Day 2: June 9, 2026 Flagstaff Arizona to Albuquerque New Mexico and then to Tucumcari New Mexico

We both woke up very early today and decided rather than waiting until 7:00 for breakfast we, could get ready and eat at 6:15, hitting the road at 7:15.

Patti insisted that we stopped at a restaurant a block away from our hotel for the first of the photos of this trip of Patti with very large objects. This time a large red Adirondack chair. These are so much fun and Dick is such a good sport in terms of stopping and taking the photos. For some unknown reason, he doesn’t like getting his picture taken with these giant objects. Who can understand that?

The morning up in the mountains was crisp in the upper 50’s. We were about to leave the Ponderosa Pine forest. Soon after leaving Flagstaff, we headed down off the high plateau, and the temperature started getting hotter again. We had a lovely morning, soaking in the changes in the environment and landscape. Some of it looked very volcanic and lunar, some had trees, some was just flat grasslands. We made a brief stop at Petrified Forest National Park. We had been there several times before so we just stopped for a photo. We needed to get through eastern Arizona and crossing the border into New Mexico.

The plan was to arrive in Albuquerque for a 1 PM lunch with dear friends, Tomi and Hank. Patti and Tomi were roommates in seminary in 1982-83. Having dear friends for so many years is so precious. Both Tomi and Hank have had series health challenges, so it is especially great to have some time together. We ate at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and had the chance to catch up and just be together.

All too soon, we had to drive down the road needing to get another 3 hours down the road tonight. Immediately to the East we climbed through the southern end of the Rocky Mountains.  Here they are lower and it took only about 30 minutes to reach the other side.  In front of us was the Great Plains with another couple of days to cross it. This year it is not a leisurely drive across the country, because we have to get to Minnesota for the family wedding and gatherings.

We chased some dark clouds and large raindrops across the Eastern part of the state.  It never rained very hard, but it really freshened up the air. later in the evening, we enjoyed listening to the thunder outside. And enjoyed a lovely rainbow in the sky. 

One of the things that we sometimes do when we’re on this long trips is listen to an audiobook. Today we listen to one that was really well done. "The day the world came to town: 911 in Gander, Newfoundland.” this is a fascinating story of a very small town in Newfoundland that ended up being the place where 38 large jet planes and over 6600 people had to make immediate landings when all of the US airspace was closed following the 911 attacks. It is very well told story of how this small town took in thousands of strangers and treated them with such care. Will finish it tomorrow. Sometimes it is excellent to have a long time that you can really get into a book that is well written and well read.

We made a picnic dinner on the bed while we watched some Women’s Basketball tonight. We have lots of food in the car and it was just fine to have a nice indoor picnic.

So we’re moving our way across the country. Two more days until Minnesota.

Day 1: June 8, 2026 Oceanside, CA (home) to Flagstaff, AZ

 Well, getting ready to leave town for a six week trip takes some serious doing. Between work and volunteer activities, getting the house in order, paying bills, stopping the mail, arranging for somebody to take care of the house… It’s a lot.

Packing up and then loading the car for for a variety of activities is also a challenge. We need to be ready for: a road trip across the country and back, a family wedding, a trip to South African cities and also going on Safari, and camping for two nights in the Grand Tetons. This requires a huge array of clothes and equipment. Did we mention that in South Africa it will be winter and actually quite cold often in the mornings and evenings? Only because Dick is a master packer, we got everything in our RAV4 hybrid.

We always know the most expensive tank of gas we will buy for a road trip as at home. We filled up at $5.49, that was the “cheap gas” at Costco. All we needed to do it cross the border into Arizona and the price dropped over a full dollar, to $4.29. It is a great time to have a hybrid, which runs on gas but also charges its battery when you drive. Dick is enamored with the opportunity to watch a screen which shows when the motor is powering the wheels and producing powersd for the battery, and when the battery is powering the car or supplementing the motor.. We’ve also decided to keep the  cruise control at 70 miles an hour, even when the speed limits is higher. So far have been averaging 39.5 miles to the gallon. Much better than our larger gas only Sienna min-van.

Today we started at home, just above sea level and went up over 7000 feet in Flagstaff. We also went from desert scrub now up into the Ponderosa pine Forest with cool temperatures in the mountains of Flagstaff. Mt. Humphreys, just a few miles to the north, is well over 12,000 feet.

And, we were pleased to start the trip playing our license plate game where we look for the licenses of different states as we drive. Big trucks do not count. We are off to a good start with seeing over 20 states in the first day. Driving from Southern California into Arizona is a big travel area for lots of people, and lots of folks from around the country are on the move.

