Road trip update

Just a quick note to say that we are still alive and well.  We are on day four of the road trip and in Oklahoma.  Our plan is to make it home tomorrow.  It has been great and the kids have been amazing!  No videos at all along the way!  Peter has driven the entire time.  He is still a little protective of his sweet new ride.  Thanks for the calls from our families today about weather conditions.  We think we are going to ride right in between these two big weather conditions.  We are a little ahead of the snow we think.  So, we expect some rain tomorrow.  Please pray that we are safe on this last leg and that we make it home.  I am having a great time, but might be sad not to sleep in my bed tomorrow.    

Day two we woke up at the beach and enjoyed a little time walking the beach and watching surfers.  We then drove thru the rest of California.  We drove through the Mojave Desert and heard yesterday that a fighter jet crashed there the day after we passed through.  Crazy.  We enjoyed watching the jets while driving.  We have seen a lot of mountains and cows and a lot of places where no one lives.  We discovered that it is important to get gas, food and potty when you have a place to stop.  Sometimes it would be hours before we saw another stop.  The boys did do one pit stop roadside.  

Along the way, Peter suggested that we take Route 66 thinking it would be more scenic and exciting.  I thought it would be longer and on a five day road trip who wants longer.  He won and we started out on a terrible, no good, very bad road right next to the interstate.  There was a barbed wire fence in between us and the interstate.  After a short while, even Peter agreed that this was not a great idea.  I saw a whole in the fence and we did a little off roading back to the interstate.  We got a big kick out of it.  

We headed up to Laughlin, Nevada to sleep along the Colorado river that night.  Think little Las Vegas.  We stayed in a Casino for super cheaper with a great room.  We didn't do any gambling.

Day three we headed to the Grand Canyon.  We got there in time to picnic at a lookout.  Peter and I had never been to the Canyon.  It is truly amazing.  We spent the mid-day driving along and stopping at lookouts.  The kids honestly weren't that in to it.  Lillian thought it was pretty cool.  Thirty minutes after we left the Canyon, Grayson asked when we were going to get there.  Just outside of the Canyon there was a Navajo Indian stand selling wears.  Lillian was thrilled.  She looked at everything at least three times and settled on some very fancy barrettes.  They look beautiful.    We drove late in to the night to make it to Albuquerque to sleep.

Day four, today, we drove thru Amarillo, TX to Oklahoma.  Today's big stop was the Big Texan.   My family did a "wild west" trip, when I was about 10.  One of the stops was at this restaurant called the Big Texan.  I have great memories of this larger than life place.  It was great to go back for lunch with Peter and the kiddos.  It was just as great as I remembered it.  Pictures to come and I'll be sportin' a sweet new t-shirt.  

We did have a couple of mishaps along the way, today.  I mean I guess we were due... Grayson puked in the car.  Not really sure why, but I am glad it was an isolated event.  The car does smell like vomit a little bit, but that is what moon roofs are for, right?  Peter dubbed me an Eagle scout mom for my response to the vomit.  I don't do well with it in a ventilated space that I can walk out of, but hey duty calls.  Later, Peter forgot to put the gas cap on the tank.  We went right back, but it had been run over.  We had to make a pit stop for a new one.  We laughed a little and thought of Brian who once admitted to having to purchase around three of them a year.  I believe this was Peter's first.

Today ended in Clinton, OK at a hotel with an indoor pool.  Finally!  The kids have been dying for this all along the way.  We got to swim and get in the hot tub.  We ended the day with a carpet picnic in the room and some basketball.  I'll post a couple of pictures and more when we make it back to the Lou.