Big Trip 2... Day 10... July 8, 2007... Sunday
0650 Wake up.
0737 The kids are eating donuts for breakfast and talking about who is eating Arnie. "Who's eating Arnie?" "Not me!" "So-and-so is eating Arnie!" Then Ryan and Bella try to get Felisa to say Arnie.
Ryan: "Say Arnie"
Felisa: "I'm not saying it"
Bella: "Say Ar"
Felisa: "I'm not saying Ar either. I'm just saying nothing and eating my donut called nothing!"
0823 The girls are playing Hungry Hungry Hippos. When a new round starts, Felisa says: "Start your hippos!"
0845 Spa time... girls get their bangs trimmed, their hair combed, their nails trimmed, and their faces washed.
1007 Leaving Grandma and Grandpa R's house.
1009 Gas at Smiths... $3/gallon. Call Mom to update her on our schedule/plan for the day.
1020 Stop at REI to buy a bike rack. Ron decided there wasn't enough room in the van for all of us and a bike. Grandma and Grandpa R followed us over to REI with the bike in the back of their truck.
1021 I wonder if there is a Starbucks close by? I sure could use a Ice Mocha while I'm waiting for the bike rack installation. Melissa points out that there is an IHOP (which has been renamed the Intergalactic House of Pancakes since our visit to Roswell).
1051 Done. Bike is ready to go. Stop at Arby's for lunch before we hit the road.
1105 Leaving Arby's and on the highway headed for Colorado Springs. GPS says we have 386.4 miles and 5:32 to go...
1110 Melissa says she can't go back to McDonalds after eating all the good food we've had on our trip. Sonic, Jack-in-the-Box, even Arby's. All better than McD's, hands down.
1139 Ron says that our car is pretty good even though it's a minivan. Fully loaded it is going up the big hill north of Albuquerque without a problem. All of his other cars, the jeep, etc. all struggle a bit with this hill.
1148 South of Santa Fe... see some dinosaur statues.
1157 Passing the Robinson's house... Which reminds me... we need to call Scott, the Robinsons, Travis, Chipmunk, and Patricia to schedule visits while we're in the "neighborhood".
12:01 p.m. Letters from home is sung by... no one knows. (okay - I googled it. John Michael Montgomery)
12:30 p.m. Felisa: "My heart is itchy." Ummm... okay... scratch it?!? Turns out it's just her chest that itches.
12:41 p.m. Ryan is playing with the ring tones on Melissa's phone. Melissa's cell phone has been one of the favorite toys on the trip so far. What will we do when she leaves and takes it with her?
12:42 p.m. Ron: "Vegas Baby!" (passing Las Vegas, NM)
1:13 p.m. Movie time... Magic School Bus
1:19 p.m. We are about 2 hours from Pueblo.
1:23 p.m. One lone, lonely calf... I wonder why he's all alone out there in that big field?
2:08 p.m. Raton, NM... Ron's standard stop for this route is Arby's. Will we be okay if we don't stop. He says yes... the backup stop is Taco Bell in Trinidad.
2:09 p.m. The last episode of Magic School Bus is starting. How far can we get in 25 minutes? Probably not all the way to the hotel, unfortunately.
2:17 p.m. COLORADO!!!
2:20 p.m. My forearm muscles are sore. I've been typing blog entries for 2 hours! Ron: "Why? No one will read it." Sheila: "It goes in the scrapbook. Someday you will be old and senile and glad to have it. Until then, the kids and I like to read it."
2:30 p.m. Trinidad, CO... we both remember stopping at that McD's before with a crying baby. Ron: "Which one was it?" Sheila: "I don't remember. I think it was probably all of them at least once!"
2:36 p.m. Movie is over. Time to crack open the snack box. Good thing we replenished in Albuquerque.
2:37 p.m. Ryan offers a potential vacation title... Give a Mouse a Vacation, Continued.
2:48 p.m. Mom calls
2:53 p.m. Police car with blinking lights passes us. Wonder where he's going...
3:00 p.m. Looks like we might get our daily rain after all.
3:20 p.m. Bella is awake and all the others are asleep. Earlier Bella was asleep while everyone else was awake.
3:32 p.m. Okay, I give up. I have typed 13 pages for the blog and I just can't type any more.
3:33 p.m. Pueblo. 60 miles to go.
3:40 p.m. Oh wait... could it be? It is... it's raindrops! Not many - just enough to qualify as rain.
