The family all together, ever so briefly, was well worth the 6444 mile drive. Others, like Leah who flew in from Sydney AU and Justin and Sherry who flew in from Shanghai and then onto Goshen IN traveled further. Kathy and my West Coast sojourn took a month, pulling "Rudy" behind "Big Red", using the Southern route, remnants of Route 66, and then the Middle America route Interstate 70 for the trip back. Leah was last seen by us when we went to Australia February 2008. Now she came back to the States to share the joy of Christmas and the warmth of family ties. I told her I missed her and I had a tear in my eye as she walked through the doors of San Francisco Airport to catch her flight back to the land of Oz.
Grandma Kathy was engaged with all of the Grandchildren, they clinging and loving her as she is immediately recognized by these children as the loving and inclusive person she is. We have many photos of Kathy and the Grandchildren, individually and collectively. Location is immaterial, they are connected. Each grandchild tried to monopolize Grandma Kathy's time and attention, keeping mental accounting of her time with the others and protesting when one child received more time than another. It seemed to me that each child drank a sustenance from her interaction with them as an individual. I hope they thrive upon the rememberance.
Events were a part of Christmas past, present and future. Justin and Sherry took Kathy and myself along with her parents to Carmel-by-the-sea Mission for a Chanticlear concert: Chanticlear is a 12 men's choir out of the Bay area who presented material ranging from the 4th Century to the present, ending in "Ave Maria". The setting in a stone mission church had perfect acoustics, no echo, and the group's extraordinary articulation and vocal note movement moved me to tears for its beauty and effect. Other activities included a whole family dinner cooked by Kathy and hosted by Bec, trips to the SF Zoo, site of tiger rage a year ago, park visits, beach walks, Oakland Observatory, as well as simple down time with everyone, sit down breakfast, lunch, and dinners. Interactions and time after kids went to bed was limited as the fatigue factor engulfed us all. Parents and Grandparents worked hard to maximize our presence whether at RJ's or Bec's. And, after two weeks on the West Coast, Kathy and I charged up Rudy's battery, hooked it up to Big Red, and headed for the Southern Route again, only this time, heading North East from Bakersfield CA to Las Vegas.
Surprising to me was the time it took to go from Las Vegas to the beginning of I-70. We climbed from @ 3,000 to 8,000 feet in altitude. We endured a drop in temperature from 57 degrees in Las Vegas to minus 10 degrees at Salina Utah where we camped for the night. We were buffeted by 30 mph head winds as we went North on I-15. We stopped at Zion National Park, we were not charged a park entrance fee since the park road was open only for 2 1/2 miles, areas of which were ice covered. Our miles per gallon plummeted from 15 mpg to 11 mpg. What was extraordinary, was the performance of Big Red. Every aspect of the complex engineering of our Jeep Commander was utilized. From clawing and hauling its way out of a canyon over a hairpin turn 1000 foot rise snow covered road, to fine adjustments in long sweeping hill climbs and descents in the high desserts of New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado and beyond. Our Jeep performed flawlessly on our 500+ mile weather window of opportunity from Salina Utah to Denver Colorado, from the Western to the Eastern Rockie Moutains, crossing the 10,662 foot Vail pass. We saw one other camper on this entire section, another single axle, but smaller trailer. Once we reached Denver, we continued to Limon CO so that our trek to Heather's in Kansas City KS would be less than 600 miles. Heather, Peter and clan put the weary travelers up for the night, entertaining us with Weii games after dinner and before bedtime. In the morning we said our "goodbyes" as the Murphy household inhaled breakfast, packed lunches and were off to work and school.
Our 750+ mile trip from Kansas to East Lansing MI was through light snow until Indianapolis IN then steady road covering snow accumulations, until the Michigan border, 88 miles to go, more and more trucks pulled into Rest Stops, eventually, a single track of more-or-less pavement to Lansing. Reduced speed for the past 4 hours, dwindling traffic until deserted roads, Big Red carried us home; no slips, no slides. Mounds of snow, ice underneath, every aspect of this piece of "Detroit Iron" worked beyond expectations. The lady next door, with a Toyota Camry, was stuck in her driveway three times so far this winter because of snow. I told her to call me if she needed her car to be pulled out so that she to go to her job. Is there hope for the Big Three Auto companies? I don't know. I do know, that their "macho" vehicles do work as advertised. We of course could have taken an airplane, whose carbon footprint would have been the same as our entire drive trip, only, not as much fun or informative. Big Red needs a bath now, will a wash push the carbon footprint calculation over to the use of an airplane? Hint: for Kathy and myself to fly from Detroit to SFO and back has the same carbon footprint as driving Big Red for a year!
