Tuesday, July 8, 2008

July 6th...Coming Home


What a long strange, er, awesome, whirlwindy trip it has been!  This was our final day of vacation, and I thought we were all ready to get home.  Joe had decided a few days earlier that he was ready to get home to see the extended family.  We all were, but seeing my friends staved off that feeling for Lou and me.  Getting to see the Lofton's (their kids) staved off the feelings for my kids.  So oddly, when we got up on Sunday, the kids wanted to do more things and not head home.  Lou and I, though, had the singular goal of getting home.  
Since we had been running late EVEY SINGLE DAY (getting up around 9 or 9:30 and getting to bed after 10 pm every night), we decided to get a late check out.  The kids and I got up for the free breakfast at 9:30 (it was the worst breakfast I had ever had at Homewood Suites).  We then went back to the room and lazed around until 12:45, at which time we frantically threw our stuff together and got out of Dodge.
Lunch was at Braum's.  For those of you on the West Coast, Braum's is a regional dairy that also has a grill and a small market in each store.  They are in Texas, OK, Kansas, the western part of MO, and the extreme eastern part of NM (I think).  The cherry limeades are the best, and the ice cream is top-notch (although the ice cream we had from Toft's in Sandusky, OH, was better).  We finally got on the road at 2pm, and a rendezvous with our good friends the Gubler's was the first priority.  They were driving to Norman, OK, from La Quinta for a robotics tourney (five days in Norman, OK...yipee!) and we had planned to be passing them somewhere between Santa Rosa and Tucumcari, NM.  Well, "the best laid plans of mice and men" as they say.  The rendezvous didn't occur because the Gublers discovered the beauty and mysticism that are Santa Fe and Taos, NM, and were loathe to get back to the interstate.  That's good, though, because it allowed us to keep the speedometer pinned and press on.
We made a stop in Albuquerque for gas, but did not go to UNM because we saw no signs for it on the interstate (Lou didn't want to stop, so that also added into the equation).  
We got dinner in Winslow, AZ at the Long John Silver's/Taco Bell combo.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  What was supposed to be just a quick stop turned into a 25 minute fiasco, with them deleting our order twice.  If we only had gone through the drive thru (but the restrooms were callin').  We got back on the road and made it to Flagstaff for another fill up.  Lou started driving just past Flagstaff and drove until just past Phoenix.  I drove on into the night, needing to pound Mike and Ikes, Skittles, and Hot Tamales to keep my ju-ju going.  When we hit Blythe (the border of CA) I needed to stop at Mickey D's for some Hi-C (no caffeine all trip!).  That, and listening to Eddie Izzard and old school rap on my Ipod, (and of course, God more that all the other things put together) got us into The Valley around 2:40 in the AM.  We finally pulled into the driveway at 2:50AM.  Everyone basically stumbled into bed and slept HARD.
We are very thankful to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for protecting us on our journey.  We are also very thankful to them for allowing us to have jobs that give us enough money to do these trips every year.  We are also thankful to have all of the unique and special experiences on the road with our friends.  And finally, Lou and I are thankful that the kids get along so well with each other and that they still love doing these trips.
I am going to keep blogging on this site about what our family is doing.  I am going to tweak this site a bit and try to put on slideshow and video links.  I am also going to try to put on some advertising links.  Finally, I am going to begin another blog that will be more of a political, fantasy football, whatever blog.  I'll put a link to that so you may click there if you like.
For those of you who read this blog everyday, a few times, or even once, I really thank you.  Everyone who knows me knows I love talking about myself, but this still got tedious and time consuming!  I do hope you have enjoyed  learning of our journey and the places we visited.  If you have any questions about our trip, comments, or would like to pick my brain about trips that you want to take to see if I might have any ideas, please email me or post a comment on this site, and I'll respond.  I'd love to help anyone plan any vacations for themselves or their family.
-Dave

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, it was good read. I'll give it a 4.5. Looking forward to the continuing saga. As for a political blog, don't forget to keep a thick skin, and don't get offended when your more conservative, non-Obama voting friends, disagree with you.

dave sexson said...

Hogwash, Todd! I'll convince you to my way of thinking! Remember, I was usually right at your house...