Hello Arizona!

23 Jan 2013

Hard to believe we’ve been on the road now for two weeks.  That’s almost a quarter of our total trip.  It still feels like we are just beginning.  I guess when compared to the two years Kory and I spent on the road after we were first married, nine weeks is a drop in the bucket.

We had a wonderfully quiet night’s sleep at Walmart and right next door was a Starbucks so I was able to catch a wi-fi signal there to post my blog.  God provides. 

It was easy driving today as the space between LA and Phoenix is just desert with very few cities along the way.  The bulk of the vehicles were big trucks and motorhomes.  I did most of the driving so I set the cruise control at 60, even though the speed limit was 75.  I wasn’t in that big of a hurry and I wanted to save a little money on gas.  It’s already taken eight hundred dollars in gas to get down this far, which is way more than I thought it would cost, so now I’m tightening up the purse strings. 

I was listening to some Elton John while I was driving and the words to one of his songs were, “If we’re all going somewhere, let’s get there soon…” and I had to laugh.  That is so ME on most days but when we are only getting 8.5 miles to the gallon, I guess that’s all the motivation I need to slow down.  As it was, I got 9.2 gallons today which was nearly a 10% improvement.  Woo hoo.

Kory and I drive much differently, as is the case for most things we do in life.  He likes to wait until the last minute to react.  If we are in the left lane and he needs to take an exit, he’ll wait until we are almost at the exit before he moves in the right lane.  Sometimes we miss the exit because of this.  Me, I move over miles before I need to, so I avoid that scenario.  Planning is the key.  He also continues to press on the gas pedal even when cars in front of him are braking.  Me, the minute I see a slow down, I let off on the gas.  He waits to slam on the brakes until he has to, even at stop signs - but me, I like to coast to a stop if possible.  I’m trying not to let these differences create stress in either of our lives, so it feels good just sharing my feelings about it in writing.

We arrived in Phoenix around two o’clock, which was three o’clock local time.  I didn’t realize we crossed over into Mountain Time.  If we would have gone the speed limit I’m sure we would have been an hour earlier.  My friend, Barb, was waiting for us (above).  We were supposed to be at her house yesterday about that time, but she understood.  The delay with the tabs cut into one day of visiting with her, but life happens. Anytime we get to see each other is a bonus anyway, so we didn’t complain we had less time than expected.  We just talked faster while sitting around the pool soaking up some glorious 80 degree sunshine and catching up on things in each other’s lives. I love that.

Kaleb put on his swim trunks but the water was too cold to actually jump in.  He did a lot of schoolwork today so I was glad for that.  I found a high school textbook at a thrift store in Fresno on our American Government system, so I’m having him work through that one.  I’ve yet to teach him anything in the “social studies” arena so we have some making up to do.  He reads so quickly that I can cram anything into him in short order, so I plug holes in his education when I can.

Kory took a shower in Barb’s condo shortly after we arrived.  He went to adjust the showerhead and it came off the base.  It was just loose, and fortunately didn’t break, but the stream of water coming out made him panic and he didn’t realize it but the tub drain was closed so it started filling up the bathtub.  He got all flustered and quickly turned off the water, but forgot how to work the hot and cold water handles and ended up busting the hot water handle right off it’s base.  Talk about comical. 

Barb took us to a Thai place for dinner where we talked about how to solve the water handle problem.  I assumed a Thai place would provide some fat free vegan option for Kory for dinner, but it didn’t.  They wouldn’t modify any of their menu items so he ended up with steamed veggies and brown rice and came out hungrier than he went in, I’m sure. I ordered Pad Thai with veggies only, which ended up being delivered to Barb long before I got “my” order – which was Barb’s meat version of Pad Thai, so we had a good laugh about that mix-up too, as she picked out her veggies and gave them to me and I picked out the chicken and shrimp and gave them to her.  What a night.  All we could do is laugh about everything.

Barb took Kory to Home Depot after dinner to buy repair parts so he thankfully was able to fix the shower handle.  While he was working on it though, he didn’t have something connected quite right and when Barb turned the water back on the water pressure knocked the handle out and water came shooting out of the wall, making a huge mess and creating quite the panic.  Barb had to act fast to reach the water shut off valve, which was pretty comical in itself.  The whole irony is that her upstairs neighbor’s bathroom flooded years ago and she’s been living without a proper bathroom for far too long, waiting to get her bathroom repaired.  She’s just had stud walls for years but just last fall she got the bathroom completed so I told her I’d be down to see it for myself, then we show up and Kory breaks something in there which nearly causes a flood.  It was all just too funny.

Kaleb and I got a hot shower at Barb’s as the water pressure in our RV is pathetic so it’s much easier to go without one.  She was gracious as usual through the whole ordeal.  It’s good to have old friends to share in good times, and bad.   We’ll be laughing about this night for years to come.