Day Two!

My two sleeping beauties! Dan and I had been up since 5:30am. I put this blanket over them in the night when the wind kicked up and it got cold. I think I slept maybe three hours.

There is a lot of desert between Old Dale and Parker, AZ. We went along the aqueduct so there was a lot of discussion about that. There is a railway that goes that way too. That explains the train whistles I sometimes here at our house. I took some notes about places we saw out there that might need further investigating with the bug...in the winter!

We made it to Arizona! This bridge is for the train that goes through.

Had to take a picture of the Arizona sign, of course! I posted on Facebook that we were in a new state..to us! This is the first time we have spent any time in Arizona, except for the day we spent in Yuma with my Grandma a few years ago.

On the way out of Parker and up to Lake Elsinore, Dan told the boys about the London Bridge and that they moved it to Arizona. I thought he was telling an elaborate joke...and then there it was! W

We took some pictures of the signs. Tom had to stand here and read this one in it's entirety.

Tom was a little disappointed when he saw this one.

Tom and Jake being "irreverent".

       

Dan is a little miffed about how difficult it is to find a phone around here!

London Bridge is falling down! We did some souvenir shopping and talked to a nice couple of people at the Visitor Center. It was hot...damn hot...like 106 and it was 10am. We left.

We hit the road north up to Kingman! The RV was making a weird noise so we stopped for some "belt dressing" at K-Mart. That was like going back in time! I haven't seen a working K-Mart in years. It was much cooler in Kingman, only 90.

We found the KOA. Love it! The boys have been off playing pool with some boys they met. We sat and talked to our neighbors from Pennsylvania for hours. The boys hit the pool.

All is well. We're tired from the long drive, heat, and lack of sleep. But we're plugged in now. It's cooler here, but the A/C is just too good. Showers, spaghetti dinner, I'm ready for bed!

Day One!

We are on our way! Yay! Finally! We decided to leave Friday afternoon and just get to Old Dale and spend the night there, then leave early in the morning for Kingman, AZ. It was hot when we got there, but it was windy and the sun was going down. We killed some cans and had beans and wienies. We went to bed, Tom and Jake started coughing. Jake took some Nyquil and sat up in a chair for awhile, finally fell asleep there. Tom kept hacking away. I convinced him to take some Nyquil too. He doesn't like to take it because it makes him feel crappy tired in the morning, but he wasn't going to go to sleep this way either and neither was I. Now the wind stopped. It was stifling hot. Tom and I sat up reading for awhile until the medicine kicked in. We had wet towel draped over us! Tom finally stopped coughing and I went to try to sleep. Tom wanted to sleep in the chair. Later in the night, around 2am, he came and took my towel away mumbling something about needing it. He was sleep walking. I directed him to bed and he was out for the night. It was cooler. The wind was blowing again and we all needed a blanket. Crazy!

 My own personal sun tea maker!

Tom is the sharp shooter of the family.

We're off!

Here we go!

Waiting to go

I guess I was too efficient this morning. Now we're all packed and we still have a few hours before Dan's done working.
Plenty to do though. I'm catching up with my friends on Facebook, becoming green with envy over my Dad and Step-Mom's posts about Montana, and reminding the boys about our time up there. Can you believe it's been four years and Jake doesn't remember most of it. I guess we'll just have to again!

Trip to the OC

I would have skipped it due to the long list of things I need to get done before we leave on our road trip, but I had things that needed to be done down there and I'm glad I did.

The plan: Leave at 10, stop at the batting cages, stop at CHN's storage room, go to the park, get dinner, stop and get new shoes for me, head home. It didn't go that way. :))
We left around 10:30 and when we got to the batting cages the park was closed for a private party until 3pm. Darn. But then I got back on the freeway going the wrong way, realized I was too hungry to wait another hour and half to eat at the park, saw a Popeye's (yay) and had to turn around there anyway. Tom accused me of hitting the curb in the driveway (which I didn't). We all got chicken and biscuits. Now I remember why we don't go there very often. $25 for three 'value' meals. Sheesh!