3:41 p.m. Billboard for ice coffee at McD's! Yippee!
3:43 p.m. Lightning!
3:46 p.m. Wind!
3:47 p.m. More lightning!
3:50 p.m. Bikini Babe Harley Girl rides past on her motorcyle, wearing nothing above the waist but a string bikini top and sunglasses. Doesn't look comfortable to me. Ron says that it's not even sunny so it's not like she's working on her tan...
3:53 p.m. Rain. Lots of it this time.
4:00 p.m. Pass Bikini Biker Babe waiting out the rain under the overpass.
4:01 p.m. Oh no - running out of gas. Looks like we'll have to stop after all.
4:07 p.m. Stop for gas in Fountain. $3.09/gallon. Ron says the pink blanket and the pink sleeping bag were hanging out the back of the luggage box on top - barely holding on! A couple guys were staring at us when they passed us a while back. Now we know what they were staring at and it wasn't Ron's handsome bike! I wonder how much longer it would've held on before it fell all the way out. Life lesson: Never put anything valuable in the roofbox!
4:19 p.m. Back on the road. About 20 minutes to go. Elevation now is about 5,900 feet.
4:47 p.m. Arrive at the hotel. Unload everything and get settled in. This will be our "home" for the next week.
6:15 p.m. Grandma Ford comes. Gives the kids a tour of the hotel then we head out for dinner.
6:45 p.m. Arrive at Black-Eyed Pea. Yummy dinner!
8:30 p.m. Back at the hotel. Everyone gets changed for swimming.
9:45 p.m. Back in the room. Melissa is in the shower so I take the kids to Grandma's "house" for a shower.
10:30 p.m. Watching Dirty Jobs on t.v. Trying to convince Ryan to quiet down and go to sleep. Bella is almost asleep and Felisa gets kicked out of Melissa's bed and sent back to sleep with Mommy.
10:42 p.m. Waiting for my turn on the computer...
10:47 p.m. Felisa is asleep now too. Ryan and Melissa are still awake.
11:00 p.m. My turn - finally!
11:29 p.m. I'm hearing voices. Melissa says I'm crazy. It's too dark to type anyway so I guess I'll go to bed.
0650 Wake up.
0737 The kids are eating donuts for breakfast and talking about who is eating Arnie. "Who's eating Arnie?" "Not me!" "So-and-so is eating Arnie!" Then Ryan and Bella try to get Felisa to say Arnie.
Ryan: "Say Arnie"
Felisa: "I'm not saying it"
Bella: "Say Ar"
Felisa: "I'm not saying Ar either. I'm just saying nothing and eating my donut called nothing!"
0823 The girls are playing Hungry Hungry Hippos. When a new round starts, Felisa says: "Start your hippos!"
0845 Spa time... girls get their bangs trimmed, their hair combed, their nails trimmed, and their faces washed.
1007 Leaving Grandma and Grandpa R's house.
1009 Gas at Smiths... $3/gallon. Call Mom to update her on our schedule/plan for the day.
1020 Stop at REI to buy a bike rack. Ron decided there wasn't enough room in the van for all of us and a bike. Grandma and Grandpa R followed us over to REI with the bike in the back of their truck.
1021 I wonder if there is a Starbucks close by? I sure could use a Ice Mocha while I'm waiting for the bike rack installation. Melissa points out that there is an IHOP (which has been renamed the Intergalactic House of Pancakes since our visit to Roswell).
1051 Done. Bike is ready to go. Stop at Arby's for lunch before we hit the road.
1105 Leaving Arby's and on the highway headed for Colorado Springs. GPS says we have 386.4 miles and 5:32 to go...
1110 Melissa says she can't go back to McDonalds after eating all the good food we've had on our trip. Sonic, Jack-in-the-Box, even Arby's. All better than McD's, hands down.
1139 Ron says that our car is pretty good even though it's a minivan. Fully loaded it is going up the big hill north of Albuquerque without a problem. All of his other cars, the jeep, etc. all struggle a bit with this hill.
1148 South of Santa Fe... see some dinosaur statues.
1157 Passing the Robinson's house... Which reminds me... we need to call Scott, the Robinsons, Travis, Chipmunk, and Patricia to schedule visits while we're in the "neighborhood".
