Three states in one day

Tonight I am writing to you from Albuquerque, NM. Today we have driven CA, across AZ and finally into New Mexico. Outside temperatures have ranged from 75 - 22. Right now we are getting a healthy reminder that we are in fact in winter.

So today I am trying something new. Since I keep getting in so late at night in the hotels for blogging; I am trying to do some of the writing on the road while it is all still fresh.

This morning we woke up in Bakersfield knowing that our plan is to get to Albuquerque, NM. We got going early. As I write this Word document it is 3:00pm and we have crossed into Arizona. We are on Hwy 40 and it is about 75 degrees out and full sun.

But first. About our morning. After stopping for McDonalds and coffee we hit the road heading for hwy 58. The first part of 58 had a lot of wind turbines and a really neat train system. Eventually we got into a stretch with a ton of Joshua trees. Some were actually pretty large.

As our travels along 58 continued, little did we know that this would be the location of our first “event” of the day. The morning was nice and the traffic was light. I had the high schooler set up at her homework station in the suburban and was encouraging her to sleep in the morning. As we are going along we are starting to really appreciate the different eating and sleeping needs and schedules.



While on highway 58, desperately trying to reach Boron, it became apparent that the fuel light that was on the Subaru was actually a bigger situation – this is a very desolate area of CA. I was able to narrate the bucking motion as the car sputtered out of gas – while I followed behind in the Suburban; watching. The permit driver and I left them sad and forlorn on the side of the road to get them gas. We planned the photos we would take of them on the way back. Our permit driver was glad it wasn’t her.



And how is the permit driver? She drove the suburban across the CA/AZ line. She has mastered the suburban cruise control and is doing well given the lack of visibility. In AZ she encountered her first 75 MPH zone.



Other excitement would include fruit buying in Needles as well as sandwiches. Needles is quite small; and I still can say better things about it than Salem. If nothing else they were friendly and brought variety to our diet. One cannot exist on my cookies alone - but not for lack of trying.

It should come as no surprise that I am getting a huge amount of knitting done. I find myself doing my easier projects so I don't have to look down much and miss the landscape.



Highway 40 is absolutely beautiful. The mountains are gorgeous and it is a clear sunny day. I am starting to really regret not having the time to explore around but still happy to be seeing so many new areas of the country. I was watching the weather channel in Bakersfield and thinking about the many different weather conditions we have coming.



As we left Seligman and headed towards Flagstaff the temperature dropped sharply and there was old snow on the side of the road. It was around Seligman that we realized we were in a different time zone as well. That should be interesting adjusting for as we keep moving East.