Roadtrippin

After we left Eddie’s friend’s house, we drove to Glendale, AZ to visit one of my close family friends and her fiancé. Before arriving at Meg and Dan’s house we filled up with gas at a QT station. We still had 3/4 of a tank, but we decided we need to keep the tank as full as possible since we’re literally driving through the desert. The mileage was 16306 and gas was $3.139 per gallon. The truck took 9.036 gallons for $28.36.

It was great to visit with Meg and Dan! We saw pics of their new house when they were visiting us back around Christmas. We enjoyed a nice dinner of salad and pizza. Meg and Dan are getting married in November. Actually, their wedding is exactly one year after Eddie and I got married so our one year anniversary will be a trip to Arizona for the wedding! We are so excited for them.

Meg and Dan showed Eddie all of the cacti they had in their yard and were even nice enough to re-pot a piece of one of theirs for Eddie to take home. It now lives in our cup holder and Eddie named him Jeff. Eddie now thinks he is going to collect random cacti to bring home with us since he found out that all you have to do is throw the broken pieces in a pot and they’ll start growing.

We’re now heading towards Flagstaff, AZ for the night although I have a feeling we’re not going to make it all the way there. We need to be up early tomorrow to rent our motorcycle to explore the Grand Canyon. We might stop sooner and get some sleep and just wake up earlier to finish the drive to the Harley dealership.

We are both really looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures. I’m sure I’ll be taking tons of pics.

We arrived in Sahuarita, AZ around 2pm mst. Eddie’s longtime friend (who moved out here 15 years ago) lives and runs a shop (Lone Wolf Speed and Custom) out here. Eddie was so excited to see him as it’s been about 8 years since the last time they saw each other.

We got there just as a thunderstorm was approaching. I hid in the garage while the men stood outside in the elements like there wasn’t deadly lightening strikes all around them. Luckily the storm passed quickly.

Steve was pretty knowledgeable about all of the cactus on his property. He had a bunch of saguaro cactus. Those are the tall ones with the different prongs that stick out of them. Yesterday Eddie said he was going to hug one when he saw one, but he changed his mind when he got up close to it today. That didn’t stop him from touching it. Thank God cactus are poisonous.

Steve also had a huge agave plant in his front yard. As far as I’m concerned, he had a giant tequila plant growing right outside his bedroom window. Would you believe it’s just a yard ornament to him?! I don’t know much about making tequila, but I’m pretty sure if I had a plant that size, I’d learn how to do it!

While we were at the shop Eddie did an oil change on my truck. He purposely packed oil and a filter before we left because he knew the truck would be due at some point during our trip. You can take the mechanic out of the shop but you……..I don’t know where I was going with that, but you know what I mean.

We asked Steve what all the holes were on his property and he told us about ground squirrels. They kind of look like chipmunks. They are fast! I tried to catch a pic of one but they are practically camouflage and way too fast! I found a google image of one so you could see what they look like.

Steve has horses. Eddie pet one of them for a while and in return he nibbled on Eddie’s shirt. It looked like they established a great relationship. The same could not be said for the horse and I. I got too close to it and now my right eye is swollen and itchy. I had to take Benadryl and Eddie has to drive again. Poor guy had to drive all day because of the storms and now because I’m a little drugged.

All in all, it was a great visit and I’m really happy Eddie got to see his friend. Now we’re headed to Glendale, AZ to visit my family friend and her fiancé for dinner. Really admiring all these beautiful highway structures, bridges, sound barriers, etc. Looking at them out of one eye, but very much enjoying them nonetheless.

We stopped to get gas at a Shell station in Dragoon, AZ. We had an 1/8 of a tank left. This was the most expensive gas yet at $3.649 per gallon. The car took 21.364 gallons for $77.85.

While we needed gas, the real reason we stopped where we did is because I’ve been watching billboards for the past 2 hours about something called The Thing. I HAD to know what it was! It kind of felt like riding towards South of the Border only less whining since Eddie was willing to stop since we needed gas anyways.

We paid $5 for the museum and it was pretty cute. It poses the question of if aliens exist or if they’ve been here all along. I think it was worth the stop. Here’s some pics so you can decide what you think.

Also, I found a huge bug in the bathroom there. I’m slightly convinced it was an alien.

We made it to Arizona! There are severe thunderstorms all around us on the highway but not ON the highway where we are. That does not make me feel any better about seeing all of the dark black storm clouds with big bolts of lightening. I feel bad for Eddie.

Not much this morning. We slept in which felt amazing. This time travel has really messed up our internal clock, and our regular clocks too.

We found an awesome car wash in Las Cruces called Mister Car Wash. They got all the bugs off the car. It’s one of the largest car wash chains in the US so we plan on using them again. You get some pretty gross bug splatter on these desert highways at 75mph.

We saw a couple dust devils and are now on the lookout for more. Watching a dust devil kick up a tumbleweed is way more entertaining than garbage on the side of I-95. We also saw a few 2-mile long trains. I’m not sure if they were for use or just for spray painting. There’s some pretty talented spray painters out here in the desert.

There’s an abundance of fireworks out here. You’d think that’d be dangerous with how dry it is, but I guess it’s not a problem.

I’ve been seeing a ton of wild cows along the highway. Eddie says they belong to someone but I don’t believe it. They are way to far away from home if they belong to someone. I wish we could stop to feed them as I’m sure they are hungry but Eddie said no.

