Go West Young (Wo)Man

While Michael thought of an Irish Rover song as he went West...my first thought was the Michael W. Smith song...Go West, Young Man...I will leave it at that for now...hoping to re-post with news from the trip in a week.  Say a prayer for me to have patience on the road.

Let me start by saying...I now have a deeper appreciation for the settlers who came across on prairie schooners to make a new life in the West.  After all, I had it easy...paved roads (although I did go off road for a short time), movers to take most of our belongings, restaurants and interesting stops along the way.  I even had a warm bed indoors every night.  However, the treacherous terrain and nothingness along the way was sometimes just too much for this momma, three little ones and a dog.  Somehow, we made it through with a wing and a prayer and are now in our new house in California.  What a trip!

Before telling about our trip, I need to tell you a tale of tragedy.  The day before I planned to have Hank groomed by the local pet store.  I had never used this store before but it was convenient and a national chain so I thought we would be OK.  I dropped him off and was told to return in about 4 hours.  An hour into the grooming, I received a phone call to come pick him up because he was agitated and biting.  I was told he was afraid of the clippers and they were only able to have him half shaved....I told them to stop everything as I never even wanted him shaved.  When I arrived it was a terrible sight!  He was shaved done to nothing and in some places he was gouged to the bare skin.  I told the lady that if she had done that to me, I would probably bite at her also.  His beautiful Aussie hair was gone...only his head and neck (now a mane) was left intact.  We left without a bath and no nails clipped as asked, but worse I had a traumatized dog on my hands to begin our trip!

Day 1--The Longest Day

I decided it would be best to get as many miles under our belt the first day...we were excited to be on the road and up early (before 6am)...Hank went crazy as he watched me pack the children in the van...I have never heard him bark so much!  I assured him that we were taking him with us but he continued to give barks to remind me to get him in place.  I think it would have been kind of sweet had it not been so early in the morning.  So with children and dog in place we were on the road.  Although Hank wanted in the van, he had a hard time getting settled and wrapped himself in knots trying to figure it all out...the first hour was a little crazy with this and the children wanting breakfast as they did not fall back to sleep as "planned."

We made a few stops along the way but nothing of great importance as we were determined to make it to Guadalupe Mountain National Park.  The children did settle down for naps after lunch.  By the time we made it to the park, we had already driven 500 miles.

One of the reasons I like stopping at national parks is because they are amazing locations across our country.  However, these parks also have a wonderful children's program called Junior Rangers.  The children do not just run around aimlessly.  As much as I love my children learning on their own, it is nice to have some focus when we are at a location we might never have opportunity to see again.  And at the end they earn a badge or patch for the given park.  It is a great experience and I always learn more this way as well.


As much as I loved the experience, we did have one huge hiccup in my plans at this first stop.  What to do with a dog who was not allowed to walk the trails or go into buildings.  I really had never thought about this predicament until this point in the trip.  It would later be an issue when we went out for meals as well.  I also missed taking a lot of pictures walking the trails in a leisurely fashion was near impossible with three small children who wanted to run ahead on the winding trail.  It really just came down to a shift in my expectations.  Thankfully, the weather was not bad and we were able to leave Hank in the van with the windows rolled down (at least until it rained...a constant threat throughout our trip even in places it "never" rained).  As for the children, we came to an agreement that worked and all was fine the rest of the trip.

Our first national park stop on the trip (We would stop at 8 parks before we arrived at our new home!) was a great time.  It was a slow afternoon and the park ranger understood the situation enough to help me with the children.  He even allowed me to take Hank on one of the shorter trails.  We learned about animals like the ring-tailed and the harsh living conditions of the Mescalero Apaches.  It was also interesting to learn about the ocean that covered Texas millions of years ago and the evidence that still remains.  The one thing we did not have time to explore was the Butterfield Stage location and the Frijole Ranch.  Since this is in Texas, we will just need to plan another trip to see this part of history.

However, we had another 200 miles on the road before reaching our hotel for the night.  We were determined to make it to Alamogordo, New Mexico.  We even made it in time for dinner.  We trusted Hank would stay in a kennel for our evening meal.  It helped that the hotel room was set up for animals with tile floors and a close fitted alcove in a corner.  We only had space for a collapsible kennel and it proved to be a challenge for the trip but we made it work.  I have never seen a dog flip himself around so much...I really needed to make a video of his gymnastics throughout the night.

