Arizona or BUST- could not be a better description of our Road Trip. Last Wednesday I flew up to WA State to help pack out my mom and drive the truck, her car attached to the back, and a little over half of everything she owned. 17 cubic feet of possessions were already on their way to her house in Arizona from a previous pack frenzy that occurred two months prior.
My Uncles, Aunt, Little Sister(and boyfriend) helped load up the truck. The truck was supposed to be a fifteen(fourteen?) footer that could hold two rooms…. well when you add in all of my mom’s science class experiments that she has bought for her classroom(with her own money-go public education priorities) we ended up having her grab a twenty foot truck the morning of. And we literally packed it to the brim.
THE BRIM people.
So much so we had to poke it with a stick to shove pieces in to close the sucker.
But it fit.
We enjoyed a meal with family before heading off on our first part of the trip through the mountains and over to Eastern Washington into Idaho. We definitely thought we would get in around 9-10PM but a larger truck made it just a bit harder to go fast.
1:30AM we rolled into Idaho and our hotel. As soon as my head hit that pillow I was out. It usually takes me an hour or so to fall asleep-not then.
Unfortunately, someone took a hammer to their engine outside our hotel room at 0600 and BOOM we were up. Well, my mom didn’t sleep a wink because she is ten times the light sleeper I am and boy was it noisy.
At our hotel we were given vouchers for this awesome diner across the street so we sat down and enjoyed a nice meal before hitting the open road.
Looking back Washington was definitely the prettiest in the mountain region, Oregon the friendliest at truck stops-hello they pump your gas for you-and Idaho had the best maintained roads and largest medians(which made my job of not killing us all at 65MPH that much easier).
In Idaho and Nevada we hit this “Scenic Highway” 93- should also be called death trap- no signs for hours-nor rest stops OR GAS. Seriously, we drove into a station on fumes .7 of a gallon for a twenty footer is what I call fumes… and the signs for adjoining roads were non-existent until AFTER you passed the turn. Scenic? Sure. But how about the tiniest roads with nothing between you and oncoming traffic…. a non-truckers driving a truck nightmare. Add in thirty MPH wind gusts and no cell phone signals for hours at a time and it was peachy keen.
Thankful for my co-pilot. She lightened the mood, made sure we always had something to eat, and was an expert navigator. We didn’t use a GPS. That’s right. We rolled old-school for 1523 miles.
We ended up in Vegas on Friday Night at 5PM. And on our way out up past the Hoover Dam our tires actually started smoking. 115 degree heat on black asphalt = a death trap on twelve wheels. We roll deep.
No fires were started and we made it out into the Arizona desert just fine. We finally made it back to the house around 1AM.
A week later and the twenty-foot truck is unloaded-half of the truck that was pre-packed is unloaded. Patio set-up and goodness do the kids love being with their Nana.
Celebrating Nana’s Birthday
All-in-All the trip went off without a hitch. We car danced our way through four states during the hottest time of the year with BIG ole smiles on our faces-with a dog-and two frogs.
Thankful for my husband who held down the fort. The kids had a blast, all the meals were cooked, house was spotless(even the carpets were shampooed), and we has helped with the heaviest of boxes without complaint.
And GUESS WHO IS HAVING THE BEST.DAY.EVER. Every day?!? Yes, the two munchkins have loved every second of the un-packing process especially when you add in the new furball they get to play with. Emma Marie and Abby are the BEST of friends and she makes it her personal mission to see that she is fed, has enough ice cubes, has been let out, has seen the horse, and has enough back scratches. That dog is living the life.
Plus- who doesn’t love another house to play Hide N’ Seek in?
The answer is NO ONE.
Thanks for hanging in with me as I get back to our regular schedule.
Can’t wait to share about our Fourth of July plans next week!
