Oh! The literalness of he!

Awhile back, Jonathan and I were riding together in the truck. We came upon a construction zone and suddenly, my jabbery little guy became strangely silent.

I glanced over at him; he was clearly deep in thought.

I waited a few more minutes...

...but finally curiosity got the best of me.

"Hey Jon-man..."

"Ummm-hmmm," he mumbled distractedly.

"Whatcha thinkin' about? You stopped talkin' to me."

"That sign," he sighed.

"What sign?" I asked.

"The one at the beginning of when they started working on the road," he answered.

"A road sign?"

"Yes..." after which his voice trailed off. He was still distracted.

"Why are you thinking about a sign?"

"Because I'm trying to figure it out."

"Oh? What's there to figure," I prompted.

"Well," Jonathan said thoughtfully, "the sign said 'Hit Worker Fine. $10 000.'

Why would anyone think it was fine to hit a guy working on the road?

And would they really pay you $10 000 if you did it?"

*********************************

Have I ever told you before?

I just LOVE that kid!

construction photo credit:

waitscm via photopin cc

Westward ho ~ Arizona and the Grand Canyon... Amazing and Almost Unreal

As you head west across the southern United States, Arizona is the state that follows New Mexico. One of the things we found quite interesting as we entered the state: most of the rest areas were closed... and the ones that were open were plastered with rattlesnake and scorpion warnings. It was kinda like they were trying to scare away all but the most adventurous!

One thing we learned about our family - the riders in our vehicle are often bladder synchronization impaired and it seems like we've got to take just about every other exit ramp to find a bathroom...

Of course, that made for some fun photos - like these tourist trap teepees - and frequent walking breaks kept my legs (folded up underneath me for almost the entire 3 weeks of traveling due to baggage stored where my feet would have normally been) from remaining permanently bent.

Arizona, like New Mexico, was characterized by rugged land formations and brilliant colors and high altitude. It was a beautiful drive across the state.

We arrived at our campground relatively early in the day and set up our tent as quickly as possible... for one hour a bit further north, the Grand Canyon was waiting.

Note... the coon skin hat and Jonathan's head were mostly inseparable for about 2 weeks!

If you've never seen the Grand Canyon before, IRL, I don't think anything can quite prepare you for the immensity of the panoramic view before you. Nothing did me...

I think I actually heard him say that he was bored with looking at the big hole in the ground and wanted to go back to the KOA campground and swim...

Tim thinks he looks goofy here... just because he is smiling. :-)

The risk you run if you go out in public with your big sisters...

...but frankly, she really didn't care. Actually, I think she thought it was pretty cool.

The first group to successfully navigate the Colorado River... and that's the kind of boat they used. Unbelievable!

Our day ended with a beautiful sunset, as viewed from our campground.

The next day, we'd be off for the final leg west...

ending in LA.