Ingrid's Corner

Meet Hildi

by Ingrid

After a wonderful fun-filled week with our children, we dropped our son off at the Denver Airport then returned to the RV and later that evening bid farewell to our daughter.  Well, a temporary farewell.  We’re off to Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days and we’ll most likely be off-line during our stay.  But before leaving town, I thought I’d share our story about “Hildi”.

Enjoy my tale and I’ll catch up with you next week 😃

sunrise at the beach

Meet Hildi …

It’s early December and we’re in the midst of the Christmas shopping season. Al and I are out and about running some weekly errands. Hubby see’s a Best Buy and recommends we step in to check out some DVD’s. Since we don’t have satellite TV, we rely on our RV antenna for television reception. Our location determines how many channels are available.

hummingbirdRidgway State Park in Colorado and Moab, Utah, presented zero reception, as in nada, zilch. We were excited when boondocking in Quartzsite, Arizona, when the scanner seemed to pick up 5 channels. That is until we realized only one was in English. No hablo español. So it’s at these times we resort to our DVD collection.

Thus, we head into the store in search of some new DVD’s to add to our library and that’s when Al sees her … just down the aisle to the left of the DVD’s. He’s drawn to her sleek hard body. He finds her irresistible. Ever so cautiously he approaches her. He finds his hand slowly gliding down her side. She doesn’t respond.

He lovingly touches a button off to the left and that’s when she responds. Al’s face glows in delight as she lights up and verbally responds to his touch. He freely fondles her with both hands and that’s when she appears to get skittish. He slows his touch, she continues to respond to his gentle caresses. The two are totally engrossed with one another.

I stand-off to the side with my arms crossed. Personally, I don’t know what he sees in her. And that voice of hers ….. monotone and annoying, but Al is enthralled. He barely notices me standing there. I wonder if I need to get a bucket of cold water to pry the two apart. Finally, the trance is broken. Al pulls himself away as we walk to the next aisle, but not without a final glance her way.

We pick up the final season of Big Love to add to our collection, but before heading to the check out aisle, we walk back down HER aisle. It is the Christmas season after all. Al’s a good husband and puts up with my shenanigans. Tis the season to give. I turn to Al and say, “Hon, if you want her, you can have her”. He responds wide-eyed, “Seriously, you’re okay with this”? “Yes, let’s take her home. Mind you, I’m not sure I trust her, but I’ll have an open mind”.

On that note, we brought Hildi the Garmin GPS home and welcomed her to the family. Now Al has two wives telling him how to drive. Isn’t he lucky? Hildi sits between Al and me in the front seat. During our first trip together, she remained quiet for most of the drive from Phoenix, Arizona, to Canyon Lake in Texas. With the campground at Canyon Lake full, we were off to a RV Park. We found ourselves in unfamiliar territory and thought we could use a little help finding the Rio Raft RV Park in New Braunfels, Texas, and turned to Hildi for assistance.

I fumble with my maps in an attempt to get my bearings while Al fondly strokes Hildi. She responds in that monotone voice of hers giving him clear directions on where to go. It’s a battle of the wenches and clearly Hildi won this first round. Feeling somewhat dejected, I accept the fact that Hildi did a great job of getting us to the RV Park.

sun burst

A week later …

It’s now New Year’s Eve and time for Al and I to head toward our next location – Rockport, Texas. I bring out the map and we review the route I’d like to take. There are two possible routes to get to our destination. Al thinks I’ve picked the slightly longer route. I disagree. We hop in the truck and Al turns Hildi on, which is easy to do, but boy don’t touch her wrong – she’s a temperamental little gal.  Thankfully she has this cute little return arrow that seems to calm her down.

Great Blue HeronsShe tells Al when and where to turn and even beeps when we approach a school zone, giving Al clear warning to slow down. Al’s beginning to wonder what he’s gotten himself into and responds, “Great, now I have two women telling me how to drive and when to slow down”. I smile and whisper to Hildi, “Nice job”.

As we approach Interstate 35 in south Texas, Hildi tells Al to make a right. I tell Al to make a right. It looks to be more of a frontage road than an on ramp and thus he does NOT make a right. The sister wives recalculate. Hubby wants to turn around. His two wives tell him to go straight and make the next right. He’s out voted and thus listens to the two women. The quick I-35 jog was circumvented and we find ourselves on the correct road in short order.

Who’s the better kisser?

Since Hildi and I are starting to get along and agreeing more and more, I inform Al to let Hildi determine the rest of our route. “I promise not to override her, but I’m still keeping a close eye on where she takes us. I still don’t trust her”. Al’s happy his two wives won’t be fighting.

That wasn’t the case earlier in the day when I clearly disagreed with Hildi and made my opinion known. Poor Al was torn between which wife to listen to. He finally came to his senses when I asked him, “Who’s the better kisser?” I thought so! Smart man … I’ll always be wife number one. He continues via my directions making Hildi recalculate.

