Day 5: Goodbyes Suck.

Our last day was hectic. We woke up, had chex mix for breakfast and packed everything in the bronco just to drive to a car wash to unpack it in order to super clean the interior and the outside. A can of root beet from Mississippi had exploded in the bronco because of the altitude and it was everywhere! It was terrible but after tons of scrubbing inside and out and $40 worth of cleaning supplies, Maria is clean and waxed. She is a lot more high maintenance than I am! Cody got a storage unit for some stuff off base and I had fun riding on the luggage cart while he pushed me! 

We could see the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs for the first time and it was crazy! Cody got a call about 2pm that he was supposed to have already been back instead of arriving at 7, which is the normal check-in time so we left for Denver immediately to drop me off a little early, which I didn’t mind since I was excited to edit the pictures and get a blog post up, and I knew he had tons to do when he got back. I think Maria didn’t want me to leave because she caused us quite a bit of problems in the worst traffic in Denver…she got over it though. It was probably the hardest goodbye yet, we had such an amazing trip and I may have laughed more than I ever have. 

But, I boarded my delayed plane to Nashville and was greeted by my mom, and Cody made it back to USAFA after breaking down and life is back to normal I guess….except not. Cody is in Las Vegas for 3 weeks and is going to get to fly in an F-16….I may or may not be a little jealous. There are some things I wish we could trade places for haha but I’m excited to get my new house in Oxford in the next month with Laurs and enjoy this next month of summer before I start my intercession class in August.  

Until next time, watch a sunset for me.

DAY 4: Nice Guys and Crazy Mexicans

The next morning we pulled out a little after 7am and after stopping on top of a hill to get internet on my phone to figure out which way to go, we were finally headed north! This is when a map would have definitely come in handy. This was by far the longest day. After a breakdown or 2, some McDonald’s apple pies, synchronized dances, a lot of gas, the Beatles, some nice guys and crazy Mexicans, we made it to Lake Pueblo in Colorado around 4pm. That is a lot of driving. Since we didn’t make it where we were supposed to the day before, we just decided to bypass Zapata Falls and the Sand Dunes and save them for one of my trips to Colorado in the next 2 years. Right before we got back to the interstate, there was a mountain/large plateau that you could see for miles. 

Kidding, I told Cody we should try to climb it in the bronco and that is exactly what we did!

The nice thing is that when the bronco broke down on this trip, I mean literally just stopped going down the interstate when Cody was holding the gas down, Cody could fix it. No one really freaked out, we just turned the flashers on, pulled over, he got out with his tools and within 10 minutes, we were rolling again! I was quite impressed…I mean I know he built the thing but still :) Although after looking at this picture from when we broke down one time of absolutely nothing I probably should have worried a little...haha.

 After realizing there was nothing for another hour or more, we turned around and got gas then stopped at McDonald’s in Las Vegas, New Mexico so I could charge my camera and my computer some and Cody surprised me with sweet tea and an apple pie, my favorite!! At our many stops in New Mexico and southern Colorado, plenty of nice guys came up to talk to cody about the bronco and a couple of stops were filled with crazy Mexicans piling in and out of vans and driving like maniacs. 

We finally arrived at Lake Pueblo and it was so hot! I figured the first part of our trip would be super hot and as we got closer to Colorado, it’d cool down but I definitely got that backwards! As soon as we got to Lake Pueblo, we found the swim beach and slowly got in…it was freezing, but a really nice area! After that, we spent over an hour looking for a campsite by the water but they were all reserved by RVs so we decided to take a shower, hoping that it would cool down outside and be more bearable for tent camping. We walked in the separated showers and walked out of the different sides of the building at the same time laughing…it was coin operated. So after finding some quarters and taking cold 3 minute showers we still weren’t satisfied with almost 100 degree temps at 7pm. 

It went like this…"We could go eat with Blake and get a hotel…air conditioning…a soft bed…real food…” 

He had me at eat, haha. So, we headed to the Springs, which is a little over an hour north, found a hotel, checked in at 8:48 and literally ran up and down too many flights of stairs taking all of our camping stuff up to the 3^rd floor and changed clothes in order to make it to Cheddar’s in time for dinner with Blake and Kayla at 9pm. We were one minute late and I was exhausted. 

DAY 3: What kind of Jeep is that?

Luckily, it stopped raining by morning and the tent was dry for the most part. Cody made bacon and sausage and cheese biscuits with hot chocolate for breakfast…in the woods none the less. I think I have a keeper :) It was a cool morning after the rain, which was really nice waking up to and I slept so good. I think we truly got lucky with the weather…until we got to Colorado. So we packed up around 8am and headed west again! We hit up 3 states in one day and it was my first time to go to Texas and New Mexico! 

