Day 54: Colorado Springs

I get up pretty late. I am in no hurry and I stayed up late getting my blog updated. I shower and pack up all my stuff. I drag my huge suitcase down the stairs and stand in line to check out. I see some touristy brochures. Some of them are for things that we had talked about doing so I grab a few. I find some coffee and grab a cup. I wish I had not forgotten my thermos... I have no lid. I make it through the checkout line and am ready to go.

Now that I have coffee to hold, I don't have enough hands to carry all of my stuff. I stand there for a bit, rearranging things trying to figure it out. One of the guys that had been in the lobby asks if I want help. That would be nice actually. As a general rule, I try to never ask for help unless it is really needed. However, if someone offers, I generally do not decline unless there is some sort of extenuating circumstance.

With his help, I get all of my stuff to my truck. No one has messed with my cover or stolen my skis! I load it up and drive half a mile down the road to a truck cover place. I walk in. Ummm, hi. So I have this cover and I need help installing it... can you do that? They look at it. Yeah, they can get it the rest of the way installed for me. I make an appointment for 3:30 since they can't do it now.

My phone has been horrible. I have not been able to make a call where the other person can hear me in 2 days. I find an apple store and decide to call and make an appointment. They answer. And can't here a word I am saying. Bah!  I set off in that direction. I arrive shortly after. Awesome. They have Chick fil a here too!! I know where I am having lunch. I go into the Apple Store. Hi, I am a long ways from home and my phone won't work. I explain the problem. They clearly have no idea what is wrong with it. They offer to look into it and tell me to call them back later to see if they have a solution. Hellooo, I CAN'T call you. Remember, my phone is broken? They give me an e mail. Well that was unhelpful. I am about to go find a mountain to throw my phone off of.

On my way out of the parking lot, I spot an AT&T store. Maybe I can buy a new phone there.... I walk in. I am swarmed by 4 employees. Apparently it is slow right now. They ask what they can do for me. "Well, I am thousands of miles away from home on a road trip and my damn phone won't work and the Apple store was useless."  They tell me there is another, better Apple store a few miles away. They make an appointment for me and give me directions. Thank you!!!

I stop at Chick Fil A to get some lunch on the way. They have gotten all fancy. You order your food and then sit down. Someone brings it to you! And they have random people wandering around asking you how the food is and if they can bring you anything. The customer service is pretty impressive. Kind of over the top in my opinion but it is kind of novel.

I set my GPS to the Apple Store. I will be 20 minutes early. Oh well. I arrive in the parking lot a short time later. I can't find the mac store in the huge strip mall. I park and decide to walk. I eventually find it by using the map app on my phone. Make the pulsing blue dot move toward the pin that says "Apple Store".  I finally find it.

I go in and check in for my appointment. A few minutes later someone is helping me. He asks what is wrong with my phone and I explain. He cleans out the speakers and does a test call. Go figure, my phone works just find when he calls. Seriously dude, there is something wrong.  He wants to backup the phone and restore it. Ummm, I am no expert but I think it is a hardware issue and that most likely the speaker is going bad. I don't really want to restore my phone.... He tells me that is just part of the diagnostic process. And mentions new speakers and stuff will be a hundred dollars or so. I do not look pleased.

He then suggests that I get a new phone. Won't that be lots of money?  Apparently, if I am eligible for an upgrade with AT&T, I can sign a new contract, get a new phone for less, and keep my unlimited data plan. Well, if I had known I could keep my unlimited data plan I would have done this sooner! They help me set up the new phone. I run to my truck and grab my computer so I can sync all my info. I spend the next hour or so doing this.  By the time I am done, it is time to go to my truck appointment.

I show up a little early for this as well. This whole being early thing is weird. They take my truck and tell me it will be a little bit. I got outside and call Tanya to finish our conversation that my phone so rudely interrupted last night. Heyyy!!! I got a new phone so I can actually talk to you now!!!

45 minutes later, she has to go to class and my truck is still not back. Well, I don't feel bad that it took me so long last night!  I give my mom a call. I have been trying not to call her when she is at work but hey, I have time so why not!  No answer but I leave a message. I wait a little longer before my truck reappears. The cover looks good!

I check it out. Heyyy, do you mid putting a bracket on the tailgate so that locks up too?  I didn't get that part with the rest of the hardware but could you find something? The truck disappears again. I go inside to pay. The place seems to be a family run place and the desk lady has her young son with her. He walks up to me and asks if I have a baby. Uhhh, no?  He informs me that he was wondering because I am holding a blanket. I try to explain to him that it is my coat. He is confused as to why I need a coat since it is so nice outside. I know it is nice! That is why I am holding it and not wearing it! Curious kid.

The truck soon reappears with a lockable tail gate. I thank them and they tell me to let them know if I need anything else. I take my stuff out of the cab and throw it in the bed. It fits differently than in T Rex. I hope Diana and Ashlyn don't have a lot of stuff.... it is pretty full.

It is almost 5. There is a Dinosaur museum a short ways down the road so I decide to check it out. They close at 6. A short time later, I arrive. I spend an hour wandering around looking at the dino bones. They are pretty sweet. It is a pretty small place and I am the only person there. The employees are dying to tell me all about dinosaurs. They seem to fail to realize how much of a nerd I am and how much time I spent studying dinosaurs as a kid. Most of the information is pretty basic and stuff I already knew. I did learn some interesting things though. This place supplies casts of dinosaur bones to over 150 museums and universities. One of the ladies lets me hold a real T Rex bone!  Super cool!

Megaladon skeleton. That was a biggg shark!

T Rex!!!!!

I wander through the dino-filled gift shop on the way out. I thank them for being so nice near closing time and head off. I make my way to the airport.  On the way, my mom calls. I talk to her for a bit. I miss the turn off for the airport. My GPS starts yelling at me. I yell at it. My mom is mildly concerned. "You guys aren't getting along are you?"  No! He is always so demanding of me! She lets me go so that I can successfully navigate to the airport.

After a few more wrong turns and some more yelling at the GPS, I finally make it 10 minutes before the scheduled touch down. While I am parking, Diana texts me that they landed. Cool, I am here!  I do a horrible job parking and run over a curb. I get another text 3 minutes later, "We are at baggage claim." WOW that was fast. I go running into the terminal. They already have their bags and are walking out. Jeeze that was fast!  Hiii!!! Nice to see you again!!!! They both have decent size rolling (ie non squishie) suitcases. Hmmm, this could be interesting loading everything.

We head out to the truck. I spend a bit rearranging things. NO! You will not have to hold bags on your lap the whole trip!  I will make this fit!  I do. We hop in the truck and talk about their flight and my trip and other random things. Ironically, the hotel we are staying at is the one that I spent 2 hours in last night putting my cover on... hmmm. I hope they don't recognize me. We stop for some dinner on the way and the get to the hotel.

