Wandering West, Day 14, Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Today we hit the road, this time heading back east. Yep, we are in the final stretch of our Wandering West adventure. The next several days will be filled with a lot of driving and hopefully a few interesting stops along the way.
Today though, it was all about driving. Our goal today was to lay down as many miles as we could. We left Lemon Cove, CA at around 7 am and traveled 594 miles east and we now find ourselves at Meteor Crater RV Park in Winslow, AZ. We drove for 14 hours today! Well, let me clarify that, I rode, Johnny drove (and Scott, Kevin, Jaci, Houston, Linda, & Tiffany). I have the easy job; hang out in the front seat, take videos of interesting sights along the way, and search Google Maps when needed.
Today was also very, very HOT! We stopped in Needles, CA for fuel & food and it was 118 degrees. I had thought the rest stop a few hours before was hot at 104 degrees, but nope…it got hotter! Thank goodness for good ac units in our vehicles.
Long travel days are hard. Tonight, we pulled into our RV park about an hour after we intended to stop thanks to some construction on I-40. So upon arrival; we had some very tired, stressed, hungry people (at least in our vehicle). Then to top things off, the reservations I had made hours earlier with the RV park were not what they were supposed to be. Yes, we all had spaces to park, but not necessarily all the amenities we had requested, and we were pulling in after-hours so there was no one to talk to about the problem. Of course, this just pushed me over the edge. I’ll admit, I lost my cool. I snapped a few times at Johnny, poor guy. I tend to do that when my “plans” don’t quite work out the way I had them in my head. We are making the best of it. The important thing is that we all made it safely here. Right now Johnny is sleeping soundly beside me resting up for another full day of driving tomorrow.
I must say though, the chaos of getting set up here did make me walk away to attempt a reset. Once I got the kids and Johnny settled, I took a walk around the campground, then found myself laying on a picnic table looking up at the stars. It was at that moment that I became truly thankful again for this experience. Yes, I have sat and watched the stars from my home (and Arkansas has some pretty good views of the night sky), but it’s not often that I am going to be able to lay in the middle of nowhere Arizona and see the expanse of stars that God has placed in the sky. It’s those times that you realize just how small you are but that God sees me and loves me. In this same place, I was able to watch cars fly by on I-40 in the distance. It gave me a sense of being truly free. The expanse of the stars above and the freedom of the highway below, this is what I love about traveling. The sense of freedom, of being able to explore and just enjoy God’s creation all around. Those few moments watching the night sky were just what I needed to reset my mind and soul.
“…The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” Psalm 19:1
