Lucy and I woke up, went downstairs for breakfast, packed our things, then loaded up the car for the last leg of our journey. We popped my new Book on CD into the player and headed for the Interstate once again. We actually headed East on I-40 toward Meteor Crater. We had intended to stop and see Meteor Crater the same day we went to the Petrified Forest but it had already closed. It felt sort of wrong to drive east on this trip to the west, but we decided we really should go see the crater, even if we had to go backwards a bit.
We arrived at Meteor Crater, parked and went to buy our tickets. It cost us $15.00 each. As we were walking up the stairs behind the ticket booth, we passed a couple walking down the stairs. I overheard the man mutter "I can't believe it was fifteen bucks for THAT!" Lucy and I laughed. The guy was sort of right...I mean it's fifteen bucks to look at a big hole in the ground, and then leave. Fortunately for Lucy and I, when we walked into the Visitor's Center they were just getting ready to start a one-hour tour along the rim of the crater. I said "We're going on that. Maybe then I'll feel like I got my money's worth." Lucy agreed.
The crater was, in fact, pretty cool. I mean you look at it, and it really is just a huge hole in the ground and since there are literally NO other land formations nearby, it is a little difficult to decide whether or not you should be impressed. Maybe it seems big, but is it? How can you tell when there aren't even any trees around to compare it to? That's why you need a tour guide to tell you how many Boeing 777 airplanes or Washington Monuments would fit into Meteor Crater. Then your mind has something to compare it to and you realize yes, you should be impressed.
Lucy and I enjoyed our tour of Meteor Crater. When the tour concluded, we got back in my car and headed HOME. I thought it was a really beautiful drive through western Arizona. There were lots of hills and Ponderosa pines everywhere. Lucy and I were thoroughly enjoying our book on CD as well. I mentioned in my last post that I got Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. I'd been excited to read the book even before its release date. I actually went to a Barnes & Noble to buy it the week it was released but it had already sold out. I was super happy to finally have a copy and I was also super happy that I had managed to rope Lucy into listening to the book with me. I told her if she found it insanely boring, we could turn it off and listen to music instead but fortunately Lucy found the book as fascinating as I did. It's actually an amazing story. It's the story of Louis Zamperini. He was an Olympic runner and competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The book is mostly about his experiences during WWII. He was a bombardier on a plane that went down over the Pacific Ocean. He drifted in a raft at sea for 47 days. There were times when sharks actually jumped out of the water, to try and bite him and drag him overboard. I'm not even making that up. It actually happened. Just when the raft finally came in sight of land, Louis and his fellow survivor were intercepted by a Japanese ship. They spent the rest of the war in Japanese prison camps enduring the worst things you can imagine - and yet Louis survived it all. It is really an incredible story. We loved it. So much.
Anyway, we drove all day long. There was one point where traffic came to a dead stop on the interstate. It wasn't stop-and-go, it was just stopped. A freeway party ensued.
We didn't know what had happened or how long we would be stopped, but I wasn't too worried about it. It was pretty hot out, but there was a nice breeze. Plus I had a whole bunch of candy and water bottles stashed in the trunk of the car for just this sort of situation! Lucy kept asking if she could "Go see what was happening." She was just sure that if she walked to "that hill up there" in the distance, she would be able to see what was going on. I said "No, stay here." She tried to tell me she wouldn't be gone very long but I said "No, because if traffic starts moving and you're not here, I'm leaving you." Kidding, Lucy. I would never leave you behind. :) Traffic did start moving just a few minutes after that. And there were a few cars in front of us all in a dither because they couldn't find their passengers who had "gone to see what was happening." Lucy and I just went around them and headed on our way. Turns out the whole jam had been cause by a trailer with a blown-out tire miles and miles ahead of us.
Eventually we crossed the borderline into California and spent the next while driving through completely desolate desert. Then all of a sudden there were these steep hills. And I mean STEEP. Thank goodness there was an extra lane on each side of the interstate at that point because the trucks were absolutely crawling up those hills. After what felt like forever, we reached a pitstop in the middle of nowhere. We decided to fill the car up with gas, hit the restrooms and grab some food. However, we noticed that gasoline was like 50 cents more than it should be per gallon. I said "I'm not paying that. I've still got a quarter of a tank. We'll just fill up at the next place." We headed inside the station though to use the restrooms. I had to wait in line for a solid ten minutes. I'm not exaggerating. I was feeling slightly disgruntled, but then, as I was leaving the bathroom I saw that the line had almost quadrupled in length. So then I felt sort of lucky. I sat down at a table with Lucy and she said she had ordered food for us already and that the girl at the register had been very, very mean to her simply because Lucy asked if they had corndogs. What a terrible place. Astronomical gas prices, a bathroom line longer than some theme park lines, a cashier that bites peoples heads off...not our best stop.
Back on the road we started running into more and more and more traffic. There were a lot of weekend boaters heading back home. Plus, we were re-entering civilization. The roads were packed, and people were driving like crazy. Someone had even dropped a large wooden pallet on the freeway! Fortunately I was able to see it in enough time to change lanes without causing problems - a few other people were forced into swerving at the last second. There was lots of honking and tire screeching going on.
Just when the traffic got really bad and the driving got really hectic, we reached the point in the Louis Zamperini book where sharks start attacking him. I can't remember whether I started to hyperventilate or if I stopped breathing, but Lucy quietly asked, "Should I turn the book off far now?" I was like, "No! Leave it on! It's so scary, but soooooo good!" It really is the most incredible book. So intense. Also, sharks are evil, evil creatures. I'm tired of all this "Oh sharks don't mean to hurt humans, they probably just thought that person was a seal." Whatever. They're diabolical. Sharks will hunt you down and kill you knowing full well you are absolutely NOT a seal. And they won't even feel bad about it! Just look into a shark's eyes - no remorse there. Well, except this guy - he looks like he might feel a little bit bad about murdering you.
At long last, Lucy and I entered the Rancho Santa Margarita city limits. After nine days, driving across the United States of America, we coasted to a stop in our very own driveway. Well, almost. That is, we would have if Dad hadn't parked both the van and his car crooked in the driveway! Lucy and I had to park across the street. We unpacked the car and carried all of our bags inside the house. We then spent a solid hour telling Mom and Dad stories and showing off our new refrigerator magnets. We gave them their presents (Dishtowels! Sounds lame, I know, but they were really cute dishtowels) and then we unpacked. Thus ended a very epic adventure indeed.
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