But Do We Have To Take My Car?

So my sister and brother-in-law are visiting us very soon.  They're staying a week and a half, and I don't have to tell that it's going to be another adjustment that I may or may not get used to before they leave.  I love them, don't get me wrong.  But I like having the house all to myself so I can just, you know, be me.  I just realized, for example, that I might need to take my jerk-off towel into storage just in case either of them want to snoop around my closet while I'm at work.  I don't think I'd be able to touch myself anyway while they're here; my sister's bedroom shares a wall with mine.  We've had conversations through the wall because neither of us wanted to get out of our beds.

She called Father on Sunday, and then he gave me the phone so I could talk to her.  She is really excited to come home (even though she has vowed never to live here ever again), and she already has some things she wants to do while here (besides catching up with friends, of course).  But, surprisingly, they're big.  She wants to take my niece to the Science Museum.  She wants to visit the Paul Bunyan statue in Bemidji.  She wants to take our parents to the Spam Museum in Austin.  And she wants to do all that while driving my car.

Well ... not to say that my car is running bad.  Far from it; ever since my mechanic ripped out the casing around my catalytic converter, it's actually been running like a dream.  But I'm paranoid, you see, and I don't know if this car can handle one four-hour round trip, let alone two of them, and maybe throw in a 2 1/2 hour-one where she needs to drive all the way out to Carver County to pick up my niece, then drive all the way the heck out to St. Paul, and then bring her back to my brother and sister-in-law's place.  What if something happens?

So I thought of something, and it came about through some good fortune, if you want to call it that.  I'm totally free the second weekend they're here.  I have that Friday off because I have some paid time off I need to use and that was one of the only remaining dates till the end of the year that I could use it on.  (In fact, the only set date I have while these two are here is a reservation for three at a critically-acclaimed restaurant in downtown Minneapolis Friday evening.)  My alma mater is on its second bye that Saturday (the way they've been playing, they've had, like, six byes), so I don't have to organize a Game-watching event.  And the Vikings are on the road, so I don't have to work Sunday.  Theoretically, the three of us, and maybe even all five of us if you want to count our parents, could just spend the weekend going all over the state of Minnesota.  But, there is a rental car place within walking distance.  Why don't we (or maybe I) rent a car for the weekend?  That way, we could use the rental to drive to Bemidji and Austin and maybe even St. Paul, and I won't have to worry about the advanced wear-and-tear on my beautiful, precious car.

Come to think of it, renting a car isn't contingent on me having a free weekend.  Well, it still seems like a great idea to me, so I am going to broach this idea to my sister soon.  I think it'll go over well!