Getting Here

As I mentioned in my last post, my little family of five uprooted from California four months ago and travelled across the country to Massachusetts.  We sold much of what we owned and the rest we shoved into every nook and cranny of our u-haul trailer and our Yukon.  We also tarped things to the top of our car, conjuring images of the Beverly Hillbillies.  We were only missing the rocking chair with Granny.  The first day of our journey really looked bleak.  Our rental house still needed a thorough cleaning and there were still things to be packed and donated. We didn't actually leave till around four in the afternoon.  When we did leave it took less than thirty miles to realize that this was going to be a very, very long trip.  The trailer began to sway violently back and forth as we drove down the highway, causing us to pull over every five or ten minutes to stop the swaying.  My husband and I were feeling a little dismal at the thought of pulling over every five minutes on our way across the continent.  But in time, Andrew got the feel for it and was able to counter the sway before it started.  Thank goodness, I was afraid we would never make it.
For any of you who have small children, especially boys, you know that road trips are … challenging.  Here we were about the embark on the most epic road trip ever with two very active boys and I wondered who would kill each other first.  However, my boys turned into affable explorers and took great interest in the journey.  Our first stop was Arizona.  We travelled through California and made it to the desert of Arizona to see my husband's dad.  The Siguaro cactuses and rugged terrain were stunning.  I grew up in the desert of Southern California which were ugly and riddled with trash.  Arizona was the cleanest state I have ever seen.  My boys got a kick out of the cacti.
From there we travelled through New Mexico, also very beautiful.  You should know that, even three states in, my kids were great sports.  We listened to audio books and just enjoyed the scenery.  The buildings and settlements were so sparse that we felt like we landed in the West.  Especially when a distant train broke up the wildness and shot through the rugged scenery.  It was very Americana.

As we drove through the miles and miles of nothingness, it impressed me how immense our country is.  And it was also remarkable how quickly the scenery changes from state to state.  Arizona and New Mexico are both deserts but they both are definitively different from one another.  It seems like, once the border to a new state hits, the land takes the hint and forms its own unique flare.
We travelled the length of New Mexico and finally came to the great state of Texas where hours of barren driving awaited us.  But something fantastic made us press on.  We were stopping at my brother-in-law's house near San Antonio.  Andrew never met his brother and this would the first time.