For being reasonably priced, this place is fancy! The lobby is full of plants and waterfalls, there is an indoor pool, and there is a fire place. We head to the room. It is pretty nice too. We decide to wander around the hotel. We find a hot tub. Hmmmm let's go there! We go and change and head back down. It is past 10 and they supposedly close then. No one seems to care though. We meet some random people there from Minnesota. We talk about traveling and wildlife we have seen and some random things.

After the relaxing time, it is time to plan tomorrow. I don't like planning and I always try to cram too many things into one day. We do a good job of making a nice loose plan. We decide what we want to see in the next two days and have a general location of everything. We check the weather to see what might be affected by that. Alright. It seems under control!

The wind has picked up again. It was pretty windy today. However, the later it got, the stronger the gusts got. The walls are creaking a little bit now. I trust some engineer did those wind load calculations correctly......

Day 53: Pow Day at Wolf Creek then off to Colorado Springs

Matt's alarm goes off at 7. Booo. It is too early! I go back to sleep. He gets up. Apparently he leaves the room. I hear him come back and I decide I should probably actually wake up. "Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?"  Ivonne says that the bad news must be that the room is freezing. Close. Bad news is the power is out. We have no heat, water (it is on well), or light. We are planning to leave anyway but if the power is out at the lifts.... that won't be fun. The good news is that there is tons and tons of new snow!

I pack up my stuff and go to put it in my truck. My truck is covered in snow! Not as much as in Lake Tahoe but close. Sadly the new truck does not look as good in snow as the T Rex did. The hood scoop makes it all lumpy and funny looking under the snow. Also, the lines are more rounded so the snow doesn't contract as well. Regardless, the snow is awesome and my truck looks good in it!

Rarrww!!!

We head off to the mountain. It is about 6 miles to the ski area. The drive seems to take forever. It is snowing like crazy. The wind keeps blowing snow so hard that I can't see a thing at all. I lose Matt. He is crazy and passing people! I am content to drive really slow behind a semi. Luckily, I find the ski area just fine. There is a snowplow all over in the driveway. I sit there for a while until someone directs me where to go. I finally am directed to a parking spot.

Hey guys, I found you! I get my stuff on and head to the lodge. I need some breakfast! I meet them at the bottom of the lift a little later. The snow is crazyyy! I have powder flying up onto my face it is so crazy. I feel super cool and bad ass. Just like everyone else that is on the mountain today. Powder does that to people. I am not incredibly experienced at riding powder on my snowboard and fall over quite a few times. The awesome thing about powder is that falling is like falling into a really cold feather bed. That gets snow all down my pants and my coat. Powder is also a really really smooth ride. The not cool part of powder is it is really hard to dig myself out when I fall. I put my hand down to push myself out of the snow and it just sinks. It is a lot of work!

Snow everywhere! This was after it had started to clear up some...

The riding is awesome! Unfortunately, it is also snowing like crazy with a great deal of wind. Some of the gusts get pretty crazy. The windchill might just be in the negatives. I am actually worried about getting frost bite on my one exposed area- my nose and mouth. At one point, we stop to warm up and Ivonne and I go and buy face masks. I feel like a ninja in mine! We do some more sweet runs before heading inside again to warm up.

Ninja snowboard Anna!

It is almost 1 and I need to be headed on my way to Colorado Springs soon so I can meet the guy who is selling me the tonneau cover. Matt and Ivonne decide to head out too since it is so cold. They are going the same way as I am for a while so we decide to stop and get lunch a ways down the road. Sweet! I don't have to drive through the snow storm on my own now! An hour later, we arrive in Almosa. It is still windy. Ivonne gets out of the truck and we head to the brewery that is nearby that has awesome food. We almost get blown into the street when a particularly strong gust blows. This wind is ridiculous!

We have lunch before I have to get on my way. I go to get my stuff out of Matt's truck after lunch. My lack of a cover has been really annoying. My bed is now full of snow. I don't want my suitcase getting too wet. I grab my window scraper and use the brush side to get most of the snow out. I then load up my truck and strap everything down. I say goodbye and thank them for everything and head off to Colorado Springs.

At least all the snow keeps my snowboard secure!

The wind does not stop. It makes the whistling of my wind scoop even louder than usual. Stupid useless wind scoop that is purely cosmetic and just makes noise when I am going fast. At least it makes my truck look cool and fast! I had been contemplating with Matt if the whistling would work as one of those deer deterrent whistle things. And if those things even work. Well, a ways down the road, I see a deer standing by the side of the road, thinking of crossing. It is looking all confused and indecisive. I slow down in case it runs. It doesn't. In my mirror, I see it running across the road. Well, maybe my hood scoop does work as a deer whistle. I will need more data before I can draw a valid conclusion on this though.

I stop to get gas. The gas grades in New Mexico and Colorado are different than what I am used to. The low grade is 85 or 86. Mid grade is 87. I keep getting mid grade since I usually run 87.... Anyway, Tanya calls me while I am doing this. I call her back when I am done. She doesn't answer. What did you do, call me and then throw your phone in a corner and run away?

I make it to the interstate. It is even windier on the interstate. Jeeze, will this wind ever stop? The wind is reverberating between the cab and hood and making some really weird sounds. I am freakin out that something is wrong with the truck. Defiantly the wind this time. I drive a little further and see a road sign warning of high winds. Thank you for stating the obvious. I see two semi trucks rolled over in the ditch. I am pretty sure the wind blew them there. Yikes!

I make it into town without being blown into a ditch myself. I end up meeting the guy with the cover in a nice public and relatively well lit parking lot. Sweet, nice guy! He held the cover for me and is not a creeper! He helps me load the cover into my truck and I give him the money. I don't want to lug all of my ski gear into my hotel room so I decide to install the cover there in the parking lot. It is not as easy to install as I hoped it would be.

After almost two hours of trying to get it installed in the cold, dark, windy parking lot, I finally have it installed. Mostly. Installed enough to keep my stuff mostly secured. The part that keeps the tailgate locked requires a drill, which I don't have. Hopefully no one will want to steal my stuff that badly. It at least looks like it is secure. I will have to deal with that tomorrow. At this point, I am cold, hungry, thirsty and extremely tired. It is good enough. Tanya has called me back in the middle of this. Yay!! Phone tag.

I head off to the hotel. My driving is horrible. Luckily, Colorado drivers seem to be nice and not too terrible. I make it to the hotel safely. I back into a spot. I am half way over the line. Shit. I try again. Still off. Ugh, I need to learn to park this thing! The third time, I finally get it in the lines. Crooked, but in the lines. Ok, good enough. I go to get my suitcase out of the bed. Well this is a pain in the ass. The tail gate is hanging over a landscaped hill full of rocks and shrubbery. I get in the truck and pull it forward. I don't think that anyone is going to want to steal my skis this badly.

