Phoenix Vacation--Day 8

March 16—Friday

We woke up early at 6:30 am to get ready to pack up and get on the road to come home. Andy’s mom took the morning off of work to go to breakfast with us so they took us to IHOP. We all had a good breakfast and took some pictures of the family before we got ready to leave. Good-byes are always really hard, but I’m really glad that we got the chance to spend with them. We said our good-byes and were on the road by 9:30 am. We got a bit turned around after trying to get some gas and wound up heading the wrong direction on the 202. Just as I was calling my Dad (my living road atlas) we figured out where we needed to be. I think he felt appreciated though when we called him for directions, although he told me that it’s embarrassing for guys to ask for directions. But, we had it figured out anyway, but we chatted for a bit before hanging up and he gave us some pointers on things to stop and see on the way home if we wanted to.

We hopped on I-10 and headed for Tucson and it was a pretty boring trip. Once we hit Tucson, it got prettier but we figured the way we came into Phoenix was a whole lot more picturesque. Anyway, we were happy when we finally hit the New Mexico border and we stopped at Burger King for lunch. We went through Texas Canyon and stopped at a little travel lodge and we took their little tour to see The Thing…you had to determine whether what it was and if it was real or not. Dad told us about it although he said he’d never stopped, but other truckers he knew had and they couldn’t figure out for sure what it was and if it was real or not. It was a good place to stop and stretch our legs anyway, but Andy and I both said it looked like a mummy that you’d see in a museum. We happened upon Las Cruces, NM and my Dad had told us that at night it looks like you’re looking down at the sky…we didn’t time it right so we could hit it at nighttime, but I did take a picture and it was really beautiful in the daylight too. Then Texas was just right around the corner. Once we got by El Paso, we looked to the right and there was the Mexico border probably about 300 yards from where we were. It totally looked trashy over there in Juarez and we were thankful to live where we do. We drove about 100 miles from there and then we found out that we had to hit an inspection station and all vehicles had to stop. We were clueless about what was going on only to find out that it was the border patrol…they had to make sure we were all legal. That was pretty quick and I called my Dad and asked him why he didn’t tell us about that…he had totally forgotten all about it. It was no big deal, but he normally tells me all that stuff when we go on trips. He knows all the speed traps, places not to stop, and all that good stuff.
It seems like we’ve all had to stop and take potty breaks a whole lot more frequently this trip back home and one thing that I haven’t been a big fan of seeing is all the Beware of rattlesnake signs at all the rest areas when we get out of the car. My Dad told us to be careful at night as they come right up to the side of the road and if we had car troubles or anything and didn’t look where we were stepping we were at risk of getting bitten. Talk about envoking fear…but we’ve been careful when we needed to get out of the car and we haven’t seen any. We talked about driving straight through to our house, but we decided against it. So, we’re here in Monahan, TX about 80 miles into being on I-20 at the Holiday Inn express. We went for a swim and here I am on the computer. We’re all anxious to get home and see the kitties and be in our own familiar surroundings…hey, there’s truly no place like home….but we just needed a break from being on the road. We’re probably about 6 hours away from home…we’re about a little less than 500 miles from home. Andy said he could have probably got us home tonight, but he’s sick with whatever I had when we were making the trip to Phoenix now and I think we all just needed some rest. I kept offering to drive, but he kept saying no and that he was fine. So, here’s to a good night’s rest and we’ll be home tomorrow.

Picture is of Juarez, Mexico as seen from I-10