Road Trip

Most of today was spent traveling from Tempe to St. George, Utah to meet my mom and sister for a couple of fun days together. Nothing too exciting happened, but nothing bad happened either. The two boys, the hubby and I were in the van and the married daughter and son-in-law were in their car. The plan when leaving home was that they would follow us, but apparently the new husband never played Follow the Leader as a child because that lasted about half an hour. It wasn't a problem, because we all knew where we were going and how to get there. It was just funny. We did meet up again in Flagstaff and must have put some fear into him because he didn't dare pass us after that. The boys were very nice traveling companions despite the fact that they were in the vehicle under duress. They watched the newest season available on DVD of "Walker Texas Ranger" on the laptop with headphones and all we heard from them were random comments relating to the show which were sometimes interesting considering we couldn't see or hear what they were watching such as "Was that a gun they just threw out of that car?", "We've all got to die sometime." "Watch out for that rattlesnake." "I'll meet you at the campfire in the sky. Save a marshmallow for me." "Why did that car just explode?" and so on.

I have always believed that the trip from Arizona to Utah would be much more enjoyable if we could get rid of the section between Flagstaff and the Utah border. I can see why the United States was so willing to donate this area to the Indians. There's not much out there and although the red rocks are gorgeous, the ground doesn't look like it would grow anything. We usually choose to go through Jacob's Lake because at least that way you get a little change of scenery. One of the problems I have with traveling is passing by places that sound interesting but never stopping. Someday I am going to drive the path from home to Utah and stop and explore every single place I feel like looking at. I'll actually visit Lee's Ferry, Pipe Springs and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon rather than just use their facilities and if I want to I will drive the 3 miles to 6 mile village just to see if it really is 3 miles each way. I would probably have to plan to take a week instead of a day. Whenever I travel this route I always wonder who figured out that Lee's Ferry was the best place to cross the river and did that first person have to trek for miles up and down the river before he figured it out and did he drag his wife and kids with him? I am always grateful that I didn't have to be a pioneer and take the "Honeymoon Trail" from Mesa to St. George to get married in the temple or get sent to settle a brave, new frontier.

I think it's interesting on road trips that people who never, ever eat breakfast are starving and wanting to stop for breakfast 10 minutes after the trip starts, how Cheez-its actually taste good to me about the time we reach the Vermillion Cliffs, how we can have a cooler full of soda but I want a 32 oz. drink from the service station and how I always need to use the rest room right after we drive past the rest area. Ah, the mysteries of life.

I am grateful today for
A car - so I can travel across the desert in air-conditioned comfort and not in a covered wagon.
TV shows on DVD - to keep my boys entertained and not bugging me.
A husband - who likes to drive.