I drag all my shit into the lobby. "Hi I want to check in." The girl at the desk asks how I am. I continue asking about checking in. She asks how I am again. Okkk... you asked for it! I am tired. She then gets the whole story about my truck and getting a cover and how I was just putting the new cover on and how I was snowboarding all day. She actually seems interested. Wow. She then explains all the hotel stuff: internet, printing, pool, food.

I head off to my room and drop my bag. I get some water. I think my biggest problem is I might be slightly dehydrated. That is better. Ok, time to try calling Tanya back again. I get her this time. We talk for a bit. I babble about my day and she tells me about her latest excitement when my phone cuts out again. Ughhh dammit phone! This happened last time I tried to talk to her...and the time before that too I think. I need to make more calls tonight too. Once it cuts out, it is usually hours until it decides to transmit my voice again.

While on the phone, I had decided on some food. There is a delivery place that the hotel suggests. I call them on my cell phone. I hear the lady's voice. "Hellooooo. Hello? Anyone there?" YES I AM HERE LADY AND I WANT FOOD! Nope, can't hear me. Time to figure out how to use the phone in the hotel room. "Press 8 to dial local". Well it is an 800 number... I guess I press 8? A few minutes later, I have food on the way. Yay!

I wanted to call my mom tonight since it has been a few days since we have talked. I guess that is not happening... A text will work for now. I will try tomorrow. I don't really have anything to do tomorrow until 7 pm so I guess I will be going to an apple store and crying about my stupid broken phone. I will also be somehow securing my bed cover and unloading all the shit out of my cab.

Day 52: Pow, Jesus, and pickles at Wolf Creek

We wake up around 8 or so. Ivonne looks out the window. "Look at all the snow! Oh, wait, nevermind. That is just the white camper shell on Matt's truck." No new snow for today. Bummer. Oh well. We take our time getting going. The lack of new powder is rather uninspiring.

We eventually head out. The 20 mile drive over the pass to the ski area is really pretty. I enjoy the view. Before I know it, we are there. We pull up. Ivonne hops out, "Dude those guys were totally checking out your truck." Haha. I don't doubt it. It is kind of an attention magnet. I am not sure how I feel about that. I don't want it to get broken in to or stolen! Oh well. Speaking of the truck, it is now covered in a combination of desert dirt and mountain snow slush. Yup, it's definitely my truck now.

Toyotas are sexy!!!

We get gear on. They scrape the wax off their boards. (I haven't really used my board since I last waxed it) Some guy comments "Aren't you supposed to do that before you get here?" No way! What are you talking about?? We soon get up to the mountain.

They know the mountain very well so I just follow whichever one happens to be choosing runs at the moment. We traverse over to a lift that few people use and do a few runs there before attempting a hike. We get to the ridge and it is windy. There is a steep fall on either side. This can not be safe. We walk and walk and walk. I thought this was going to be a short hike!?! I think it might have been close to 45 minutes long. (don't quote me on that). Along the hike I start complaining about being hungry. Ok, lunch when we get down!

After an extremely long hike, we make it to Horseshoe Bowl. The powder is more or less untouched and it is a phenomenal run. Apparently this is what the entire ski area is usually like. This place gets the most snow in Colorado.

The views are amazing!!!

I'm on top of da world! at horseshoe bowl.

Super sweet show of Ivonne hiking up the ridge!

We head back toward the trucks to make sandwiches for lunch. Ivonne loves pickles and requests that we get some for the sandwiches. Matt goes inside to get some from the condiment bar while she is in the bathroom. I am standing around looking at the walkie talkie which I had put in my pocket in case I got lost when Matt asks for it. "I have pickles in my pocket." He says. Ivonne has the other walkie talkie. A few minutes later she emerges, amused. Apparently the older lady at the sink next to her was confused by the comment on the walkie talkie....

We go to the trucks and make sandwiches. The clouds are starting to roll in, the sun has disappeared, and the wind is picking up. It is a little on the cold side. Mostly just my hands which I had removed from my gloves to eat. Ivonne is pumped by the fact that there are pickles and the incoming storm. She starts going all southern-style-preacher and praising Jesus for the snow that is about to fall. It is really quite comical. Matt is also pretty pumped and just says some ridiculous funny stuff. I do what I do best and laugh and occasionally add one line remarks that are mildly entertaining.

After lunch, we head back up. Matt ate too much and has totally lost energy. With the promise of snow tomorrow, they decide to show me around the other parts of the mountain. They plan to stay at the far left side of the resort tomorrow to avoid people. We do a bunch of pretty cool runs. I spontaneously fall over a few times and have fun digging myself up. It is way harder to do on a board!  Ivonne continues to ask Jesus to bring the snow so that we can "ride the pow and shred the knar knar". Ha! Around 3:30, the snow actually starts to fall!! Sweet, this snow storm thing might actually happen!

The lifts close at 4. We stop at the bar and get some rum and hot chocolates. On the way out, we try to stop at the gift/sport shops. I like the logo here and want to check out the gift shop options. Bummer, they are all closed. We pack up our stuff and begin the decent from the mountain.

Yes, it is necessary for me to own a truck. So that I may drive around with snowboards and people at the same time! :)

Tonight, we are staying in South Fork which is on the other side of the mountain. The pass from Pagosa Springs often closes for a few hours if there is a heavy snow. The other side does not have these problems. The motel is only 6 miles from the ski area and is nicer than the one last night. By the time we get to the motel, the snow has cleared. I guess it has not made it down this far yet.

I want to shower before we go to dinner. I do so. By the time I am ready (it really doesn't take me that long), it is now snowing like crazy. My truck is covered in snow. We were going to go eat at a really good place that is a ways from where we are staying. I think they said it is about 40 minutes away. We decide to go somewhere closer. Matt asks the guy at the desk for a place. He comes back with a place, "The Shaft" Ha.

Matt also heard about some crazy Texans staying in the area that are causing trouble. They left the door to the cabin they are renting open for hours. When the owner asked them to close it since he has to pay for all the heating, they started causing issues. The police came and they ended up getting kicked out of the cabin. Unfortunately, there is another cabin in the vicinity owned by someone else that they are now renting. They are still causing the guy trouble. Lameos!!

Anyway, we decide to take my truck to dinner since we can all actually fit in it. I go out to move my crap so people can fit in it. I brush the snow off the windows. I go back inside. 5 minutes later, we all come out. The truck is covered in snow again. It is seriously snowing. We head off down the road. The truck does well. Ok, it is official, I guess it has passed all the tests and I will keep it! Driving in the dark and the snow is not fun. Why did I volunteer to do this again? Oh well, I have seen worse. The snow flying kind of reminds me of the screen in star wars when they go into warp speed..... Yup, we are going to arrive and be in another universe!

We make it to dinner. I get a cheeseburger. It turns out to be pretty awesome. (of course, when is a cheeseburger not awesome?) We get back through all of the snow and are still on planet earth and have not warped across the galaxy. Matt Ivonne go to sleep while I spend a longggg time updating my blog.

