Catchin' Up

Seems like I have been chasing my tail for a couple days now. I was gone just a week, but I think my mind was in Michigan for most of June - thinking about my parents move, the long drive, etc.

We had a fine time driving across the states, we were very blessed not to have any trouble at all with any of the trucks or the car.
Here are some highlights from the trip:
This is the dream team, my brother Andy, my Dad's friend Al (who lives in AZ) and my Dad. They packed the trucks all day Thursday.

Friday morning we said good bye to the house we all grew up in and hit the road!

My Dad was driving a large pick up truck with a trailer, Al drove the big moving truck with a trailer and my Mom and I drove the car with Peanut (our canine copilot in the backseat).
We headed out of Michigan and into Indiana and then into Illinois where we stayed for the night (right near the MO boarder). Saturday we drove through Missouri, Oklahoma and into Texas and stayed overnight in Amarillo. Sunday morning my Dad and Al left early to push on through all the way to El Mirage, AZ. My Mom and I were going to Clovis, NM to visit my Grandma's last remaining sister and meet family I had not met before.

Below is what the drive looked like and is also the area where my Grandmother grew up in Eastern New Mexico.We got to my Great Aunt Lynn's house at about 11:45 AM and stayed until about 3:15 PM and hit the road to cross New Mexico and get into Arizona. On our way across New Mexico we came found this abandoned Church that I fell in love with.

When we got to about the middle of the state, we saw some mean looking clouds to the North and thought we may just be a spectator to a lightening show or something, WRONG. The next thing we knew it was raining really hard and then hailing. I couldn't see the road and there was no shoulder to pull over on. Thank God, we came up on a picnic area and pulled over there and waited a few minutes before hitting the road again. I ended up driving out of the storm, but it was a little hairy there for a while. We got to our hotel on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation late and it was as dark as dark can be. You know, the last time I experienced dark like that was when I was on the Pineridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota with Tim in 2002. We checked in and went to bed shortly there after.

Monday morning we woke up and I was excited to get to Window Rock (a place I have always wanted to see). We ate breakfast at the hotel and then departed to see what we could see on the reservation. Window Rock was super cool and a sacred place for the Navajo people. It lies at the capitol of the Navajo Nation. When we pulled in to the area, there were 5 horses just walking down the street, I jumped out of the car to check them out, they kept walking.

Window Rock is pretty cool , there is not much else around there however, there is a massive code talker statue (see below) which was pretty cool. For more on the Navajo Code Talkers click here. After Window Rock, we kept driving through the Navajo Nation and stopped at the J.L. Hubbell Trading Post. The structure was super cool, the floor boards were creaky as all get out and the things they sold....amazing to say the least.
We didn't stay at the trading post for too long, it was hot and Peanut was in the car (in the shade, but still). So we hit the road again and powered through to Flagstaff, stopped for gas and lunch and then drove to El Mirage, AZ where my parents new home is.

When we got to the new house, Dad and Al were working on unpacking the truck so we pitched in and got a lot done. We ended up going to eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant that was soo yummy. We all slept really good that night.

Tuesday - slept in a little, not too much, I knew we had a lot to do. Mom and Dad went to the grocery store to get breakfast and lunch stuff. I stayed home with Peanut and started to unpack the kitchen boxes and made a list of things we needed from Bed Bath and Beyond. Mom and I worked all day in the kitchen until we were cross eyed. Then went to Bed Bath and Beyond and Target. It is amazing, it is so hot there and there is no one out during the day. It was weird for me coming from a big city to be able to pull right into a parking lot, close to the store and not have to wait in line to pay for things. We went home and worked on the kitchen a little more and then went to dinner. After dinner I set up my parents computer and did some laundry and went to sleep.

Wednesday - flew back to the Bay Area, went home and slept.

Phew! It was a whirlwind trip, I have been procrastinating updating my blog for some reason too - not sure why.

Anyway, I will get caught up now - tomorrow (or even later today) I will post about my weekend.