Whew. Finally, our lives and personal artifacts are in only two places. On a truck or in a storage unit somewhere, and at the hotel. Yesterday was our final push, driving from Tucson to Page and back in a day in order to pick up Robyn’s newly repaired car. You’ll recall from last week that it died in Page, stalling at the Maverick gas station. Turns out they simply had to connect a hose. Grrr. At least it wasn’t an expensive fix.
We left Tucson at about 6am, and got to Page right around Noon. We knew the repair shop would be closed, but they said they would hide the key for us – No problem! Well, except the mechanic hid the key for Robyn’s car under the gas cap door cover. The door cover that locked shut. So, after breaking that, we returned our rental, ran the dogs a bit at a nearby dog park, and headed back out.
About 2 and half hours south of Page, we saw signs saying there was a road closure due to wild fire. No sweat, we gassed up, got some snacks and water, and headed out on an alternate route. Well, as it turns out, there really were TWO wildfires, and we had to take an alternate to the alternate route. So we let the dogs out to pee, we all drank more water, and headed out. More time passes. Closer to home we started to get hungry, so we looked up the same 24 hour Mexican place we ate at exactly 7 days ago on our way into town. The map said only 35 miles on the freeway to get to our dinner, but it showed 2 hours with traffic. I laughed thinking “stupid smartphone”. Heh.
As it happens, in addition to the fires, detours, etc. Some folks were practicing creative driving. By “some”, I mean three. Three accidents on the home stretch of road that already had a lane closure. The road between us and dinner. The road between the dogs and a patch of grass at the hotel. Ugh. Needless to say, that last 35 miles took some time. We did make it to Los Betos for some drive through. Chicken Tacos for Robyn, and the “Tucson” burrito for me. Ham, bacon, potato and the like wrapped in tortilla goodness. So by the time we settled in to the hotel to eat our midnight dinner, we’d effectively been on the road for 18 hours yesterday.
As we were drifting off to sleep, we reflected on how much driving we’d done in the past 8 days. 2,500 miles, about 48 hours spent in the driver’s seat, crossed through 4 states, and toted some dogs who really don’t look forward to getting into the car like they used to. Hopefully our driving will be local for a bit, and focused on dog parks, taco trucks, house hunting, and site seeing. Please enjoy a few photos of this beautiful new place we call home.
G n’ R
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- 6am start time!
Well done peeps, the pics look great! Reminds me of Western Australia.