Patti put on her “you had me at road trip “ T-shirt and we both put on our shorts getting ready to head off into desert temperatures of over 104°. This first day took us about eight hours down the road through changing landscapes of mountains and hills and desert. We arrived at Flagstaff, Arizona time to grab some dinner at the Olive Garden restaurant and then catch the second half of the NBA finals game.

It’s good to have everything behind us and just look forward to six weeks of time together enjoying wonderful experiences.

Day 40 Flagstaff, Arizona to Oceanside, California (home!)

We say it towards the end of every trip, but on a long trip, the horse can smell the barn. We were up early  (5:30am) and headed out into the hot day, knowing we would drive through some very hot weather and dry landscape on our way home.  We watched the landscape change from the Ponderosa Pines around Flagstaff to Cedars and grass to desert scrub to the driest we had seen in the whole trip once we crossed the Colorado River into California.

Today was mostly putting another 400 miles in which out of the nearly 8000 we had driven seemed like not very long. It was a hot and sunny day and we drove and drove and drove and drove and drove.  Patti had downloaded compilations of Garrison Keillor Prairie Home Companion stories.  This helped the time pass, but it was still a lot of driving.

It always felt good to cross the border into California, even though we knew it was still a long ways across the width of California to our house. We went along, enjoying what we could. And, ready to get home. We were pleased to pull in at Oceanside at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. We pulled most of the stuff out of the car and started the process of settling in having been gone for 40 days. It’s good to be back home again.

Day 39: July 23, 2025 Moab, Utah to Monument Valley, to Flagstaff, Arizona

Up early in the morning with a nice breakfast at our Apache Motel. We then headed off for another 3 hour drive. As we headed south the land was filled with amazing formations carved by the rain and wind.  One was called Mexican Hat, a huge rock balancing on a small point. We also saw the mountains of Bears Ear National Monument. It looked like a great place to visit as we drove around two sides of it.  But, that would have to be another trip. Our initial destination today was Monument Valley. This was not a National Park but a Tribal Park that the Navajo Nation had set aside on their reservation in 1958. Native peoples had lived there for at least 1000 years. Like many of the other places in surrounding Utah and Arizona, it had a lot of spectacularly beautiful stone formations called, based on their shape, Mesas, Buttes, and Spires. Many truly looked like monuments. We knew we were in for a treat: a Navajo-led tour of Monument Valley.  At Moab we were very close to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks which we had visited previously. So many many beautiful places that have been set aside to be protected. We were so excited to get to our tour at Monument Valley.

Before we started our tour we had a picnic lunch behind our car in the parking lot and then explored the visitors' center.  There we saw a fine exhibit about the Navajo Code Talkers from WWII. Their code, based on the Navajo language, was never broken and allowed for secure communication throughout most of the war in the Pacific. This display was created by a high school class and they did so well on it.

The drive on the back of a four-wheel drive truck was spectacular. At times, it would just look like plain old desert scrub, then suddenly, out of nowhere, huge red, beautiful formations would pop up. Every few minutes we would need to take a wonderful photo of how beautiful it was. If we had had more time, we might’ve stopped at more of the places along the side. 

In an open air truck, seven of us were taken around and shown the beautiful areas as well as given a lot of the stories that came out of the Navajo tradition and more information about the area. There is a 17 mile loop that is open to the public to drive-through and we saw those areas but also went in some restricted areas that could only be seen by tours. Our guide, Larry, was very knowledgeable and had many stories to tell, as well as playing his flute for us in a wonderful cave. We also were shown a fine set of petroglyphs created by the Anasazi people more than a 1000 years ago. It was hot, over 90 degrees and bone dry, so a difficult place to linger too long. However, it was very beautiful and we were really glad to have taken that advantage of the opportunity. In past trips, we had been at the other national parks and monuments in the area. But neither of us had been here and it was gorgeous.

After our tour, we had another 3 Hour drive to Flagstaff, Arizona. A short distance south of Monument Valley was a huge remnant of a volcanic plug called Agathla Peack.  Very impressive. After about an hour's drive we could see the cloud of smoke rising from the fire on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was sad to think this fire was still only partially contained after three weeks. We were glad to see Mt. Humphreys, an extinct volcano that is the tallest point in Arizona, to the south and knew it was just north of Flagstaff. We looked forward to being in Flagstaff, it was only a really good night sleep and a solid drive the next day to be home. We are ready.