Made it through the work week, hurray! Have to take the Jeep in tomorrow for its 9000 mile check up, and have lots of housework to do this weekend, though. The kids are going to wrestling camp down in Columbus, Ohio for a week, and i must make sure everything they need is clean and packed...

Day Seven

Got up around 5AM or thereabouts to see sunrise over the Canyon. Tried to wake up/find the others, but was not able to, so set off for the Rim alone. I was pretty sleepy, and luckily Dan did wake up after all, because he found me wandering through the woods, heading in the wrong direction!

Enjoyed sunrise, taking tons of pictures. When the sun was well on its way up, headed back to Maswick, hoping to have better luck finding/waking up the others. Dan went to check on the kids and Danlo, and I headed over to try to find John. The light was on in his room, but he wouldn't answer the door, so I was a bit perplexed and sat down for a bit (I was still somewhat groggy). After a couple of minutes he came walking up with an armload of shirts from the gift store. Apparently he had gotten up even earlier than I had, and we had missed each other at the rim. We sat together for awhile and quietly talked, then set off to find everyone else.

We finally collected everyone, and ate breakfast at the lodge. Then we walked over to the rim, found a quiet place, and had our memorial service for Stephen C. and Shadow Lurker. Danlo read one of Stephen's journal entries, and I read Variol Son's tribute to Shadow, breaking down in sobs through the entire thing. It was fitting that we had this at the Canyon, such a sacred place to the native peoples of the area...

Then it was time to say goodbye to John, and that did kill me, as it always does.

After the departure of the High Lord, Danlo, Dan, and the kids headed down the Bright Angel Trail into the Canyon. They were planning on going down to the first of the three rest houses on the trail and then come back up. I walked along the rim for a bit, watched the birds and the tourists, and went shopping at the gift store.

When the fellows came back up, I treated them to ice cream. In the meantime, the rain had started up again, but this time it was good, because it made their climb back out of the Canyon much cooler.

Then it was time to head on out...and we saw a herd of elk grazing along the side of the road on our way out of the park.

Our next stop was Petrified Forest National Park. We got there at just about the time the heavens opened up with yet another big storm. We drove the scenic drive, and did pull over once to see a large concentration of the petrified trees. We took shelter under a picnic shelter sort of thing from the rain and the hail! Some of the trees had mineralized with semi precious gem stones, and shone wonderfully in the rain.

Our last stop for the day was in Chinle, closest town to Canyon de Chelly. We checked into our hotel, ate dinner, and crashed.

Another busy night at work. Will be glad when Friday comes and I can have a day off. Sleep is good.

Day Six
On Sunday night, we had made plans to meet for one last breakfast together. I got up early and snuck out of the room, trying not to wake up Dan and the kids...went down to the lobby to wait for Variol Farseer and John, as we were going to ride to breakfast together. Before either of them arrived, my little son, Mr. Sunshine Stevie came trotting down to me. "I woke up and saw you were gone, Mom. I knew you were going out someplace to eat breakfast. Can I come, too?" So the two of us set out with the two High Lords when they arrived.

We met the remaining festers at the Copper Canyon Cafe, which had huge portions of good food at a good price. And then it was time to say good by to Fist and Birdy and Leper Messiah. Have I mentioned that goodbyes suck?? Saying goodbye to Fist nearly killed me.

Went back to the hotel room to pack up and collect the remainder of my family. Then headed over to Danlo's to pick him up. It was time for the Grand Canyon! It was also time to say goodbye to Variol Farseer who was to fly back to Canada that afternoon, and to Lady Tam for a couple of days, who would not be able to accompany us on our trip.

Danlo and John rode in the Lordsmobile, and my family and I rode in my baby Jeep. The freeway passed near all sorts of interesting places, like Acoma Pueblo, one of the oldest continuously occupied towns in the US (over a thousand years), and some volcanic badlands (El Malpais National Monument). We ran into a huge rainstorm in northern Arizona...we were making jokes that the wet Michigan weather followed us everywhere we went throughout the trip.

We stopped off in Winslow, Arizona for gas, and so that John could be

Quote: Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona...

and then we headed to the Meteor Crater. It was HUGE. The horizon was endless, and you could see the huge storm we had driven through. It looked even bigger...and hey!!! It was heading our way!!!

We basicly raced the storm for the rest of the afternoon. Dan and I had planned on treating Danlo and John to dinner at the historic Navajo trading post in Cameron, but the storm caught us so we didn't stop. We outran it for a bit, and briefly stopped at an overlook in the Navajo Reservation so John and Danlo could see the canyon of the Little Colorado River...but as the storm began to catch us again, we drove on, hoping to get to the Grand Canyon before the deluge hit.

