Turkey Day, Traveling and Transition

We had a lovely Thanksgiving spent with my mom, Curt (her husband), my sister and her family, and Hayden and Diana. They (H/D) landed at our house Wednesday evening, on their way back from Corvallis, OR. (someplace I GOTTA go!) Hayden and Saylor were enjoying each other so much that Hayden decided it would be cool to hang out another night, and send us off on our journey Friday morning.

The packing and other preparations for leaving seemed a little less organized this go round. Probably because we'll be gone for longer, and we'll be further away? I don't know, still trying to figure that one out...oh, the mysteries of the universe. Maybe it had something to do with John arriving home Wednesday afternoon, a day and a half before we wanted to head out. So, Wednesday was busy, Thursday was busier, and Friday morning didn't see our anticipated 8:00 departure time come to fruition. Oh well. We left home around 11:30, not so bad, I guess.

The trip was (mostly) uneventful. If you don't count the large quantity of diesel fuel that we donated to the Utah interstate system, then it was really a great trip! We slept in a truckstop parking lot Friday night somewhere in??? Sheesh, I can't remember. When we woke up, John needed to check on the small drip we were noticing below the fuel tank. He pinpointed it, got the parts he needed from the truckstop, and $48 later, we were on our way. (After filling up with $200+ worth of fuel, gotta know this little tid-bit for what's next to come...)

About an hour later, and after a couple truck drivers honked on their way by us, John pulled over at a rest area in Utah, to find a Ha-uge spraying, squirting, wasteful leak/flood coming out of one of the fuel filters on the engine itself. Oi, lots of wasted fuel, money literally down the road. Dang.

John decided to un-hitch the Suburban and head to the next town, 10 miles down the road to get the parts he'd need to fix this problem. The boys and I played at the rest area, exploring a big wild area of large bushy things that rabbits thought made the perfect habitat. We skateboarded, played chase, walked up and down the concrete drain way, climbed trees. When Stone announced that he was starting to get 'frost bitten', we decided to make our way back into the bus. I popped some popcorn, and we watched Shark Tale. John made it back and fixed the gash and we were again on our way. We fueled up -gulp- and this time kept the fuel where it belonged. Whew.

We made it as far as Barstow, CA Saturday night. We wanted to do some night driving so the kids didn't have to travel so long Sunday. They were ready to be done. After a hearty breakfast at Big Boy on Sunday, we rolled into Corona around 10:30 am. And now, we're here.

The campground is decent, except for the arbitrary rules they enforce, like "no rollerblading inside the park", whu? The kids can ride their bikes, but no rollerskating or rollerblading. Saylor is very much into his roller blades, though, so we have to hike our butts outside of the park, then go down the lazy lane that runs all the way around the campground. It's a beautiful walk, much prettier than looking at everyone's stuff in the cg itself and good exercise for me, so I won't complain (too much). Saylor's pissed, however. :)

I've been quite grumpy the last few days. In some funk, the transition has been hard this time. I have much to be grateful for and I'm working at keeping that as my focus. I feel the shift beginning, and tomorrow will be a better day. I'm up late so I could see my man off to work tonight. Poor guy, working while we'll be here sleeping, then he'll be sleeping while we try our best to keep quiet in our less than 300 sq. ft. we share. Perhaps tomorrow will be a good day to check out the farmers market just down the road from us. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for those inexpensive California avocados. Gotta have 'em!