Speaking of which, I must humbly apologize for the lack of entries of late. I've been a fish out of water lately, and I'm having trouble getting myself into any kind of routine at all. I've also been rather unsociable, which happens when I feel stressed in some way. I'm getting there though.
Before I get into our road trip stories, I just want to say that I love it here! Everyone was telling me the heat was unbearable. Pshaw! True, I've yet to see any 120 degree days (though it got up to 107 last week), but so far it's been a snap. The humidity is very low here. To me, it seems like 85 degrees when it's really 105. Yes, I sweat... but not profusely. It doesn't stick to you like it would in Michigan or New York. I love the nights. Sooo comfortable. I've always loved summer nights. The neighborhood (read: apartment complex) is very quiet and serene, and the neighbors are pleasant. What a change from Michigan! I would never want to walk around our old apartment complex at night, for fear of being harrassed by the local hoodlums. People would walk around at all hours of the night, fighting and screaming at each other.
Here? Silence. That is, besides the sound of people's televisions inside, cars passing by on the road outside the complex, and the hum of air conditioners. I look up and see the stars, clearly visible with nary a cloud in the sky. I feel the warm air caressing my body. There are no mosquitoes, no horseflies. Later, day breaks. It gradually begins to get hotter outside, but it bothers me not. (I don't burn too easily.) The sky is so bereft of clouds that I can see the moon in one part of the sky, and the sun in another... way before sundown. I try to find a cloud in the sky, just one wisp of white... none. I venture out by car to the main road outside our complex. Palm trees line the roadside, and every so often, a saguaro cactus stands defiantly, thrusting towards the sky. But the masters of the sky around here must be the mountains surrounding Tucson. The Santa Catalina Mountains to the north, the Rincon Mountains to the east, the Santa Rita Mountains to the south, and the Tucson Mountains far to the west. This may not be a paradise to some... but it's my paradise.
Anyway, the ride down:
DAY ONE
I wrote a series of scheduled posts the night before we left. The first one (for day one of our trip) was pretty accurate. We wanted to take our picture in front of a sign saying, "Now leaving Michigan" or something, but there wasn't any. Not on I-75, anyway. :( The entire trip that day consisted of farmland, houses, empty fields... and more farmland. Yes, it was quite rural. We had lunch at a picnic table outside a gas station/food mart in Ohio (see photo below). The people there were quite friendly.
An Ohio lunch.
I don't remember much of Illinois or Indiana (Indiana was over quickly, if I remember correctly). The people were pretty rude in the section of Missouri we stopped in (an hour or two from Waynesville). Nikki and the kids went to McDonald's for dinner, but I ran across the street to get Taco Bell. ;) As I was walking back into McDonald's with my bag o' Taco Bell, I was given the evil eye by an employee sitting down on her break. Well, frag you too!
This was either Illinois or Indiana, I'm not sure which.
Then we got to the motel in Waynesville, after getting lost in St. Louis because Sarah had to use the bathroom. This particular motel did not allow animals. There would be a $50 charge if evidence of animals in the room was found, plus expellment from the motel. Besides the rats, mice, and frog... we had two cats with us. We put blankets over the cat carriers and prayed they wouldn't meow. They didn't. We passed right by a group of Harley Dudes. One of them said, "Helllllo ladies." I don't think they were paying attention to what we were carrying!
DAY TWO
The scheduled post for day two was pretty accurate as well. The day was mostly boring, as we were only on two roads (I-44 and I-40). We managed to sneak the cats and other animals back into the car with no problem. I almost left my cellphone behind at the motel. Thank goodness one of the housekeeping staff found it and told me, just five minutes before we were about to leave.
Nikki discovered that the mice had died. There were two of them in the little carrier, and they were both dead. Maybe it got too hot for them, though I did make sure to keep their cage in the shade at all times. They had food and water, so we're still not sure why they died. Nikki's rats were (and are) fine.
At one point during the day, I kept seeing tufts of cotton fly by my face, and out the car window (no air conditioning, so the windows were open). It took awhile for me to realize it, but Skylar was pulling the stuffing out of her pillow. I had to confiscate it from her, at which point she began to wail quite loudly. I put my earbuds back in, and jacked up the volume on my iPod. It worked like a charm, except for between tunes, of course.
Oklahoma, I believe. We didn't take many pictures on this day.
I'm really glad we moved to Arizona, and not Oklahoma. Not to say that there aren't fine, good people living in that state, but... well, Nikki needed some help pulling alongside the pump at a gas station. (Long story.) The young man (I think) who helped her... well, he looked young, but acted like an elderly gentleman in some ways. All he was missing was some wrinkles and a shaft of wheat sticking out of his mouth. He was sporting overalls, baseball cap askew and backwards, and some missing teeth. He was rocking back and forth on his heels, and looking me up and down, saying, "You don't come from these here parts, do ya? Are you and ya friend moving here in that there truck? No? Awww, it ain't so bad here. Ya might like it!" Interestingly enough, Nikki thought he might be a very odd female-to-male transsexual. That's not what I saw. I suppose he defied characterization... by us, anyway. We couldn't get out of there fast enough.