When we got off the interstate to get gas, a man pulled off with us and followed us to the gas station to tell him how much he liked it and ask if Cody would sell Maria. Without hesitation, Cody said no and the man moved along only for the man behind us to ask tons of questions, like “What kind of Jeep is that?” That was definitely Cody’s favorite question and I couldn’t help but cringe and laugh everytime. It turned out his son went to Ole Miss…as if I couldn’t have guessed that with his chacos, button up, mountain hardwear vest, croakies and southern tide visor…for a road trip. Sounds about right. We moved into Texas at a swift rate of 60mph and continued west, stopping at a rest stop that had a sign to beware of rattlesnakes…yikes!, and having some somersausage and cheese at a picnic area right off the interstate. Cody checked the bronco about everytime we stopped and this time he found an oil leak so he tightened some bearings and told me to find the nearest campground. 

We saw a sign for Ute Lake in New Mexico and followed the signs to it…kind of. After running way too low on gas, my phone took us to this gas station….we about died when we saw it.

 It was like a horror movie, especially since we only passed about 5 cars, some cows and a ton of “Ranch” signs on the way in, with no houses, water, buildings or many people. Not to mention we lost all cell service for awhile, we weren’t at the campground we had originally planned so no one knew where we were and we had to guess how to get in and out of there. Once we arrived, we set the tent up and took a nap. Well, Cody set the tent up. I, like an idiot, tried to get in his bronco by jumping so I wouldn’t get my wet and muddy feet all over the floorboard after we went down by the lake. Obviously underestimating how high I could jump, I smacked my head on the roof and still didn’t make it in the bronco…I felt so dumb, haha. Long story short, I just chilled out while he played superman and set everything up. Besides that, Ute Lake was really neat. Even though we couldn’t camp by the water, we could drive the bronco out away from the campground to the water’s edge and we were really close to the bathrooms/showers. 

The wind blew most of the time there and it wasn’t too hot so that was really nice. Cody also caught a smallmouth bass so that made his night and we got some pretty sweet pictures of Maria! We watched the sunset over the lake, as we did at all of the other campsites and it was truly majestic…definitely one of my favorite parts of this trip. 





Even after staying there, we still don’t know how to pronounce Ute right…I say “ooot” and Cody says “ewtee” hahaha…who knows!  We fell asleep and woke up to raccoons on top of the bronco. I know they would have been dead if there wouldn’t have been other people camping nearby! They didn’t do any damage though, thank goodness! 

DAY 2: Maria and Buffalos; Foss Lake, OK

To begin with, this is obviously a little late. I typed my last post on my computer during the trip before it died and posted it in the Denver Airport right before I took off and then spent a few days at the lake without internet!

The second day of our road trip consisted of lots of driving, lots of looking at nothing and a beautiful lake that made it all worthwhile. We got a late, hot start leaving Arkansas so we made a quick stop at Burger King for a late breakfast and hit the road. Cody left room in the backseat for me to take a nap since I woke up so early so I curled up with his Carhart and took advantage of that :) After seeing literally 23 signs for the Cherokee Trading Post in Oklahoma, we decided to give Maria a little break. That brings up a whole different story. Maria, formerly known as the mean machine, was renamed after the song “My Maria” by Brooks and Dunn came on the radio so when Cody talks about Maria too much don’t think he is cheating on me. Even though he spent more time with her than me every break since Thanksgiving. It’s okay though, it has been well worth it in hindsight! The Cherokee Trading Post had tons of little trinkets and even some real buffalo, the state animal. The sight of me trying to get on this painted buffalo was probably ridiculous, seeing that I just knew I could run and jump and throw my body on top of it. But after that failed three times, I let Cody help me. It’s a lot taller than it looks I promise! 

After almost reaching the western Oklahoma border, we finally arrived at Foss Lake. Turns out Cody had been there with his dad when he was little when they drove cross country, but we didn’t know that until we got there! Foss Lake was in the middle of nowhere but it was definitely my favorite campsite! The wind never stopped blowing, there was sand, cheap camping, a lake and we were allowed to start a fire unlike in New Mexico and Colorado. We settled in and took showers but were scared to leave all of our stuff out so we took showers at different times. I went first and after a short Bronco lesson, I drove it maybe 1/6 of a mile to the showers…by myself!!

This was only a big deal because one, Cody doesn’t really let most people drive it and secondly, starting it isn’t as simple as just turning the key. I felt pretty hardcore. While Cody took a shower I sat there with his loaded shotgun because in his words, “I told your dad I’d get you home safely” haha. He fits right in with the whole gun scene around my house!

That night we had smores and they were so good…much better than a microwave smore! Since this was the first day of summer and we were so close to the central/mountain time zone change, the sun didn’t set until around 9:15pm! We thought it was around 7 and that our phones were wrong at first! That night it rained and a UFO landed beside our tent. After just falling into a deep sleep, we wake up to lights going crazy around the tent and this terrible screeching noise. My first thought was a UFO and I freaked out because I wasn’t really awake but it turned out to be a truck of kids doing donuts…I guess you had to be there. Tricky tricky.

