Heading Out...

It is my intent to resurrect this little blog. This lovely intention is driven by our impending trip across half of the United States by myself with the kids. I have been agonizing/planning/excited/worried and more about this trip for months. Dan has faithfully prepared the car and all the chargers for the various electronic devices for us. We know where we are going and where we are planning to stop and see the sights. The kids are excited. They want to go and be with their family. I am mostly confident that I can do it. There is that one stretch of the I-40 between Albuquerque and Tucumcari, New Mexico that has eaten two of our cars. It might have been in my better interests to have skirted that, but trying to keep my driving time down on the way out caused me to go right on through. So, with our new car all packed, a new hitch installed and all our goodies in place we will take off tomorrow at noon (we would have started earlier, but the hitch is arriving at 10am. Oh, and GB had a dental spacer that needed to go in before we left...and the myriad other things that I know I am forgetting right now). This is a quick overview of our plans for the next five weeks. It is our intent to find a place to upload our posts each day. Hopefully! Leaving home Monday, heading to Flagstaff via Oatman (ghost town famous for it's burros) and Sunset Crater National Monument and the Lowell Observatory. Camping at Fort Tuthill in Flagstaff Monday night. Tuesday - Petrified National Park, New Mexico Natural History Museum in Albuquerque, and stopping for the night in Santa Rosa with a swimming stop at Park Lake, where they have a 35 foot water slide into the lake (what?!). Wednesday - To Yukon, OK stopping in Amarillo for Cadillac Ranch, Conway for the Bug Ranch, possibly the Don Harrington Science Museum (we have a reciprocating membership) and of course, Braum's which makes wonderful ice cream. Amarillo is the first one we will see on the trip. We are staying at Velvet and Tommy's Wednesday night and begin our Oklahoma Adventures! From here we will spend a little over 2 glorious weeks traveling up and down the I-35 and Route 74 visiting with family. We have plans to go to Kansas to see a Science Museum with Grandma, down to OKC and the Henson's to swim at their awesome aquatic center, off to Josh and Sarah's to see the progress on the farm and so much more! And of course to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday, which is the impetus for the entire trip. Vinny (who has been taking horseback riding lessons) is eager to ride Cap, my Dad's horse. Then we will leave and head up through Colorado to Pueblo, stopping at Comanche National Grasslands, Bent's Fort in La Junta and staying over night in Pueblo, CO. From Pueblo we head to Rocky Mountain National Park, via Colorado Springs and the Peak to Peak Trail. Rocky Mountain National Park to Dinosaur National Monument, where we will stay for 2 nights (we have wanted to go here since forever, for Noelle since she was little. We are crazy about dinosaurs here) Then into Salt Lake City Metro area to visit my Aunt and see Temple Square and (whew!) off to Gardnerville with Nanagrande for the night before Dan and Karen meet up with us in Tahoe where we will celebrate the 4th of July. It is a little over 3,000 miles. We have found several bakeries, oddities (like carousels strewn about in small Colorado towns)and other fun things to keep us moving forward. Sending our love and with any luck our updates!