I'm a Pepper!

As we said goodbye to Big Spring, we were excited to continue our trip through Texas. Our destination was Fort Worth where we hoped to hook up with different friends.


On the way we listened to the rest of The Hunger Games and completed the book  about the same time we reached our hotel. It had an exciting finish and we are looking forward to the second book in the trilogy.

Before we reached Fort Worth, we made a side trip to Dublin, Texas. Dublin is the site of the oldest Dr. Pepper bottling plant. Knowing how much I enjoy factory tours, Joe had found this little destination and suggested we go. It was a lot of fun. The bottling plant is very quaint consisting of two small rooms. It only operates one day a month, but boasts that it is the only Dr. Pepper plant that still uses pure cane sugar in the recipe (instead of corn syrup). Fans say it makes a difference. Their service area is only 44 miles, so I think most of their money comes from the cute soda fountain on the premises and the factory tours they offer daily. We had lunch there and took the factory tour which was led by the same guy who made our lunch. Turns out the entire plant has about 50 employees, and our tour guide was a bottle inspector on top of his other duties.

Just the day before, the big company of Dr. Pepper Snapple had issued a lawsuit against Dublin Dr. Pepper for breaking the terms of their contract. The employees weren't allowed to speak about it, but I think it has something to do with that 44 mile radius. There are limits to the number of cases of Dublin Dr. Pepper you can purchase and their online sales have been shut down. I bought a case to take to our family reunion.

As we got back on the road to Fort Worth, I pulled off at an Antique Mall in Cresson. I was looking for a Texas license plate for my collection in the "ballroom" (our large dining, T.V., pool table room). The clerks in the store were very helpful and scurried around trying to find my prize. They had success and I now own a Texas license plate. When they heard we were passing through, they gathered around and told us things to do in Fort Worth. One woman was an absolute delight. You could tell how much she loved Fort Worth and was a wonderful representative of the city. She told us of some restaurants that served vegan food. I think she assumed we'd like it based on the fact we were from California!

We checked into our hotel, and Joe called a friend from Biola. He met us downtown and showed us around. We visited the Water Gardens which had some lovely fountains and pools and an awesome waterfall fountain we got to climb down into. By this time, we were hungry. I thought instead of vegan food, I really wanted some Texas Barbecue. So Paul (Joe's friend) showed us to Riscky's BBQ which was in the heart of downtown. Zach got to have his first taste of Fried Catfish which he really liked.

Downtown was a very nice place to walk around. There was music and the city was lit up. As we were leaving, we got to see a few fireworks in the sky and it isn't even the Fourth yet!


Today we'll spend some more time in Fort Worth. We need to do some laundry, David wants to buy a cowboy hat, I'm going to visit with two friends, and we hope to go to the Stockyards and maybe see a cattle drive. Then it's off to Shreveport, Louisiana for the night.

Baby, You Can Drive My Car

We got a late start yesterday morning. The boys were enjoying our extra nice accommodations. It's funny, several people had told us that El Paso wasn't a very nice city, but so far that hotel was the nicest one we stayed at. We are currently in Big Spring, Texas which I accidentally called Big Toe at some point during our drive yesterday. In actuality, it is more like the lint you find between your toes. But I digress.

We left El Paso, Texas and drove north on some state highways until we reached Carlsbad Caverns. We arrived around 1:30. Remembering my promise to my doctor, we chose to hike down into the caverns. It was over a mile hike as we descended 800 feet. It was a fairly steep and wet trail, but the cool air was a welcome relief. As we went deeper and deeper into the caverns, we saw stalactites, stalagmites, straws, popcorn, and draperies. We tried to take some photos, but the lighting is dim and our camera low quality.

Once down at the bottom, we took another hike around The Big Room and saw mirror lake, the bottomless pit, and more rock formations on the 1.5 mile jaunt. It was beautiful and amazing that all of this was hidden down there for so many years. By the end of that hike, we'd seen enough, so we took the elevator up to the top (no we didn't hike out). We knew we had another long drive to our final destination of the day, Big Toe, I mean Big Spring, Texas.


