Where did Route 66 go?

So we keeping trying to figure out where Route 66 is, we see signs at every exit and from time to time we see a frontage road that looks like it, but where is the rest of it? One of our maps even has a faded line where it used to be but it's not there now... it's almost like it just disappeared after I-40 went in.

It was nice to get an earlier start Friday morning, I think all the time changes heading West are helping out. We coordinate with my sister Jerusha (who was heading East with her family) to meet up just outside of Albuquerque, NM at mile marker 149. I'm so glad it worked out see everyone and the cousins were very happy to play together. After catching up and taking a few pictures it was back on the road. Just as we entered Arizona we came to our next destination, the Painted Desert & Petrified Forest. It was beautiful but windy, very windy. Our plan was to enter the park and have a family picnic as we enjoyed the view. The 45 mph sand filled wind made it a little challenging but we made the best of it.

It was now off to the Grand Canyon, our last planned stop before heading home. We thought about skipping it to get back home a little sooner, but when we got there we were glad we didn't. It was amazing, just amazing. We took some great pictures, but then I realized that it might be impossible to take a bad one. The kids thought it was great that they could run around a play, Kristy did not. Most of the look out points had hand rails and short chain link fencing but not all of it and there were some areas where the fence had large child size gaps under them. So we took extra care to prevent our children from doing any unplanned base jumping. That's not to say that our time was without incident, both Lauryn and Luke managed to bleed before we left. As we drove by one of the camp grounds on our way out we decided it would be fun to come back and camp out with the kids in a few years.

One more stop at McDonalds and it was 225 miles to Kingman, AZ for the night.

A Close Call

It was another long day yesterday... we were running a little late to get to our 10am tour at Dallas Theological Seminary when our van decided not to start. After getting a jump start we made it over to the campus and enjoyed the tour. From there we headed to an auto part store for a battery only to find out that the battery was fine. So we drove over to a local shop to have it looked at. The mechanic cleaned our battery cables and post and could find anything else wrong, so we got lunch and headed out of Dallas around 1pm.

Logan and Lauryn did great, Luke however had a series of screaming fits before dinner so we had to stop a few times to try to give our ear drums a break. We decided to take the kids to Chucke Cheeses for dinner in Amarillo, but when we arrived we were told that the oven was broken so they couldn't make any pizza! We stayed and played for about an hour and found a Pizza Hut with a buffett and TV's showing the Laker's game... perfect.

By the time we got back on the road it was 9:30pm Central time and we were hoping to make it another 300 miles before we stopped. Everything was going fine, the kids all fell asleep, the weather cleared up, and we picked up an hour driving into New Mexico's time zone. And then the wheels came off... we had covered about 200 miles (and the last set of hotels for a while) when one by one the kids started waking up crying & screaming. I stopped to let Kristy drive so I could get in the back and help calm them down (since I don't get car sick). It took a little work, but they eventually all relaxed but were more then ready for a bed which was 58 miles away. Kristy tried to get there as fast as she could and just 4 miles before our exit got pulled over for speeding... 84 in a 75. The officer came to the window and took Kristy's license and went back to his car to write a ticket and probably get away from the three crying children that woke back up when we were stopped. When the officer came back he told us that he had 5 kids of his own and would just give us a warning this time. We said thank you about 100 times and were very happy to see our hotel shortly after.

Today it's off to the Grand Canyon and to hopefully meet up with Grandma, Poppy, and the Kazmiers somewhere on I-40.

We drove over 500 miles yesterday from Orlando to New Orleans starting with getting a bag full of Florida oranges from a fruit stand, yummy! When we arrived at our hotel we didn't realize how close it was to Bourbon Street and saw a lot of dancing in the streets. Crazy! We took a morning stroll through the French Quarter of N. Orleans and to the River Walk, (yes, the Mississippi River again!) Geoff and the kids indulged me and we drove through the Garden District where there are beautiful New Orleans style homes. I love the style of homes there and the family didn't mind the extra miles.

Logan and Lauryn had an especially great day in the van yesterday. With Luke cutting teeth (we think!) he was pretty fussy the whole trip and even missed a nap. It was a long 500 miles with my back aching and Luke screaming. I did get some Jumbalaya for lunch from a little restaurant with fake alligator heads and lots of fresh crawfish, you know just in case you really want to buy an alligator head while eating lunch = ). Before lunch we were delayed over an hour on a bridge from an accident with so many emergency vehicles and a chopper we knew it wasn't good. We walked on the bridge and made do with snacks in the car for the kiddos. We were praying and thanking God we weren't involved in the accident as we were only 50 yeards from the crash and were there from the beginning before the police even arrived.

Now we are about to take a tour of Dallas Theological Seminary where Geoff has always been interested in going to continue to work on his seminary degree. Since he was a child he has attended a family summer camp at Mount Hermon in the Santa Cruz Mountains that was hosted by Dallas Seminary so we are really excited to see the campus and see if we will ever be Texans at some point of our life (don't worry, we both love being Californian's especially after this trip!) I will add pictures this evening of our New Orleans touring once we get to the New Mexico border.

Surprise Location revealed...

We made it to our surprise location, like you haven't already guessed!!!

This part of our trip was unplanned from when we started about 12 days ago but where th open road takes you , you have to go! It’s also our 8th wedding anniversary so what better place to enjoy our anniversary then the “Happiest Place on Earth”, Disney World. We stayed at a Disney Resort Hotel that’s family and budget friendly with movie themed hotel wings. We stayed in the “Herbie the Love Bug” section and a ginormous (to quote Elf) Volkswagon Bug was the entrance to the hotel. We spent most of the afternoon enjoying the Florida heat and humidity with Mickey in his wizard hat shooting water at us in the resort pool. Fun family time was spent jumping, splashing and swimming together, even little Lukie. We then ventured over to Downtown Disney that takes the cake above the Southern California Downtown Disney for sure.

The next morning we took the family to the Magic Kingdom but not without a slow start. Our night’s sleep was broken up many times by waking children and trying to share a double bed, but our adrenaline kicked in as we were so excited to go and “play” for the day, it being our anniversary and all. Already it was HOT when we hit the resort but we knew to go straight to Fantasyland where all the children’s rides are. We had quick lines and a lot of success with the rides and good attitudes right away. That good streak continued on through the day and we found that we missed our good old Disneyland because the Magic Kingdom is set up so similar but not as good. Logan’s favorite ride of the day was a rollercoaster for children called Barn Stormroom in Mickey’s Toon Town Fair. In the same land, Lauryn and I went to meet the princesses and had special Mom and daughter time. It’s completely worth the wait, 30 minutes in air conditioning with movies playing! Luke’s favorite rides were Small World and the Tiki Room where he danced and barked at the birds. We completed our day with Frontierland riding Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise Boat where Logan got to drive the boat and talk on the PA system. The day went pretty well, enough to know that we should end it while we were ahead and skipped the fireworks show and one last Fastpass before mommy fast-passed out. We’re on to Mobile, Alabama tomorrow reluctantly leaving such a beautiful and fun place, but I’m excited to start heading West again. Happy Anniversary my Love!!