Day 2--On to Family and Friends and a Break from the Road

The next morning, we were still on Texas time...and up and out the door by 6am.  Unfortunately, we had a slow start due to a undesired breakfast experience.  The hotel did not have breakfast so we had to stop at a restaurant with bad service.  However, the next stop was only a short distance...White Sands National Park.  This was an amazing park but we ended up here right after several school buses of students arrived.  This furthered the slow down for our day.  They had taken over the gift shop/ranger station in order to purchase these large plastic discs.  I did not know the importance of this until we got to the ranger...these were used to slide down the dunes just as one would do with snow.


After a walk around some dunes and the children wishing they could slide like the others...I remembered that I had a pizza box in the back of the van!  I thought it would work as well as the plastic.  Unfortunately, I was wrong...believe me if it could work, Edward would have made it happen.  He tried so hard to slide down that dune!  The experience was still fun and we learned a lot about the various animals found in the dunes.


With our late start and our extended stay at the park, we were not able to go to any other parks along the way.  We headed straight for Tucson...thankful for the state that did not join in on Daylight Savings Time.  We arrived just after 5pm and this gave us a nice evening with my dear childhood friend and her family.  I even had a chance to see her mother who I had not seen since I was in junior high.  She has not aged a bit and was the kind woman I remember as a child.  Silly me...I only took one picture the entire evening...a nice photo of her daughter and mine...if we lived closer they might be childhood friends like their moms.

I arrived late into the evening to Michael's brother's home.  We had the joy of staying with them through the weekend.  We enjoyed the time out of the car but mostly just spending time talking and doing every day things like...cooking, swimming in their pool, watching movies, playing video games, going to Mass, making homemade playdough, and even introducing geocaching to our niece!  I wish we lived closer so the cousins could spend more time together.

It did not take long to find ourselves back in the van heading west again.  However, we did have a rough start that morning.  I could not find my keys (I was able to pull our my second set and found the original keys stuffed under a car seat upon our arrival to California.).  Hank also was not so willing to get in the van for this second stretch of the road.  Maybe we were all a little reluctant to make another road trip so soon but off to California we went...well at least to the outskirts of the state we were destined to go.

We could not resist a stop at the Saguaro National Park just thirty minutes down the road.  As we drove into the park, we found out why it was given its name...there were saguaro cacti EVERYWHERE!  Supposedly one of the few places in the nation where they grown naturally.  We arrived very early and had the park to ourselves.  This allowed us to see large lizards on the visitor center deck, birds flying through the shrubs and we even walked the trails with ease.

We were just about to leave when the ranger came out to raise the flag.  What a great experience!  We were even given the Junior Ranger booklets to affirm all the amazing things we saw in the time we were there.

Then we headed to our next stop which was just another thirty minutes...Ironwood National Park.  However, we realized right away that there was something wrong.  First of all there were not the standard brown signs leading the way to the park.  It became quite evident that there was not a park in the area when we ended up on a dirt road of disrepair!  However, all was not lost...we found ground squirrels, quail hen with her chicks, woodpeckers going into the cactus holes, and a rattle snake that attacked our tires as we drove by.

We continued down the road to our next "park" and found the same situation!  However, this time I chose to turn around before going on the dirt road.  I guess we will save those parks for the next generation to explore!

The next big stop of our day was in the middle of a desert in western Arizona...a Snoopy on a Rocket!  It was on the "must" see list for the area.  I had the children get out to walk Hank and snapped a picture or two as well.

We only made it 300 miles up the road but we were setting us up for another adventure for the next day.  Hank decided we needed the adventure to start that night instead.  We arrived in Kingman, Arizona early in the afternoon.  This is a historic town along the old Route 66 path so I knew the children would enjoy eating at an old fashion diner.  While we were enjoying dinner and a few caches found in town, Hank escaped his kennel and marked the entire room.  He also chewed through the cord that charged the children's tablet.  By the time we arrived, we were down to one double bed and avoided the main walk way throughout the night.  Needless to say, we were glad to wake up early and start down the road.