A little while later, I decide to go to the bathroom. The door is kind of stuck so I kind of slam it shut. I hear Ivonne wake up and say something about crazy Texans breaking in. Luckily, Matt realizes that I am no longer in my bed and that it is just me before I get ninja chopped by them. I finish blogging and go to sleep and dream of snow!

Day 51: Off to snowboard!

I wake up around 7:30. Ughhh. Not ready to get up at all. I go back to sleep despite the wind rattling all over the place. I hope no one wants on the garage since I have locked the only door to it from the inside… Oh well. Matt will call me if it is a problem. Hopefully. I get a text at 10:30 from Matt. “Pancakes?” I don’t really like pancakes but food sounds good and pancakes will do. I guess I ought to get up. I shower and wander to the kitchen about an hour later. Pancakes are probably gone by now…

I can’t find anyone. I wander around and try to decide what to do. I find some coffee. I think it is ok if I have some. They have been super nice about feeding me and have told me to help myself… As I am pouring coffee, Matt appears. Yes, I can have coffee and there are pancakes and bacon! Yay.

Matt gets some coffee and talks to me while I eat. There is supposed to be a snow storm at Wolf Creek ski area on Monday/Tuesday. He can probably get off of work to go. That sounds good to me! Ivonne has told me that Wolf Creek is amazing so I feel that I should go. I want to stop in Santa Fe and check it out on the way. We can do that! Alright. We have a plan now. I’m not sure if Ivonne is coming or not since she had bad allergies last night and I have yet to see her today. Matt has stuff to do around the house still so I go find the Hammock.

I spend a while laying in the sun. The sky is so blue and there is not a could in it! I decide I should probably pack up my truck. Matt’s dad comes out and asks if I am leaving. I think so. I am not 100% sure though. He goes to cook the meat that Matt had pulled out of the freezer for dinner last night. Since Matt and I and possibly Ivonne are all leaving today, he wants to cook it while there are still people there to eat it. Fair enough!

A little later, the spare ribs are done. They are pretty awesome. Everyone finally appears. We have a conversation that goes from religion to music to I don’t even know what. At some point, Ivonne is convinced that she should come snowboarding. Her allergies should be better somewhere else anyway.

Soon after, we are finally on our way. We take two vehicles so I can head off to Denver when we are done. I get a walkie talkie and get an excellent tour as we drive along. There were lots of movies filmed in the area and a lot of cool rock formations that actually have names. They do a great job telling me about everything. So good that I am overwhelmed with information and don’t remember as much as I wish I did

We get to Santa Fe and wander around in the plaza area. It is kind of the tourist area but is cool anyway. There is some building ordinance that requires all buildings to be adobe. This is kind of cool but there is a lotttt of adobe. It is just after 5 so a lot of places are closing or closed. It is still cool to wander around and see everything. Some of the street vendors are still out and the general store is still open. 

Plaza area in Santa Fe

Nice adobe hotel

They had mentioned in the “tour” that turquoise is really popular here so I conclude that I need to buy some. I find a vendor with some sweet rings and get one. We wander around the general store. It is full of souvenir things. In the far back there is a place that sells “frito pies”. Which are apparently really awesome. Sadly, they had just closed and all of the food is already downstairs. Mannn, I had wanted to try this local delicacy. Oh well.

We head back outside and to a brewery that Matt claims has the best IPA in the world. I am not a huge IPA fan so I have no say on the matter. He grabs a growler out of his truck to get it filled. There is a gorgeous sunset that you can see on the way to the brewery. I try to take a picture but my camera utterly fails to catch any of the vibrancy. Bummer. We go inside. While we went to just get the beer, we end up ordering a pizza and waiting for a while. Oh well. I hear more about Santa Fe and the area. It seems like a nice place to visit. The to-go pizza finally comes out. We end up eating it there and leaving the box. 

It was a lot prettier in person!

We head back to the trucks. We stop at an art gallery and admire a huge wooden vase that is inlaid with turquoise. It is really pretty and we try to decide how much it would cost. Luckily, the shop owner is leaving and walks right by. We ask. $12,000. Wow. I could buy a truck for that.

We head on the way to Colorado and Wolf Creek. Well, to be more specific, Pagosa Springs which is a little ways from the ski area. There are no hotels at the resort. We drive for a while in the dark. I don’t like driving in the dark much. I continue to get the super awesome tour. “If it was light enough, you could see this cool thing to the left…” A few hours later, we arrive at a motel. Matt checks another place nearby for vacancies. They don’t have any so we stay.

It is not the nicest place I have ever stayed but it will work! And it is way better than the place I was at in Flagstaff. And I am not alone so it is even better! We unload all of our gear from the trucks and bring it into the room. Matt pulls out his camp stove and starts making sandwiches. Warm sandwiches, hence the need for the stove. Tasty! We watch TV for a while before finally going to sleep.

Days 49 and 50

Day 49: Arizona to New Mexico

I wake up early(ish) so I can do laundry before I leave. I like to leave my host with clean sheets and towels if possible. I am up at 8, shower, and start washing stuff. Hanna is leaving to go somewhere for the weekend at 10 so I try to stay out of the way of her preparations. She has to take some online test before she leaves too. So I try not to distract her as well. I sit across the room talking on the phone and watching TV. Diana called and I am trying to think of things that she needs to be sure to bring to Colorado with her. I can probably outfit her and her friend with snow gear if they is lacking any….Anyway, apparently that is not distracting. Sweet.

The laundry is not ready by the time she needs to leave. Uhh, do you want me to like, throw the keys in the backyard or something when I leave? She suggests that I just go out the garage door. Oh, duh! I forgot you had one of those… We say goodbye and she heads off. I am the most awkward goodbye-sayer ever. I say bye and then start talking again and don’t leave and then talk about how I should probably go and still don’t go… She doesn’t seem to mind and is so to the point about things that she makes it un-awkward. “Anna, I have to go now! Ok, hug, bye!” See, wasn’t that easy?

I watch some more TV until the laundry is done. Or done enough. It hasn’t been in the dryer that long but it feels dry.  I need to go! It’s almost 11 and it’s at least 7.5 hours to Albuquerque. I make sure everything is shut off and locked and that I have everything. I walk out the garage door and lock it. And then remember I left my coffee thermos in the kitchen. Damn. I have managed to hang on to that thing and not lost or destroy it beyond the point of use for a few years now. Oh well, I’ll get it back some time or another. She still officially lives in Anchorage.

I finally hit the road around 11. Later than I wanted to but not bad. It is windy. The new truck seems more susceptible to wind than T Rex was. I get blown all over the place. I decide to get some Chick Fil A on my way out of town since I don’t know if they have them anywhere else that I will be. I find one on the way and stop. The roads and parking lots leading to it are a mess. Very disorganized, and a lot of cars everywhere. I get my Chick Fil A and happily eat it as I spend the next 15 minutes trying to get out of the giant mall/food area that the Chick Fil A is in. Someone did not design this well.

