After 1 night and half a day of travel we finally made it to the first inn our long line of camp grounds. We passed through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and finally stopped in New Mexico. The motor home was muggy and hot. That plus, as always, I felt incredibly guilty for whoever had to stay up and drive made the first night of driving fairly long. So even though it was in the middle of the day I was asleep when we got to the camp site. I woke up alone in the motor home in a strange desert like place, but my last memory was of Steven tickling my feet and so, for the sake of his well being, I was glad for the solitude. I found my family walking toward me from a large lake.
The camp ground didn’t have a lack of vegetation. Just a lack of trees. The ground was green, but not with grass. It was covered with stiff, prickly plants. There were small round cactuses and bigger ones with round flat spiky plates. What looked like stiff, foot long tuffs of grass, turned out to have needle sharp tips. It was fairly hot but there was a constant breeze and it was warm and comforting.
We swam in the lake, ate supper, took showers and sat around until Dad got back from fishing. Then we had a bible study and went to bed.
The night was awful for me. I tossed and turned, listening to a symphony of snores. I wasn’t tired after sleeping so much the day before. But when I did fall asleep it was very soundly and I
woke up feeling good because it was colder.
Day 2
Dad was driving on a road in the middle of nowhere. On either side of us were light green rolling hills that were speckled with dark green tuffs of bushes and an endless clear sky. We stopped at a fire work store and I had a beautiful view of the mountains from the motor home window, but it was obstructed by a big white sign with faded red words that said FIRE WORKS.
We went to a place with volcano rocks that had Indian drawings on them. The highlight of that stop was a lizard I spotted.
Back on the road we passed some sand dunes. I had the window open to see them better and Steven decides he has to rule my life by keeping the window closed. I glared at him till he got board and looked away. Being patient has its uses.
I feel completely surrounded with different colored mountains. Some are red, some are green with plants, and in the distance there are white cliffs. Some cliffs are all three. Their white faded into red which was over taken by green. It was beautiful.
We went to a mining museum which was fun because there were no employees down stares where they had a mining simulation. We were the only ones in the whole museum so we goofed off a lot.When we got back to the motor home a fat, stinky, dirty man approached us and asked for money. We gave him a sandwich, a cookie, and a few slim-jims. He asked for something to drink and we gave him a soda. He complained about not getting money then we left.
We went to a Mexican restaurant and I got a hamburger and fries. After that we went and saw a volcano crater. Dad was a little high off the mountain air. He climbed up and around the crater till he was nearly opposite of us. We watched his figure; a speck on the tip of the ridge of the crater; run back toward us. Then we walked to the ice caves. It is 31 degrees in them. It was such a relief to be in the cold that we hung out there awhile. Dad (still crazily happy) hopped the fence, walked across the 20 feet deep pond of ice, took off his shirt, and hugged a giant ice pillar to cool down further.
Our next camp ground was nicer. It had trees, a lake, paved roads, and a beautiful valley with a sheer cliff walls almost all the way around it. Steven didn’t go and when we got back he was packing up our chairs. Dad told him to stop and that we were going to have a camp fire.
“Not here we’re not.” He told us, “This place was reserved.” We explained to him that the green card on the sign meant it was open and he pointed to an angry looking lady in her car. We ended up having to move to a place with no fire pit.
We road bikes for awhile then we went to an empty camp sight and had a fire, sang songs, and had a Bible study. After that it was showers and bed. It was cold and I didn’t sleep well.
Day 3
Today we made it to Arizona. We saw the Painted Desert stretch endlessly in front of us. The different shades of red capped with white sand and scattered with green vegetation was beautiful.
Next we saw more ancient Indian drawings scratched on more rocks. Then we saw (from a distance) a petrified forest. Then we went to the place where you walk through the petrified logs. It was cool.
After a few more hours of diving we made it to the Grand Canyon. I’m so glad we went. Even though I’ve already seen it, it’s not something you get used to. The first time we went that day it was crowded. We tried to wait for the trolley but the lines were long and when we got to the front on ambulance pulled up to pick up a girl laying on the bench. She got up and walked right into it. But that wasn’t the worst part. I think the doctors were trying to convince her she was ok or trying to treat her right there because the ambulance sat there, right in the way of the trolleys, forever. Eventually we just left. We came a second time to a less crowded spot and then a third time to watch the sun set.It was Sunday morning so we went to a church service. Three girls only a little older than me led it. One played the violin while we sang. They talked about how God doesn’t take sides. Rebekah didn’t go. She was feeling sick. We made it to Las Vegas and got a hotel room. Dad, Ryan, and Steven went to see the sights and accidently got in on some action. Some guys got in a fight and Dad went to go break it up, but by the time they got there it was over.
Rebekah was throwing up sick. She had 100.1 temperature, but that's after she was given a ton of medicine.
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