Gann and company finally home...

We did make it home, back to beautiful Sonoma county after 6 long days of traveling through some places that really made me appreciate even more that where I live is Eden! The Gannimals traveled pretty well together and Juno my grand-dog was so good sometimes I forgot she was even in the back of the XTerra. Went all the way up highway 99 to the outskirts of Sac which was a little detour but we couldn't be that close and not visit Uncle Herschel. He had gotten a little pouty when he knew the girls saw his sis Aunt Loretta when we stopped for a sleepover in Arkansas. Got home right before my bedtime and boy was I excited to see my bed. Oh and the hubby too. It's been over 6 months since that trip and the Gannimals have moved on to paths of their own so don't see them much, they are really "girls of summer" with parties and the good friends they need to connect with. I will start to blog now about sailor kid who just left with the Truman aircraft carrier for a 9 month deployment. Keep watching for up and coming post!

Yes we do eventually get home...

We got rolling along Highway 40, the old route 66 without too much hassle from truckers. Road was icy and needless to say the idea of a detour to Grand Canyon didn't happen, road was closed and it was one degree temp there. Brr, too cold. We were able to see another hole in the ground though, visited the largest meteor crater near Winslow AZ. Kind of interesting, I brought hubby a t-shirt and we all stole rocks from the explosion site. Kind of a nice diversion from the highway hypnosis. Finally got to Barstow CA for our last sleepover on the trip. Really jonesing to get home so took a sleeping pill and dreamed of my own bed from the peacefulness of the local Motel 6. To be continued...

Highway hypnosis, Gann convoy still rolling

Well have you just been loving the suspense and also how I've managed to drag out a 6 day trip to almost 6 months worth of postings? Ok here you go... No sorry, what happens in New Mexico stays in New Mexico and you must know everything turned out in the long run. We finally got to Gallup New Mexico where I did hear from Chadd that even though it's his high school alma mater gave the opinion that it's the asshole of the state. It seemed pretty enough to me once daylight arrived and we ventured out to the frozen vehicles, the sun sparkling on the snowbanks. Even got a great photo of sockmonkey doing snow angels while I walked Juno to have her morning constitution before we once again hit the highway. We were going to make it all the way to California by that night with the Arizona scenery flashing by us, another long day on an icy Interstate 40. To be continued...

Continuing saga of January Gann convoy...

New Mexico, ahh begining to be more hopeful that we will actually make it home with out killing each other or someone gets left at an Interstate highway 40 truck stop. Hmm, well that's what I thought til Albuquerque. To be continued...

 

OK, I skipped Oklahoma...

When I was about to chat about the part of Texas we went through I looked at the map and realized I forgot about Oklahoma. Truthfully about all that there was during the miles through OK was that that show tune "Oklahoma" kept going through my head and I saw a casino about every 20 miles. Maybe that's an exageration but it sure seemed to be about 50 that I saw just while on highway 40. So now on to Texas. We left OK from a really dumpy motel 6 early in the day and headed for Texas. We arrived in Amarillo sometime mid day where it was snowing and my debit card at the truck stop was declined at the pump and then again inside due to possible fradulant activity. Stupid me hadn't told my bank that I would be having a really delightful splurge across America buying gas, fast food and helping get cheap motel rooms. On the plus side after having a meltdown with my bank I realized it was for my own good and about a half hour later I could get gas. We then took a side jaunt through downtown Amarillo and found a very cool shop with lots of Native American goods which mama Tina treated us all to a medicine pouch with a couple sacred stones in it. I was the happiest camper you ever wanted to see when we saw the sign that said Thanks for Visiting Texas! On to New Mexico and hopefully home in a couple more days. To be continued...

Highway hypnosis, did I mention Texas yet?

Highway hypnosis part 3

I think when I last posted we had been welcomed from the pouring rain after driving 14 hours, into the warm and lovely Memphis home of Debbie and Bill, Matt's parents. We awoke the next morning to the smell of fresh baked blueberry muffins. After a nice morning visit with them we went to McAllisters deli for lunch and sweet tea (well some of them had sweet tea, not me!) Got the vehicles all gassed and went to the Walmart parking lot for a tearful goodby to the sailors who would stick around Memphis for another day or two then head back to the base in Norfolk. Under dreary grey sky and drizzle rain the Gann convoy headed west, next stop Aunt Loretta and Uncle Greg in Searcy Arkansas. After the previous day of grueling road weariness it would be nice to take just a short hop across the river and head off onto some very boonie like roads to arrive at L and G's in just a few hours. Welcomed with open arms just before dinner time to the girl's Aunt Loretta and Uncle Greg, transplanted from California awhile back, it was family re-union time! We ate pizza til we couldn't get down another bite and then Uncle Greg and I watched t.v. in the other room while Aunt Loretta got her Gannimal fix. It was the sweetest sound while I drifted off to sleep to hear chatter and laughter from the kitchen well into the night with the girls catching their aunt up with all of their stories from the past few years. Out eyes opened the next day to a beautiful blue Arkansas sky. Had a wonderful treat of heading to the local Searcy IHOP for brunch, bought some snacks and things for the road and hit the highway. It was going to be a long day hoping to make it all the way across Oklahoma but I didn't care. Each mile was getting us closer to home. To be continued...