15 minutes later, I am back on the highway. My GPS is freaking out. It keeps changing my estimated arrival in Flagstaff drastically. (I have to stop by the car place to give my T Rex title over L) What is going on?  As I cruise down the road, my GPS suddenly announces “Severe traffic ahead, recalculating.” Oh. It takes me off the highway and onto a frontage road for a bit before re directing me back onto the highway which is incredibly congested. Apparently I have now reached the middle of nowhere and the highway is the only way to go. At least I avoided a large part of the traffic jam. I still spend what seems like forever stuck in traffic. My clutch foot starts to hurt. So this is when standards suck. Not really a problem in Alaska…. On the up side, the weather is nice so I roll down my window and share my music with the cars around me. I hope they enjoy it. And I have another Tacoma behind me. I feel like we are buddies.

45 minutes (best guess) later, I finally reach the accident. There is a 20ish foot long camper trailer that is completely collapsed and demolished that is being dragged back over the guardrail. It looks like the truck that was pulling it is nearby and no one got hurt. That is good. I guess the wind blew the trailer while they were driving too fast. Who knows? I finally get out of the traffic. Tacoma guy turns out to be a great driving buddy. We drive the same speed and the same way. I follow him for a while until he pulls off at an exit.

As I drive, I get a call. I have found a Tonneau cover in Colorado and have texted the guy asking him if he will hold it for me until Tuesday. We had texted a few times but he decided to call. I answer. “Uh hi, your boyfriend or husband or someone was texting me about a tonneau cover.” Oh no, that was me texting you. Awkward silence. Then he tells me he will hang onto it for me. Sweet! Looks like a nice cover. And it locks! If I had tons of money, it is probably the one I would pick out if I had a choice. He tells me to give him a call Tuesday to pick it up. Yay! I am not toooo worried about my stuff being in the bed between now and then. I have most of my crap shoved in the cab right now anyway. Annoying but it works.

I make it to Flagstaff without further ado. I find my way to the shop and hand over the title and get the rest of the money. I go to T Rex for the last time L and pull off the license plates and my Toy brake light cover. I think it might fit on the new truck. If not, it is versatile enough that I will find something cool to do with it. I pull my skis out of the bed and load them into X-Rex. I then hug my good old truck goodbye and tell it to be good to the new owner. I know, I am weird.  The shop guys like my new truck. “Well this didn’t turn out too badly for you did it?” Haha, no, not at all thankfully. 

Last look at T Rex, debadged of his name tag :(

 It is now after 4 and it is 5 hours to Albuquerque from Flagstaff. I am going to be getting in pretty late. Awesome. I drive down I-40 for a while before taking a turnoff to highway 80. I want to drive through the petrified forest on the way and this is the best way to do it. I can enter off or 80 and drive through the park back to I-40. I drive down a desolate 2 lane highway for about 20 miles before making it to the park. The gate is closed. WTF?!? Apparently it closes at 5. It is just after 5. Boo. I can either backtrack to the interstate or keep going on the highway. I don’t like backtracking and it looks like the highway takes me back to the interstate pretty fast. I go forward. 

Nooo!! I just missed it :(

I soon realize that I will not be getting back to the interstate anytime soon and it is starting to get dark. Ughhh not fun. At this point, I get mildly overwhelmed with feelings of loneliness and homesickness. Ugh, lame. The highway is sooo deserted!  And I miss Arizona and having a nice base and a good friend to hang out with. And I miss T Rex. And I am not excited about driving through Canada in a few weeks. And I am really paranoid about breaking down now. And did I mention how deserted the highway is? I pass very few cars and there are no buildings for miles and miles.

I drive a ways further before coming to a small patch of civilization. I decide I should get gas. Just in case. I am 99% sure I will be able to make it way beyond my destination on my tank but I am not in a mood to risk it. Gas is cheaper here than it was in Phoenix anyway. The sun is setting as I pull out of the gas station. The GPS says 100 or so miles until I hit I-40 again. It is soon pitch black. The up side to being in the middle of nowhere is that the moon and stars are beautiful. And distracting. I need to keep my eyes on the road so I don’t hit any random animals. Some huge flying thing that I still don’t know what it is flies in front of me. I hit the brakes to avoid hitting it. WTF was that?!?! That was weird.

At this point, I decide to call my mom to talk to her. “Hiiii!!! I am uh, in the middle of nowhere and kinda freaking out.” We talk for a bit before she needs to go. She says she will call back in a bit. Ok, I feel a little better now.  I soon lose reception. She calls me back but all I am able to get is a voicemail that I can’t check because my reception is so bad. I don’t get a reliable signal until I am almost to my destination.

While driving on the back road, I find that most people are courteous about their bright lights. A few forget they are on but most are good, with the exception of one car. I see it turn its bights off when it sees me. Good. Then, about 100 feet in front of me, they come back on, completely blinding me. WTF is that?!?! How dumb and rude can you be! Helloo, the human eye was not made for that kind of stuff.  Stupid!

I am happy when I finally get back to I 40. Tired of driving, but happy. I mean, X Rex is awesome to drive. Nice and quiet and responsive. I am just tired of sitting. And the lines on the road are starting to be not so clear…. I call Matt to let him know I am near. He tries to give me directions. I fail to comprehend. I finally end up just getting the address. I put it in my GPS. As far as it is concerned, the street does not exist. Uh, can you spell that for me one more time? Nope, still not there. Ugh, so frustrating. I then drop the call. Even better.  At least my phone is transmitting my voice to people today though.  I text him. “Can ya texy me thr streey” He can figure it out. I hope. I am driving and need to focus. I get the address soon after. Luckily, my phone is smart enough to find the street.

As I come into Albuquerque, I notice that while it is not as elaborately decorated as the Phoenix highways are, it does have cool things with lights. There are some light up sun things, then a light up cactus plant thing, and finally a glowy bridge! I think Anchorage really needs a glowy bridge. I manage to get a really horrible picture of the bridge while driving. There is nothing extraordinary about it. Just a normal concrete bulb tee bridge over a highway. But, it is illuminated with lights that change color. See! This is a good idea! I will need to send this picture to the appropriate people at the AK DOT… I bet this wouldn’t be that hard or expensive to do. People would like it.

Really bad quality picture of the glow bridge!

 I eventually make it to the correct exit. From there, the roads get almost as confusing as the Vegas roads. Luckily, I somehow guess correctly and make all the right turns this time. It is probably not as confusing as I think it is. Me being tired and it being dark is probably adding to the confusion. It is now pushing 10 at night and I haven’t eaten since Chick Fil A. Matt had texted me around 8 telling me that they had a steak for me so I saw no reason to stop. So awesome!