After an eventful laughter filled three-hour drive, we arrive at our destination at Goose Island State Park near Rockport, Texas.  I’m sure the tale of two wives shall continue…..

39 thoughts on “Meet Hildi”

  2. Ingrid I apologize as I completely missed this post. Could we blame Hildi do you think? I love chatting, arguing nad blaming the GPS girl. A great re-tell of this story.

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    1. Thanks Sue. With my questionable connectivity from time to time, I miss my fair share of posts as well. Bantering can be quite entertaining especially on those long road trips 🙂

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  3. Hey there! Been so far out of the blog loop (since April) missed that our paths have been criss crossing all over and around Denver. Read your post about Mt. Evans and that destination has leapt to #1 on our “Must See Before We Leave Colorado Next Week” list. Been hanging in Golden. Husband is back to work one year post-accident. Makes it a little trickier sight seeing. Great pictures. Love reading your adventures!

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    1. Thanks Sally. Sorry we’ve missed running into each other. We’ve been to Golden this summer a few times and have had tons of fun exploring all around the Denver area. Hope you make it to Mt. Evans before leaving CO. Where are you off to?

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  4. A great re-blog, Ingrid. I enjoyed your story and photos, immensely. Yes, I think every man needs a Hildi in his life. Thanks for alerting me to the series, ‘Big Love’. Just looked it up on Wiki, and it sounds really interesting. Enjoy your stay in the Rocky Mountain Park. 🙂

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    1. Thank you Sylvia. Big Love is an interesting series. Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea but hubby and I found it very entertaining.

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  5. I hope you are enjoying your days ‘off the grid’… I’ll be joining you in a way – school starts bright and early tomorrow morning – 7:30 and 6:45 for my son – he’ll be junior in high school…. everyone keeps getting older and I (and all adults stay the same age)… we all need a ‘Hildi’ to lead our way – that was funny twice, thanks for sharing…have a great week and I look forward to your pictures of the west to keep me going throughout the year.

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    1. The trip to Rocky Mtn NP was awesome and as most vacations go, way too short. Hope you’re getting back into the swing of things with school starting.

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    1. As our day with the GPS unfolded and the bantering commenced, I felt she needed a German name. Thus, hubbies two wives are both German….. isn’t he lucky? LOL

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  7. We’ve just had a “Hildi” experience but on the road in France. I haven’t come up with a name for the stupid woman yet. Tale to follow. Sometime. Love your photos.

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    1. I can’t wait to hear your GPS tale and I look forward to all the wedding details. I do hope to see a photo of you in the infamous dress 😉

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    1. ‘Hildi’ is usually very helpful in around towns and cities. So far we’re not impressed with her while out in the boonies especially when mountains are present. Then the paper map is a must for a backup. She fails to take into consideration grades and elevation 🙂

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      1. For sure. Nothing is perfect. You are absolutely right about necessity to have paper map. Long time ago I had a chance to see old military map. This was “piece of cake”! Nothing what we see in usual life close to it.

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  9. Funny! We had trouble with our GPD on this last trip with her trying to force us onto big highways when we wanted to take back roads. Even when we set waypoints to try and force her to stop recommending the big lane monstrosity. Ugh! But shecwas avdream getting around Boulder

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    1. Getting around Boulder is always interesting. I don’t know what it is about that town that gets me turned around lol. We find the GPS most useful in the city realm. Looks like you had a great CO trip 🙂

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  11. Having watched all series of Big Love, I enjoyed your multi-wife commentary and to find you so amicable with Ms Hildi!! Our GPS was sadly the victim of a sneak attack and didnt survive, ie my husband brought her inside one night and left her on the. She met her demise at the hands ot should i say the buttcheek of my sons’ friend who sat down without looking. She was a tad aggressive when it came to turning left but we were saddened by her sudden passing. She has nit yet been replaced as the hubby is torn between a kindle and the newer versions of a GPS. Decisions decisions!! Great post!! Thoroughly enjoyed reading it…

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    1. Sorry to hear about your gals demise and the ensuing dilemma LOL. Since you’ve watched ‘Big Love’ you definitely have an understanding of my comparison and what it means when I say ‘I’m wife #1’. Hmm, GPS? or Kindle? Tough choice 🙂

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      1. GPS love is fickle and easily replaced. The true first wife at my house is Sports so while losing the GPS was difficult for him, he still has 40″ of his true love on full blast volume. Thank you for your sympathies though Ingrid!!!

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  15. Ha! – love to be on a road trip with you two – probably not much different then the two of us road tripping with the GPS, maps, printed off directions 🙂 Happy Weekend!

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  18. I remember that blog..lmao!…FYI, that town of Goliad TX is a must see…at least a week. Camp at the Goliad State Park…there is an old mission on the park grounds and the Presidio la Bahia within walking distance…So much history..”Remember Goliad!”

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    1. We tried last year to stay at that state park per your recommendation – full. We did drive by and saw the historical missions. Definitely on the list for this winter. Let’s hope for better weather 🙂

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