Blixa Mix: Home Sweet Home

I've been back for a week now and I guess I've been hiding because a few unforeseen circumstances on the trip have inconvenienced my business - and life - in a significant way.

Our road trip was progressing successfully. We made it safely from Ontario to Monument Valley, Utah, with virtually no hiccups and then the morning we left for Arizona, everything started to go wrong. My car broke down in the middle of nowhere on Navajo land and just as AAA was coming to get us, a storm cloud proceeded to hover over us. It poured 10 minutes before the AAA guy arrived and about 10 minutes after we left. What a coincidence.

The head gasket blew on my car. Repairs were not worth the vehicle value so I sold it to a guy in Flagstaff for $200. We decided we would still drive to California to finish our trip but we had to rent a car; it happened to be graduation week in town so there were literally NO rental cars available. I got some help from one of the guys at the auto shop where we were at; he said he had an Avis/Budget car in the shop that we could take.

So we drove west to California on no food, the blistering Arizona sun cooking us from above, and when we got to our Airbnb after 8 hours (we blame Phoenix traffic for that one), I collapsed from exhaustion and was bedridden for 4 days. On the 5th day, hubby got sick.

I'll say this. Despite the troubles, we had a good time. Things could've worked out better, yes, but we got to stand in Monument Valley and watch the stars illuminate the world, we got to drive through snow-peaked rocky mountains and across saguaro-dotted desert valleys, I got to experience all day McDonald's breakfast. So I no longer have a vehicle and do not have enough money to buy another one; that just means Thrift Haul posts will be more infrequent.

Ah well, you live and you learn.

Some highlights from the trip!

Colorado

9,075 feet elevation pitstop in Frisco