As I drive down the road to the house, I see a shooting star. It lasts forever. Sweet! Anddd I am again distracted. The sky is so pretty out here!  I eventually reach my turn. I have to guess because my odometer in my truck is a little off because of the oversize tires and I have turned off my GPS because it is useless right now. I end up in some random parking lot. Boo. I consult the iPhone. I am very close. Next street.

I make the turn. It is a dirt road. No wonder my GPS was confused. It tends to dislike dirt roads. I drive to the end and can find no house numbers. By my count, this is the house….. I pull in to the driveway and fumble with my phone to call Matt. A guy walks out of the house. Well, he kind of looks like Matt…. But it is dark. He waves me in. Ok, I guess this is right.

I get out. It is Matt’s dad. Ohh. Makes since. He had mentioned something about he is staying in different places. I hadn’t asked which one I was going to.  Matt comes out and greets me. I am then brought inside and introduced to his mom and girlfriend, Ivonne. Everyone is super nice and before I know it, I have a steak dinner, water, and beer. The beer is New Mexican. The can is a huge New Mexican flag. Nice to see they take pride in their beer! Awesome dinner!

New Mexican Beer!

Matt and Ivonne ask how the trip was, ask about the new truck, and ask what I want to do. Uhhh, awesome stuff?  I like looking at stuff. And walking around. And driving around. And sliding down snowy mountains. They mention what they had in mind for the weekend. Check out Santa Fe and go snowboarding. Sounds perfect to me!

Day 50: Being Lazy in New Mexico

I wake up around 7:30. I am in the guest room which is in their shop area. It is a nice little room. Overnight, it has gotten windy. The wind is rattling the shop door and whistling in the window. I guess I was tired enough that it didn’t wake me up earlier. I decide to go back to sleep. I wake up again a little later and actually get up. I shower and wander outside and over to the house.

Matt and Ivonne are up. Matt asks if I am hungry. Yes I am! It is about noon so he asks if I want breakfast or lunch. Ummmm. I don’t know. I want food? I eventually pick lunch. Too bad! “We have no bread so you get breakfast!” He says. Oh, breakfast is good too! He finds stuff to make tacos. Oh, that will work!  He cooks taco stuff and I stand around uselessly.

I finally ask if I can borrow his drill. He explains where it is. I go and mount my T Rex plate on my new truck. Ok, it’s official now. I finish and head back inside just as the tacos finish. We eat tacos. They are awesome. Matt needs to go pick up some tires. I haven’t seen any of the area since it was really dark when I came in so I go with him. We drive a mile down the road to the tire shop and pick up some tires. It is pretty around here.  He lives outside of Albuquerque in Sandea Peak. The sky is really blue here and the area is surrounded by the southern Rocky Mountains.

I feel better now!

 We get back and I chill out for a while. The plans have changed a few times today already so I don’t know what is happening. We were going to go to Santa Fe in the afternoon to meet Ivonne cousin. However, his girlfriend had changed their plan. Then we were going to meet them for dinner and that changed too. I don’t mind. I don’t have much of a plan really. They have a hammock in the back yard so I become acquainted with it. 

Yesss!!!!

 Matt needs to pick up his truck from the shop in Albuquerque so I volunteer to take him. I want to see the city in the light of day. On the drive, I conclude that the city is not all that exciting but worth seeing. We get back again. We try to decide what to do. We were going to leave to go snowboarding in the evening but no one is feeling too excited about the long drive. Eventually, Matt asks if I can clear the engine code in his truck. Yes I can! His truck had been hit by a deer and the air box was damaged and throwing codes. A few minutes later, his truck is code free. I help him do a few other things to his truck and admire his ’85 4Runner that he has up on a lift for work. He pulls some meet out of the freezer for dinner. His dad comes out to the shop and we talk about life for a while.

I wander back inside because it is now dark and cold. No one knows what to do with dinner since the meat is still frozen. Matt is meeting some of his old friends at a local bar and asks if I want to go. Sure!

We walk a short ways to the bar. The stars are insane. It is so clear here! I think they are better than in Lake Tahoe. Anyway, we get to the bar. They serve only locally brewed beer. Sweet. I meet some new people and have a good time. The place closes at 11. Since Matt and his friends know the people that work there, we don’t get kicked out until 11:30 or so.  We stand in the parking lot before finally dispersing. It is really windy and it is cold!

Matt and I head back to the house. We have to cross a somewhat busy road. Well, it is not busy at the moment since it is late. We decide to run across it even though we can see no cars coming from either direction. I have reached the far shoulder when I manage to trip myself. I catch myself inches from doing a face plant. Seriously, I did not drink that much.

Anyway, we make it back to the house. There is a note in the kitchen. “Matt-dinner in fridge” Well, that is a summary of the note. It was much longer but I don’t remember exactly what it said. Dinner was a salad. It was an awesome salad but definitely lacking in meat. Which was a little sad but I really can’t complain. We eat dinner and talk in the kitchen.

We end up going out to the shop so as to not disturb anyone. The shop is full of tools and musical instruments. Matt plays the accordion so he picks one up and starts playing. There is a trombone in my room so I run and grab it and attempt to play along with him. Unfortunately, I suck at playing the trombone and have no idea what notes I am playing. He decides it might be better if we switch instruments. I try to play the accordion. I am no better at it than the trombone. I have always wanted to play an accordion so it is kind of cool. Other than the part where I am just making random sounds with it. Matt isn’t any better at the trombone than I was. Maybe switching was not a good idea. Oh well. Around 2:30 he leaves to go to bed.

Accordion time!

 At this point, it is extremely windy. The wind is howling outside and rattling the door. Ok, this is a little scary now…. I have been watching a zombie TV show while at Hanna’s and am reminded of the zombie apocalypse. Well at least I have lots of zombie killing tools handy… if I wake up. I decide to lock the door and hope no one needs in the garage before I wake up. That at least reduces the door rattling noise. Regardless of all the wind, I am soon asleep.

Standby!

No internet right now! Have the post written and will "mass update" soon!!

Day 48: Relaxing?

So I didn't do much today. I decided that since I had planned to do some relaxing in the sun in Arizona and have not done it yet, that relaxing was going to happen today. (that is a horribly constructed sentence)

So I wake up and shower. Hanna comes back from class before I am even completely ready. That makes me feel really lazy. She already went to school and took a test and my hair is still wet. It's still before noon. I check my phone and have a text from my brother that makes me think I should call him. I text him and tell him to give me a call. My mom then calls and we talk for a while.

I go downstairs. "Hi Hanna, how was your test?" Not too bad apparently. My brother then calls. We talk for a bit. After the call, I head out to my truck and put some stuff in it. I Velcro my scan gauge in a location that I can actually see it. I feel better about that now. I can see it and it isn't flying around the cab any more. Hanna wants to watch The Walking Dead. While I am not a huge fan of zombies, I have seen all of the episodes due to my friends watching and I really want to know what happens in season 2, episodes 8 and 9. I have not seen those yet! I watch them. Things are getting really intense in the series! I want to see episode 10! I must know what happens! Oh well, I don't think it is out yet so I will have to wait.