We plugged the motel address into our GPS system to see if there was a better way to get back to the interstate. When we looked at the atlas, it seemed like we were going to do a lot of back tracking. The GPS came through and plotted a route that took us on state highways and county roads through oil fields. We drove for 4 hours on flat, straight roads and passed hundreds of oil wells rhythmically moving up and down.

As a birthday present, Joe was the first son to drive my car. I'll admit I was nervous. The one thing that made it easier was that we were driving in Nowheresville, and the only real worries were the gusts of wind that would come through on occasion. At some point, we noticed we were running low on gas, so we searched for gas stations on the GPS, and found we needed to go 15 miles in the opposite direction to find some gas. Can you imagine the irony of running out of gas while you are surrounded by oil fields for miles and miles? Fortunately, we found a gas station, filled up and got back on track. But before we did, our GPS tried to take us on dirt and gravel county roads that looked like private roads into the oil fields. I'm sure it was trying to find the quickest way back to a state highway, but seriously, we were not going to off road it to save ten minutes!


Although it was a lot of driving with minimal scenery, we had plenty to keep us occupied. We've been listening to an audio recording of The Hunger Games. It's quite good and it's the first in a trilogy, so we have more to look forward to. Also, Zach created a playlist with 16 hours of music. The majority of the songs have something to do with traveling, driving, or cars. We listened to the Beach Boys, Boston, The Cars, AC/DC, and a variety of other bands. Joe and Zach had planned to play a particular song when one of them was finally allowed the honor of driving my car. So while we drove through the oil fields, we enjoyed the sounds of Florence and the Machine belting out "Dog Days are Over." They picked this song, because they knew it would remind me of the You Tube video I had seen recently, and they were trying to loosen my white knuckled grip on the seat.


You can view the video here: Calming the Baby Beast If you haven't seen it, you should. This baby is adorable and his joy infectious.


We ended the day at a Cracker Barrel celebrating Joe's birthday in Midland, Texas, and then headed the final 30 miles to our motel which is really a dump. I'm sitting here in the lobby typing up this post and I've witnessed:

1. The night manager complain to another employee that a worker did not arrive this morning to make breakfast, and that she didn't think the worker should have ever been given a second chance.
2. A homeless man be told that coffee and milk are for the guests of the motel, but he could keep what he had already taken.
3. The housekeeping staff sit around a table and whine about how they almost quit yesterday.

I'm ready to move on. I'm sure Big Spring has some positive points, but I'd rather not wait around to discover them.

Planes & White Sand

Day Two of our road trip started with a quick trip to the Pima Air and Space Museum. The docent was very proud of the fact that it was the largest private collection of planes and the 3rd largest museum of its kind in the nation. There were 4 hangars filled with planes and many, many planes outside. We glanced at the outside planes as we walked from one hangar to the next. At 104 degrees (before noon), it was just too hot to stay outside any longer than necessary.


We saw a replica of the Wright plane (the oldest plane), the Bumblebee (the smallest plane), a Blackhawk (the fastest plane), an A10 (the ugliest plane) and many more. Our docent gave us a plethora of information, even more than I cared to know. And if you know me, that's hard to believe. After all, I'm the one who needs to read every placard at every museum I visit.

After several hours, we decided we needed to rescue our car and its contents from the dreaded heat, so we said our farewells to Tucson and headed East. Our next destination was Las Cruces, New Mexico. I had been told by a teacher at my school that we should visit Old Mesilla - sort of like San Diego's Old Town. She recommended a restaurant and we think we found it, but it was closed. As a matter of fact, just about everything in Old Mesilla was closed. It was more like a ghost town.

We went to the one restaurant that was open called La Posta. It was billed as the best stop on the Butterfield Coach line, and the stomping grounds of Billy the Kid and Pancho Villa. The food was decent and the decor was quaint and appealing. We were tired from our four hour drive but we still had another hour until our next stop, so we finished up our dinner and drove north to White Sands National Monument. 