We went to the storage shed without incident and dropped off some boxes of stuff I had and took the prize wheel that Dan volunteered to fix, ok, I volunteered him, but it won't take him but a few minutes.

From there we were supposed to go to the park, but we were so close to the Ontario Airport and I wanted to show the boys the old airport because I swear that is where they were on an episode of 24 we saw awhile back. I was right. The boys freaked out when they saw it. They wanted to get closer and see if it was blown up any like the show, but it's all fenced off. That lead to a half an hour discussion about why they built a new airport on the way to the park. Productive. :)

The park was great! It's fun to see old friends and hang out a bit. My cousin's husband just happened to be walking through the same park on a lunch break (he works nearby) and stopped to talk to us. We were all a bit surprised. The boys brought their MRE's that are going to expire soon and tried to eat them for lunch. We sat around and talked for awhile. The boys wanted to try the batting cages on the way home, so we took off at 4.

I finally stopped for gas (after both the boys reminded me about seven times that we needed to do that). Tom made a big show of congratulating me because I didn't hit the curb going into the gas station :/  and I attempted to use my ATM card but it wouldn't work. I figured I had put my PIN in wrong. I was being distracted by a young man opening and closing the door of the truck into my back. Tried again, used it as a CC, but it didn't work. Had to use the cash I had on hand.

Problem. That was the end of my cash and for some reason by boys were not loaded as they usually are. Hmmm...I'll try the card again at the batting cages. Off we go.

Got to the cages. Lots of people there. We aren't used to that since we usually go at 10am when they open on week day during the school year. School's out and it was 5:30pm. My card was declined here too. Problem. I check my balance on my nifty smart phone. No problem there. Crud. Between us we had $8. Not enough for batting cages but enough for DQ ice cream! :) Since when is it $2 for a small dipped cone. No inflation...pay no attention.

We headed home and go there in enough time to water the plants and feed the chickens. It was a gorgeous evening. We watched TV with Dad for awhile and told him of our adventures, got ready for bed and hit the hay.

No shoes for me, but I didn't really NEED them anyway. Now I've got to find out what's wrong with my ATM card as well has try to knock of several things on my list of To-Do's today.

June!!

Holy cow, it's June! And only four more days until we hit the road for the Grand Canyon and points east! It's a rare thing for us, planning a trip. Our usual MO is to decide today that in four days we will leave. But this time we've been waiting for weeks. Baseball season has gotten in the way of our impulsiveness, but it has given Dan time to get actual vacation days. This will be the first trip we have taken that he has not been working along the way. Cool!

My Mom and Ken spent the night with us Saturday night and this is what ended up happening...



We didn't sleep like that! :)) Tom needed some extra incentive to get up.

We had a great day on Saturday at both the boys' baseball games and then came home for pizza and messed around all afternoon. It was a little cooler than Friday (102!) so it was only 90 and windy, so nice. The wind may cover you with dirt as you watch the baseball game but there is nothing nicer than the shade of a tree in the desert with a breeze!

Sunday we made pancakes and eggs and harassed Tom about getting out of bed. He isn't used to being awake before 10am, but he was a good sport.

They left around 10 and we spent the rest of the day laying around, cleaning up, and watching movies. Today will be much different. It's almost 8am and I need to go start waking up the baby birds so that we can hit the road for the OC today!

Book Review - My Brother Sam isDead

Wow! What a wonderful story. I was crying at the end. I think mostly because people talk of the end of the USA and fighting now. It scares me that my boys would have to live through this and start lives on the other side.

The American Revolution is glorified in so many ways. This book does not do that. It tells the story from the point of view of an average family. Not taking sides because you just don't want to fight will not keep you from the war. Taking sides is hard as well, if you don't know or understand the principles that the leaders of both sides are fighting for. And even if you do understand it all and can see what the other side of the war can bring, do the ends justify the means? Do we need to kill to get our way? Or is there another way?

Jake picked this book up at the used bookstore in town and read it in two days. He told me I had to read it, but it had a sad ending. It did. I'm glad I read it. Jake loves to talk about the books he is reading and this one needs to be talked about.