A little after 1, I decide that it is time to go lay in the sun. I put on my swimsuit, grab my book and towel, and head to the pool. I spend the next few hours laying in the warmth and reading my book. Eventually, I notice a lack of warmth. I am in the shade now. Boo. I am hungry so it is time to go back inside.

I go inside, Hanna is missing. Probably taking a nap since she never sleeps anymore with school. Hmmm, left over taco sounds good! I nuke it and start eating it. Hanna emerges. "No. Don't eat that." Ummmm but I am hungryyy!!! Apparently we are going to an awesome BBQ place. Right now. She is hungry. Haha, ok. Sounds good to me buttt I wanna take my truck. Because I like it.

We hop in the truck. (Which I believe I may have officially named the X-Rex...might still change) and head to this awesome BBQ place. I don't eat BBQ often and am overwhelmed about all the choices. Uhhhhhh. I don't know what I want! I end up with a sampler platter thing. It is good!

Me eating a corn fritter. Since I have no other pictures for today.

After dinner, we stop at the AT&T store to try to get my phone fixed. They can't do anything and tell me to go to the Apple store. Well, I don't know where that is and I don't want my phone fixed badly enough to find one. We stop at Barnes and Nobel because I am looking for a book. It is not out in paperback yet and I don't want to read it so badly that I am willing to spend $35 dollars on a hardback version. Oh well. Hanna is wandering around looking at books by the time that I am done obtaining this information. She likes book stores. I didn't know that! So we wander around the entire bookstore. We both buy books. I get a book of 8,000 awesome things you should know for $10. It will be my new coffee table book when I get home. My awesome coffee table can use an awesome coffee table book.

Ok, time to go back. We get lost in the giant shopping complex thing that all of these places are in. Oh, look, an Apple store! Can we stop?  We go in and I talk to a sales person about my phone issues. "Uhh, I can hear them but they can't hear me and I have already tried the hard reboot." He tells me I need to see a technician. The next available slot is in an hour. Mmmm... I don't wanna wait that long so the phone issue is still not resolved.

We drive back. I am not pleased with my music for some reason. I proceed to flip through my iPod until I finally find a song I like. I listen for half a minute and then switch it again. Oh well. We make it back and proceed to do nothing for a while. I continue looking for a Tonneau cover (aragh!!), pack up my cab (Most of my stuff actually fits!!), and look at trucks and facebook on my computer. And talk Hanna's ear off some more. At least she does not have school tomorrow so I am not distracting her from anything too important.

Day 47: Sedona

I wake up later than I want to. Of course. I didn't even bother to set an alarm so I should not be surprised by this. I get some coffee and some breakfast and decide to set out in the direction of Sedona. Tons of people I have talked to in the area have told me I need to check it out. I had planed to do such on my way back from Flagstaff. Alas, I had to change those plans.

On the way out of town, there is a place called AZ Truck that sells tonneau covers. I decide to stop on my way. I set my GPS to the address. 40 miles later (Phoenix is a pretty big place), my GPS tells me that I have arrived. I can't find the place at all. I drive back and fourth. Oh well. I will call. Or something. I get back on the highway and head toward Sedona.

I drive 50 miles or so and decide I should call AZ Truck. Calling would have been smart to begin with but it was on the way so I did not bother. I call and hear a voice answer. "Hello? Hellooo? Anyone there?" I yell into my phone. "YES!!! HELLOOO?? ARAGHH. FUCK. NOT AGAIN." I hang up. Ughhhhh!!! This is getting really annoying. I hope my phone does not do this if and when I need to make a really important call. (Mama, new phone for b day? Please :) ). I wait a little bit and try again. Exact same result. I seriously consider rolling down my window and throwing my phone out it. However, I conclude that while I can not make calls, it is still useful for other things. Disposing of it would be unwise. And besides, it is not bio degradable and I don't really want to litter.

As I drive, I listen to the radio. I have an iPod hook up that plays through the radio (Canada was going to be an even longer drive with no music..... something to play my iPod was a must). However, I get a fair amount of interference on the channel I picked and have been unmotivated to change it. In town, the radio has been ok. Today, I notice just how bad these stations are. I am used to the hit music stations over playing songs but this is extreme. I think there are only 5 songs that are played. Period. I am guaranteed that at least one, sometimes two, and occasionally 3 stations are playing "Good Feeling", "International Love", "We Found Love", "Turn Me On", or somthing by Adele at any given time. Don't get me wrong, I like these songs. However, I do get bored of hearing the same thing over and over again. I promise, there are other songs out there worth playing on the radio.

While I am talking about things that annoy me on my drive, let me again mention the purpose of having a left lane. Hello people, it is for passing. It is not for cruising at the same speed as the person next to you while going 5 mph under the speed limit. If you are not going as fast as I want to be going but are at least going faster than the person next to you, I can deal with that. However, if you are going the same speed and blocking everyone else, that is just rude. And annoying. It makes me want to ride your ass until you get over. Sometimes I do. Sometimes it works. Sometimes the person is completely oblivious and I give up and think about how people need to learn to drive and be more aware of the world around them. I then turn up my music and listen to one of the 5 radio selected songs and am happy again. While the songs get old, at least they are upbeat.

Now back to the narrative. Most of the way to Sedona, I see a sign to Motezuma Castle National Monument. Well, I had planned to go there too and it is not exactly out of my way. Let's go. I follow the signs, some of which are somewhat hidden or unclear, and eventually arrive. It is a pretty straight forward monument. Drive up the road, park at the visitor's center, go through a door, and walk a short trail and look at stuff. Some monuments are a little more spread out and you have choices of what you want to go look at. Therefore, you need some sort of a plan.

Anyway, I walk into the visitor center and have them swipe my pass. Excellent, after my next stop, I will have used this to waive $65 worth of entrance fees. After I stop at the petrified forest on my way to New Mexico, it will have paid for itself. I wander out the visitor center and check out these ruins. I think these are probably my favorite. There is a 6 story building built into the wall of a cliff hundreds of feet up. The part that I am the most impressed with is that it looks like the walls would just slide right down the cliff. I am curious as to how they stabilized these walls and if the area ever has earthquakes.... I also wonder how they got all of the materials up there and how long it took. However, I am continually amazed at the ingenuity of ancient cultures in that department.  It is the "how does it not slide down the cliff" question that amazes me the most. Most of the cliff dwellings I have seen are set back into the caves in the cliff a little more.

