Well, it was a weird week! We got to Phoenix early evening on Saturday the 9th. The drive from Durango was strikingly beautiful but had a few pretty boring legs. It was our first 8 hour drive though, so we were were worn out when we arrived. Pretty quickly, we recognized that the park I had reserved for the week, wasn't exactly up to snuff. It reminded me of camping at Sebring during the 24 hour race and I knew that it was not somewhere that I wanted to leave Jeff for several days, so we were glad that we had the next day to figure out another plan.
On Sunday, we got up early, watched church online, and then headed off to check out a few of the other parks around us. Fortunately, we had a couple of options and it wasn't any problem at all to get moved. After we got settled in again, we ran a few errands to get Jeff stocked up for the week, and then treated ourselves to our very first In n Out burgers! They were as good as expected, but we learned a few tricks for our next trip.
I took off early Monday morning for my flight to Atlanta and then had the 3 hour drive south. I made it to the hospital around 9 p.m. where I settled in for my mom's last night in the hospital. We took her home the next day and I began making the plans needed for her rehabilitation from two fractures in her back. She'll have home health coming in every day, as well as Occupational and Physical Therapy four times per week. We're hopeful that the fractures will heal over the next couple of months, in which case she will only need a minor surgery to sort out some nerve damage. If that plan doesn't work, then we're looking at a much more complicated surgery as well as the miserable months in between. I know that she is appreciating all the prayers we send and thank you all for the emails, calls, texts and prayers received thus far.
The highlight of Jeff's week in Phoenix was getting to meet and have some quality time with a long time associate. They have done a lot of work together over the years via the phone and internet, so it was a treat to get to know him on a more personal level. After I arrived back in town, we had dinner with he and his wife, and I've kept thinking since how good God has been in giving us such remarkable people to do business with. Though it's just the two of us, we have a strong network of people that make it possible to do what we do, and we are well aware that we wouldn't be where we are without them.
Yesterday, we got up at 4:30 am and set off on the 12 hour plus journey to Salt Lake City. I won't say that it was fun, but we did get to drive through Lake Powell, outside of Page, AZ which was unbelievably gorgeous with sandstone mountains surrounding the crystal blue waters. I wouldn't say that either of us were all that enamored by Arizona, but I can say for myself, that I definitely would like to spend some time there at a later date.
For the second week in a row, we passed just east of the Grand Canyon and didn't stop. Quite frankly, part of me feels like we aren't doing this whole road trip thing very well. We have done so little sight seeing and are passing right by so many of God's greatest creations that I'm a bit ashamed. I have to assuage myself by remembering that we are on a work trip and that, contrary to those thoughts, we are definitely accomplishing the professional goals that we set when we started dreaming up this trip.
We are not actually sure how long we'll be in Salt Lake City. We have a meeting tonight and then another to schedule while we're here. The park we are in is beautiful and the weather is hard to beat, so we may just camp out here for a couple of days while we get caught up on work from my absence last week.
From here, we aren't exactly sure where we are going. It's looking like we'll either head over to Northern California or up to Boise. Our plan had been to head from Phoenix into Southern California, but that was going to involve a ton of driving over the next couple of weeks, and we just didn't feel quite right about that itinerary when it came time to start making reservations, so Jeff cooked up the Salt Lake plan, and here we are!
We'll just pray about where God wants us to go next and we'll keep you posted!