We are all OK

This is one of four ferretts that they have.

Today we visited my mother, brothers, and sisters. They live in Norman which is about 30 minutes south of Oklahoma City. 

Another Blessing on Our Trip

Oklahoma City

I always get a feeling of protection when I am around the temple.

(music playing) Amarillo By Morning

This state is awesome.

Let's Eat Partner. 

 I looked up MVF and found........The 72oz Sirloin Challenge. No, as much as all of ya'all would think I would've done it, that is a lot of food.

Ignore the stud in the hat. This is the table that you sit at when you take the  72oz Challenge. They can have up to six contestants. Notice the timers on the wall. Honey, I think we should decorate our house this way.

This lady is moving from WV to CA. We sat next to her. How bazaar is that. These artists walked around each table and sang songs. It was very cool.

Here was our dinner. This was a 21oz steak. Could you imagine consuming  almost four times this amount. 

The boys each got a root beer float, complete with souvenir cup.

C did more playing that he did eating.

This melted in my mouth. Yes, I did eat the whole thing (minus the 10 bites to B and 3 bites to C).

Sorry this is so blurry. This is the guy that we watched. He quit after 45 minutes and he had this piece of steak he is holding up, plus another piece half that size on his plate. Have I said it is a lot of food.

In case you wanted to be picked up at your hotel, they offer free limo service (ya don't see this in the OC).

So after the first two days of sight seeing and burning gas, I thought I might go a lot farther to my destination today. We left Gallup, NM and just drove....and got gas.......and drove......and got gas......and drove. We pulled into Amarillo, TX about 6pm MST.

The Reason my Trip is Going so Well.

This is the reason why B didn't have a breakdown.

Be kind, and the doors will open unto you.

After all this hot weather, this is the first time B almost had a breakdown.

What a calm and peaceful feeling I received after these three long days.

This is like driving through Radiator Springs

Don't judge me on how I got these pictures.

All of Arizona and New Mexico looked like this.

I added this post just for Lani.

Four Corners

The entrance to the state park (really owned by the Navajo Nation)

This is where I called Charise from. How cool is this!!

So.....my boys have been great. It is 102 degrees outside, who knows how hot the concrete is, yet they still go for the picture. I think their faces say it all.

This is from a platform. They have one for each state. This place was sooo cool.

After the GC, we decided to be super heroes and be in four states at the same time.

The Grand Canyon

The drive was a lot better because we went up to 5000 feet elevation. Cole did not like all the walking and Brighton wanted to climb down the canyon.

At Last!!

With a great vehicle to get us through, we made it to Williams, AZ. We found a great hotel, had dinner, went swimming, played games, watched TV, Took showers, talked, and went to bed at 11pm. (don't tell mommy about the last one).

A Little Hotter than Southern California

So everything is going great. We head out on Highway 40 east. Truck is a little slow trying to pull the trailer and having the bed full. We are getting a little over 200 miles per gas tank. That is about 80 miles less than what I usually get. So I am climbing the last summit before Needles and my truck is giving all it's got. Just when I am about a half a mile from the top, the temperature gauge gets buried in the red.............this is not in my plans.  So I back off the gas and start coasting downhill. The temperature levels off and everything is back to normal. I take the first exit of Needles to gas up, check the straps on the trailer, be sure that my ladder didn't fly off and hit a car, do the potty break, and refill my drink. I change the DVD for the kids and we are off again. I am not even off the on ramp and the temperature start climbing fast. So I get off on the second exit of Needles and pull into a McDonalds. This way we can go inside and air conditioned building while I wait for the truck to cool off. This was great. While we waited, Sue had given me gifts for the boys for every day we are on the road (a total of six gifts, I hope it doesn't take me longer than that!). So we opened the first day gifts and the boys were stoked! I call them miniature wibble wobbles. The boys did not put them down all day. Thanks Sue! So after a while, I told the kids to go play in this play house they had inside McD's while I checked on the truck......Yeah......I didn't see any antifreeze. So I put the two gallons in that I brought.......yeah......I still didn't see any antifreeze. So I told the boys to stay put while I go to the gas station and buy some more antifreeze. The first station had three gallons for $23.  *@#^! WHAT!!!   Good price for the middle of the desert I guess. I went to the second station and they had what I wanted for $16. Still $6 more than Pep Boys, but I need it. I bought four gallons and the lady said, "What?! , WOW!".  I told her I may be back for more if my truck drinks all this up. My truck ended up taking only one more gallon. So I put the other three in the back of the truck and went inside to get the boys. They were playing games that McD's had on the wall,"very cool", I thought. So at this point we loaded up and blew this grease pit. I said a little(well rather long) prayer and started her up. Good temperature, no weird sounds, got all the kids, let's go!

A Change of Plans

So remember how I was talking about the 35' trailer that I bought to take our stuff to North Carolina. Well, we have a lot of stuff. It did not work. So we hired a moving company and sold the trailer. I am still driving, but now I am towing the KAM trailer. . . . .with lots of stuff . . . . .heavy stuff . . . . .enough stuff to have to build walls out of plywood. (good thing the tire is only flat on one side).

Finally Realizing we do not need to stay in California.

For the past year, we have felt "grounded" in CA. Our obligations would make it very difficult on our family if we relocated out of CA, well out of the county for that matter. So we have been making it work and enjoying every minute of it. But in the last month, we have realized that we do not need to stay in CA anymore. The things that have tied us here have taken on a different meaning.  We have discovered that we can relocate those obligations to North Carolina with minimal disruption to our family. So in the excitement of moving, I have created this blog so those interested can follow our journey across the country.

The first thing I did was price out the cost of different ways to relocate. This consisted of myself and U-haul to a moving company and plane tickets. With the whole family in the car for five days, Charise was more apt to fly. However, there is no way that we could afford to "ship and fly." So I created five scenarios that Charise and I discussed with pros and cons for each. After great deliberation, (that word is for Chuck) we came to the solution of the boys driving and the girls flying. It has been very exciting going through the process. I will give you those details in future blogs.