New Blog

Hey, everyone! We're publishing a new blog for our second, huge RV trip. You can visit it at "http://paigefamilyrvtripsequel.blogspot.com"

And a National Monument

Hey Spencer, don't forget Mt. Rushmore!

Sunday, August 16, The Last Post

Hi guys, I'm sorry I was late again in writing the post. Anyway, this is to be the last post we will publish on our blog, so I will drop some pretty big figures on the table. We traveled 7650.9 miles over the course of the whole trip, and visited 11 National Parks: Mammoth Cave, Badlands, Rocky Mountains, Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Carlsbad Caverns. We were on the road for 5 weeks, and we enjoyed every single moment. It has been a truly wonderful and inspirational time, and I speak not only for myself, but for the whole family. I won't simply leave it there, either. I've had a great time writing the blog and listening to all of your comments. I've had lot's of time to think of how meaningful our trip was, and in what ways: I think the true meaning of our trip was not simply to look at rocks (however amazing the rocks were), but to be together, and have fellowship on a once in a lifetime journey. This may be the last post for this blog, but do not fear! There's always more summers around the corner. We may very well travel even farther northwest next year, if not by RV, then by plane. If we do, then I'll make sure that there's a blog there as well. Goodbye everyone, and have a great year.

Almost Home

Hi all,

Well, we are camped in Tugaloo State Park, off of I-85 on the GA/SC border. It's on a beautiful lake, and it's a restful spot to spend our last night (once we got into a VERY tight space...). The last few days have been a true diary of "driving across America." From Monday morning to Friday night (tomorrow), it will have been a story of get up and drive, stop, set up camp, eat supper and go to bed. Last night we violated the schedule, unhitched the camper and went out for dinner for the second time on this vacation. It was great!

A few things to mention. For the whole trip, we have been on the lookout for rattlesnakes...up in those canyons, under rocks and walking through the desert. No snakes seen, although I'm sure they saw us. Then, in a small, dusty Texas town, we pulled into a little gas station to fill up. Afterward, we had to back up a bit in order to get out of the station with the camper. I stood behind the camper to help Mark avoid any cars. As I stood there and motioned directions, I casually glanced to my left. There, not five feet away, was a diamondback. Yep, a four foot rattler, just hanging out on the sidewalk. I felt like someone popped my balloon...I nearly flew to outer space in reaction! We did get a photo (used the zoom function to get closer). What a way to finally spot a rattlesnake.

Driving across Texas is more than 600 miles. Reminded me of the ditty: "The sun has ris, the sun has set, and here I am in Texas yet!". It took us two full days to best Texas! However, it was better than in my childhood, when we crossed from El Paso to Houston with no air conditioning or with an air conditioner that mounted on the back passenger window, dripped water on the nearest passenger, and barely cooled the driver!

Okay, well, time to figure out how to complement the Olive Garden leftovers with enough protein and bulk to call it supper. I'm good at it; they won't even know.

Hi to everyone who has written to us as well as to those of you who have just read along. We have been the beneficiaries of your good thoughts and prayers. Thank you so much and see you all soon.

Wednesday, August 12

Well, the vacation is drawing to a close, and the members of the family have slipped into a somewhat lethargic state of mind, a little disappointed at the vacation's end. Regardless, we've had a great time, and that's enough to make me happy. Anyway, we averaged around 480 miles today, driving from Shreveport, Louisiana to Birmingham, Alabama. Not that much changed in the scenery, and I really don't suspect it will over the next few days. The only thing that will be sidelining the interstate will be trees, all the way until we get home. That part makes me kind of glum, considering that the flat openness of the Great Plains area made me feel free. This isn't my last posting, but it's getting quite close. I have a feeling the last one will be on Friday, but don't be sad, because I've decided to start a blog for reviewing recent products in the field of electronics. More on that later on. Today, in addition to buying Philip a new pair of shoes, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Aside from that, there is nothing left to say, so, tonight's closing will be in Latin: Vale et bonus noctis! By the way, I did not use a translator for that phrase. Instead, I used two years of Latin class to aid my own translation of the phrase.

Monday August 10

Today, we drove around 380 miles from Carlsbad, New Mexico to Abilene, Texas. The one way I could describe the scenery is flat. Once we got about 50 miles away from our morning campground, everything just went horizontal. Some other recurrent things we saw were one oil refinery, masses of oil drilling sites, and incredible windmill farms. They just popped up every 30 miles or so, taking up large stretches of land. Nothing really happened today, I just needed to report something, just for the sake of the blog. Anyway, tonight's closing will be in Czech: Sbohem a dobrou noc !

Sunday, August 9

Today, we went to visit Carlsbad Caverns. We started the day off with an 8:50 pancake breakfast in the campground's gathering area. They were really good pancakes, too. After breakfast, Philip and I played Scrabble for a bit while waiting to set off. Technically, Philip won, but I question his accusations that I didn't play fairly. Once we were ready to go, we set off, around 11:30. We drove for about 20 minutes or so, then we entered the park. We stopped at several places on the way to the visitor center, marveling at the beautiful terrain. When we got to the visitor center, we got tickets to take a self-guided tour of the caverns, then we went outside to eat our packed lunch. Once we got in the cave, we noticed one thing that set it aside from Mammoth Cave. It was far older, judging by the size of the stalactites and stalagmites. There were even columns, which must have taken hundreds of thousands of years to form. On top of that, they were 65 feet high and at least 8 feet wide! Anyway, as we walked around, we passed needlelike stalactites, hanging down from the ceiling of the cave like a thousand icicles, and bulky stalagmites, sticking up like trees on the cave floor. It is a very cool place, not to mention encompassing of a monstrous range of time. We wandered around the cave, looking into deep pits, high domes, and mirrorlike pools of frigid water. Nothing can disturb these pools with even the slightest ripple (aside from ignorant or malicious tourists, who throw coins into the pools without any regard as to the effect it has on the delicately balanced ecosystem), as the elements can't touch this environment, which lies 750 feet below the surface of the Earth. After viewing the cave at our leisure for a long while, we exited the caves to return to our campsite. When we got back to the surface, however, we found that the weather had changed. In the distance, a storm was brewing, and lightning flashed across the sky. That just goes to show how secluded the caves are from the elements. Anyway, we quickly got into the truck, and drove back. On the way back, we stopped to get groceries, and we also bought yet another movie: the fifth Harry Potter film. Aside from watching that this night, there's really nothing else to say. Therefore, tonights greeting will be "goodbye and good night" in . . . pig Latin: oodbye-gay and ood-gay ight-nay!