Ahh… That was nice. We slept in an itty bitty motel in Guymon, OK. It wasn’t world class, but it had air conditioning, clean beds, a refrigerator, microwave, TV, a perfect shower, there was supposed to be wi-fi (Scott tried to explain to them how to fix it to no avail) and did I mentioned air conditioning and a shower? Not bad for exactly $50. Scott is headed to the lobby to check out the free continental breakfast. He had to hold his back as he bent over to put his shoes on. His back is still hurting from Sunday’s water tubing adventure (old man moment?). We put the kids in the same bed last night. They are still sleeping at 7:30 thankfully, as they are very long on fun and short on sleep these days. I’m not sure if they slept well, but no one woke up with bad dreams or fell out of bed. They both roll. Scott and I frequently wake up in the night with limbs on us in every direction.
Scott cut up a watermelon in the sink area last night and this morning he is putting together our inaugural 5 gallon bucket load of laundry. The idea is to let the movement of the van traveling help agitate the laundry to a cleaner state. I have already hand washed a few items at campgrounds. The heat has helped everything dry very quickly. This is in great contrast to our trip three years ago in Canada and Alaska when we struggled to get a stretch of sun long enough to dry anything from the state of soaking wet to just damp.
We don’t have TV reception at home, and the kids haven’t seen any TV since the first two days of our trip. Consequently they were glued to Sesame Street and Nova for the short time we had it on. The continental breakfast was minimal, but we were appreciative nonetheless. Scott had to take a picture of the jellies that were so old they no longer were removable from their containers. Petrified jelly. I explained that he should stop trying to find a usable jelly and be kind enough to leave some for others to experience. You know Scott, determined.
No crazy motel stories today, just a reminder to ourselves to call ahead to have the air turned on so it isn’t hotter in our hotel room than it is outside. Anyone have any crazy motel stories?
The goal is to head to Taos today.
We just went through Boise City, although city seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. They had a sign pointing to Denver, CO. My brother lives in Denver. I just love Colorado as a whole, but I’m not sure we are going to get to Colorado on this trip. As of now we are contemplating going west through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California and then up Route 1 along the Pacific coast. We may have to schedule another trip for Colorado and Utah. Utah is another one of my other favorites. Utah’s national parks are some that should not be missed. I keep mentioning Colorado to Scott in hopes that just maybe we will wander there.
The kids took a break from yelling at each other in order to eat an apple for a snack. I tried singing the songs we learned yesterday in Stillwater’s children’s museum. That helped for a bit. Sometimes we talk about what we have enjoyed so far and what we are thankful for. The first few days we listened to kid songs and some of my favorites too. However, one of the rear speakers is grumbly and needs attention, so no radio right now. My middle school students would just about fall over hearing that. No video games, no TV, and no radio! The world is surely ending!
I suppose this is where I should also mention that we don’t have mobile data on our phones. In fact, I don’t even have text on my phone. That is why McDonalds are of such great value to us on the road.
In order to break up the sibling closeness in the car, or not so closeness, I read to them and we work on some workbooks and coloring books, but they seem happiest playing pretend with each other which always seems to end in some sort of debate. As if on cue the current debate is, “There is not even any sun power! I have lightning power!”
The picture above was taken because Brooke was excited that she was able to pull her apple apart in the middle to expose the star around the seeds. She mentioned that we could paint with it. We both said at the same time, “Except that…” We didn’t bring any paint and we are in the car for at least four hours today. Although as crazy as it seems maybe paint at the campgrounds is a good idea… They can’t get any messier than they already get. :-)
11:20 – We just entered New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment! Another new state for the kids. A new times zone too. Goodbye Oklahoma. I’ll have to go back one day to explore Oklahoma City, but we enjoyed our short time in OK. How could you not like a state with the abbreviation OK?
Scott mentioned that it had been a while since he and Brooke had drawn together. I suggested that he hop in back and I drive. Other than the one time I took the kids to the park by myself I haven’t driven at all. When we are at home I do all the driving. For the most part Scott is able to keep quiet and enjoy the ride. When we are on the road he enjoys driving and I usually work on typing the blog.or entertaining the cuties. Plus, as an added bonus if I quietly keep to myself there is nothing for Scott to critique. I timed Scott and the longest he lasted without complaining or critiquing my driving was ten minutes in an hour and twenty minute span. I had to remind him that I have managed not to kill us yet. He is sure that is only due to pure chance. Sigh. [Scott edit: suggesting that we stay in between the lines isn’t being critical. It’s a fact that road debris travels to the shoulder and therefore if you drive over the white line there is and increased likelihood of getting a flat. Now who do you think gets the tire changing job? Rant off]
Back to smiles. While Scott was in the back seat he read Green Eggs and Ham with an accent, drew with Brooke, and swatted a few flies much to the amusement of the kids. I am beginning to get used to the flies being part of our environment, so I didn’t even notice yesterday at McDonald’s there were a few flies. Brooke looked in shock and asked, “Did we bring those in?” I am hoping this is one of the parts of our trip that she will forget.
We stopped in Springer, NM because we thought it might be a good town to fill up on gas and groceries. It turns out it is a very tiny town despite being at the intersection of 412 and Route 25. When I asked about a Wal-Mart at the gas station they laughed. “60 miles either way!” We turned around and went to a park we had passed to eat lunch. It turns out there are free lunches at the park from June to August for kids. I felt a little guilty partaking as Scott and I both deduced the lunches were probably to help the students with free and reduced lunches stay healthy through the summer. I read all of the rules of the lunches and they didn’t discriminate, they just wanted you to drink your milk and eat the lunch in the park. I asked where the funding came from and the gentleman in charge said the lunches are somehow federally funded through the Soy Foundation. The lunch included: a ham and cheese sandwich on wheat, cantaloupe, broccoli, and a carton of milk. We learned that Cody still needs assistance with drinking out of cartons. He took a small milk bath.
After we ate lunch Cody wanted to play in the large gazebo with the other children. The little boy, Matthew, kept hugging Cody and running around with him. He had the best smile. I couldn’t get a very good picture of it though because much like Cody he didn’t stand still very long. You can catch a glimpse of him in the first picture of the kids climbing on the tank, looking like silhouettes, as I wasn’t paying attention to the sun’s direction. You can double click on the pictures to enlarge them.
I’m going to make this post into two days, since I have a boat load of pictures for part two.
