Well, this photo below looks just like any other morning. Mila is awake early to get her shot at playing with her big sister’s toys while Ava slumbers away. There is one big difference between this morning and any other morning for the last 114 other ones. We are home.
Why is this picture blurry you ask? Well, do you ever drive down a two-lane asphalt road on a hot day and see that distorted mirage down in the distance in front of you right above the road? This is just like that. It is so hot here now we are getting the heat shimmers inside Mali Mish. OK, not really, but you get the idea.
Today is our official day to tour the Grand Canyon National Park after getting into town around dusk yesterday. The weather is definitely getting much warmer even at this high elevation so I can’t even imagine how hot it is at the base of the desert in Arizona. Ava is ready with her sunglasses and hat and even a couple of dandelions as mini-umbrellas for some much needed shade from this heat wave.
A day of climbing up and down rocks really tuckered out Ava as she slept in just a little later than usual this morning. Mila on the other hand found herself in a ripe opportunity to get her hands on some of her sister’s toys.
After dinner in Durango last night we headed west towards Mesa Verde National Park and got a spot at the Mesa Verde RV Resort just outside of the park. We looked long and hard at our options and we crossed our fingers in hoping that the RV Resort had a decent WiFi connection since our Sprint 3G card is hopelessly out of range. So far we are doing alright. The site had hookups and the WiFi signal worked well enough for us to get some work done so we could head out for some sightseeing in the morning.
After 2 nights in Albuquerque we decided that it is time for us to move on. We are so close to being home that a little bit of post trip depression is creeping up on us. Driving a few hundred miles a day is now our daily routine so any place we go from here is basically a weekend trip for us once we get home. The obvious thing for us to do is stay on I-40 and drive towards Flagstaff, Arizona but we decided to squeeze in another state, or maybe 2, before it is all over.
What do you think Mila? Is it a good idea? “Ummmm, me thinks yesss!”
Albuquerque is a quirky town. It is home to the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History as well as the famous international Hot Air Balloon Festival. Aside from all of the popular tourist stops, none was more intriguing to us than this little place up in the hills called Tinkertown Museum.
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.