It was a long lonely road for 40 miles or so through the White Sands Missile Range. We arrived at the Park at dusk. We missed the sunset stroll with the park ranger, but we spent a decent amount of time driving around the dunes and getting out to climb them.


I'm so glad we arrived when the sun was setting. If we had been there mid-day, we would have been blinded by all of the white sand. It looked like snow or mounds of very fine white sugar. We hiked up one hill and the wind was crazy! It was disorienting to see white every where you looked while trying to maintain your balance as the wind threatened to blow you away.


The sand was interesting, parts of it were hard and packed like rock. But as you climbed the dunes, it would feel like you were walking on a solid surface and then suddenly the sand would give way and you were calf deep in sand. There were some children sledding down the dunes on saucers, and we found an abandoned piece of cardboard that Zach tried to use for a ride. He didn't have any luck, but we laughed trying to make it work. It was a fun ending to a long day.


As we left White Sands, the boys mentioned that the sky looked like storm clouds. And on the drive out we saw lightning, but never any rain. We arrived in El Paso Texas around 10:30 p.m. and spent the rest of the night washing off sand, uploading photos to Facebook and checking e-mails. It was a good day. 


Today is Joe's 21st birthday. We are escaping the triple digits and spending the day at Carlsbad Caverns where the temperature underground is in the 50s. Good thing we packed jackets!

Tucson Padres win 10-9

If you are a baseball fan, I'll apologize now for this blog post. If you want to read about our day from a baseball aficionado's perspective, you should read my son's blog: http://joesage.wordpress.com/


After six hours of driving, a stop in Yuma for In and Out burgers, and filling up in Gila Bend, we arrived in Tucson Arizona with about 45 minutes until the first pitch at the Tucson Padre game.


Joe was determined to go to the game and the rest of us hemmed and hawed about whether we really wanted to go. Fortunately, our motel was less than two miles from the stadium, so we piled back into the car and drove the three minute trip to the Kino ballpark.


Free parking was the first perk, and we parked about 100 feet from the ticket booth. We bought our tickets and we had our choice of seats in the stadium. We sat in the second row above the dugout - the closest I've ever been to a professional baseball team.

The Tucson Padres are the triple A minor league team for the San Diego Padres. The logo and mascot were the same, and the players even wore the cami uniforms in honor of the military just like the SD Pads do on Sundays.

The crowd was small. There were probably 25 people total in our section. It was still pretty hot out, but the warm breeze kept the air moving.

As the game got underway, I realized that it doesn't matter whether you are watching the San Diego Padres or the Tucson Padres, baseball is long and dull except for a few exciting moments sprinkled throughout the game. After an hour had passed and the second inning had finally ended, I decided I was tired of sitting.


I promised my doctor that I would try to get some exercise while on this vacation, so I decided to walk around the stadium. David and Zachary kept me company as I lapped the park three times in the next two innings. We stopped several times to watch the game and peer over a fence at the Padre bull pen.


By then it had been two hours and we weren't even half way through the game. The Padres were leading and I was ready to spend some time in my air conditioned room. David and I headed back to the room while Joe and Zach stayed for the rest of the game.

An hour or so later, Joe called to tell me that it was the top of the 9th inning and I could come get them. The Padres were ahead 7-4. When I arrived in the parking lot, I could see the scoreboard, and it was now tied! In the 10 minutes it took me to get in my car and drive back over to the stadium, the Fresno Grizzlies had scored three runs. While I waited in the parking lot, they pulled ahead with two more runs! Eventually, the Padres scored and won the game. It was an exciting finish and the fans (the few that were there) were excited.


I'm thinking Little League has the right idea with 6 inning games.

Well, my bags are packed...

