We spent Spring Break in Phoenix Arizona with our good friend Teri. She has been mentioned in several of my stories, including the infamous midget groping incident and my experiences with a chocolate fountain. In fact I realized as I started doing this blog that our life has been much more boring since she moved to Arizona. It was great spending a few days with her and seeing the wonderful life she has made for herself in Phoenix.The trip did not start very well. I had been fighting a allergies/cold/gunk for about 2 weeks. After spreading this crud to about half my extended family in Wamego Kansas over the weekend (sorry everyone), we took my sister to the airport on Monday night and loaded up the car. I did not sleep well and my even had a fever spike. Just what you want as you begin a 15 hour drive!
I have driven thousands of miles across this country, and my least favorite stretch of land is I-40 through the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico. It is flat, boring and brown. When the highlight of the drive is Whitney calling Tucamcari "Tucamcalimari", you have a boring drive. Big thanks to Tracy for driving more than her share on the way to Phoenix while I was asleep in the backseet looped out on nyquil. It was the best time I ever had crossing that stretch of road.
My fever broke just before Flagstaff, which was great. It was 13 hours into the drive, and the first thing worth seeing, unless you count the Amarillo Stockyards. The drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix is kind of odd. As you drop in elevation, you transition from pine trees, patches of snow and 50 degrees to desert, cactus and 80 degrees in in a mater of just a few miles. We arrived in Phoenix just after dark, happy to see our friend and ready to experience a little fun in the sun.
Next up: Phoenix
2 comments:
I hate driving across New Mexico too. I would never have wasted the time that you did going to the painted desert and the petrified forest---that also does not ring my chimes!!
I won't say it was exciting, but we enjoyed those parks.It let us get out of the car and walk around a bit. Of course knowing that after leaving there we had nothing to look at for about 12 hours made it easier to appreciate. It also helped that it was not 100 degrees like when we went when I was a kid.
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