Weeks and especially an intense last couple of days preparation finally paid off. We were up and rushed around finishing the last preparation to leave our home for the next 40 days. It always takes longer than one would expect because both of us are frantically thinking, “what else needs to be done?”
A little after 10 AM, the last loads are in the car, the house is locked up and we hit the road. Our first day is always a little bit of a shakedown. Figuring out how we had things packed, where the best place to put things, and just getting the routines going.
This is going be our first trip with our new car, the RAV4, which is smaller than our trusty Sienna minivan. Dick decided earlier in the week that he needed to build one of his epic storage shelves to put into the car. As we were finishing our packing up, we both agreed this was a good idea. This allows us to slip a single sized foam rubber pad inside where Patti can stretch out and take a nap when we are driving. On day one she was able to go ahead and take the first nap there and it was successful. Dick likes to nap in the passenger seat with the seat tipped back.
We always know that the most expensive tank of gas is the last one we do at home: $432/gal. We filled up in Yucca AZ at $269. What a difference.
Dick is always paying attention to how the landscape and the land are changing as we are driving along. First, we started with the freeways of Southern California taking the 15 north with lots of traffic and city. Eventually, we climbed up the Cajon Pass to the high desert. With that, the temperature got hot and we spent much of the day driving in temperatures that were at least 95. Much of the afternoon was in the 100s and eventually getting as hot as 116° as we reached the Colorado River. When we had to get out to get gas or switch drivers, it was hot!
Much of the high desert was pretty desolate and dry. A chunk of it was filled with black lava stone. And then there were also foothills and mountains. A lot of it had no trees or vegetations. Once into Arizona and climbing onto the Plateau, we started seeing some vegetation which included live oak and Juniper trees, with dried grass underneath. This reminded us of coastal California. And then eventually, we moved higher up on the plateau, reaching over 5000 feet in elevation and the Ponderosa Pine trees were out. So interesting just in eight hours of driving all of the different climate zones we went through.
In addition to driving and napping, what do we do when we’re on the first day of our trip? Lots of looking out the window. Patti is catching up on some Facebook and news on her phone. And we began listening to an audiobook of “You Are T” with some old radio clips from CBS. We will be driving a total of around 8000 miles so there will be many more hours on the road.
We were glad to reach Flagstaff at about 6 o’clock and were a little delayed checking into our hotel so we went and had some good authentic Chinese food and then were glad to settle in for the night. We loved the fortune we found in our Fortune Cookie, Lights out before 9:00, we were tired. Day one complete. This is going to be a good trip.
(Note about the photos: Click on the first one to launch a slide show of larger images)
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