Leg 0 Has arrived – Days 1, 2, 3

Reminder:  Leg 0 is our practice trip of 2 1/2 weeks to the Los Angeles area before we leave for 3 months at a time for a total of 9-10 months starting in July.

I’d love to post each day separately, but I was way too busy, exhausted, and short on internet connections to do that.  So I’m going to put the first 3 days together.  Pretend they are separate.

Day 1

Adam and I both lived in Durango when we met and I know I’d feel bad not seeing friends and it would be emotionally tough and draining.  So I semi-planned (like 80%) a route to completely bypass it.  It would add at least an hour to the drive.

So we took off, picked up Zoe from Bailey (outdoor lab) and started driving.  It was great.  About two hours into the driving I realized I had to go through Durango.  First, I didn’t WANT to drive for an extra hour.  Second, I’d made this drive so many times I could totally do it easily.  Third, I love Durango so much and the pull was too strong.  So I texted a friend to see if we could driveway surf and she totally agreed.  We ended up driving about 8 hours which is way more than I planned, however,  it was Durango!  Plus it would get us far enough along that we could visit Antelope Canyon which I had originally had to scratch from the trip.

For those of you who really know me, I used to be the kind of person to plan things out FAR in advance.  There was wiggle room and flexibility, but not much.  It’s nice that I can have a plan and scratch it for a better one.  Icing on the cake, I got to see my good friend who I love and never see.

Day 2

When Adam was around, he insisted on being the driver.  I was the planner, the co-pilot, and the researcher. I would (unless caught in a book) explain all the attractions as we hit them, give a lesson, etc… plus plan the route, get him beverages, and change CDs

Well, I’ve had to take his job and.. well.. no one can take mine.  Caleb, and sometimes Zoe, can do a bit of the “co-piloting” but no one else is there to research and plan, and I can’t do that, plus drive.

Today we drove to Page, Arizona. The kids wanted to see the Four corners, I just cared about the Navajo Tacos that I could never get enough of in college (Caleb also says its the highlight of the trip so far)

For the first time, we stayed at Camp Walmart.  It was nice to stay somewhere for free when there were at least 15 other RVs around you for protection.

The kids, of course, need me to mention how I broke the RV for an hour.  Everything stopped working and through using my education I’ve gained over the last few months, realized it was the house battery.

I attacked a random RV stranger to ask for help (which I realize that my ” up-front” personality is often jolting and strangers certainly aren’t used to it.)  He looked a little shocked (by me approaching him) and proceeded to ask where my husband was since he should fix it.  I told him where my husband was and he got a lot more helpful.  He mentioned a switch for the house batteries and I immediately knew that was it.  I felt bad about how I’d approached him, so I sent him merrily on his way. After some looking, we found the switch and apparently it was I who it it. But now I know!

Day 3

Exhausted

Right on the Border of 3 different time zones and the cellphone doesn’t know what is what.l We got tickets to see Lower Antelope Canyon at 9:20 but needed to wake up early to see Horseshoe Bend so I woke at 6:15 and realized it was 7:15. Drove to Horseshoe Bend as quickly as I could (which is tough when NO ONE puts anything away and it could all fly and kill everyone in a moving vehicle.

Anyway, so we got there, it was neat, although wish we’d waited until a little later in the day.

So then we drove to the Antelope Canyon Tour. Apparently, I was wrong/right originally and it had been 6:15 when we woke up so were over an hour early to the tour. It’s ok, they let us go with an earlier tour.  It was SOOOO worth it! Highlight for me so far, I’m so glad we didn’t skip it.

But then we drove and the kids bickered and we got to the Grand Canyon by 1:30! Bad planning kept us from doing anything productive until 2:45 or 3 and then everyone  was cranky. By five everyone hated each other and we drove to the RV park.  It was super.

I was so exhausted that I hooked up the whole RV (not remembering we were leaving at 5AM so I probably shouldn’t have completely hooked it up.  I also forgot to shower!  GROWN!

Everyone was happy to have electricity again, and as I write this it is 9:45 and everyone, except me is alseep which is the first time in 3 days.

(Of course we are getting up at 4:15 tomorrow….goodnight)