An Adventure Among Family

As you can probably imagine, we've been quite busy now that we've officially made it out west (For the record, I've defined "out west" as our first destination - the Gila Cliff Dwellings). After staying the night at the motel six, we woke up fairly early and headed over to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, where we bought a national parks pass for $80 (The pass can have two names on it, and will get up to four people into a park for free). Because of the pass, we did not have to pay an entrance fee (which would have been $5 per person). We then hiked one mile round trip to see and explore the cliff dwellings. Not too bad. Once we left there, we got back in the car and drove (eight hours I think?) to the petrified forest. We rolled up to the entrance just in time to see the gates close for the night. Seriously. We were less than 100 feet away when the clock struck 5:00pm. Oh well. We drove into Holbrook and camped at a KOA (35 bucks! HOLY CRAP that ground ...

Day two we began our journey at a family member's house where we spent the night after driving 1168 miles. Temperatures reached 110 F. We stretched our legs and ate lunch at a picnic area on the side of the highway. The sun was blazing - even though the humidity is little to nothing compared to Florida... IT IS HOT!! When we ate dinner around 8:30 pm, it was 98 F and we sat outside with no problem. Today has been rather uneventful except for two things. We crossed over the Rio Grande and saw Mexico from the highway in El Paso. The video is what we could see of Mexico and the mountains around. It has been interesting see the landscape change the farther west we travel. Tomorrow we are off to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings, Petrified Forest, and (if we have time) a meteor crater.

05/26/18 - AKA Day One (sort of) We left last night around 11pm with Arden driving North toward I-75. He put in a good four hours while Sawney and I slept. By the time he was done, we were just past Tallahassee and headed west. I switched out with him for the next four hours so he could get some sleep. Sawney drove some, then I drove some more, then Arden took over again when we left Shreveport. We are currently headed toward Dallas, where we plan to stay for the evening (at which point we will have put in approximately 18 hours driving in the last 24 hours. Not bad right? I think it's a solid number anyway. Here's the opening video, and then I'll give you a bit of background (and probably some much needed explanations...) So here's the background. I (Troy) got accepted to a PA (Physician Assistant) program, which begins in August of this year. My wife (Sawney) is an 8th grade teacher, and has the summers off. For that reason, we decided that I would wrap up my ...