The Fit is packed with our stuff...4 changes of clothes, 4 beach towels (just in case we go tubing on the river), 4 i-Pods, 2 netbooks, 2 GPS units (mine & Joe's), 1 sleeping bag, 1 small cooler (filled with Diet Coke), 1 pillow (I have to have my pillow), and assorted snacks. And yep, it all fit!

We are ready to GO! We are just waiting for David to get home in about 30 minutes. He's having his first behind the wheel training today. When he got his permit, the earliest lesson he could schedule was today. His permit isn't valid until he has his first lesson, so we are waiting.

Joe's concern is whether we'll make it to Tucson in time for the baseball game tonight. The Tucson Padres are playing and we can get field level tickets behind home plate for $10.50! Minor league games are cheap! So once we hit the road, we won't be stopping much until we arrive in Tucson.

I had wanted to stop and see the historic territorial prison in Yuma, but that will have to wait until our trip home.

25 minutes until David gets home!

What's in my wallet? Not much!

Remember that cute little red car of mine? It spent the day getting serviced yesterday, so it would be in top shape for the road trip.

Oil Change - check 

New Air Filter - check

New Tires - check

Wheel Alignment - check

Tune Up - check

New front brakes - check
No more money - double check!

And here I thought I was going to save money by driving instead of flying. The cost of repairs would have paid for probably three plane tickets!

You know how it is. You take your car in for one thing and then there's a list of repairs on the other end of the visit. I was not happy yesterday.  I know the dealer is always more expensive, but I've gotten into the habit of going there for servicing to make sure the warranty stays valid. My service adviser, Abraham, could tell I was displeased when he called to give me the news. I'm not sure if it was the loud expression of outrage, the stunned silence, or the final grumble that this was costing as much as my vacation all together.

Okay, so my car has 93,000 miles on it and all those things were necessary to keep us safe on the trip. But come on, have you seen the size of the tires on a Honda Fit? They look like Tonka truck tires! How can each tire cost $100? Yeah, yeah, I know. Unusual size, not widely available, blah, blah, blah.

To Abraham's credit, he did find me some less expensive tires, gave me a 10% discount and only did the most important items on the list. That saved me $400. Oh good, now we can eat on this trip - well, at least on the way there.

Normally, I'd shop around, find the better deal, or go to our tried and true mechanic who works on our older cars. But time was of the essence, so I grudgingly forked over my money and complained the rest of the day.

I'm over it now (for the most part). After all, it's only money (money I don't have a lot of). And of course it's important to have a safe vehicle while driving miles away from home (safety, shmafety...adventure...that's what I'm talking about).

It just kills me to spend a lot of money on car repairs. So that cute little red car better be set for another 93,000 miles, or I may be looking for its replacement. 

you're driving what?

The conversation usually goes like this...

  "What car are you taking on your road trip?"

  "My little red car."

  "Really? Will all of you fit?"

For those who have seen my Honda Fit, they are always a bit surprised when I tell them that it is the car of choice for this two week road trip. That's because my three sons range in height from 5'10" to 6'1". People are even more surprised when I tell them that it was the boys' choice.

We had several choices in vehicles. Renting a a car was the original choice, but the cost of driving out of state and the fact that none of the guys are 25 years old, ruled that option out fairly quickly. I'd like to be able to share the driving, and rental car companies have rules about that. Yes, I know I don't have to tell them, but that's just not my way.

The minivan was our next choice which was eliminated even faster. While it has the most space, it's too old, has too many miles on it, and is a bit smelly. We don't want to get stranded somewhere and I'm not sure our old van could handle the trip.

That left us with two final options - Matt's Ford Escape or my Honda Fit. I thought the Escape was the obvious choice. It has more luggage space (including a luggage rack on the roof), and it's wider and longer than my car. But the three brothers, informed me that my car has more leg room than Dad's car, and they'd rather take the Fit.

They are right. The back seat passengers have more leg room than you would think, especially if you sit behind me. With my short legs, I pull the seat up and their is plenty of room for them to stretch out their legs. In fact, whenever we drive in my car, the coveted seat is behind Mom. Just goes to show you that even with cute little red cars, appearances can be deceiving.

