Caverns and Road Trips...

Well, we finally made it to California...not without a few gliches on the way. Most of the trip, however, has been really nice. Five of my immediate family members (mom, dad, jono, jenny, me) piled into my grandparents' suburban at 6:00 in the evening to head to Arizona for our first adventure. Yes, you read that right -- 6:00 in the EVENING. For any of you who have met my dad (all you Kerrville trippers out there, and family), you may remember that he loves to spice things up in his own special way. He's an accountant through and through, so he made a spreadsheet telling us when our shifts were to drive. Okay, so there was no spreadsheet on paper, but he did tell us his spreadsheet-like system. Two people were to be awake at all times. They would occupy the front two seats. One would be the driver (thanks, captain obvious) who would begin his/her two-hour shift...no more, no less... Apparently there is "research" out that says that if drivers only drive for two hours at a time that they will be refreshed and not get sleepy. However, after my 10-12 shift, followed by Jono's 12-2am shift (which I had to stay awake for), I'm not so sure the "research" is accurate. We would begin in the evening to avoid the monotony of west Texas and the southwest desert region.

We arrived in Arizona earlier than expected. Thus, we had to wait for a breakfast place to open up before our first adventure. Come 6am, a mom-and-pop style restaurant unlocked their doors and we seated ourselves and waited for our warm meal. Jono, after driving and not really sleeping, was snoozing in the car and missed his nourishment altogether.

Arizona, I've found, is quite an exciting place, geologically. We toured a relatively new cavern area called Kartchner Caverns. The caverns opened only in 1999 because they had been kept secret for so long to preserve its natural environment. Our morning tour was of the "Big Room" (pretty creative naming there), which was interesting, but not quite breathtaking. After lunch and a quick nap in the outdoor amphitheater (just the kids...we were exhausted and it was the most perfect day - 72 degrees), we took an afternoon tour of the Rotunda/Throne room. This area was quite a sight and I can't believe more people haven't heard of these caverns. It ended with a light and music show of the Throne room with the incredible "Kubla Khan" column (an enormous stalactite and stalagmite joined together) dominating the view and thousands of "soda straws" and "drapery" formations adorning the ceiling.

After driving and resting in Phoenix for the night, we got up super-early (4:45 California time, 5:45 Phoenix time) and drove to Bakersfield. Our lovely suburban ("The Burb" for short) decided to sputter and die several times as we drove through the mountains and on to the California Grapevine. Instead of taking it to a mechanic, Dad decided that since we were about 60 miles from our destination, we would chance it and just have to stop and restart the car every 6 miles... Lots of prayer later, we finally made it to grandma's!