And we managed! We got to Desert View and its lovely Anasazi style tower on the Rim just a little before the rain came. Oh, I wish I could see faces so filled with awe and wonder as John and Danlo's every day! Neither one had ever seen the Canyon before.

When the rain started in earnest, we headed for Maswick Lodge, where we all had rooms and/or cabins for the night. We rested a bit, and the rain stopped,  then all went looking for John, who's room was not near ours or Danlo's (we were in a quad cabin together, with rooms in opposite corners). Somehow Danlo and I got seperatedfrom Dan and the boys, and we couldn't find them OR John. So we said to heck with it and went in to dinner, and found John already eating. So we sat together and enjoyed dinner. Dan and the boys came in just as we were finishing...Danlo and John and I went outside to see the stars and smell the fantastic smell of the desert following a rain. When Dan and the boys were done, they collected me for bedtime, and Danlo and John were planning to go for a beer or two at the little sports bar in the main lodge building.

Only two nights left of work this week. At least I don't have to run around doing a bunch of errands today before work. I just have some housework, and then work, so maybe I will have a bit more energy. I am also a bit letdown, of course, because our trip is over.

Just a few odds and ends that didn't make it into the entries, but I would like to remember.

Danlo and Lady Tam have a lovely home and yard. She grows herbs and flowers, and he has Tibetan prayer flags on one of the walls of their backyard/garden. It is very warm and welcoming there. Jam is a VERY sweet dog, and their two kitties, Samkitty and Chanel, are delightful. It is a true home, not just a house. And their yard is home to many lovely little hummingbirds.

All of my playing with Fist's (Highdrake's) head with the Dune Encyclopedia payed off on Friday night. I will let him fill in the details.

Birdy is every bit as sweet in real life as she is on the web. She and her hub are a very cute couple, and both are very nice.

Caamora is drop dead gorgeous, intelligent, and very funny. She asked great questions at the Donaldson interview!

I haven't gotten to the day in question yet, but Danlo took us to a really cool store in Albuquerque, where I found what shall always be known as the Fist & Faith Memorial Socks. They have little chili peppers all over them, and also have the words

Day Five

Got up early today to run Caamora to the bus station along with Variol Farseer and Damelon. (John's online name is Damelon, just as mine is Duchess). We had dropped her off (and saying goodbye to people really sucks ) and were driving back to the hotel, when the poor lady called my cell phone to say that her bus might be overbooked. I asked Damelon to turn around and go back, so back we went. There was no way that any of us were going to leave a possibly stranded person at a bus station. It turned out that the bus was also running quite late. But in the end, we saw her safely off (did I mention that saying goodbye to people really sucks?)

Then it was time to go find Andelain in the Jemez Mountains. We took three cars, me and my family in my baby Jeep, Danlo and Birdy and Leper Messiah in Danlo's SUV, and Fist, Variol Farseer, and Damelon in the Lordsmobile (two High Lords and their haruchai protector ) At this point, besides Caam, we had lost Romeo (who I didn't get a chance to talk to very much, but seems like a great guy), Markjeffrey (another I didn't get a chance to talk to much), Soulquest (yet another person I didn't get a chance to talk to very much), and Amok (who I didn't even know was there at the dinner until Danlo brought it up on another day!). (and did I mention that saying goodbye to people really sucks? )

Our first stop was to fill up on gas and at that stop we bought fresh, hot Indian fry bread. YUMMY!

We then went to a secret place in the mountains that Danlo knew about. It was a place where they had carved tunnels in the hill, that overlooks rapids and waterfalls. It was lovely there -- so lovely, we all wanted to stay -- but Danlo told us even better things were coming, so we continued our drive up into the mountains.

Our next stop was something called a soda dam. Somehow (possibly elements released through the just upstream hot springs?) a big dam had naturally formed across the river, and the river had cut caves through it. This was a totally cool place. Fist climbed right up the side of the cliff barefoot! And of course, my little son decided to climb up right after his pie buddy. Birdy and her hub and my older son explored the caves. We all took lots of pictures. What a great place!

A lot of the national forest up the road from the dam was closed due to the horrible fire danger. But Danlo pointed out all sorts of places, like where he and his Lady like to go camping, and where to go to get down to the hot springs and a pretty waterfall. But the most awesome place of all was still ahead -- ANDELAIN!!!!!!!

