On the road again.

I am getting through all the days of our vacation, little by little. I think this was the biggest story day of them all. We have been across western Oklahoma, through the Texas panhandle, and stayed in Santa Fe and visited quite a bit of history. Now we begin our trek further west to Arizona and ultimately the Grand Canyon.

We got up early, quickly got everyone ready for the day, all things packed and put away, and hit the road quick. We ate breakfast in the van, and were off to a great start. Then came the fun. The western half of New Mexico was completely under construction. Like all of it. The roads were the worst I've ever seen, and that's bad considering the ones we have here in Oklahoma. I was beginning to think Anderson might end up with problems after being shaken so much! And then came the unexpected bathroom break. You would think that with seven children we would be stopping every hour, but the kids were great and never had to stop. That is until this day. Terry started yelling he had to go to the restroom. We're talking really yelling. So Heath finds the nearest turn off, and we pull up to this cute gas station, restrooms, and seller of indian wares. Everybody unloads (because if you're going to stop, everybody better make use of the bathrooms!), and we piddle around in the shop and what not then round everyone up to load back into the van. As we approach the van, it is looking askew. You guessed it. We had a flat tire. Not just flat, we're talking no air left, wheel on the ground, limp as a rag flat tire. Thank goodness Terry had to go to the restroom. And of course, this isn't just your average tire change. Oh no. First they had to unhitch the trailer. Then had to read, dicipher, and finally translate the instructions for the jack and tire iron, and of course kick and scream to get the lug nuts to break loose. For those of you who have never changed the tire to a 15 passenger van, you are missing out. Fully loaded by the way. And then once the guys had finally gotten the tire switched, the flat stowed, and the van let back down, the trailer hitch was too low to go back on to the van. Now how does that happen? So Heath and Dad had the arduous task of jacking the trailer hitch up to go over the ball on the van hitch. It was a wonderful hours worth of work. And no, there are no pictures of the event. Would you take pictures of two guys having to change a tire?! But we were stopped at the continental divide, so we did get a few pictures of that sign and the canyon that was near.