Motezuma Castle

I wander down the short path a little further and see another dwelling. This one was built at the base of the cliff and is not as well preserved. I am not so impressed with this one. Still cool though. I head back to the truck. Tuzigoot National Monument is nearby and on the way to Sedona so I decide to head there next. It is the same deal. I walk into the visitor center. The guy at the desk is showing some people a video he made of something or other. They are all pretty into it. He eventually notices me. "Two?" he asks. Ummm, me and what other person? I would like to admit my invisible pet dragon in that apparently only you can see. I guess people don't usually just decide to go check these things out on their own. I give him my card and he lets me in.

This monument is pueblo style. I think that is what it's called at least. This is the biggest pueblo I have seen. It is a sprawling, 75ish room complex. It is on top of a hill. Kind of. It is too big to fit most of on the top. Rooms go a long ways down two sides of the hill. Pretty cool. However, I have come to the conclusion that I find cliff dwellings more interesting than the free standing ones. I think I am just amazed at the determination that it took for people to build and live in the side of a cliff. I mean, that is no easy walk or climb to get up to that dwelling even with ladders.

Tusigoot Dwelling

When I am done wandering around Tuzigoot, I head back to the truck. Oops, I left my lights on. I did not know that was possible. I am trying to get out of the habit of turning my lights on and off since I now have lights that are automatic. Apparently, if you turn them on after you have shut the vehicle off, they don't shut off. Good to know. Luckily, I was not gone long enough to kill my battery.

I set my GPS to Sedona and head on my way. I start seeing some cool red rocks. Awesome! Those are really pretty. As I get into town, I realize I have no idea what one should do in Sedona. Everyone has told me to go here but no one has told me what I should do. I decide hiking sounds like a good idea since that is what I usually do. I consider finding a 4x4 trail since there are 4x4 tour companies all over. There must be some good stuff around here. I decide to not push my truck. I am sure it can take it butttt I want to get home without further vehicle mishaps.

I end up stopping at a visitor center. I walk in and ask one of the guys at the desk if there is a short hike with lots of rocks I can do. He informs me that short hike he can do but he can't promise rocks. I go along with him and tell him that the rocks aren't really important. I didn't come here because of the beautiful distinctive rocks that make Sedona so popular. I don't think he catches my sarcasm. He might think I actually believed him. I can't tell. Anyway, a few minutes later, he has drawing all over two different maps to show me where the trail head is. One map would suffice but I guess two is better than one.

I make it to the trail head and start my hike. There are indeed lots of rocks to look at. I take lots of pictures and admire the pretty rocks. The trail goes around a rock called "Snoopy Rock". It looks like Snoopy laying on his back on his dog house. Cool. I like the combination of evergreen trees and cacti along the trail.

The trail is pretty easy. Not much elevation change or climbing. I am ok with that after my last hiking adventure. I spend an hour or so wandering and decide to head back.

Sedona is really cool. There are tons and tons of outdoors things to do. I could probably spend a few weeks here exploring. Too bad I only gave myself one afternoon here. Oh well, next time I am in the area....

Nice red rocks!

Do you see Snoopy in the middle of the picture?

Red rocks everywhere!

I decide to take the scenic route back. Route 179 has been deemed amongst the most beautiful roads in the world. I can't say that I agree. The road is full of roundabouts. Every major intersection is a roundabout. I think I drive through 10 roundabouts in a 10 mile area today. The scenery was much better while I was in town and hiking than along my drive. However, that might be a different story if I was coming the other way. Regardless, I saw a few more pretty rocks before rejoining the interstate.

I cruise down the highway. 2 hours till I am back! I see a black Tundra get on the highway right in front of me in the other lane. He has a license plate that says something about snow and a good looking pterodactyl sticker on his back window. I figure he is going to want over and will probably cut me off if I don't let him over. I am correct. He goes around the semi and gets back in the right lane. I pass him. As I do so, I have to look and see what kind of person is driving a truck with a dino sticker on it. Apparently my truck caught his eye too because we made eye contact. Oops. Blond younger guy with girl in passenger seat. 

Most of the way back, my mom calls. I try to talk to her through my GPS. I am still hard to understand. While the new truck is much quieter, the wind shield (and GPS) is further away from me. My voice does not carry well at all either. I give up and try using my phone to talk. We talk for a few minutes before my voice stops transmitting again. Ughh!!! This definitely is getting worse. We try to call each other back with no success. In the middle of this, my gas light comes on.

Great. I have no idea how much warning this truck gives me. I am 18 miles out of Mesa and I know T Rex would have made it. I still don't know this truck yet so I use my GPS to find a gas station. I pull off. 17.5 gallons. I have a 21 some odd gallon tank. Ok, good to know.

I get back on the highway. My mom calls and I am finally able to answer it AND she can hear me. Well, I am talking through the GPS. She can hear me but not well. I try to switch back to the phone again. My voice drops AGAIN. I get a text a short while later. "Be safe! Try again tomorrow??". Yes, maybe my phone will be more cooperative then. Araghh!!

I hear an advertisement for Taco Bell on the radio. Hmmm, tacos sound good. I text Hanna. "Like Tacos?". I briefly think that maybe I should clarify that I mean the food and not the trucks. However, a minute later I get a response. "Yes!" Ok, good enough for me. I am making tacos for dinner!

I get back to Mesa and decide to stop at Lowes so I don't have to leave tomorrow to get stuff. At this point, it is about 8. I at breakfast latish but didn't have lunch. I like wandering around in Lowes but I am not into it at all. I am looking for screws to mount my front license plate (No front plates in AZ and no holes to mount it in. I think I am going to put my T Rex plate on the front until I get home and get my truck registered....) and some Velcro to mount my Scanguage (did you know that the engine in my new truck runs, on average, 20 degrees cooler than my old truck?). I find the license plate mounts with no problem. I spend the next 20 minutes looking for Velcro. I finally ask someone where it is.

After Lowes, I stop at the grocery store. There is still chicken from the last time I made dinner so I just need to grab a few things for tacos. This trip goes much smoother than the Lowes trip. I am starting to figure my way around this store. I go here way too much. I don't plan ahead with food at all. Sometimes I end up having to go twice in a day. Luckily, it is less than half a mile from the house and I have nothing better to do. In 10 minutes I am out the door.

I make it back and Hanna is diligently studying. She asks what I did today. Ok, she must not be that into studying. She knows that I don't usually give short answers. I explain in detail everything I did today as I make tacos! Eventually, I tell her I am going to shut up so she can study. I finish making my tacos and they are awesome!!!

I spend some time on my computer learning about my new truck and trying to find a frikin cover for it so I can secure my stuff when I leave this Friday. I did not expect finding a used cover to be so difficult! I thought finding the truck would be the hard part...... I really want to find a secure cover since I feel like the new truck screams "Look at me, I am new and flashy and have expensive stuff in me" a little more than T Rex did... I don't really have much stuff of value that is easily stolen but I feel that the new truck draws a lot more attention. While I like good attention, I don't like attention with bad intentions..... I am mildly concerned about my truck getting broken into...