The "Drivin' the Roads of Provo" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Returning our rental car to Scooter Bob's after 8 days of driving around the island of Providenciales which is located in the Turks and Caicos chain of islands.  Nine years ago we made our first trip to the island.  Some of the most beautiful beaches in the world are located on Grace Bay and we just had to see them for ourselves.  Rented from Scooter Bob back then and had a good experience so we decided to give him our business once again.  Biggest difference from our last trip to this trip was paved roads.  Back in 2003 most of the roads were covered with potholes and jagged stones and we actually could hear tires blow out as drivers hit the holes and stones with too much force.  This trip there was one paved major four-lane highway that traveled essentially from one end of the island to the other and had round-a-bouts where other roads branched off of the main road.  Most secondary roads were also paved, but a few of the roads leading to restaurants, businesses or tourist attractions were still littered with stones and potholes.  But, I had a great time navigating while driving "English" style.  That means that I had to drive on the left side of the road rather than on the right side as we do in the USA.  Took me about 15 minutes of concentration and my wife and Just Sue yelling from the back seat to drive on the left.  Our first rental was on the island of North Caicos which I have already documented in a story.  The steering wheel was on the right side of the car which meant I was driving with the center line on my side of the car.  The vehicle that I rented in Provo had the steering wheel on the left, as does my car at home, and therefore I drove with the steering wheel on the outside of the road.  Tougher to figure how close I was to oncoming traffic, so I just hugged the side of the road as best I could.  Now to the car that Yan, our rental agent, had waiting for us when we arrived at the rental agency.  Purple car named "Otter."  Yep, they named every one of the 60 or so cars they had on the lot.  Wasn't like the other car we had on the other island, it was the "Otter" car.  It was a Daihatsu Charade with a 3-cylinder Toyota engine in it.  I must admit it had great pick-up and was an automatic with air.  The only thing I had to be careful of was that it was REALLY SMALL and close to the ground and when going over speed bumps, which were everywhere, I had to slow down to a stop before advancing over them.  Only bottomed-out one time when I didn't see the bump, and that was a real treat for the girls who occupied the rear seat.  Few sparks had to be coming out of the car on that one.  Then there was the problem of driving in the water.  Not talking about the ocean or bay, but the streets that had very poor drainage and were covered from side to side for blocks at a time with water that had to be lapping at the bottom of the doors of the car.  We survived the first few days with "Otter", but then he died.  Pulled into a gas station to put $20 worth of gas (3 1/2 gals.) in the tank and "Otter" wouldn't start again.  Called Scooter  Bob's place and they brought a replacement car.  This time a white Charade by the name of "Mosquito."  Served us well for the rest of vacation and after 8 days of driving on the roads of Provo, I parked the car in the lot at Scooter Bob's, checked on the health of "Otter" and gave the agent the keys to "Mosquito."  Fun time with very few problems on the road.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.