Day 1 of Our Road Trip: Arkansas

Our first day is complete and the 2^nd is underway!  As I’m writing this, it’s 6:30am and I’m watching the sun rise over the lake while Cody sleeps a little more since he has to drive…I typically hate this time of morning but this chair is much more comfortable than the ground and my view isn’t too shabby either :)

Yesterday we left my house at 8:19am and headed west! Breakfast consisted of cookies from Cody’s mom and they were delicious…don’t ask me why I’m majoring in nutrition, haha. A little ways into Arkansas we saw a fire in the median, way too many 18-wheelers and a man carrying a 12 ft tall rolling cross down the shoulder of the interstate, headed towards Memphis. It reminded me of the verse…”Then Jesus said unto his disciples, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me’” Matthew 16:24. It was humbling in the least. We stopped just outside of Little Rock and filled the cooler with drinks and some food from Walmart. I feel like we always have the funniest/awkwardest/strangest cashiers everywhere we go. Saturday night at dinner…”Are yall brother and sister?” Nope. Everytime we get asked that I regret not just saying yes for kicks and giggles or really creeping people out when they see us touch. And this time after buying chocolate, graham crackers, smores and other camping type things, the lady who was screaming because she had cotton stuck in her ears refused to bend over to scan water and cokes because ‘she had an ear infection and she hopes the cops don’t see her because when she drives, she looks drunk’ followed up with a “oh my gosh your eyelashes are sooo long.” I had to walk away to keep from dying of laughter because that is probably my favorite comment people make to Cody. It all started in 6^th grade (9 years ago) with Mrs. Kelley Powell…me:  “I don’t like him!”… "but Rachel, his eyelashes are sooo long.” Well, those eyelashes have kept us together for a long time…or something like that :)

 

About halfway there, Cody whipped out a little remote for his radio, trying to be cool like my edge or something…haha it made me laugh. Then we had a little picnic outside of a church in the shade where I may or may not have accumulated 19 mosquito bites even after using big spray. Guess I was extra sweet!

We made a random stop at Petit Jean State Park after seeing the sign because I had seen good things about it on the internet. After climbing a super steep hill aka Petit Jean Mountain in the mean machine we got to Petit Jean’s gravesite and a really pretty lookout over the mountain and Arkansas River.

Petit Jean was a French girl that disguised herself as a boy named Little John in order to go with her fiancé to the new world in the 18^th century, which ended up being this mountain. She didn’t even tell him she had come over with him until she was about to die shortly after getting to the mountain!! We went to Red House Cave at this park and climbed up and down lots of huge rocks looking for a waterfall that we never found.

 

We also went to a car museum…not to look at cars since it was $10 a person, but to use their restrooms and act interested in the gift shop! I love how Cody isn’t in a hurry and we can stop at random places…it makes the trip so much more enjoyable! After driving around and not finding any campsites on the water, we decided to go on to Lake Dardanelle about an hour west and I am so glad that we did! Late Tuesday afternoon we went swimming in the lake at a little beach, made another Walmart trip and made dinner. Well, Cody made dinner. Lasagna and a hot dog and it tasted awesome. He has so many cool little tricks and I’m completely lost because last night was my first night to go camping ever but I’m catching on! 

I'll write about the rest later...I'm about to board my flight home :(

The Bronco Goes to Colorado

I've been wanting to start a blog again for random clips of my life and taking Cody's bronco out to Colorado is going to kick this one off!

For those of you that have asked me about Cody sometime since last Thanksgiving, there is no way that you haven't heard of the infamous red bronco that he spent millions (at least it seemed like millions) of hours working on. From here on out, I'll refer to it as the 'mean machine'. Well folks, it's complete [FINALLY :)]  and hopefully ready for a 1400 mile road trip! This will be the 3rd time I've traveled the path between Memphis and Colorado. The first time, my mom and I spent 3 days getting to Colorado...the second time, Cody and I drove straight through with only 3 stops...and this time we are taking 5 days and camping along the way, which leaves time for some fun! We're leaving at 8am in the morning (about 6 hours from now) and heading to Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas. I'll post more about each place once we have actually been to it but here is our itinerary if everything goes as planned:

Tuesday night...Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, AR

Wednesday night...Foss Lake in Oklahoma

Thursday night....Sugarite Canyon in New Mexico

Friday...Zapata Falls in Alamosa, CO

Friday night...The Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado 

I am so excited and can't wait to start our trip! I'm not sure when  I'll have internet  to post again, but until next time...all prayers, thoughts and jokes are appreciated :)