I feel like I say this everyday, but what a DAY. Today was a huge driving day as we traveled from Arizona all the way over to Texas. I know. 10 hours. BUT we added some fun stops along the way to keep it moving!!
Stop number one was to the one… the only… FOUR CORNER’S MONUMENT. That is right, your favs were in FOUR STATES AT ONCE TODAY. The monument itself is legit in the middle of the desert (but you still need to pay a $5 entrance fee- rude). BUT we drove all the way so we had to do it obviously. Here’s what the monument looks like:
Surrounding the monument are different Navajo vendors selling the art, jewelry, etc. (I did some shopping here- lots of gifts to come). There were also some food options- Joey got a Res Dog and Frybread which he claims was the best hot dog of his entire life.
While we were waiting to take our picture for the monument, this group of women came up in line behind us and were talking about how they are RUNNING across the country. THEY ARE RUNNING ACROAS THE COUNTRY. They basically said that they take turns and run about 2-4 miles at a time before switching. This is all I know. I am just as curious as you are to know more. They said they’re running for cancer research, started in San Francisco and are ending in Baltimore. They have a van that drives the non-runners/picks up the current runner at the next stop, and they camp out every night. Okay, now that’s all I know. Joey and I estimated that it will take them 3 months to do this, wild.
BUT BACK TO THE REASON YOUR HERE- when we got the front of the line it said we could take 3 pictures LOL so here are our three pictures, shout out to my selfie stick for coming in handy:
Once we were done here, we took off for Santa Fe! This is not our final destination for the day, but it’s a good half way point and we figured we could get a good meal! I have put Joey in charge of choosing all of the food places, and he did not disappoint! We went to Dr. Fieldgood’s Kitchen, where Joey had the best Cuban sandwich of his life. It was another big day for Joey.
And then, once again, we were off. About half way through our drive, Joey asked if we wanted to stop for gas and switch (we try to do 2-3 hour shifts). I said I would pull over at the next exit, which appeared to be a town called Cuervo. WELL, as we are approaching the exit we notice that this is a LITERAL ABANDONED GHOST
TOWN. We looked it up, and apparently it was a big town during the Route 66 days, but when I-40 was built it split the town in half and basically everyone left. The houses still have furniture and appliances in them apparently, which I feel is a staple of a true ghost town. So needless to say, we did not stop there. But hey, at least we saw a ghost town!
I was also devastated to learn today that the iconic cactus with the arms can only be seen at ONE national park in southern Arizona. I drove all of the way across the country and half way back just to look at some DESERT SHRUBS. Not today arm cactus, but someday, we will meet.
Okay anyway, we have finally arrived at our hotel in Texas and we are heading to bed because we have a fun activity planned for tomorrow morning! We are also so excited to spend TWO nights in one place. That’s right- no super long intense driving for us until TUESDAY! We are also slowly making our way back to EST, we are currently only an hour ahead of our NJ/NY friends and family! This paragraph has too many explanation points, good night!
DAILY STATS UPDATE:
- Number of States We’ve Been In: 15
- Miles Driven Today: 600 Miles
- Miles Driven Total: 4,837 Miles
- Cows Spotted: 5,389
- Hours in the Car Today: 10 hours
- Total Hours in the Car: 78 hours
- Chicken Nuggets Consumed: 74
- Windmills Spotted: 653
- State License Plates: 46/50 States
- Number of Musicals Listened to: 10.5
Joey and Emily's Summer Road Trip! 