Nov 2007

Well Oklahoma and Texas were all we thought they'd be (and less) and New Mexico was a big relief. We stopped one night by chance in Santa Rosa, NM. Small town of around 2,000 people, arid, small strip of shops all down the main drag which is simply the business route of the Major highway and for virtually thousands of miles these little towns cling on to the fact that they are on historic Route 66. Santa Rosa had "The Blue Hole" which is about 60' across, 90' deep and pumps 3,000 gallons per minute of crystal blue water that comes out at 62 degrees. It's surrounded by some large 10'-20' rocks on one side for diving and is actually quite an attraction for scuba divers from Colorado, Utah etc. Kyle took a swim as we watched and then headed immediately to Santa Fe. Our good friend, groomsmen, college roomate and highschool chum Scott Syms lives there and were able to a short visit with him. It's always great to catch up with old friends. The town of Santa Fe - State Capital- has only around 70,000 people but it has the most captivating Southwestern flair with nothing but old adobes and narrow streets from a town formed in the 1600 and 1700's. Not only is the architecture unique and consistent but there was so much shopping of cool Indian and Mexican artifacts, sculptures, jewelry and the like the Maria was overwhelmed. The only thing that kept me from financial ruin is the fact that we don't have a lot of extra room in the RV to pack rugs, bronze statues and delicate pottery. The boys enjoyed the skatepark there and, to get a sense of how we've evolved as RV'ers, we stayed in an RV park South of town (the only place they're allowed I assume) tucked away behind a large metal machine shop and storage lot for Penske trucks. We figured it was simply a place to sleep and during the day we were gone. From there we made the journey to the Grand Canyon. A nearly 7 hour drive with a stop at the Meteor Crater about 20 miles East of Flagstaff. This MASSIVE crater is about 5,000 feet across and several thousand feet deep and was formed 50,000 years ago by a 150' meteor travelling 26,000 miles an hour. It was incredible to see the amount of impact such a relatively smalll object had. Of course we discovered there are hundreds of these all over the planet and many are much larger. One of the most recent landed in the former USSR in the early 1900's causing massive devastation. The reason it didn't draw much attention was the location was remote so few people were affected and there was no CNN around to detail around the clock to the rest of the world that this could be the end of humanity.

I am embarassed to admit that it took me 45 years to see the Grand Canyon but what an awe inspiring sight. It's incredible to consider the amount of time and pressure it took to create all the magnificent rock formations, valleys, spires and so on that make this a worlwide attraction. We'd love to go back and float down a portion of the Colorado River. We actually arrived on Halloween night in Williams, AZ and made the boys knock on the door of the RV and trick or treat for their one massive snickers bar. After 10 weeks of sightseeing a day at the Grand Canyon was all we needed before heading South to Prescott. We are able to spend several days with our great friends the Phelps' and park the Exxon Valdez in their yard to we could play tennis, volleyball, skateboard, bikeride and have an exhausting time. The break from RVing was quite welcome and our hosts new what we needed to charge our batteries!!!

Finally, we made the trip to my parents house in Palm Springs. We were able to park the rig on the street outside their home at the over 55 community. After having a background check through the Department of homeland security, getting fingerprinted and havine a full body search the homeowner's association gave us till Saturday at noon to park the RV on the street. I'm suprised we didn't get neck collars with GPS responders to track our location within the gates. It was relaxing and the boys continued to stay up on their school work before making the final journey home to SLO.