Oh. My. Gosh. (Steph)

Let me say again. Oh. My. Gosh. WHAT a day!

First, Santa Fe was AWEsome, AWEsome, AWEsome! Incredible food, GREAT shopping, wonderful history, AMAZING scenery! Could easily spend 2 weeks there. I won't get too wordy :-) but among my favs were: the Cathedral Basilica, San Miguel Mission, Loretto Chapel, the Palace of the Governors, all of the shopping in and around the Plaza, the Plaza and of course, El Restaurante de Chimayo. Sigh. Just a very cool city. Its nickname is "The City Different" and we LOVE the differences!

SO, ok. Today we got up and started "breaking camp" to start the long journey home. Would take about 4 days. First stop, a relatively short drive to Amarillo, TX (and back to Central Time). Had some pretty annoying problems with the leveling jacks again. Took a long time to get up and stored, but ended up being fine.

We had decided while at Santa Fe to not get the problem looked at there that caused us to not feel comfortable towing the van behind the rv. Decided it would be better to just continue to follow with the van driving and then get it all looked at by the people Bob knows and trusts in Cincy.

Matt and I drive in the van following Bob and Karen and the girls in the rv. We stop at a Stuckey's (WHOO HOO, let me tell you) truck stop just inside TX for lunch. We come back out. Matt switches the car seats in to the van so the girls can ride with us and give Grammy and Zayde a break. We are sitting in the van waiting for Bob to finally move the rv. We wait. We wait some more. Karen comes out and tells us Bob can't get the stupid rv to start. We pull off to the side.

Bob decides to call AAA. They say they'll send a tow truck out. Well, like almost 2 hrs later (at this point we've moved back in to the rv where the girls can run around and watch dvd's, too), a huge PINK tow truck shows up! Almost an hour after that, the tow truck guy gets the rv hitched up to the tow truck. AAA has told us they can take it to a repair shop in Amarillo. We're happy because at least we'll still be moving east and not backtracking. By now, Bob has called and there are no rooms available in any Marriotts in Amarillo. Ugh. He calls AAA and they are about to find us a Comfort Inn Suites. Bob cancels our Amarillo rv park reservation. We feel better about having a place to sleep.

Less than a minute after we pull out of the Stuckey's, the tow truck guy pulls over (just off the ramp almost on to I-40) b/c he's not comfortable with the connections. Bob gets out to help. Bob gets in the rv to do something with the brakes or something in the rv. WE wait. Finally the tow truck guy pulls forward (with the rv attached safely now). We in the van expect Bob to walk back to us to get back in the van. No Bob. We're a little confused but expect that maybe he is riding in the tow truck. Hm. So, Matt calls Bob on his cell. He talks to Bob and gets off and proceeds to tell us that Bob was still in the rv and the tow truck guy didn't know and pulled off without letting him out. At this point we are SO incredibly tired and slap happy and feeling like nothing else will surprise us that we crack up laughing for like 20 minutes at the though of poor Bob in the rv being towed by the tow truck.

ANYway, we finally make it to Amarillo and the repair place is closed. Ugh. We knew that would happen but it just sort've adds to the day, ya' know? So we go check in to the hotel. It's nice. Each family unit has their own room (adjoining) and a king size bed w/ a pull out couch and plenty of room for the pack 'n play and for the girls to spread out. AND free wifi. NICE!

At this point, we are doubtful that the rv will get fixed by the end of the work day tomorrow and the place is probably closed on Sun. We are PRAYING that we'll be able to leave here by Monday. Sigh. We'll have plenty of time to explore Amarillo at least.

More later. Steph