The Trucker Club

THURSDAY, JUNE 20TH

Today was a beautiful day in Colorado. Auntie Tracy and Josh took the kids to a very cool water park. Kyle and i joined them later in he day after spending the morning resting and cleaning the motor home. We then went to Red Robin for Tracy's birthday. On the way back to her house we were fortunate (in my opinion) to experience a magnificent lightning storm with rain to go with it. Fresh rain smells SOOOOOOOOOOOOO great!!!! i love that sagebrushy smell when it rains. Kienan kept insisting that he could hear the lightning and see the thunder :) Everyone snuggled up in auntie's bed for a great nights rest.

FRIDAY, JUNE 21ST

We are off! Josh has decided to stay and visit with family and friends for a few weeks. Arizona here we come! It's always really, really good to visit The Grand Canyon State. Kyle and i have a lot of good memories there. Arizona is where he and i began our journey together. Almost 9 years later we are rollin' through with our family. How fun is that!!!!

We hit two AMAZING HAIL STORMS through Sante Fe, New Mexico. The hail was so large and so abundant and so loud when it hit the motorhome that we could not even hear each other speak! That is hail on the windshield in the picture. i was sooo IMPRESSED with my husband's driving skills! I slipped in a small science explanation of hail to the kids to ease the fear that was seeping thru their nervous smiles. It worked!

We stopped in a parking lot in New Mexico so that i could whip up some dinner. I'm lovin' the Stoffers microwavable dinners! i give them 5 stars, especially on the road. It was so stress free to be in the motor home during meal times and sleep times. When someone was hungry, they ate. No searching, pulling over and eating yucky fast food! (We only ate out 2 times the whole trip). Whenever someone was sleepy they grabbed a pillow and blanket, laid down, and fell right to sleep. One of the days i had to wake up Mackenzie after a 4 1/2 hour nap!

i ended up driving the last 150 miles into Flagstaff, Arizona. it was about 11:00pm and i was awake and kyle was exhausted after driving for 11 hours. He cuddled up with all 3 kids on the pullout couch and i cranked up the road trip tunes. i sang my heart out! Every 1/2 hour or so i would see the row of orange lights creep up in my side mirror. They were the lights of the Roadbeast. (hey, i was getting tired and making up stories was an effective way to keep me awake). As the Roadbeast appeared closer in my mirror i would prepare myself for THE PASS..... THE PASS consisted of me grasping the steering wheel 10 & 2 with white knuckles. When those trucks passed, they sucked the motor home right into their lane. And those trucks are BIG! So each time it was a game of how steady i could keep the motor home when those semi trucks flew past me. i wasn't gunna be pushed around in my little rental! Of course i always felt so cool when i gave them the headlight flicker to move back in front of me. It was like being in a "Trucker Club." My daddy taught me that!

Typical Malaka got lost with the thanks of the miscalculated GPS and a snoring husband. i ended 23 miles south of the correct freeway exit. Fortunately, i was able to contact a guy bartending at the saloon at our destination: Mormon Lake, AZ. He redirected me to a road through the forest. IT WAS PITCH BLACK! i could not awake typical sleeping kyle. i really had noooo clue where i was or where i was headed. i did end up spotting 3 or 4 elk on my way into the campground (30 miles from the freeway in the middle of nowhere) which was exciting. We finally rolled into our rv campsite at 1:45am! Whew!