Out in the plains...

Albuquerque/Edgewood/Moriarty, NM

We pick up pen once more (okay, laptop) to bid you all a fond “hello” and catch you up on our crazy adventure! This time our story begins on the road into New Mexico. California was dry as a bone, but we seemed to take some inclement weather along with us—it caught up somewhere between Flagstaff and Albuquerque, and for a while we slogged along through rain and hail. But neither sleet nor snow nor rain nor the dead of night shall keep us from our appointed destination (althooooough that’s actually not quite true, as you’ll see in a moment), and on we trekked (albeit slowly and slightly alarmed at the other semi-trucks and cars that had crashed on the sides of the highway).

No trees! How novel!

Our time in New Mexico was an amazing opportunity to meet and get reacquainted with some wonderful people! Our first stop was in Edgewood, where the Jackson family graciously hosted us for a few days. It was such a pleasure to get to know them more and enjoy some delightful company and great discussions!

Ethan, Garrett, and Levi

Some of us and some of the Jacksons!

Mitchell and Noah working on our broken laptop. :-) We don't have a picture, but Wesley helped us sort out some van issues as well. Thanks so much...you guys are awesome!

Halfway through the week, we also met up with some very old friends whom we hadn’t seen for around thirteen years. Back when Victoria and Savannah were six and four, respectively, we used to play with Alicia Constant; it felt like time-warping to fast-forward over a decade and discuss college degrees, our moms’ post-homeschooling adventures, and events that have transpired since we last saw each other.

After hanging out with Alicia and her sweet mom Jeanine, we headed back to Moriarty, NM to spend a few days with the Heckendorn family. We had a great time talking, laughing, and dancing, as well as learning about life on a NM cattle ranch!

The Grant and Heckendorn gals

Out on the ranch...

S'mores outside

Our original plan was to head out for Oklahoma on Saturday, May 16^th, but we ended up getting “rained-in” and leaving early Sunday morning instead. Remember that stormy weather that started following us outside of Albuquerque? It evidently took a liking to us, as we dragged that storm behind our trailer all the way to Oklahoma City. Fortunately we California folks are thirsty for the slightest drop of rain (unknown substance that it is), and we were okay with the unusual downpour OK experienced during our few days there. Our Oklahoma relatives chided us for showing up in the midst of their tornado season, but hey, you do what you can, right? God graciously protected us and we didn’t even have a tornado watch in our immediate area the whole time we were there. Well, off we go to help set up the trailer…we shall continue on a.s.a.p.!

Levi's trying to crack his new bullwhip...courtesy of Joshua! These bad boys came complete with eye protection and bandaids so that the boys can safely practice being awesome. Thank you so much!!!