Day 13: Arizona Rays

We had a lovely time visiting Russ’s brother Dave, and his wife Susan.  The last time we visited them was when I was pregnant with Josh right before we moved to North Carolina, so it was kind of fitting that we visit them as we were leaving North Carolina.  (No pregnancy this time though!) 

Susan made yummy homemade wheat bread (it’s been way too long) and strawberry freezer jam for us, and the kids spent a long time swimming in their pool and wondering why I wouldn’t get all the way in.  (cold water wimp, remember?) 

Jared was funny—after he was out and all dried off Susan asked him to get all of the pool toys out and put them away.  He managed to get everything out without actually getting in—he was very creative.

Here we all are before we left, along with their darling grandson Brody. 

The rest of the day was a long drive from Arizona to San Diego.  The kids napped and I enjoyed watching the rugged mountains and all of the cactus.  We got to go through several more border patrol checkpoints and I did my best to be a normal person. 

The only other notable event of the drive was the wind.  I saw some wind advisory signs but really didn’t pay much attention—other than the day of rain in Texas, we’ve really had terrific weather this whole trip.  But I started paying attention pretty quickly.  It was after dark and I was already kind of tired, and I noticed that the van was harder to control than normal.  When I looked I could see that the plants along the side of the interstate were blowing like crazy.  I had to slow down quite a bit before I felt in control again.

We arrived at our little guesthouse in San Diego at about 10:30, tired but excited about the next day!

miles travelled: 391                                                                                    total miles: 3244

 

PS—Cindy Lynn points out that I may have handed down the inability to be serious in serious circumstances.  In February of 2002 we left the little kids with a babysitter and flew down to Orlando with the big kids.  Cindy Lynn had all of her breathing treatment equipment in her carryon, and when it went through the xray machine they stopped it.  (Remember, this was just a few months after 9/11.)  They asked what was in her bag and she said, 13 years old and quite sarcastic already, “It’s a bomb.”  And then they searched her very carefully, and Russ & I told her over and over again for weeks and years that if there’s one place you should never joke around, it’s airport security.

PPS—I must also point out that Russ and I had seriously neglected Cindy Lynn’s “appropriate airport attitude” lessons up to this point.  An omission that we seriously regretted and have spent years rectifying.