It was a dark, dark night... ever heard that story? Zooming along in the dark we made pretty good time. Our second pit stop (somewhere in Missouri) was not fun. It was freezing and no one wanted to get out of the van in some strange place at 4am. But we needed to stretch our legs and get gas. I think at least 3 of the boys cried all the way into the gas station. I had Roz tweet we were in "Misery" and indeed it was miserable. Jerry was surprised it was still so cold that much farther south.
We piled back into the car with some bad coffee for the driver and were back on the road in a few short minutes. Everyone went back to sleep and we didn't stop again until the Kansas turnpike where we gassed up again and passed out breakfast trays.
All the windows except the front driver and passenger (plus windshield, of course) had frozen over just a few miles into the trip. Not that there was much to see in the dark but the ice didn't melt until almost afternoon the next day. Thank goodness the boys spent most of the day watching videos because they definitely were not able to enjoy the scenery. Not that there was much to see anyway...
Kansas is a long, boring state (sorry if you're from there) but the short cut we took saved us from the even more long and boring stretches in Oklahoma and Texas. I took over driving for awhile in Kansas. The only "weather" we saw on the way down was during this time. Despite the fact that it was mid-day, a pretty thick fog developed. I had to use my mad driving skills to keep us safe on the two lane highway in the fog.
It was actually really weird scenery at that point. We had driven right into "frozen fog". Everything was frozen and covered in frost but there was no snow on the ground. Every blade of prairie grass, every tree, every fence post...
everything was covered! Between the fog and the frost it was like seeing in black and white. Thankfully the road stayed perfectly clear. The frozen fog continued into New Mexico where it was even stranger to see everything covered in the frost but the sun was shining and warm.
I didn't take any pictures but in hindsight I sure wish I would have! Here are a few pictures I found that will give you and idea of what we saw:
We decided to stop just after we got into New Mexico (Tucumcari). We stopped about 4pm local time but it felt like 5pm to us. We knew we didn't want to drive another 2 hours to Albuquerque and weren't sure we could find somewhere in between to stay.
The hotel wasn't the greatest I've ever stayed in, but it did meet our three requirements, which were: indoor pool, wireless internet, and continental breakfast. I won't mention it looked the ceiling in the pool area was going to collapse on us at any moment or that we had to request bedspreads and a vacuum job. (Oops! I just did.)
JD and Wesley at the hotelWe unloaded, grabbed some dinner at the local Denny's, and let the boys get their wiggles out in the pool. We ended up on the second floor and I feel bad for the people who stayed below us. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get the boys to tread lightly. They are, by nature, stompers. We didn't bother to set the alarm but were up, dressed, fed, and on the road by 7:45am. From the interstate it appears to me New Mexico is barely populated. If anyone ever tells me I shouldn't have another kid because of overpopulation I'm going to suggest they move to somewhere along the I-40 corridor in NM.
We crossed the AZ-NM border about 1:00pm. We stopped at the rest area there and made our sandwiches for lunch. There was snow on the ground but we were all more than comfortable walking around the rest area in just long sleeves.
We had a little entertainment in the form of the Packers vs. Cardinals game on the radio as we drove through AZ. Despite what we all know now... the Packers were, at that moment, making us proud. We didn't want to stop again before we got to Mesa but everyone needed a pit stop in Payson. As we were loading back into the van a woman stopped Jerry and asked if he went to Taylor Jr. High! It ended up she was a former classmate. Jerry had to tell her that the funny thing was that he didn't even live in AZ anymore. We hadn't even been in the state more than a few hours before he saw someone he knew!
The drive from Payson to Mesa is by far the prettiest stretch of the whole trip. There was snow on the ground, but it was sunny and warm. The mountains were beautiful. Even the boys were impressed. We saw several carloads of people playing in the snow. Wesley thought that was funny since he "plays in the snow every day". Coming down on those curvy roads about gave me a heart attack. I had to suggest a little less speed a few times, which I'm sure Jerry really appreciated. Can you be too careful when your whole family is in the vehicle and you've never gone down more than a slight hill in said vehicle? I think not!
Soon enough we were in the flat, dessert landscape of the valley and I could unclench my fists. The boys had been waiting to see the first saguaro cactus and soon there were more than they could count! We arrived safe and sound at Grandpa's house in Mesa a little bit before 6pm.
Part 1
A few of the boys kept their sweatshirts on, but Justus didn't think that was necessary.
Hayden had his on for a bit but he definitely didn't need it later in the day.
JD was happy to be in "Zona" even though he had absolutely no idea where that was. We could have been around the corner from home for all he knew! But he sure did enjoy swinging. His swing at home has about 6 inches of snow crusted on top of it!
Uncle Johnny give the boys some extra wiggles on the playground.
JD and Wesley at the hotel
Above is some of the pile. Not too bad considering there are so many of us. Of course, this isn't including Roz's stuff!
The pile grew quite a bit when we added everyone's blankets and pillows. But once everything was in the van it didn't even block the view out the back windows! We're so thankful for our van!
We cut them to fit exactly underneath the benches in the van. We were able to pull them out drawer style when we needed something. We had a third box, not pictured, that was emergency supplies (that we thankfully didn't need to get into). We had a cooler full of food and drinks too.
