Palm Springs Road Trip

We left at 9:25 for the first time and had to turn around 5 minutes later when April called to ask, “did you forget the pizza?”  Doh!  My friend Ed loves Lou Malnati’s pizza so there was no option but to turn around for it.  Luckily we wern’t far from home. After jamming the pizzas in the car we left for the second time at 9:38. We came very close to being forced to deploy the alternate transportation method (bikes) just north of Springfield after pushing the gas gauge to the red and beyond.

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Day 16: July 2nd, 2013: Abiquiu Lake, New Mexico to Bernalillo, New Mexico

Cody is 4 today!!!

The birthday boy’s first photo as a four-year-old.

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Day 17: July 3rd, 2013: Coronado State Park, Bernalillo, New Mexico to Bluewater, New Mexico

Random information – we think we found the cheapest gas so far on this trip in Bernalillo, New Mexico for $3.11 a gallon.  Scott is his father’s son and has managed to go down a few one way streets the wrong way while on this trip.  My favorite wrong way moment was at a McDonald’s.  The locals just backed up and tried to get out of his way.  Planes, Trains, and Automobiles anyone?  “You’re going the wrong way!!!”

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Day 18: July 4th, 2013: Bluewater, New Mexico to Flagstaff, Arizona

Scott was up before 7 this morning.  I had to ask if he has been setting an alarm as he seems to be getting up at exactly 6:45 every morning.  At home I am usually up later than him and up earlier. Unfortunately ever since we have had kids I have been easily woken up and not so easily gone back to sleep.  Consequently with the nighttime rainstorms and extremely strong winds I spend quite a few hours of my sleep time thinking about how nice it would be to be asleep.  It is a great time to get some reading in though.  Between taking care of the kids’ needs in the van and working on the blog there isn’t as much time as you would think to read.  I have been making a conscious effort the last few days to spend more time sitting between the kids and looking out the windows watching the world pass by, so I am a little behind in the blog.  This means more errors and less thoughtful insights, but at some point I need to strike a balance with being present in the moments while I have them.

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Day 14: June 30th, 2013: Maverick Campground, New Mexico to Abiquiu Lake, New Mexico

Scott stayed up until close to midnight chatting with our new neighbors Carlee and Alex.  Carlee just graduated with a degree in nutrition.  Thus I found it humorous when Scott offered them some healthy marshmallows over the stove (fire ban).  Alex is going into Occupational Therapy with one more year of undergrad to go. Carlee is headed to Australia to work for a year. She said there is a special one year work visa for students who have just graduated to encourage multiculturalism.

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Day 15: July 1st, 2013: Abiquiu Lake, New Mexico

Stats: 1,758 miles traveled, 138.85 gallons of gas burned, average miles per gallon 12.66, 4 states visited

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Day 13: June 29th, 2013: Maverick Campground, NM – Jaunt to Taos

Bear paw print from Maverick campground

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Day 11 Part 1: June 27th, 2013: Guymon, OK – Between Cimarron and Eagle’s Nest, NM

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.

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Day 11 Part 2: June 27th, 2013: Maverick Campground – Between Cimarron and Eagle’s Nest, New Mexico

Maverick Campground in Cimarron State Park off of 58.  Scott hopped out of his van door before any of us. The smell of pine trees enveloped the van. I wish I could bottle it up and share the scent. Above is the view across the street from our campsite.  Our campsite was vacant about ten minutes before we pulled into it.  This is the most beautiful campground in the area, and consequently very popular.  Besides the incredible beauty the campground is full of generations of return visitors who know each other well and treat each other like family.  Scott made friends with our neighbor Shane and his son Westren before the kids even managed to get out of the van.  Five minutes after the initial meeting the kids had their chairs at our neighbor’s campsite and they were enjoying Capri-Suns.

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Day 12: June 28th, 2013: New Mexico Between Cimarron and Eagle’s Nest

](/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_02591.jpg) ](/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_02571.jpg) Scott’s biking photos from his one hour ride this morning.  He left about seven and returned about eight.  He tells me he rode uphill for about forty minutes and then downhill for twelve.  He said despite being strong on the brakes he was still traveling forty miles an hour downhill.