The Most Challenging Trip
Randy and I knew this vacation would come. It just seemed to sneak up on us though. We had heard the warnings and heeded them to the best of our ability. Time flies! Time waits for no man! Children grow up all too quickly! This would be our first family vacation without Aaron in twenty-one years.
Making it even more challenging, we would have to leave Aaron at home while we traveled. It would have been easier had he been at college or still in Field Camp. Instead he is at home taking afternoon classes at the local community college. During the school year we've been blessed to see Aaron most weekends. During the summer we enjoy seeing him all week as well. He was away at Field Camp for six weeks which cut into our time with Aaron this summer. Now, we were contemplating a family vacation while he was at home? How could we? After much discussion, we decided that we had to take the vacation. Aaron's life would continue to change as he moves on to graduate school, internships, and a career. Eventually, he may have a family of his own. Hopefully, we will be as blessed as my aunt whose adult children and their spouses travel with her and my uncle once or twice a year on family vacations.
Caylin deserved some one on one time traveling with us we reasoned. Aaron spent eight years with us one on one before the arrival of his sister. It would be good for her to be the center of our attention. We thought about places we had been before she was born that we could visit. The Golden Gate bridge, the Carlsbad Night Bat Flight, Reno, Lake Tahoe. All possible destinations during this family vacation.
Monday, July 14th, we set out at 6:00 am headed to Carlsbad. Four hours into the trip, our inner back passenger tire completely came apart. We pulled over and surveyed the damage. The damage was severe. Wires for the generator were ripped out and hanging in the wheel well. Wiring needed to plug the RV in were also dangling. The fuse box in the kitchen had been damaged from the wires being pulled. Holes were knocked in the wheel well and could be seen inside the RV. Randy said we were fortunate that the brake lines had not been damaged nor had the gas lines.
Randy, not normally a superstitious person wondered aloud if this were a sign that we were meant to stay home and not travel this summer.
We finally made it home seven hours later. Randy worked well into the evening repairing the damage. He built a shield to protect the wiring, brake lines and gas lines. He added tire pressure sensors and temporarily repaired the wall. Wednesday morning, we set out once again at 6:00 am.
Along I10 just east of Fort Stockton we encountered a severe thunderstorm with strong winds, hail, hard rain and intense lightning. Both sides of the freeway came to a standstill with all vehicles pulling over to the shoulder. "Another sign?" Randy asked.
Guadalupe Mountains near Carlsbad Caverns July 2014
We decided to spend the day heading to the summit of the mountains. It would take us down gravel roads
with steep drop offs and not enough guard rails. Along the way we encountered many cows, a tumble -bee, road-runners, lizards,
a rabbit, many unidentifiable birds and a mule-deer.
Have you ever felt something crawling on you and looked down to discover nothing was there? Just a trick of the nervous system. I felt something crawling across my hand and when I looked down expecting it to be one of those tricks I discovered a bee. With a yelp and a quick brush of my right hand I succeeded in knocking it off into the standard transmission gear shift of our H3. Meanwhile, Randy shifted into neutral, set the parking brake and hopped out of the vehicle. Caylin quickly followed. I noticed that the bee could no longer fly. The bee wanted out as bad as we wanted it out. No longer able to fly it cart-wheeled, somersaulted, and tumbled its way all out of the car. A tumble-bee!!!
Nearing the summit
Storm rolling in. The temperature is nice!
Unfortunately, no cameras or any type of electronic devices are allowed at the bat flight.
We were able to watch about 10 minutes of the bat flight before they made everyone leave due to an approaching thunderstorm with dangerous lightning. Caylin told us that she had seen enough and was ready to move on from Carlsbad.
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