Stephen's Story
Day 3
Today the family got up a little early to go have a very XL size breakfast before our 4+ hours drive to Durango Colorado. During the drive we were on a mostly Native American reservation so there was nothing to see which made the drive really boring. I cut one guy off because I wasn’t going fast enough in the pass lane, and it was ending. Then there was a black car that was trying to pass in a 2 way freeway with one lane on each side and he ended up passing when my dad was right there and had to drive off of the freeway to avoid a head-on collision. We were in New Mexico for less than a mile and then were in Colorado. It was such a short time period my mom thought that the welcome to Colorado sign was for the river and not the state. I thought there was no way they would put a welcome to Colorado sign there just because of the river. I am not even sure if we saw the river, just ask my mom.
The little things were so memorable because I was driving for 4 hours with nothing but random horses and enough just to take up my fingers on 1 hand. It was a big driving day. The drive was so boring in fact that I started to get really tired and had to let mom take over on the last 1 hour stint to the RV park. The long drive took a toll on everyone and the rest of the day we will be exploring the RV park and just relaxing until tomorrow.
Amber's Story
June 28, 2021 - Monday
Well good news. I was able to sleep in until 5:15 this morning. I didn’t have to lay lifeless in bed for too many hours before I could rally the troops to start our day. By 7:00 I was restless and Mike and Kyle were up so it was time to get Stephen up to head out to breakfast. We went to Mike and Rhonda's The Place. It was comfort food and we all over ate. Mike and the boys got the hungry man breakfasts. They got two huge platefuls so we took home a bunch of leftovers to throw in the breakfast burritos tomorrow.
Today will be a less fun day. We have a 5+ hour drive ahead of us. We left Flagstaff about 9:30am to head to Durango. Stephen drove the rest of the way through Arizona, and in to New Mexico. We were just about to fly past the “Welcome to New Mexico Land of Enchantment” sign when I got my phone out to take a picture of it. We were in New Mexico for what seemed like one mile and then boom, we were at the “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” sign. The drive was boring, the scenery was barren and Mike and Kyle almost met their maker. As they were cruising down the freeway, they rounded a bend in the road and came face to face with an oncoming car in their lane that decided to pass on a blind turn. Kyle said Mike slammed on the brakes and sounded the horn numerous times. Instead of the idiot putting on his brakes to get back behind the car he tried to pass, the driver froze and eventually crossed in front of the motorhome and went off into the shoulder on our side of the road and cruised through the brush before coming to a stop. I think he needed to clean his underwear after that stupid maneuver. Mike said his life flashed before his eyes and he thought he and Kyle were going to meet our maker. Stephen and I watched it all happen and thankfully did not have to be first on scene of what could have been a very bloody wreck. Shortly thereafter we stopped at Ute Mountain Casino and took some photos in front of the teepees. Stephen said he was tired of driving so he napped in the motorhome. Stephen is a great driver and officially ready to get his license. I am far less worried about him being on the road now than I was before we started this adventure.
It took Kyle five minutes after our arrival at the Oasis RV Resort in Durango to make all sorts of friends. As soon as we parked, he was on his mountain bike “to go find some trails”. I found him at the playground playing tag with about 10 other kids. Stephen was happy to be on his phone and Mike relaxed at the RV with a couple of cold beverages. If you ever make it to Durango, we highly recommend this RV park. They have all sorts of extras like a pickleball court, movie pavilion, pool, playground, mining station and homemade slices of pie for sale in the office.
It started to rain lightly and afterward we were treated to a cool double rainbow that we got some photos of.
We decided to stay put since we had been on the road for much of the day. We had cheeseburgers then played a friendly game of war where the first one out had to do the chicken dance back and forth in the trailer. Stephen was the first loser and Kyle was the second loser. We never determined a winner between Mike and I because the game could have gone on for days. We had a great time playing the game but more fun doing the chicken dance together.