As we traveled from Phoenix towards Williams, the temp slowly but surely dropped. On the approach to Flagstaff, there were actually snow capped mountains in the distance, a good sign. It actually dropped to the low 40's a night, so we went from the furnace of Phoenix, to running our furnace at night. We stayed in Williams because it was the closest park to the Grand Canyon that could accommodate a rig our size. It was 50 miles from the Grand Canyon Visitors Cente...

When we left for Phoenix, we did not realize that by driving 116 miles North we would be leaving the wonderfully warm sunny weather of Tucson and entering the desert furnace. I've always heard that it is dry heat, so it does not feel as hot as Dallas, but with temps over 100 every day we were here it was really hard to tell any difference. It was just hot as hell. Phoenix is a big sprawling city like Dallas with lots and lots of shopping areas. The most signific...

As we drove across New Mexico on our way to Tucson, we saw an almost constant stream of billboards for "The Thing". None provided much information but they definitely hyped the 'mystery'. I checked out Wikipedia (mobile internet is our friend) and discovered that The Thing was a mummified woman and child in a glass topped coffin originally created for a '60s era sideshow. We were due for a stop and it was only going to be $1 so we exited the highway to be "amazed...

We got a late start as we left Dallas, as Dessa had predicted. I'm glad I listened to her (for many reasons) and booked an overnight stop in Abilene on our way to Carlsbad Caverns. The 500 miles to Carlsbad wouldn’t have been that bad in my G37 (with a little speeding) but when we tow the trailer I only drive 65 mph (and still get less than 10 mpg) so it was going to take us longer and for the most part we weren’t in a big hurry. The drive across Te...

After a 16 hour red eye, we landed mid morning on April 7th. Ashlee and Hunter picked us up and then we met Alex for a quick lunch. We had been gone a long time for an 18 month old but thanks to weekly Facetime, Hunter seemed to remember us. When we left he wasn't walking and barely talking, now he is running and making an almost constant stream of noise (some of which are words). It’s so good to be home. After lunch we went to pick up the RV, which didn&...