Day 9

The drive out of the mountains always seems to take a while.  Amy and I got up early and packed and stowed everything, hitching the trailer up before the children even woke up.  We carried them to the vehicle while they were still sleeping.   We slowly crawled out of the campground and onto the highway.

The morning air was cool, and the weather perfect.  I looked in my rear view mirror at the towering mountains that grew smaller with our descent from altitude.  There was that sinking feeling, foreign, yet familiar as the realization of our return to our Lives was here.

The free RV dump provided by the city of Durango was closed for renovations.  We stopped at a local commercial campground and paid the 10 dollars to dump 4 days of waste water.  The Endeavor needed to ride herself of as much weight as she could for a long day of driving at altitude.  I handled the sewage while Amy got the kids teeth brushed and their clothes changed.  From there, we headed down into town and stopped at the local independent grocer and got some hot breakfast burritos.  They were just as delicious as I remember.

Bellies full, we headed across the high desert and down towards Albuquerque.  The mountains gave way to high desert, and we took it easy, trying not to stress the motor. The children completed more Mad Libs, and even convinced the adults to join in.  Howls of laughter ensued from the typical nonsense that are Mad Libs.

We made it to Albuquerque, and beat the traffic.  We made our turn East and headed across the high hot desert toward Amarillo.  I took a break for a while, turning the helm over to Amy.  We put on some storytelling podcasts and settled into the drive.  Suddenly, the Endeavor began to shudder violently.  There had been some rough pavement and at first we believed that to be the cause.  The shuddering worsened and I looked over to see Amy's knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel.  I asked her to pull over and confirm what I thought to be the case.  

Indeed, we had a blowout.  The right rear tire was nothing but shreds.  The asphalt was scorching as the weather was over 100 degrees.  I commenced the hot dirty job of changing a tire on the side of the interstate.  Cars whizzed by at 80+ mph ans I quickly changed the destroyed rubber.  We were back on our way in about 25 minutes.  We kept the speed low the rest of the way as another flat would render us crippled with no other spare.

We made it to Amarillo at around 8pm.  There are Discount Tire shops here, so the flat will be replaced under warranty.  We made it to the Amarillo KOA campground with enough time for the kids to swim.  While amy took them swimming, I made a dinner of corned beef and rice.  Full hookups at this place mean nice long showers and A/C.

Tomorrow begins the final leg home.