Tidbits from The Road

1. We both feel like we're getting sick, so we've stocked up on orange juice, airborne, clementines and bottled water.

2. My knee has been bugging me the past three days. I've been wearing a knee support and it's feeling better but after the hike into Carlsbad Caverns yesterday, it's feeling a little sore again.

3. I also somehow cut my thumb, which bugged me for a couple days, but it's healing nicely now. The thumb is a horrible place to have a cut.

4. We missed American Idol this week. And we'll probably be missing it until we get home.

5. Oklahoma SUCKS. Don't ever go there. We had to pay over $10 just to USE THE ROAD! And the drivers are horrible and it smells funny. Not to mention the ton and a half of gravel sprinkled all over the highway (yes, the same one we had to pay to use! What do they do with that money? eat it?). I guess I'll be replacing my windshield when we get home for sure! Just...you're not missing anything, so stay away unless you must.

6. Carlsbad Caverns on the other hand, is quite worth the trip all the way almost to the southern border of New Mexico.

7. We went through three states today.

8. But we had to put up our tent and cook dinner in the dark as a result. And we're at a creepy KOA, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Missouri, and the bathrooms closest to us are "Closed for the season. Please use the ones in the main building" seven miles away! Ok, not seven, but a long way.

9. We're sad the old Route 66 is no longer in use. It seems like it would have been a cool experience after seeing the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum today (the ONLY thing we found of use in OK, which is totally NOT okay).

10. We're having a fun time, though, and we're excited to see Big Oak Tree State Park tomorrow (still in MO...Mo, if you're reading this, I'm in MO!). And I'll post some pictures of the caverns tomorrow probably...or the next day. No promises.

One Looooong Day

It's just after eleven and we've checked into our hotel in Roswell, NM. We're both ready for bed, but I thought I'd write an update before turning in.

Today was our longest day so far. We drove a little over 650 miles beginning in Williams, AZ near the Grand Canyon and ending in Roswell. We spent a couple of hours along the way at the Petrified Forest National Park. It was one of those experiences that really makes you think. The area in Arizona, just west of the border with New Mexico, was, 225 million years ago, just above the equator and what is now desert was once lush forest and vast flood plains. What is left are some very unique land forms and tons of petrified wood.

These are two of the pieces of petrified wood we found in the "forest." Evidently they have a lot of theft every year. We even saw a person stopped by the park rangers having their car searched. There were three ranger vehicles there! They take this stuff very seriously.

These are two of the different land forms we found in the park. There were so many of them. There was a different one around every corner almost.

Some of the petrified logs were as big or almost as big as we were!

Tomorrow we trompse through the Carlsbad Caverns, and hopefully arrive at our hotel with some time to relax in the evening.

And a Mighty Grand Canyon It Is

I know, I know. It's kind of corny to post two posts at the same time, but I had no choice. No internet=no post=post twice the next day. Anyway, we had a blast in Vegas. Our gracious hosts put their bedtime on pause to drive us down the strip, after they filled us with wine and delicious food. We got to bed late, and woke up a little later than we'd hoped for, but it's okay. Sleep is important too.


We also broke down and bought a GPS. We were using Jim's cell phone's Verizon Navigator, but it didn't work when he didn't have service, so we bought a Tom Tom. Big mistake, and I knew it. But our options at Wal Mart were limited. We returned it the next day and bought a Garmin (good old Garmin. My dad was proud).

Sunset found us at the Grand Canyon yesterday, and it was certainly a sight to behold. Neither of us had ever been there and we’d heard that sunset was an amazing time to go. From the time we got there, about twenty minutes before the sun went down to the time we left, just after it disappeared behind the trees, the colors of the canyon went from bright reds and oranges to an almost eerie deep murky red with multiple shades of a color somewhere between gray and brown. It was truly amazing. Pair that with the sheer size of the thing and we truly understood why the Grand Canyon is such an amazing feat of nature.

We also drove across the Hoover Dam yesterday, although we were too short on time to stop and see it or take the tour (as it was we BARELY made it to the Grand Canyon before sunset). It was pretty amazing, though. They’re working on the bypass, so there was construction everywhere, and even though we couldn’t look over the edge or really see the whole thing, it felt like we were in the presence of something great.

We stayed at a little bed and breakfast called the Canyon Country Inn in Williams. It is cute, comfortable and clean (the three Cs of good lodging if you ask me…yes, I just made that up). And on top of that, it was only $74 a night with tax and AAA discount. We’re about to head to breakfast, which they call “extended continental,” and then we’re on the road again. Today we will be walking through the Petrified Forest and ending up in Roswell, NM where we’re staying the night (I’m crossing my fingers that the aliens don’t part out my Toyota for their spaceship).

And We're Off!

Day one…and most of day two…are behind us, and we’re staying the night in Las Vegas with some family friends of Jim’s. With over five hundred miles behind us, we’re only in the next state, but we’ve already seen so many different types of landscape! That’s one thing I can give California: there’s definitely a variety of scenery. The passes into Yosemite were all closed, so we weren’t able to actually go into the park, but the snowy mountains that surround it were humbling in their size and stature, looming above us as we made our way down highway 395.


We spent the night at a campground in Independence, CA. It was a pretty site, just at the foot of the mountains, tucked into the trees near a little creek, the dry desert on the other side of us. We set up our tent and I made sandwiches for dinner while Jim tried to start a fire with wood that ended up being wet (what a waste of $6!). We bundled up tight to sleep in the freezing tent. We were the only one in the campground; the others were smart enough to bring their RVs.

In the morning we packed up camp and hit the road. In a little over an hour we were in Death Valley, climbing to over 6,000 feet and descending below sea level countless times before arriving at Badwater, the lowest point in California at 282 feet below sea level.

We walked out onto the salt flats, which crunched like snow under our feet. A sign on the mountain nearby marked where sea level was. Beyond the salt flats, snow sat on the mountains, over 11,000 feet higher and only about half a mile away. The temperature went up over ten degrees there, and as we came out of it, we could feel the air cooling.

The car wasn’t terribly fond of the elevation changes. Jim commented multiple times on the loss of power. We felt bad for the big trucks and RVs putting along up and down the mountains, a distinct smell of burning brakes trailing behind them. We had no such problems, thank goodness.

We made it into Las Vegas a little before 5:00. Tonight we sleep on a soft bed and shower in hot water (although we don’t feel too sorry for ourselves yet…and you shouldn’t either…we’re only on day 2!) Tomorrow we head for the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.

The route so far

So this is the first leg of our trip. We'll stay the night in Independence, CA between Yosemite and Death Valley our first night. Then we'll make our way to Las Vegas, NV and stay with a friend of Jim's family for the night, maybe go out to a nice dinner and drop a few pennies into the slots (that's about the extent of my gambling...). Next we'll cross the Hoover Dam and make our way to Williams, AZ where we'll stay the night before making the trek to the Grand Canyon the next morning. The next day we'll be exploring the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. (Check it out here http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/cave_tours.htm). We leave in two days....TWO days, and we're excited to get on the road!


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Three weeks and counting

In exactly three weeks, we'll pull away from the house and hit the open road. We plan on being gone for about two months, our deadline to return being May 25thish. Our first stop will be Death Valley, followed by Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. As of yet, that's all we've got really mapped out. We're going to head east and stop wherever we feel inclined, hopefully hitting as many states in the process as we can.

If anyone has any suggestions for stops we should make, interestesting places we should stop, or delicious restaurants we just can't miss, let me know! We'll take any tips we can get.