We just stood there in the calderra in absolute awe. There are no words. (takes off Elohimfest baseball cap and bows head)

We then returned to Danlo's home, where we had a delicious dinner, and a costume party. And we talked and talked and talked and talked. About the dinner and Donaldson's answers to our questions, and we also had a great discussion going about The One Tree. We also all took turns talking to Joy on the phone. Wish she could have been there!!!!!!

Maybe I am starting to get used to eastern time again, as today I am finally a bit less tired. Work is killing me this week, but I am managing somehow. Last night I took in some of the goodies I had picked up in New Mexico ( pistachios with chili flavor and pinyon nuts) and they were a big hit.

Day Four

Got up early and headed to the bus station with John to pick up Caamora. Then everyone met at this great bakery that Danlo told us about called the Flying Star. Besides Caam, our party was also expanded by Romeo and by Soulquest and two of her friends. The food was great, and Highdrake certainly made a friend of my little son when he shared all of his pies and pastries with him.

After breakfast some of us got together with Danlo, the best tour guide in the world, to see a bit of Albuquerque and visit the Old Town area. We wandered around, checking out all of the pretty little gift stores and restaurants. It was hot to us Midwesterners, so John and I snuck off for a bit and got huge glasses of ice cold lemonaid. We got a great laugh from the name brands of some of the hot sauces for sale in the place where we got our drinks, but I can't repeat most of them in a family oriented forum.

We all gathered at Danlo and Lady Tam's house for tea. Oh, Tam's cooking is to die for! And she and Danlo are wonderful, warm hosts.

Then dinner with Donaldson. He is a great public speaker, and gave us fascinating answers.

One bad thing did happen today. The food at the restaurant was very good, but also very spicy to people who are not used to it. Bill couldn't stop eating because the food was so good, even though it was burning his stomach. So he started feeling sick. I remembered that John had make the mistake for going out forsliders (White Castle burgers) in St. Louis and that he had bought some Tums...so I asked if they were in his car. They were, and we headed out to get them. But it had been raining and therefore slippery in the parking lot, and my dress shoes don't have much grip on the bottom, so down I went and ripped up my leg. I did my best to hide it, as I didn't want to upset anyone, but man, did that hurt.

A small price to pay, though, for the dinner and interview with one of the greatest writers in the world!

The dog and cats came home today. The place was not right without them, so I am very glad they are here. We gave the kitties the very potent catnip cigars we purchased for them in Albuquerque. They are enjoying themselves greatly!

Day Three
The shortest drive of the three days to get from Michigan to New Mexico. Got up a bit later, and went to breakfast with John at the Cracker Barrell. I think he suggested it knowing how much the kids like to eat there. Hit the road thereafter. We stopped off at a little town in New Mexico called Santa Rosa at my request, as I felt a need to get out of the vehicle and move around a bit. We went to a little lake in the desert and enjoyed the clean air and pretty views. We also called Danlo to let him know we were getting close.
Drove the rest of the way to Albuquerque, found our hotel, and everyone collapsed.
Got up towards evening and headed over to Danlo and Lady Tam's house. She had some wonderful food ready for us to eat (she had this fantastic dip...droooooolllll). We got to meet so many wonderful people -- it was fantastic being able to meet Danlo and his Lady, Highdrake, Variol Farseer, and Birdy and her husband. We talked and ate pizza and all watched Monty Python together. A wonderful evening with friends.

Got in pretty late last night, and had to do upteen loads of laundry today before heading into work, which was busy. Am exhausted. Will start telling about trip, though:

Day One
Did very well getting up this morning, as I had worked until midnight the night before. We were on the road by 0830...we reached St. Louis about 1600. We met my wonderful friend John and Dave, one of my best friends from college, who now lives in the St. Louis area, at the baseball stadium to see the Cards/Cubs game. It was a great game with high scoring, and the Cards winning by one run that they scored late in the game. A great time was had by all.

Day Two
We got up early and had breakfast with John, who had stayed at the same hotel. We then all walked to the Wal-Mart behind the hotel to pick up some odds and ends that everyone seemed to need. Bill wanted to drive, and that makes me very nervous on the freeway, so I spent most of the day driving with John in his car. He is unbelievably fun to travel with. We talked and laughed and he sang along with his IPOD for the ten or so hours we drove together. We took turns sharing our junk food and pointing out wild flowers and other beautiful things or funny things or interesting things along the freeway. We all stopped for a snack in Oklahoma City, but other than that and gas stops, drove pretty much straight through to Amarillo. We found our hotel, and then ate some pretty good Mexican food in the restaurant next door. Then we went to our respective rooms, in time for a severe thunderstorm to move in and keep everyone awake.

more days to follow