We are really enjoying the smooth highways. Eddie is day dreaming about how fast he could drive all his cars on these straight, flat roads. I never imagined we’d be enjoying driving through the desert as much as we are.

We have been back and forth between Texas and New Mexico all day. That also means we’ve gone back and forth between central standard time and mountain time. For most of the evening, we had no clue what time and was and neither did my car or our phones.

The views leading to Carlsbad Caverns were nothing short of breathtaking. Literally. I couldn’t breathe for a bit because my ears were popping and I got anxious.

The cavern was HUGE! We were told that you had to whisper because sound can travel real far in there. Eddie said it was the quietest I’ve ever been. I was worried if I talked too loud that I’d create a rock slide or I’d wake up the bats. Eddie decided to let out some gas throughout the entire cavern because the echo sounded funny. He thought it was hilarious. I was scared he was going to blow the place up. Either way, we both had a great time.

When we left the cavern we saw a gas station that had a bat symbol on it. Even though we had a 1/2 a tank, I had to fill up with bat gas. We paid $3.499 per gallon and got 12.097 gallons for $42.33.

We drove back down the mountain we were on and headed into El Paso, TX for dinner. I realized that I hate El Paso. Dinner was phenomenal but the drivers in the town were crazy. The speed limit was 75 around sharp turns and the city area was so busy. There were businesses on top of businesses which gave me anxiety. There was an entire empty desert and they decided to build everything in one large clump.

We passed the sign for Ciudad Juarez and realized we were like 10 mins away from Mexico. Then I got nervous we were going to accidentally cross over the border and I did not bring our passports. I have way too much anxiety and today it got the best of me.

After dinner we hightailed it out of Texas and drove up to Los Cruces, NM for the night. Tomorrow we’re visiting with some friends and family in different parts of New Mexico. We’re planning on sleeping in. I don’t know what time we’re sleeping in til since I’m still not too sure what time it is now!

A few notes- We had 2 bugs in the car but we managed to get them both back out. Eddie attempted to steal a cactus from the cavern but I wouldn’t let him. I made Eddie promise me that we will NEVER, EVER move to El Paso, Texas.

Goodnight everyone. It’s bedtime, right?

For your viewing pleasure, enjoy these pics of Eddie touching every cactus he saw.

We woke up early so we could get a good head start to our day. Our first stop was to Cadillac ranch. It was very cool. I wish we had brought some spray paint so we could have tagged one of the cars (it’s legal and encouraged) but we had to settle for being spectators. There were so many layers of spray paint on the cars I wonder if there’s actually any actual car left.

From here, we were headed to the midway point of Route 66 but our bladders caused us to make a pitstop in Vega, TX. We killed two birds with one stone by stopping at a Route 66 museum to get our passports stamped and using their bathroom. The cool thing about the passport locations is that each one gives us a free gift like a sticker, keychain, postcard, etc. This particular museum gave us a postcard of the dust bowl, but it also included a little vile of actual dust bowl dust.

25 miles later we arrived at the midway point of Route 66. The halfway point of Route 66 is 1,139 miles. We drove way more than that though since we had to drive from CT to the beginning of Route 66. We calculated that since we left the house, we’ve driven roughly 2,355 miles.

Once we left the midway point of Route 66, we began our new path off of Route 66. We started heading south through New Mexico towards Carlsbad Caverns. For miles we drove through completely desolate desert. It was stunning. Even though we had about 3/4 of a tank of gas, we started to get worried about when and if we would ever again see a gas station or a bathroom. The second we found one, we used the bathroom and topped off our tank at a Valero in Clovis, NM. Gas was $2.929 per gallon and we used 7.414 gallons for $21.72.

We started our drive this morning around 8:15am and have been driving for about 6 hours but it’s only 1:13pm. Don’t ask me what time it is because I don’t know. We drove through another time zone in New Mexico. I guess now we’re in mountain time. It’s weird because I’m kinda tired, but I keep getting more time added to my day!

We’re about an hour away from Carlsbad Caverns and we’re super excited about getting there. On our way, we drove through a town called Roswell. We knew it sounded familiar for some reason so Eddie googled it. Apparently it’s a famous area due to a UFO sighting in 1947. We don’t feel any different after having driven through the town so I think we’re safe.

A few notes- still no cricket. I’m guessing he managed to escape the car. Eddie is insistent on touching a cactus in the desert even though I told him I don’t have many bandaids with us. I didn’t not sing in the car today which is probably why I’m still in the car and not on the side of the road in Roswell with the UFOs.

It’s only 96° out here. Looking forward to the 56° in the caverns. More later…..

I used to think PA was the most boring state. Then I arrived in Oklahoma. It never ends and there is NOTHING to look at.

Please enjoy these pics I took in Oklahoma. 😉😂🤣

I didn’t sleep well last night. There was a massive thunderstorm at 3am. The thunder was so loud and felt like it went on for hours.

When we left the hotel this morning, it was raining pretty hard. Eddies been driving all morning since we’ve been driving in and out of torrential downpours.

I cried for a little bit towards the end of Missouri. There were so many dead armadillos on the highways. I’d really like to see some living ones.

We finally crossed into Oklahoma and stopped in Miami….Miami, OK that is. Noting special on Route 66 in Oklahoma so far. Just endless fields of hay and cows.

In case anyone is wondering, we’re on disc 11 of that audio book my dad gave us. It is perfect to keep us occupied as we drive through boring Oklahoma.