We saw lots of oil drills and windmills along the way.
Our next destination wasn't until we got to Arizona - the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.
We stopped in Amarillo for a quick lunch then took off again. We were almost out of Texas!
I had talked to my mom on the way, telling her how the drive was going and that we were planning to stop in Winslow, AZ that night. Not even 5 minutes later, I had an email confirmation that she booked us a place to stay! Seriously - she's the best, it was SO much appreciated. We were really, really looking forward to getting there and relaxing for the rest of the night.
We had already been driving for about 8 hours and everything was going smoothly. We finally made it to New Mexico! And then the fun began...
About 10 miles into NM, the bikes started coming loose, so Eric pulled over to fix them.
About 10 miles later the Tahoe started acting up.
To make a long story short, the issue was something the mechanic (back at my grandparents) already warned Eric about. So he knew right away what the problem was. It just ended up taking more time than we expected to find a place to get what we needed, and then for Eric to fix it.
Have to stay goofy in the midst of it all ;)
Poor Eric was dripping in sweat in the New Mexico heat trying to finish the job. One guy came by to try and help. Another guy even set down three cold water bottles and a soda in front of us before driving away, saying he felt bad for us and needed to do something.
Eric was determined to get us back on the road, and he did!
We got to see some gorgeous sunsets along the way. And we did finally make it to Winslow, AZ to get some sleep for the night :)
The next morning I don't know if we'd ever been so excited about a complimentary breakfast before. We both filled up and then took some extra food for the road.
Thanks again, mom!
We were fully rested, and truly excited for our final day on the road! We had a lot of site-seeing planned for the morning.
First stop was Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. We had to backtrack a little bit since we were set back the day before, but it was completely worth it.
Eric is sitting on petrified wood.
Reliving his desert days.
Next stop - Meteor Crater. This was so interesting to see and learn about.
The size of the actual meteor was about the size of a football field (smaller than the ring you see at the base of the crater).
We spent some time in their museum learning all about it and goofing off before getting back in the car.
Next stop - Grand Canyon!
And boy was it Grand.
Pictures don't do it justice.
Does it not look like a painting? It looks like Eric is standing in front of a backdrop.
Well worth going out of our way for an hour to get here.
It was getting close to midday by the time we got back on the road to head to our final stop - San Diego.
We made it to San Diego around 9 PM Friday night. It was already dark out so I wasn't able to get pictures coming in, nor did I really see much of anything until the next day. I can't wait to share what we've been up to since then!
We loved everything about the cross-country trip. We knew not everything would go exactly according to plan, which is why we intentionally didn't schedule everything. But that's what made it an adventure for us. A lot of new memories were made along the way and it was a trip we will never forget.
We couldn't have done this trip without all of our family who helped us out SO much along the way. My siblings for recommending some amazing Podcasts and books on tape that kept us awake (truly) during some really tough hours on the road. Eric's parents for sending us away with food and snacks, housing/feeding us while we couldn't access our place in Alexandria, and volunteering to take care of getting my car loaded up to get shipped after we left. My grandparents for housing us, feeding us, saving the day getting our car back on the road so we could make it to the other end safely. My mom for getting us a place to stay and a hearty breakfast to send us on our way in Arizona. Eric's sister for housing us on the other end in San Diego, feeding us, and helping us get settled in. And then even more extended family (my Aunt Janet, my cousin Michael, and more) who have offered to have us over and welcome us with open arms as we familiarize ourselves with CA. It literally takes a village, and we lucked out on ours.
