Tales from the dusty road

Hi all,
Well Bill & I are back in town after going on quite an adventure with my some of our friends and family. I am feeling a little dazed right now as I adjust back into the reality of my home-life and the demands of my job. However after being away from my job for only a week, I also am feeling an unexpected level of clarity about which direction I want to go with a few projects that were somewhat stymied before I left. There is something amazing about how the act of forcing yourself to leave the cell phone and laptop at home is incredibly refreshing and can change your perspective on aspects of your life in only a matter of days.

Where do I begin.....Well, Bill & I spent most of the day June 2nd shopping for supplies, packing the car, and cleaning the house before we left town. Somehow we only got in 1 small fight during the process and the only thing we realized we forgot to do before we left was write a note to my neighbor who I had lined up to take care of the house and cats while we were gone. Fortunately she had helped us in the past so she pretty much new what to do. Annoyingly, we did not get on the road until about 9pm but since we were starting out on a 22h drive, it did not really matter.

The driving was going very smoothly until we ran into a litle problem-or should I say say drove over something sharp! aahhh yes a flat tire. after all the years of road trips and travels Bill & I have made between Colorado, Michigan, Florida, and other lovely places, we have never had a flat tire-until this trip....It happened at about 5:45am in the middle of BFE Iowa on the highway, fortunately we were only about 1 mile from an exit with a gas station (very rare for BFE Iowa), so we just drove on the flat a little ways to getoff the highway to the gas station parking lot. It was not a blow-out or anything so the car did not even swerve but once we got off the road we realized the flat was unrepariable so we called the roadside assistance we have with our car insurance. Someone arrived with a super tow truck with a hydraulic jack at about 8am-he was able to quickly remove the flat tire, put on our spare (fortunately, it was a new tire and full-size), and make sure the air pressure was right in the spare. We were back on the road by about 9am-amazingly we only lost 3h!!

The rest of the travel to CO was smooth and we had Nick & Willy's delicious pizza when we arrived at Ron & Beth's house. Our dog Kaia was thrilled to see Ron & Beth and her dog family. Kaia is a great traveler-she just sleeps and behaves perfectly in the car on long trips-she seems to know we are going somewhere fun for her. Just like last time, the dogs all knew eachother right away and started running around and playing as soon as we arrived. Kaia also remembered Ron & Beth and their house/yard and acted really excited when she first saw Ron.

The next day our Colorado friends held a baby shower/BBQ for Bill & I and the baby. It was really an awesome party and lots of our friends were there and it was so good to see everyone. We got many lovely gifts and we had a great time meeting new babies who had been born since we moved and hearing stories of everyone's travels and lives. The party was at Amber & Kurt's and Lora helped with all the planning and invites. They had an incredibly beautiful cake that was delicious. The weather was perfect and sunny and by the end of the day, I was tired but very happy.

The next day was spent relaxing and waiting for my parents to arrive in Denver. They had dinner with us that night at Ron & Beth's and everyone was excited for the travels to Utah for camping the next day. ON tuesday morning we got the cars packed upagain and ht the road west. The mountains were beautiful with snow at the higher elevations and green trees of spring everywhere else. Once we got down to the western slope it started to heat up and this continued to increase as we got closer to Moab. The canyons country was as amazingly beautiful as ever and I was thrilled to be there seeing all the awesome scenery and already looking forward to an evening hike to one of the swimming areas we had found along the hiking trail near our favorite campground. However by the time we finished driving through the canyon and arrived at the campsite area it was 5pm and still over 100 degrees!!!! I was shocked. We have never experience heat like that in Moab and until that moment I was in total denial that it would really be that hot. Kurt, Kelly and their friend Dave arrived at the camposite after having spent the last few days camping down in southern Colorado. Of course my hands and feet were swelling up and I was starting to become less certain about my convictions that everything would be fine. Then of all things-a dust storm (very strong winds) actually occurred. It was truly awful. The canyon filled with red dust and the winds were hot as hell and whipped around the bends along the river. We all jumped into our cars to avoid being pelted with sand and flying tree pollen and leaves.

When the dust cleared (literally) we all looked around and no one knew what to say. I was horrified-finally after all these years of blabbing to my parents about how amazing the Moab and canyonlands area is-we arrive after a long drive across Colorado and what happens? a dust storm at temps over 100!! what a un-welcome wagon. So we all set up our tents anyway and are still hoping for the best. I thought everything would start being fun soon b/c everyone had arrived safely and we were all ready for food and the storm appeared to be over. But the heat was not showing any sign that it would leave that evening as it normally does in the desert, so we all hiked up to the nearest swimming hole and got cooled of in the fresh spring water then headed back to camp to start dinner prep. As evening wore on-we realized it was NOT getting cool so my parents decided to get a hotel room. I ended up going there around midnite b/c it was too hot for me to sleep all night in the tent.

