In A Desert, Far, Far Away...: Cross Country with the Jones Family

With a week of driving, we saw some beautiful sights, along with some very unusual ones. While the kids and I began the trip in Wilmington, NC, we didn't meet up with Edward until after leaving Ft. Bragg. Even then, we still had two cars. The first night, we stayed at my sister's house in Charlotte, NC. I can't believe it, but I didn't take any pictures there. After a great breakfast at a place called, "Toast," we headed out. We drove to Knoxville, TN, where we stayed with Edward's mom, stepdad, and Nana. The next morning, we left in one car. Edward's car is actually still at his parents' house, awaiting an auto transport to bring it out to AZ. It's been the source of a mess, so pray it works out quickly!

State-Tennessee

Heading out...sitting on the trailer while still in Knoxville

This is how we traveled.

We stopped to eat lunch with Edward's cousin, Burt, his wife, Lori, and their kids, John and Clara. It was 101 when we had lunch at the park, so everyone was really hot.

Taking in more liquids

Burt and Edward with their girls...Burt and Edward went to med school together in Ft. Lauderdale. Burt did his residency at Ft. Benning (family practice too), and they are now living at Ft. Campbell. It was really great seeing them since we hadn't seen them in almost three years (well, the kids and I hadn't).

State-Arkansas-

To my father-in-law's dismay, who is from Arkansas, there was nothing notable to capture. :) We did find a Pizza Hut with a playzone, which made for a great lunch stop. We actually met up with a fellow flight surgeon (Edward's job title) in Little Rock, and while Edward and his friend, Jeff, talked during lunch, I was able to supervise the kids at the playzone.

State-Oklahoma

The rest areas in Oklahoma had teepee "shades" over their picnic areas.

Windmills everywhere throughout Oklahoma

In the car...Madison's dolls were a source of enjoyment

We also had moments of sanity when we were able to convince Madison to wear her headphones and listen to her Dora and Diego, as opposed to having it blare throughout the car.

State-Texas

Texas state line

More dolls

Dolls again

Longhorn cattle everywhere, but no sign of oil wells!

We had read about this before our trip...the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere...it's just off I-40 in Texas. It was really cool to check out.

Luke touching Jesus (there's a statement I never thought I'd write)

You can see how large it is...Edward and Madison are standing at the base.

Madison sitting with the Jesus statue.

There were different stations for the stages of the crucificition...very interesting. A man donated his land to build this site. We were impressed.

Fountain at the cross

More of the cross area

Luke did this for Grandpa...he found the hoses at the cross and wanted to move them.

Lunch at the BIG TEXAN!

My brother, Clay, recommended this stop, and we weren't disappointed. We all had Texas steaks. No one was eating the 72 ozer while we were there, though.

The kids were given free cowboy hats with their meal.

A hilarious find...Exit 0 in Texas.

State-New Mexico

New Mexico state line

Scenery really started changing.

Kids still hanging out in the car.

It started looking a lot more like the West.

Some greenery in New Mexico!

State-Arizona

Also off I-40 is the Petrified National Park...we took a couple of hours to check it out.

Beautiful

Finally, time out of the car!

We loved the Painted Desert, as it was called.

Petrified wood-it looks like regular logs, which it used to be, but it's now actually stone.

Everyone enjoyed checking out the National Park.

Being sweet

The girls

Our favorite part of the trip...75 was the speed limit across most of the west.

This car had us laughing so hard, we were crying. It was spotted our last day, as we drove from Flagstaff, AZ to Phoenix. The car is from Sonora, Mexico (state below AZ), and it had all of this baby gear duck taped (bet that was fun to peel off in the heat!) on top of it. The pile was at least four feet tall. It's still really funny to see.

Cactus trees-Madison's favorite

My friend, Jen, in Raleigh made up bags of car toys for both Madison and Luke. Another great laugh we all had is that this baby doll lost its head on the drive...hmm, that's how Edward and I felt at times too! Madison kept saying, "I want to play with the broken baby."

RV Parks...these are everywhere around Yuma...we must be getting closer.