We'll have to pack light since the back of my car doesn't have a large amount of storage space. That means laundry every few days and wearing the same clothes over and over again. But Joe pointed out that we won't see the same people each day until we are in Mississippi for four days; four outfits should be just fine.

Honestly, I think the main reason everyone wants to take my car has little to do with space and much more to do with opportunity. My car has always been off limits except to Matt and myself. The boys are chomping at the bit to drive it. Even David is working hard to get his permit with the hope of getting to drive on some straight, empty road in the middle of nowhere. I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole thing. I'm very protective of my car. After all it's the cutest little red car you ever did see, and I'd like to keep it that way!

I have a sneaking suspicion that we are going to look like modern day Joads, squeezed into our vehicle, filled to the brim with our stuff. Of course, we'll have air conditioning, a clean place to sleep each night, and showers. I guess it's not quite the experience of John Steinbeck's heroes, but it should be an interesting trip!

Five days and counting!

a blog by any other name...

I admire those who can be clever with words. My husband, Matt is one of those "punny" kind of guys. He always has a witty comeback. I, on the other hand have to really think about it. Eventually I can usually come up with some phrase or title that works, but it's not easy. So I'm quite pleased with the title of my blog.

It all started one day, when my team at work teased me about the way I tell them something important. I start off  answering a question or making a point, but then I have to back up...way back to the beginning. I give so much background information, making new points along the way, that sometimes I forget the reason I started the story in the first place! Eventually I come full circle and when I finally remember the main point, my common phrase is "and all that just to say" and then I make my point.

Well, in reality I guess it really started when I was a kid. I remember talking to my dad on many occasions, telling him something obscure and he'd finally interrupt me and say, "Sheryl, get to the point!" My embellishment of the background details were not as necessary as I thought they were. He was perfectly capable of understanding the main idea without my ongoing description of the whys and hows of this and that. But I wonder...

It's hard for me not to give all of the details. I want to make sure you fully appreciate the entire spectrum of the main point of the story or decision or whatever it is I'm talking about. The nuances matter. Don't they? Ah well, to me they do. So I ramble on and on and on. And my dear friends and staff put up with me.

It turns out my propensity to extend a story is hereditary. I've passed the "expound upon it" gene to my oldest son. And I must confess, I've been known to say, "Joe, get to the point!" Poor guy.

So our road trip should be interesting. Both of us competing for the last word, and taking longer than necessary to explain something. It's a good thing the other two in the car are used to us!

Speaking of road trips...we'll be heading out in less than two weeks. It's going to be a blast!

Anyway...all that just to say...I really like the name of my blog! Don't you?

anticipation...anticipa-a-tion

There's something about the anticipation of an event that is almost more fun than the actual thing.

In anticipation of our road trip in a few weeks, I thought I better start this blog, so that I can get in the habit of writing each day. My plan is to record our adventure on the road as we travel from Spring Valley, California to Madison, Mississippi and back again.

It all started when my sister, Karen, decided that we needed to meet and get to know our Mississippi relatives on Dad's side of the family. So she contacted Aunt Ruth Ann and the two started planning a family reunion.

With the rising cost of plane fares, I wasn't sure I could take the whole family. But then after a conversation with my sister, and the allure of new sites to see, I thought "road trip"! I asked my three sons if they'd come with me, and they all agreed. Now I'm enjoying the planning phase of our trip.

I designed a tripline that can be viewed here. 7 days headed east. 4 days in Madison. 7 days back home. Different routes, different cities, different experiences.

We have the route planned, but we are still working on things to do along the way. I've asked my Facebook friends and colleagues at work to suggest activities, and we are getting some great ideas.


The more I talk about it and research the places where we are heading, the more excited I become. I love road trips! I love learning history, seeing natural landmarks, and experiencing new places. I can hardly wait!


Anticipation...is keeping me waiting!