I had a work meeting last week on Wednesday in Phoenix. The meeting has me tied down all day on Thursday and half a day on Friday as well… Sometimes… I can convince Angela to come with me if the location is desirable to her. This one “barely was”… I had my friend Tyler (another member of my meeting) have his wife text Angela and tell her to come. That usually works!
We took the week off to make the drive instead of a flight.
You can try to wander or saunter out west… But if you have any kind of timetable… You have to commit to some hard drive time. I had to explain this to the family several times on our trip last Summer with the whole family in the camper. That was a trip with no agenda, and we still had to drive more than anyone wanted! 
We sauntered into Kansas… Picked up pace in Texas and New Mexico and then sped into Arizona! We made it just in time so it was all good.
This trip with Angela was a bit of a learning adventure for both of us. 1. We got a camper that has a rooftop tent. This would be close quarters for us for the trip. 2. We were going to visit some National Parks. A “thing” that we loved to do as a family… And it’s also a semi-competitive “quest” that pits Mom versus Daughter on who can rack up the most badges.
After our saunter… We found ourselves at Alibites Flint Quarry just north of Amarillo Texas. This is a very small National Monument that shares the knowledge of the special rocks located there that were used by Native Americans to make spear points and arrow tips. I had a great time at Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota last year and thought this would be similar.
It’s not… But that’s not a bad thing. Pipestone is far more malleable and it can have a variety of uses artistically. Quartz does not do this. But, we did see some great collections of arrowheads.
Angela was talking about Summer a lot when we were inside the park office. Too much? I can’t say that. But I can say that I noticed Angela talking out loud about how much Summer would have liked this or that. I was getting worried that this was a bad idea… Maybe it was too soon? Maybe we don’t need to do National Parks anymore? But, we pulled it out. I felt like we had a close call with the park ranger, (I know we are sad, but I don’t want to project it on a stranger!) but we were able to walk out and hit the trail for a “cool off” stroll.
We sat down at a park bench outside and grabbed some food out of the cooler.
You have to know that a normal trip or visit like this would result in Angela calling Summer and rubbing the spoils in her face. Oh, and that was a two-way street. Summer was more than happy to throw around her Jr. Ranger badges that were acquired from her independent travel as well. This is the Mom and Daughter competition that has always had Aiden and I on the sidelines avoiding the fray.
It was a good visit. I felt like we were safe to keep moving on.
We made a mad dash to hit a few more parks and had some reasonable success. Los Alamos was closed. That sucked. I know Angela wants to fill in the rest of that 3 part badge… But we have had a ton of help from guys like PJ and Dominic to move mountains last year for Summer. (Still one of the highlights of the lowest point in my life so far.) Bandelier Park was amazing. Probably enhanced because I NEVER even researched it! I had no idea it was cave dwellings! That’s almost as good as mounds!
Ultimately, we ended up in Phoenix for my meeting and Angela had a few days relaxing by the pool and shopping.
Friday, Ang hopped a flight home and I hit the road and caught up with my buddy Don from Los Angeles. (Not San Diego!) Don and I have been friends for nearly 20 years. Its crazy to think about it. We started off as podcast friends (listeners etc) and have come together over Toyota trucks and camping. I never saw that coming. Don brought his buddy Vince as well and we had a mini-reunion from a similar trip the three of us did 3 or 4 years ago. We were going to start a 3 day run out in the desert that would have us camping, cooking, and enjoying a beverage. Oh, and lots of talking. We solved all the world’s problems at some point. Sorry, you weren’t there to ask what advice we could give you.
I look forward to these trips so much. The last two Summers I have sat back while Don and our friend Jake hit the trails with their daughters. We did a trip with all of our daughters years ago. You might remember it… #3dads3daughters34runners was our hashtag on the social channels. So many great memories. I was worried that I would talk too much about Summer, deja vu Angela in the Park Ranger Office, and I apologized to Don about it.
“This has been your life, you have to talk about it” was his basic response. Cool. I was not bringing down the room.
Monday morning, we woke to some rain sprinkles at 6,000 feet outside of Tucson. That was enough for a quick camp pack-up. Don headed 5 hours west… I had “24 hours to home” on my phone. UGH! GPS led me east towards Sante Fe and then North. North along a lot of 2-lane roads. Through a dust storm at White Sands and back onto the interstate to Amarillo. Amarillo? I knew what I had to do.
I crossed my fingers and made a plan that I would have some sunlight at Cadillac Ranch. I would tag some “Sweet Dreams of Summer” stickers on this indi-art installation.
I had enough light to see the cars in the field and started making the walk. It was getting dark, so I didnt see anyone at first… But I soon was able to see a young family of 4 walking amonst the old cars half buried in the dirt. Their daughter was probably 7 or 8… And their son had to be carried. They were begging their eldest to finish painting so they could leave. I just listened to the familiar pleads and took a few pictures. I said Summer’s name out loud as if to say I remember our time here. The wind was so strong that the family took no notice of me talking to myself. I took some more pictures and proceeded to tag the fence posts with some stickers.
When I pulled into LOVE’S truck stop down the road.. I had some happy tears in my eyes and I felt like I accomplished something. I am not sure what it was… But it felt good and bad all at the same time.
2 hot dogs and a small cup of black coffee carried me to LOVE’S outside of Tulsa for a few hours of sleep.
What was supposed to be a short trip was as long as our trip to Italy. Time moves too fast!
Great seeing you man. Great story and great shots.