July 31st, Driving, driving, driving

Monday, July 31, 2006
Day 36
Drive to Tucumcari, NM

Well it certainly is difficult to believe that today is the last day of July. Wow! We are OFFICIALLY on the way home now, heading EAST. We got a call from our friends Sue and Tony today letting us know that their baby was born today! Welcome to the world little Joseph Anthony! Congratulations to mom and dad!

Today was a “driving” day. I drove from Grants, NM to Tucumcari, NM. We are getting close to Texas now. It was a cool day for most of the drive, cloudy and in the mid to upper-70s. There were some heavy downpours along the drive. The rain came down so hard a few times that you just couldn’t see, but it doesn’t last for more than two minutes, then you’re out of it. Weird desert storms! By the time we got near our destination, the Tucumcari KOA, it was HOT, 95 degrees, and slightly cloudy. We got gas a few exits before the Tucumcari exit, because we were really low on gas and then Rod drove the last few miles. Well, right after we got going on I-40 again, there was a trooper on the side of the road. Rod thought he was speeding, but he wasn’t, because the speed limit is 75 here, so that was fine. (We were going 77 mph.) Anyway, a few seconds later the trucks in front of us in both lanes looked as if they were stopping. We slowed down very fast because they were indeed stopping. There was another tractor-trailer in the grassy median facing us. He had just had a blowout in the West-bound side of the highway, had lost control, driven through the grassy median, entered the East-bound side of the highway, dragging a bunch of grass with him, and ended up coming to a stop in the median. Thank GOD no one was in the lane when he entered it. One trucker stopped and the other kept on going. We put on our hazards so people behind us would see that we were going extremely slow. The guy looked OK, and we continued on our way as we saw the Trooper pulling up behind us. Pretty scary stuff! Note to self: always keep both hands on the wheel when driving 75 mph and towing over 7000 pounds!

The KOA is very nice and we are not doing any site seeing today or tomorrow. We enjoyed the pool here and I did laundry. (Not quite as enjoyable as the pool.) Yesterday, at Wal-Mart, Sheldon spent the $20.00 that Aunt Sharri and Uncle Jim gave him for his birthday. He got himself a new LightSaber (Obi-Wan’s) and he is enjoying it thoroughly.

Tomorrow we are off to Amarillo, Texas. It’ll be another driving day, but we might stay there for an extra day just to hang out and relax. Maybe go to a “non-educational” amusement park…

As I am writing this I am watching the news. Today Albuquerque had major flooding. We must have just missed it, because we drove right through it.