Phoenix to Blythe: A short drive

Jane Reporting for 15th October

This morning (15th October) we hung around at the motel in Phoenix until check out time of 11am.  Gary was busy backing up Lyn's photos onto the ridiculously small memory stick (it's a USB plug and Very Little Else) and I read my book only taking a break for one last stroll through K-Mart.

Interesting thing (actually not that interesting) but pain killers only come in bottles here, not in flat packs.  Even the smallest round rattling bottle seems a little less convenient to me for travelling but I'm sure I'm manage.

We headed off through the western side of Phoenix (which is a city with incredible sprawl-ability) and stopped at a shopping centre to grab some lunch before heading off on the 2-hour drive to Blythe.

What Gary sees: Driving out of Phoenix

Not only was it a short drive, it wasn't a very interesting one and so I ... went to sleep.  Again.  Woke up only long enough to take a couple of photos:

Black rocks on the hills

It was a trip through a low scrub kind of desert but everybody was zooming along, including the trucks, overtaking at 75+ miles per hour.

What Gary sees: Fast trucks

The hills (mountains) in the distance were pretty and we'll be travelling through them tomorrow:

Pretty mountains

Off to tea, now.

Back from tea at the local Chinese restaurant.


State Quarters
Lyn is still short a couple state quarters to complete her collecting (the Virgin Islands and Samoa, I think) and needs upgrades for a few (including Texas).  Here is New Mexico, a state we haven't visited on this trip but apparently it is the Land of Enchantment. 

State Quarters: New Mexico

Photos from Home
The cat news continues to be better than simply reassuring thanks to our wonderful cat sitters.  Sam and Mocha now quite regularly sleep on the same bed during the day - something they wouldn't do for us:

Sam (foreground) and Mocha

Anne plants out my garden with the help of neighbour Marilyn:

from left: Anne, Marilyn, Mocha

Lloyd enjoys the (apparently infrequent) sunshine in Palmerston North with Sam:

from left: Sam and Lloyd

If Anne and Lloyd weren't there, we wouldn't be here. :o)