Well I have recently returned from another great adventure of approximately 5000 miles in 12 days. The first three days were long and hard, but I had only one thing on my mind and he was waiting at the end of the road for me to love on, Wyatt Jace Bradley. He was worth driving 10000 miles for.
The first day out we proved that "blackholes" really do exist in this great universe, they just renamed it Wyoming. Night time in Wyoming is dark, very very dark. I do want to thank the highway department for putting reflectors on the sides of the roads. I found them very reassuring as I wasn't sure there was a side of the road there at all. At one point in the journey, they even provided a pull off for a scenic view. We saw black nothingness, so took a picture and moved on. I was very excited when we finally saw the lights of our first nights destination of Buffalo. Then there was a choice of which way to go with no clear direction. Highways are confusing in day light when they change directions, but the black of night changes your perspective. We decided to flip a coin and fortunately landed on the right highway to the most beautiful Comfort Inn I have ever seen, well in Wyoming anyway. We discovered the next day that Wyoming was just as interesting in daylight as in dark. It is a land of many antelope. I thought Albert was going to leave me there if I sang "Home on the Range" one more time. It was an unexplainable urge that I had no control over. Must have been the after effects of the "blackhole."
Our next days journey took us through Denver. I was in for culture shock. I realize now living in little ol' Spokane has spoiled us. We are very fortunate to live in a city with only one freeway to deal with and the traffic here is a pure delight. Denver was my worst nightmare. Lane after lane of nothing but cars going nowhere, literally. One hour later we thought we had made it through and then there was another traffic hold up in the next town. I have concluded that one day their new claim to fame will be mile wide freeways. I will never complain about traffic in Spokane again!! Love you Spokane and I really mean that!
Our third day started out beautiful as we drove through Texas (no comments people, native Texan here) to see my new grandbaby and then we reached what I remembered as a small little towns of Denton and McKinney. Oh my goodness. To begin with the posted speed limit is 65mph. Now that would be great except for two things 1) unbelievable traffic and 2) you are racing from one red light to the next, OK maybe racing is not the proper term since it is impossible to do that because of all the traffic, but when you do have a break you best be prepared to join the herd. I think they need to reconsider their speed limits. I had these visions of Spokane doing that on Division, which would have been equivalent to where we were, and shuddered in fear. I admittedly get frustrated because we can't do 35mph, but will never think 65mph a good idea anywhere! Then you have to factor in the road construction with bright flashing signs threatening you that they will be shutting down the road way at a certain time. I finally figured out that everyone was in a panic to get where they were going in fear of being trapped in road construction hell all night.
We actually make it through and arrived in Farmersville all in one piece, but then we realized we didn't know how to actually get to my son's home and had to call for a rescue. We had a great visit and truly enjoyed the Old Town Days of Farmersville. Their claim to fame is Audie Murphy and old Onion barns. It is a quaint little town, great riding lawnmower pulls and what every western town needs is a good gun fight. It was really fun and we enjoyed it a lot. It is really a beautiful little town with brick streets and wonderful old buildings they are revitalizing. I love it when cities appreciate what is already there.
After playing with baby for two and half days, we left for the next leg of our adventure. Off to Albuquerque, NM. On arrival we were pleasantly surprised by their beautiful freeway overpasses. Salmon and turquoise graced them and it was quite artistic. But, again, we were in for a little surprise. Balloon Festival had increased their population by about 10000 plus people give or take a few thousand. Bus loads of people from all over the world were there to see the 700 plus balloons in flight and other various festivities. We talked to the hotel clerk to plan our route of escape and ended up getting the best view of the balloons ever. They were landing in yards, stuck in between houses, kissing the tree tops and swooshing away. It was spectacular!
As we left New Mexico behind, we ran into thunderstorms at the four corners of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah. I haven't seen those kind of clouds in quite a while. Lightening, thunder, wind and prayers. The clouds made me a little nervous and if we'd had a place of refuge, I would have done so. I did a lot of praying watching the clouds very closely, after all I am a Texas girl and if nothing else I know what certainly clouds mean. We did hear after reaching Moab that they had tornadoes in Arizona. Don't think I have ever heard of that before. We made one quick stop to see Aztec ruins and I was in high gear. Albert kept asking me what my hurry was and all I could do was encourage him to look and let's get out of there. We had to cross a couple of low water crossings to get there and with the storms blowing in I knew we would take a chance of having to deal with flash flooding. He just had to trust me on this one, but grouched all the way until we actually hit the storm on the way out. We came to a small town that had a sheriff set up on each side of town. I think they were watching the weather as it was raining too hard to be motivated for anything else. We eventually drove out of it made it to our destination of Moab and prayed it would not be raining the next day.
We had a brief few hours of sunshine the next day and were able to go into Arches National Park and it was spectacular there. If you have never traveled to that part of the world, I do highly recommend it. It was beautiful and I look forward to going back to see the whole park and also to see the other parks of Utah one of these days.
We then ventured on to to our next destination. So up to this point we had found the blackhole, survived Denver, laughed and cried through Denton and McKinney and got stormed on. That was nothing compared to our drive through Salt Lake City. Detours, road construction and at least 100 miles of the worst drivers I have ever seen anywhere!!!!! Speed limits mean nothing and if you leave an inch between you and the car ahead they will instantly fill it without warning. Turn signals mean nothing. If you didn't leave enough room then they just pull over on you or even if you did leave enough room they pull over on you. I am sure they thought I had lost my mind because I actually wanted them aware that I was trying to change lanes. Speed limit was 55, they were doing 70 and passing two police cars we actually saw. I thought their job was to control speeders or am I just foolish in thinking that. Those people are out of control! Evidently Salt Lake has a whole set of rules the rest of the world is unaware of. Drivers BEWARE! I pray that I never never have to go there again. Strange I said the very same thing the first time I had to go through there!!!!! DANGER DANGER DANGER.
We did make it to Blackfoot and got to play with the granddaughter for two days. She is a little monkey and climbs everything. Definitely takes after her Daddy. She knows she is the center of attention and makes sure you are watching. She has this mischievous little twinkle and then suddenly she will look at you and sweetly say in a soft little voice, "Hi." Melts a Grandma and Grandpa's heart. Next minute she is loudly barking unintelligible orders at whoever is hindering her at the moment. You just wonder how such a tiny sweet little girl can make such a loud ruckus. Oh the joys of Grandkids! I just wish I was younger and could keep up a little better.
We finally headed home and after being gone so long I was thrilled to see the mountains again. There is just something about the Montana/Idaho border. Believe it or not you can actually smell the evergreens and it is so refreshing. My husband just thinks I have a vivid imagination, but I know it is real.
We do plan another trip next spring, but it will not be through Denver, Denton, McKinney, Albuquerque or Salt Lake City. We will find the less traveled back roads of this land even if it takes longer. Besides that is where you find the best things to see. Maybe even the biggest ball of twine or other wonderful treasures. Give me Small Town USA any day.
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