Family Mellmann

Patrick and I enjoyed one last meal together and said our farewells...again.  This time, it will be more than three weeks before we see each other again.  I'm sure I'll get used to this eventually... I hit the road around 10:00 and headed north.  My first stop was Tuba City, Arizona.  Tuba City sounded like a fun place to visit given my high school band experience (I played tuba), but then I learned that it has some history.  Tuba City is in the Navajo Nation.  Several Navajo citizens were part of the Code Talkers of WWII.  Marine Corps leadership selected twenty-nine Navajo men who created a code based on the complex, unwritten Navajo language.  This code was used to communicate military tactics and plans.  This system enabled the Code Talkers to translate three lines of English in 20 seconds versus the standard 30 minutes with existing code-breaking machines. The Code Talkers participated in every major Marine operation in the Pacific the...

Patrick and I finished out our day at Rustler's Rooste in Tempe.  Situated atop a...hill...it gave us some great views of the city below and a lovely sunset.  And the steaks and homemade baked beans were fabulous.  

Last night, Patrick and I had dinner out at a local restaurant and then walked around town a little enjoying the architecture.  This building struck us both as an architectural representation of Arizona; the orange and tan parts of the building are reminiscent of the rock and stone colors common to the area, and the blue of the glass mimics the sky quite accurately. This morning, Patrick had an early morning flight with an owner of a flight academy where he is being considered for a job.  When he was done with that (by the way, it went very well and resulted in a job that Patrick is very excited about) we took a drive to check out some local scenery. We went to Papago Park where we could see the Papago Ponds, the Desert Botanical Garden, and Hole in the Rock.  As we drove through the botanical garden we saw this eye-popping green tree with green branches and trunk (the Palo Verde).  It was beautiful against the cloudless blue sky.  We also snagged a photo op wit...

The drive from Oklahoma to Arizona was long, but interesting.  I encountered dramatic storms, construction traffic, and an ever-changing climate and terrain. On Thursday, I crossed the border from New Mexico into Arizona.  Once I crossed the state line, I spotted my first saguaro cactus which dots the roadside like pine trees in the northeast. I checked into my hotel and parked the car/trailer so I could settle in for a couple of days in Tempe.  Patrick and Amelia picked me up so we could go get some dinner. On Friday morning, we met as early as we could muster to unload the trailer before the stifling Arizona heat could make such work intolerable.  I unloaded the trailer and moved boxes to the bottom of the stairs and Patrick lugged everything to his third floor apartment.  Amelia pitched in where she could, but those boxes were packed pretty heavy, and some of them were large and/or awkward. With the back of the car empty and the trailer emptied of everything ...

From Springfield Missouri, it was a short run to Owosso Oklahoma where I stayed with family for two days, catching up on all the news that's fit to print.   This morning, I left Owosso and continued the journey west from Oklahoma, through Texas, and into New Mexico.   New Mexico is a first for me; I have never been here before. Arriving in New Mexico means I have one more day of driving and one more state border to cross before arriving in Tempe AZ.  Finally arriving in Tempe means I get to free myself of the U-haul I have been dragging around since Vermont.  Oh!  And I also get to see Patrick. :) Patrick is the black circle, I am the blue dot. This is the route I have taken from Vermont to New Mexico.

Saturday was a long run from Williston, Vermont to Dayton, Ohio (Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio). After some sleep and a leisurely start, I was back on the road this morning; through Indiana, Illinois, and a good chunk of Missouri.  Thanks to a little detour (construction and a misleading sign) I was routed right through St. Louis.  The UP side is that I got to see the Arch without having to find a parking place (remember there's a trailer behind my car). Just as I passed out of St. Louis (actually, some before also) I hit some good old Midwestern stormy weather; huge raindrops, lots of water, darkness...except for the flashes of lightning, and wind.  It's that white-knuckle kind of driving where you turn the radio off and totally focus on the road. Then, just as fast as I drove into it, I drove out of it.  It was time for a gas stop and I was really ready to be done so I looked for one of those all-in-one stops; gas, food, and accommodations.  It thought...

Almost three weeks ago, Patrick loaded his car and moved to Arizona to start a new adventure.  A college graduate and a commercial pilot and flight instructor, he had all the tools to start "adulting" on his own terms.  What he didn't have was sense enough to rent a moving truck! It won't come as a surprise to most that a Honda Civic isn't really built for moving vast quantities of cargo, and Patrick is full of...cargo!  So, our garage was left filled with all the things that he wanted but couldn't fit in the Civic.  Today, we rented a trailer (5'x8') and Joerg worked his magic.  Obviously, the first thing in was the motorcycle, then two bicycles.  Since a good magician never reveals his secrets, I can't tell how it went on but the trailer is loaded wall-to-wall, top-to-bottom, front-to-back.  I didn't, but I probably should have loaded a lawn chair so I have someplace to sit while I watch Patrick unload it all. With the trailer loaded, it was ...