12:01 p.m. Letters from home is sung by... no one knows. (okay - I googled it. John Michael Montgomery)
12:30 p.m. Felisa: "My heart is itchy." Ummm... okay... scratch it?!? Turns out it's just her chest that itches.
12:41 p.m. Ryan is playing with the ring tones on Melissa's phone. Melissa's cell phone has been one of the favorite toys on the trip so far. What will we do when she leaves and takes it with her?
12:42 p.m. Ron: "Vegas Baby!" (passing Las Vegas, NM)
1:13 p.m. Movie time... Magic School Bus
1:19 p.m. We are about 2 hours from Pueblo.
1:23 p.m. One lone, lonely calf... I wonder why he's all alone out there in that big field?
2:08 p.m. Raton, NM... Ron's standard stop for this route is Arby's. Will we be okay if we don't stop. He says yes... the backup stop is Taco Bell in Trinidad.
2:09 p.m. The last episode of Magic School Bus is starting. How far can we get in 25 minutes? Probably not all the way to the hotel, unfortunately.
2:17 p.m. COLORADO!!!
2:20 p.m. My forearm muscles are sore. I've been typing blog entries for 2 hours! Ron: "Why? No one will read it." Sheila: "It goes in the scrapbook. Someday you will be old and senile and glad to have it. Until then, the kids and I like to read it."
2:30 p.m. Trinidad, CO... we both remember stopping at that McD's before with a crying baby. Ron: "Which one was it?" Sheila: "I don't remember. I think it was probably all of them at least once!"
2:36 p.m. Movie is over. Time to crack open the snack box. Good thing we replenished in Albuquerque.
2:37 p.m. Ryan offers a potential vacation title... Give a Mouse a Vacation, Continued.
2:48 p.m. Mom calls
2:53 p.m. Police car with blinking lights passes us. Wonder where he's going...
3:00 p.m. Looks like we might get our daily rain after all.
3:20 p.m. Bella is awake and all the others are asleep. Earlier Bella was asleep while everyone else was awake.
3:32 p.m. Okay, I give up. I have typed 13 pages for the blog and I just can't type any more.
3:33 p.m. Pueblo. 60 miles to go.
3:40 p.m. Oh wait... could it be? It is... it's raindrops! Not many - just enough to qualify as rain.
3:41 p.m. Billboard for ice coffee at McD's! Yippee!
3:43 p.m. Lightning!
3:46 p.m. Wind!
3:47 p.m. More lightning!
3:50 p.m. Bikini Babe Harley Girl rides past on her motorcyle, wearing nothing above the waist but a string bikini top and sunglasses. Doesn't look comfortable to me. Ron says that it's not even sunny so it's not like she's working on her tan...
3:53 p.m. Rain. Lots of it this time.
4:00 p.m. Pass Bikini Biker Babe waiting out the rain under the overpass.
4:01 p.m. Oh no - running out of gas. Looks like we'll have to stop after all.
4:07 p.m. Stop for gas in Fountain. $3.09/gallon. Ron says the pink blanket and the pink sleeping bag were hanging out the back of the luggage box on top - barely holding on! A couple guys were staring at us when they passed us a while back. Now we know what they were staring at and it wasn't Ron's handsome bike! I wonder how much longer it would've held on before it fell all the way out. Life lesson: Never put anything valuable in the roofbox!
4:19 p.m. Back on the road. About 20 minutes to go. Elevation now is about 5,900 feet.
4:47 p.m. Arrive at the hotel. Unload everything and get settled in. This will be our "home" for the next week.
6:15 p.m. Grandma Ford comes. Gives the kids a tour of the hotel then we head out for dinner.
6:45 p.m. Arrive at Black-Eyed Pea. Yummy dinner!
8:30 p.m. Back at the hotel. Everyone gets changed for swimming.
9:45 p.m. Back in the room. Melissa is in the shower so I take the kids to Grandma's "house" for a shower.
10:30 p.m. Watching Dirty Jobs on t.v. Trying to convince Ryan to quiet down and go to sleep. Bella is almost asleep and Felisa gets kicked out of Melissa's bed and sent back to sleep with Mommy.
10:42 p.m. Waiting for my turn on the computer...
10:47 p.m. Felisa is asleep now too. Ryan and Melissa are still awake.
11:00 p.m. My turn - finally!
11:29 p.m. I'm hearing voices. Melissa says I'm crazy. It's too dark to type anyway so I guess I'll go to bed.
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