The next day Bill & I decide we will get a room of our own and fortunately the hotel allows dogs, so we can bring Kaia without worrying about breaking any rules. However our friends back at the campsite were really hot and their dogs were almost sick with heat and unable to even hike during the day. So we all decide unanimously that we will all make the best of the rest of the day site-seeing in the Moab area and spend one more night then on thursday we will all head back into Colorado to find a new campground that is at a higher altitude in the mtns where things will be cooler and more enjoyable for everyone. So at this point everything sounds awful. But somehow during all this bullshit-we start having fun.

Bill & I and my parents, Hannah, and her friend Kevin went on a mornign hike and found some more cool river pools in small canyon along a hikign trail-so we all junmped in the ater to cool off. We went back to the hotel to clean up and then went out for dinner and did some shopping in town. Then in the evening it actually started to cool a bit and got down into the 80's NOT 90's. So we drove into Arches national park and had fun videotaping eachother hiking up to see various arches and rock formations. We met up witht everyone else back at the campsite for evening drinks then went back to the hotel for sleep. I was worried about our friends in the heat at the campsite but they refused to come to the hotel. I understood and probably would have refused as well if I hd not been pregnant.

the next morning we all visited the good old Rock shoppe (Lee Ottingers in Moab) and got some souveniers then hit the road back to Colorado. We drove about 3h and got off the highway in Rifle, CO and headed up the fla-top mtns to an area called Rifle Mountain park. It was an amazingly beautiful little canyon with a full running river next to it (totally different than Utah red rock canyon country) and dotted with caves in the side of the mtn along the road. After about 30 min of searching we finally stumbled on some open campsites and grabbed them quickly. My mom and dad had never camped in the mtns so they were a bit concerned about possible bear problems but we knew that if we followed the rules and put all food and such things in the car at night-we should be fine.

My dad went fly fishing in the river that went through the campground and caught a fresh lovely brown trout. he released it but after we all admired it and took photos. We cooked wonderful food and had a big fire since the temps wre lovely at about 65 degrees! The sky was clear and full of stars, the dogs were thrilled to be out of the heat and into the delicious-smelling mtns, and we all slept much better that night.

We spent all day friday hiking with the dogs and viewing waterfalls and small caves. There was even some ice in one of the caves!! I was feeling really great and able to hike (albeit slowly). Kaia was loving the fresh air and rocky terrain and was being such a good dog helping me along the trails and not pulling me with the leash or anything. She was just happy to be in her element. My parents decided to leave, so we all said goodbye and I hoped desparately that they had fun despite al the craziness of the hot dusty desert and the fact that the whole trip turned out to be quite different than we had all planned. However we knew we all needed to be flexible in order to make it enjoyable-and certainly this mentality was put to the test on this vacation.

The next day we headed back to Denver with Ron & Beth to clean up and spend one more night relaxing before driving back to MI. K, K, and Dave went to the hot springs for saturday night and planned to leave sunday morning. I would have loved to visit the springs again but I figured it was pointless b/c I would have only been able to enter the few pools that were below 90 degrees.

Overall this vacation was one I will never forget. I learned alot about myself and many of the people I love. I trusted my instincts and did not push myself too much but I also did not just sit on my a**. I hiked as much as I thought OK and enjoyed the fresh air and had fun even though the weather was not cooperating the way I had hoped.

When we arrived home in MI, we both felt dazed and confused but happy to be home. We successfully "un-plugged" from the real world for a week and came home from our travels with 2 important things we needed before the baby comes: renewed perspective on life and many lovely baby products from our thoughtful & generous friends.

I am feeling great but the baby is really starting to grow and push things around in my middle. I keep getting heartburn which I never had before pregnancy. so I am really trying to watch what I eat to make sure it is not junk that will make me feel bad. This is not easy b/c it is hard for me to spend alot of time doing food shopping and meal prep that is required for healthy food eating. But I am heading to the farmer's market tomorrow morning to get some fresh fruit and veggies for the rest of the week.

The next 2 weeks will be incredibly busy for Bill & I. Right now we are holding out for July-the month that things begin to calm down a bit and we can start focusing on getting ready for the baby.

Manda is in town visiting her family so we will be having her over for dinner tomorrow so we can catch up on life. Also Ellen & Brian are back from Hawaii. I can't wait to hear about her travels. hopefuilly it was exciting but in a different way than our travels. I just got an email from Shannon, whose baby is due any day now She sauid she has been in "pre-labor" now for days. I am trying not to think to hard about what this will be like. Good luck Shan and I am thinking of you everyday and admiring your fierce loyalty to being such a super-mom!!!

When we got home there was apackage waiting for us... it was from our Gma Becky and included a sioft fuzzy baby towel and matching PJ's, little tiny socks, and a hand-crocheted hat for the baby when it is newborn! We can't wait to see him in it. and it was very special to receive such a surprise when we arrived home. We appreciate all the lovely thoughts everyone is sending us and we can't wait to bring our baby into the world so we can all meet him.