We got turned around a few more times that day, for restroom breaks, gas stops, and meal time. That stretch on I-40 in Texas was particularly barren. We were feeling very drowsy, so we stopped for an hour and parked in an empty parking lot to get some rest. We didn't get to the Amarillo La Quinta (a motel which which allowed pets, yay!) until about 4 am. We then decided to change our plans somewhat. Originally, we were going to get into Arizona on Monday, May 31st. This day is also Memorial Day, so we wouldn't have been able to move in just yet. We'd have to occupy ourselves in Tucson for a day, then move in the following morning (June 1st). So we decided to have our "resting day" a day earlier, in Texas.
DAY THREE
There was no travelling at all on this day. We slept too late to take advantage of the continental breakfast offered by La Quinta, so we ate lunch at Denny's next door. Not bad at all, though a bit pricey. We went back to our room, put on the TV for the kids, and passed out cold. We woke up a few hours later, only to find that Skylar had squeezed all my shampoo and conditioner out onto the floor. Yay. And I so badly needed a shower. Double yay. We found a nearby Walgreen's, and, since I couldn't find my brand there (Marc Anthony's Thicker), I got the new sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner from L'Oreal (one of them, anyway). Sulfates tend to strip the color out of dyed hair quite quickly, so I wanted to give a sulfate-free hair product a try. It does make my red hair color stay in much longer, but it doesn't provide the sheer volume of Marc Anthony's products, even though L'Oreal's are volumizing as well. Anyway, I digress.
We ate dinner at Wendy's, or rather, Nikki and the kids did. I pulled my "run across to Taco Bell and bring back" routine. No stares this time. The Texans were friendly, at least in Amarillo. Oddly enough, best Taco Bell I've ever had. Seriously. I know, most (or all) of you are thinking now, "What's the difference? It's all the same ingredients!" It was all so fresh though, and the Volcano Nachos was packed full of stuff. I ran out of nachos before I ran out of toppings. Now don't get me wrong, Taco Bell is so bottom-of-the-barrell as to not even be considered Mexican food (that would be like comparing Spaghettios to real spaghetti with homemade meatballs), but this was the best they could do with what they had. Impressive, if you like Taco Bell. I have no idea if this is a rarity or a commonplace occurence in Texas, but it sure was yummy.
We made sure to turn in early to prepare for the last day of our trip.
DAY FOUR
This would've been our lounge-around-in-Tucson-day, but we decided to make that Amarillo instead, so this day consisted of the trip from Amarillo to Tucson. We got up early enough to have some continental breakfast at the motel this time. There were waffles in the shape of the state of Texas. Cute, huh? Then we were on I-40 for another 285 miles. We had trouble finding somewhere to eat for lunch. We were tired of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We shouldn't have, but we stopped at a Mexican restaurant (in New Mexico) and blew $50 on a late lunch. I had posole (a spicy soup with corn and pork), and a huge burrito. It was delicious. Nikki and the kids had boring crap like chicken fingers. Go figure. We took a whole bunch of pictures before and after crossing through New Mexico...
Sarah in some field in Texas.
Nikki in the same field.
Savannah, just inside New Mexico.
Savannah with a wild cow (?) in the distance.
Skylar sleeping it off in New Mexico.
Sarah, ditto.
I have no idea what cool-looking mountain in New Mexico this was... but it sure was cool-looking.
I know the sign is cut off (d'oh!), but this was taken in front of Exit 321, to Palomas, on I-40 West.
Some time after that, we went up this road that went up some mountain. We got off of I-40 and onto I-25 South after going back down the mountain.
We didn't cross into Arizona (on I-10) until after nightfall. We were starting to close our eyes for more than a second or two again, so we slept for an hour or so in a gas station parking lot. We headed out again on I-10, and it was soon after that I started seeing odd shadows on the roadside and median. Cacti? It teased me for awhile longer, until an approaching tractor trailer on the other side of the road illuminated the median for just a second. There I saw it: A saguaro cactus at least ten feet tall! I was so excited that I phoned Nikki to tell her what I saw. She said, and I repeat, "I'm so glad you shared that with me, baby, but remember my battery is low?" I love her.
I was stopped by border patrol not too long after this. The officer was very friendly, and was just making a routine inspection to make sure that drugs or other illegal thingies weren't going to or from Mexico via our car. He wanted me to open the trunk, and he exclaimed, "Wow, you're really packed full." He bade me a safe trip and a good night, and I continued on my way.
The rest of the ride into Tucson seemed to take f o r e v e r. But we finally made it to La Quinta in Tucson (which is down the road from us and quite a simple drive, yet the Mapquest directions had us going in circles). Check in we did (though there was a little confusion on the part of the clerk there, since we had cancelled day one of our stay (we stayed in Amarillo instead), and kept day two), and pass out we did. We moved into our new apartment the next day! But then, that's a subject for my next entry. After seeing the length of this entry, now you see why I'm splitting all this into separate entries!
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