It's
hard to explain. We've packed up the rig and secured everything, checked
the lights and are ready to go, but something is amiss. I'm behind the
wheel and Tami is in the navigators seat (because she likes to tell me where to
go) but there's no map in her lap. Instead she's punching an address
into our newly acquired Garmin Navigator, something she vowed to never rely
upon. I'm scared.
It's not only unsettling because for over five years now
she's always had a map in her lap but we going from Lake Havasu City to
Holbrook. I mean it is twelve miles to the interstate, turn east and stay
on I-40. Even I can get there without a map. Oh well, I'll know I'm
really in trouble if she doesn't at least once argue with Mr. GPS (She didn't
like Mrs. GPS so insisted we change it to the male's voice).
Okay,
Clay’s right to some extent, but what he neglected to mention is that he likes
to have the navigator on because the little screen shows how many miles we have
to travel to our destination and thus he does not have to ask me every half
hour how much further we have to go! Actually I like making Tami growl as she
tries to add up the miles from her old maps.
And yes, it is also true that I fought getting the navigator for
many years, feeling very comfortable with my paper maps. But the last year or so, I seem to have had
trouble getting us through cities and following the road signs correctly. So, being the big person that I am, I could
admit that I needed help. And since
getting the navigator, I have become a convert.
It is great especially when you are in an unfamiliar city. Just put in the address and away we go!
So
now, just a little info on our whereabouts.
We left 29 Palms California on April 8th and moved to Lake
Havasu Arizona. We planned to stay about
a week before going on to Monument Colorado for our summer job. But Monument got one snowstorm after another
so we ended up staying in Lake Havasu for two weeks. It was
mid April and we had three days of 100+ temps.
It’s going to be tough adapting to Monument.
After
leaving Lake Havasu, we drove about 300 miles to Holbrook Arizona where we
spent two nights. The day after our
arrival we went to the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert. It was a sunny day, but the wind was pretty strong
and about blew us off our feet a couple of times. It made taking pictures a real
challenge! But the Painted Desert was
beautiful with all the different colors and rock formations. And it was so neat to see all the petrified
wood that was in the southern part of the park.
It is pretty amazing that minerals could take the place of the wood and
maintain that shape after the wood decayed.
This is a small national park, but very interesting.
A couple of shots of the painted desert.
There were several areas of petroglyphs. This was one of my favorites.
A petrified tree.
The inside of a log. The colors were just amazing.
And
speaking of photos, several years ago we acquired a digital photo frame, you
know, one of those electronic gadgets where you load digital files on an SD
card and it scrolls through them. Tami
was able to load every picture she’s kept since we started traveling. It’s mounted in our living room and scrolls relentlessly
through the years so that I can constantly exclaim, “Where the heck was that
one from?” It’s a great way to revisit
things, especially for someone like me who never opens a photo album.
We
also spent a couple of days in Santa Fe, but the weather was very cold and
windy. We had hoped to do a little
hiking, but had to settle for eating lunch at the Olive Garden instead! Hardy
troupers aren’t we!
So
now we are in Monument Colorado and all set up for another summer of work. Will keep you posted on our adventures as the
summer progresses.
