Day 108: Old Town Albuquerque.
After a nice night at the Walmart parking lot of Edgewood, New Mexico, we descended down into Albuquerque and began looking for a place to stay for a couple nights.
After a nice night at the Walmart parking lot of Edgewood, New Mexico, we descended down into Albuquerque and began looking for a place to stay for a couple nights.
Our long drive yesterday landed us in a little town in Texas called Shamrock. We are now west enough to be coming across some of the same states we visited at the beginning but just further north. Being a little town right off of Interstate 40, it is a town that was part of the old Route 66. And it is no accident that we decided to stay here last night.
This morning we said good bye to our friends, old and new, and headed back out on the road after a 4-night stay at Tenkiller Lake. We are hoping to get lots of miles down the road today and no one is really looking forward to the long drive.
This morning Jaiden came by to see if Ava is ready to play. We invited her in while Ava finishes her breakfast and gets changed for our last full day at Tenkiller Lake.
When we picked up the boat yesterday, the guy at the shop told us that we shouldn’t run the engine too hard for awhile. Since the engine had to be rebuilt, Fred essentially has to go through the initial break-in period once again so there is no permanent damage done to it. We were told that it is usually recommended to run it for 10 hours using the break-in process and we were not to tow anyone. Ouch. That would be a deal breaker for this weekend.
Today Fred and I took a little trip to Oklahoma City while the girls stayed back at the lake. Fred being a born-and-bred Californian from Santa Maria, improperly winterized his boat at the end of last season and had to have the engine completely rebuilt. The shop told him it would be ready today so I accompanied him on the 150 mile drive each way into town to pick it up.
Today is a very special day. It is not only special because we are heading into Oklahoma for the first time but because it is also our 8th anniversary. If you told me on the day we got married 8 years ago that we would be full timing on the road with 2 kids today, I would probably think you are crazy. It’s amazing how much things have changed for the better since then and we are happy to be where we are today.
Our long stay in Tennessee is officially ending today as we continue our trek westward with our sights set on getting home to California sometime soon. With Memphis under our belt, we don’t really have any other solid plans on where we are going. But we need to get some miles under us today. Wake up sleepy heads!
This time of year, thunderstorms are the norm in this part of the country. And we got a big one this morning. As usual, it came out of no where and it was pouring buckets in no time.
Last night we made it to Memphis, Tennessee from a couple nights in Nashville. It was a long drive and the terrain is definitely getting flatter and less scenic as we continue to head west and away from middle Tennessee.
Chattanooga well exceeded all of our expectations and we were kind of sad to leave so soon but there is much more of Tennessee we plan to see. We packed up and hit the road this morning headed towards our next destination, Nashville. Just up the Tennessee river.