It really would not have been hard to motivate the children into the van anyway...Edward had been looking forward to crossing over the Hoover Dam since we began planning this trip.  This was only a few miles up the road and we arrived at Lake Mead National Recreation Area early in the morning.  Unfortunately, we could not take a tour of the facility because only children eight and older could take the tour.  We also found out that to the cross over the dam, vehicles had to be inspected and our vehicle would be rejected because it was overloaded.  We decided that the best option was to return with Michael and the older boys to enjoy together.  SO, when we arrived at Lake Mead we were happy to find out that there was a Junior Ranger program.  This was a fun way to learn about the area and earn a badge.  We also had the joy of seeing a Gambel's quail hen with her chicks up close.

We then started the long drive through Death Valley.  Let's just say that I had a full tank of gas going in to the desert and was begging for a gas station when made it to the other side.  I really thought we were going to run out of gas in the middle of the desert!  We did stop at several places in the desert park.  We found out that the visitor center was in the middle of the park and we were happy to get out of the heat (96 degrees) and into the cool building to complete some of the Junior Ranger activities.  When we continued our trek out of the park, we thought it would be a short distance to our hotel.  We found out what the "road goes on forever" really feels like...and much of the road was winding up and down mountain roads followed by long stretches of plains.  At one place along the way we were able to see a kit fox that came right up to the van as if it wanted a picture.  I am glad we were inside the van and safe.

We also found out that Hank is not good on winding mountain roads.  I never thought I would see a dog turn green.  We are all very thankful he did not get sick!  We were also thankful to be out of this area and into the San Joaquin Valley.  There were now fruit trees, almond trees, vineyards and olive groves.  IF...and that is a BIG IF...we ever stayed in California...this would be the spot for me.  The hills were beautiful and seeing all the agricultural area come together was amazing, especially after the Death Valley experience.  We traveled close to 600 miles by the time we reached our hotel.  We drove a little out of the way to see the sites but it was worth it in the end.

We arrived at the hotel and Hank decided he had had enough of the kennel.  It was a nylon kennel with a zippered door entry.  Within a couple of minutes in the hotel, he decided to tear his way out of the kennel.  He tore the seam along the door so we had to be creative.  We decided to close him in the bathroom.  This was a great plan as he settled down and enjoyed the freedom that was not allowed in the confining kennel.  We had a good night's rest and he stayed happy.  He even willingly left the hotel and jumped into the van.

We were off to a great start for our last day on the road.  We just wanted to experience one more national park before making our final destination (for now!) in Monterey.  We were heading to the Sequoia National Park!  The drive up the mountain was gorgeous.  I had to fight stopping to take pictures and for the millionth time I was missing my photographer.  I think we could leave Henry at this park for a few days and he would still not have enough time to photograph everything.  The hilly mountains were green with trees and grass...somehow yucca decided to grow in the area but the plants had the greenest stems I had ever seen on a yucca and they were growing in large patches up the mountain.  We made multiple stops along the way...very thankful that we started out early so we could enjoy the park and still we did not see everything we would have liked to see!  I think this will definitely need a second look when we can take the older ones with us.  The big highlights of this park were the petroglyphs, the giant sequoias, playing in snow, and seeing the black bear cub in a meadow.  I also enjoyed taking a photo of the children "holding" clouds and randomly picking out the family from Texas to make comments about the weather.  It turned out they had also been in Death Valley the day before and were surprised to have the 50 degree difference in temperature from one park to the next!

We left the park and zoomed into Monterey in time to surprise Michael a day early.  Our plan was to hide in the bedroom until he arrived but we had another surprise when we arrived.  We put Hank in the back yard and began exploring the house.  After a few minutes, we decided to to check on him...he had cornered a little kitten...turns out we had an entire litter of kittens under our porch.  Since we have no business having four kittens, I called Michael to see what we should do with them.  When I called, I asked him how he was and when he would be home.  He said he was working out and would be back in about 20 minutes.  He asked if we had arrived at our hotel for the night and I said yes that it looked like a storage room.  He asked where we had stopped, and I told him it was a little town on the coast.  It took him a minute but realized we had arrived...great fun!  He made it home in record time!  We took care of the kittens and all was well.

A long ride but lots of fun along the way.  I am so thankful that we had safe travels.  Now we have a week rest (well...most likely adjust as we unpack) before heading to Seattle area....more on this next time.