The Long Drive*

Today was probably our longest drive of the entire trip. We drove almost 800 miles from the Phoenix area to Amarillo, Texas. We also lost 2 hours due to time zone changes (I didn't realize this until a sign in Texas indicated that we had entered Central Standard Time).

We tried to set out extra early today, and did get on the road by about 6:30am. We had most of the van packed last night, and mostly just pulled the kids out of bed and into the car this morning, letting them sleep more as we drove.

Look! Cactus in Arizona! Yes we're tourists.
(I have a similar post from 2 years ago)

Surprisingly, though we drove across Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Texas, the weather was very temperate today, mostly in the upper 70's, unlike when we were approaching Phoenix from the West, when it was consistently above 100 degrees. The other surprising thing was the variety of landscapes. Of course there were deserts and mountains, but also areas of forests and farmlands. Here are some of the views we enjoyed as we drove today:

As we approached Amarillo, the sky was somewhat overcast, which seemed strange, since I had not seen an overcast day since San Francisco. It even started to rain a bit, which led to a very nice surprise:

We ended up getting in around 7:30pm CST, so we were on the road for about 11 hours. The kids did great, considering that we only stopped twice, for gas/restroom breaks. Patty made sandwiches and we ate lunch in the van. We had dinner at a restaurant in town before bringing the kids into the hotel and getting them to bed. It was a mentally challenging day for Patty and I too, since we were up at around 5:30am, and didn't get to bed as early as planned.

Tomorrow we have a shorter driving day planned - it should be less than 8 hours to tomorrow evening's planned destination.

*Historical note: The title of this post was "The Long Drive," which was a reference to the historical (not mythical) American Cowboy, who's era only lasted about 20 years starting after the end of the Civil War. The "Long Drive" was the job of these cowboys, who would drive Texas cattle hundreds or even over a thousand miles to the rail heads and "cow towns" of the Transcontinental railroads, which were being built across the great plains. Cattle was overabundant and cheap in Texas, but in great demand up North, so these cattle drives could be very lucrative.