back from her cruise to an empty house," says Icing, passing the water and chips back to Venice who puts them on the last seat.
"The house is locked up, the windows are shut, the doors are shut, the pool is covered, the garage door is locked," reels off Venice just as Barkley closes the garage door.
"Ok, alright. Are you all ready?" asks Barkley, as a rhetorical question.
"Well, now you mention it, I'm sure I didn't pack. . ." says Venice, smiling. Icing knew she was winding her up.
"Venice, shut up! Lets go, we're forty minutes late, Phoenix'll think we're not coming."
They pulled up outside their cousins house and Barkley goes to knock on the front door. Levi opens it.
"Hey Barkley, we've been waiting ages for you," she says.
"Venice's fault," says Barkley. "We're just outside." Levi closes the door and a minute later the other Dodge comes from behind the house and follows Barkley, Venice and Icing out of Dallas, onto the highway.
According to plan, excluding emergencies, they weren't going to stop until they reached the town of Odessa, to get more gas, food and use the bathroom. But of course, the plan didn't work and apart from stopping in Fort Worth, less than fifty miles from home, they also stopped at Abilene, Odessa, and Van Horn before reaching the desired destination of El Paso. At El Paso they booked one night in a Travellers Inn, two rooms, and went to get Taco Bell.
"So how are you guys finding the trip so far?" asks Venice, picking at her dinner.
"Well, if you exclude Phe's awful taste in music, alright, Harley's got the entire backseat to herself cos we put stuff in the two little ones at the far back like you did, and there's lots of room, its nice and cool and even though we stopped three times too many we're still in El Paso in one day, so, alright," replies Levi.
"Sounds like you're having a great time kiddo," says Barkley, reaching for the sauce.
"We are, just can't wait til we get there," replies Phoenix.
The next morning, everyone was showered and packed up into the two cars, Icing and Levi had swapped cars, and they were all on their way towards Los Angeles, on highway ten. Stopping at the state line between Texas and New Mexico, everyone took pictures of eachother by the signs, and made full use of the freebies the service station was giving out. When they got back into the cars, Venice drove the Hales', and Harley was behind the wheel of the Andrews'.
"Come on guys, fasten your seatbelts we are going non-stop to LA!" crows Venice. "Well, maybe stop between New Mexico and Arizona, and maybe between Arizona and California, just for the photos."