Dominos pizza and their false advertising. We hadn’t eaten all day yesterday so wanted to get a pizza to take back to our motel room. The website said it was open till midnight. We pulled up at half ten to find that ‘carry out’ was closed but delivery was still available! We couldn’t get the website to work unless we were on wifi so that meant hotfooting it to the motel to log into wifi and order. An hour later it arrived. As we had entered Colorado, there seemed to be a distinct smell of weed in the air. It wasn’t a bad smell 😂 but distinct all the same. As we entered the hotel the sign said that marijuana in the rooms was prohibited. I’m guessing it was ok on the streets? Albeit the guy who checked me in certainly looked a bit blazed….he even asked why I was handing over my credit card (I guess he didn’t want to take a security deposit then) and asked why I was giving him my UK driving license (I guess he didn’t want my ID either!) 😂😂. I’m a pro at checking in places so I know the routine. He either needed more training or less time smoking!

I don’t understand what it is with being over here and people banging on your door from 8am offering housekeeping when checkout time is 11am. Surely they’d do housekeeping after the guest had checked out no?? This morning we had the luxury of a knock on the door around 930 just to ‘check on us’ and when I said we were fine she proceeded to say ‘ok then I’ll come back at 11.’ I mean seriously, if it says be out by 11, we will be out by 11!!! 

We had to visit Walmart first thing as we had run out of water so had to restock the car with some essentials. A big pack of water, some other beverages and some snacks for the days when we eventually get to camp! 

To everyone who had ever said they can’t be in two places at once…YOU ARE WRONG! As a matter of fact, it is possible to be in FOUR places at the same time! Told you. Right there, we are stood across four states…Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Also known as the Four Corners National Monument. It is governed by the Navajo people so you have to pay $5 each to get in but it is so friggin cool!!!!

There are also little stalls all the way around, four sides representing each of the four states…The stalls were selling handmade jewellery and trinkets as well as sand four corner national monument coasters. It was all very lovely. Nathan got a keyring and I got a bracelet. I have a lot of time for handmade trinkets such as we saw there! 

After taking a few photos we relished in the fact that we were in four places at once as well as also being in separate states from each other…It felt good 😂! I was in New Mexico and Nathan was in Utah and Arizona! It wasn’t as busy as we thought it would be. We did try and get in last night but it shut at 730pm and by the time we had arrived after Monument Valley it was about 930. Once we had made our purchases at the stall being run by a ten year old who ‘can also take credit card,’ we began the eight hour journey towards Amarillo, Texas. We are now zigzagging west to east across the states as it shortens some of the drives as there’s a lot to see that sits on the border between a couple of states.

It’s a lot cooler today with the temperature only just reaching 90 Farenheit whereas we had been in the 100s over the last few days! First stop along the way was Albuqueque, New Mexico. The plan was the visit some of the Route 66 stops at the top of New Mexico and Texas before heading up to Aspen, Colorado tomorrow. 

The drive was the same as it had been across these glorious southern states. Long, windy roads through the reddish brown valleys with towering mountains in the distance. At times we could see snow capped mountains in the distance too which was a dramatic change to the barren dry lands we were driving through! 

About a hundred and fifty miles into our journey, we arrived in Albuquerque and followed directions to a town called Nob Hill, where the Aztec Motel and Sign was to be…a historic Route 66 marker. We were looking out, it was situated near the dominos and 7eleven. It was nowhere to be seen. Confused, we continued up the road and pulled into the gas station to check out bearings. We weren’t going mad it was meant to be where we thought. We pulled out and headed back on ourselves through the cascade of roadworks and pulled into the 7eleven. It was still nowhere to be seen. 

There was a building site next door. Nathan popped his head into the shop and asked about the motel and the guy behind the counter looked bewildered. He was kind enough to ask his older colleague though. Turns out it was demolished….six years ago…and they’re replacing it but with the original sign. Now I don’t know how long it takes to build a hotel but the ground was still flat and there looked to be nothing showing progress of building a motel. That’ll teach us for doing things on a whim and not fully checking some places out 😂.

Back in the car we got and continued our 350 miles journey. The weather began to change as we headed further east. The clouds became more prominent and more angry looking casting shadows on the land around around us. We had to stop to fill up and Nathan was happy because he finally found his white m&ms which have eluded him since about day three of this trip! 

The road was long and straight with less appealing scenery than what we had been privy too over the last few days. To top it off, there was lightning in the distance and we still had about 200 miles to go! I guess the storm never actually left Texas after we left! No need for sunglasses now!! The further we drove the darker it got, thunder rolled through the air and a double rainbow was forming as the heavens opened. Not the best conditions to try and film a storm when all you can see if the raindrops on the windscreen 😂. 

We had been used to 100 degree temperatures over the last few days. The temperature suddenly dropped from the bottom of a hill at 84 degrees to a chilly 63 at the top! The dark skies did light up the reddy-brown-green hills in the distance though! You could see every colour of the rainbow at the base where the leprechaun sits with his pot of gold! 

So we sit here, after being on the road for nearly nine hours, following the UK General Election. The weather has somehow cleared a little and the temperature risen back up to the mid-80s. All that is left to do now is look forward to the prospect of driving forward an hour into the future….

See you on the other side…