The Roebuck Remote: Days 1-3: On the Road

Day 1: Roswell, New Mexico.

First stop on Roebuck Road Mania 2010: Roswell, New Mexico. We left Siloam Springs at about 11 p.m. on a Tuesday night and drove 10 hours through the night to the home of Bill and Polly, Laura's parents. They are the king and queen of hospitality. We enjoyed a lovely day and evening with them– the kids loved running and playing in their yard, and it worked out well that they didn't have to sit in the car for 10+ hours straight two days in a row.

Laura's sister, Joy, and her husband, Brent came over for dinner and brought their oh-so-adorable little guy Sealy. (Hmmmm.... Hope I'm spelling that correctly...) He is PRECIOUS. Here's a picture of him with Bill and Polly. Anyway, it was just so great to be the beneficiaries of the legendary Hartman Hospitality.

We won't mention how Lucas was blowing chunks the whole time we were there. Poor guy. But we will mention how thankful we all were that whatever he had, the rest of us somehow avoided. [Insert huge sigh of relief].

Day 2: White Sands National Monument

Day 2 on the road was a LONG day in the car, about 15 hours. Thankfully, the kids were really fantastic travelers. We only had to reprimand Max about four times for whining, "WHY is it taking so long?" Overall, not bad for a 2-yr-old and 4-yr-old.

On the road from Roswell to Calexico, California, we stopped at White Sands National Monument. It was the brightest place I have ever been. Like somebody-get-me-some-heavy-duty-sunglasses-or-I'm-going-to-be-forced-to-scrape-my-eyes-out bright.

I didn't have any sunglasses. But I decided against the scraping my eyes out thing, after considering both the pain and the inconvenience of that particular option.

Other than the extreme brightness, the sky was bluer and the sand whiter than anything I've ever seen either. The sand was so white, and there was so much of it, that this is what Maggie did as soon as she was out of her car seat:

Sand Angels. Interesting.

This little maneuver brought quite a bit of sand back into the car with us upon our departure. Oh, well.

Found a shady spot with my favorite little buddy.

We may or may not have given them something sweet

in order to produce this show of sibling affection.

Day 3: Calexico, California

Late, late, late at the end of Day 2's long drive we arrived in Calexico, California, the border town between Mexico and California. The town on the Mexico side of the border is Mexicali. I know, so creative, right?

We would have arrived a decent hour in Calexico if not for the fact that we got stopped on the freeway while the military was doing some missile testing in the Middle Of Nowhere, New Mexico. Some guys in orange vests slowed us all down, and then proceeded to park us all on the highway like a parking lot.

Then we sat there for about an hour, parked on the highway, and watched some explosions in the distance. Then they dismissed us from our parking places. Only we still couldn't move our car because the guy parked in front of us was sound asleep. I found the whole thing really hilarious.

So.... late, late, late that night we arrived at the home of Tio Manlio and Tia Alva, Lucas' Dad's brother and his wife. Lucas' Dad and Maria met us there and we enjoyed a day with Manlio and Alva.

Alva has some sweet little granddaughters a little younger than Maggie, and she was kind enough to share her girls' princess booty with Maggie. Maggie thought perhaps we had already arrived at Disneyland. She pranced around the house all day just as happy as she could be!

Manlio owns a large tree nursery in Calexico. The kids loved checking out the nursery and learning about plants that grow in the desert and looking at all the palm trees:

Lucas with his Uncle Manlio and Aunt Alva

After we left Manlio and Alva's, we header further west still toward Fallbrook in North San Diego county, where Lucas' Dad and Maria live. On the way, we stopped at this cool stone monument house on top of a mountain: