Road Trip

October 20, 2021

I don’t think I’ve talked about my road trip with Kira in August. During the Covid shutdown Kira mentioned that as soon as things opened up she was going to take her kids on a road trip. She was going to schedule it so she could see friends and family all along the way. She knew Justin wouldn’t be able to go with her the entire trip so I told her that when she came through San Diego maybe I would go with her part of the way and then fly back.

She was orginally going to go clockwise through Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, BC and then back to Calgary. As it turned out she was able to get an appointment for Landon and Cameron to get US citisenship on August 19 and to make that date work she reversed the trip. I was going to fly to Colorado and drive back to San Diego with her but in the end I drove with her to Denver and flew home.

Kira currently has three budgie birds and she was afraid that if she left them at home for Justin to take care of they might die so she decided to bring them with her. She has taken pictures of these birds every step of the way. This picture is of the birds at Torrey Pines beach.

Kira’s original schedule had her going straight from San Diego to Utah but when Ben decided to bless his baby this weekend she adjusted the trip to go through Arizona. Mom flew from AZ back to San Diego while Kira and I headed to St George.

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it yet but Kit Jeanne Leavitt was born May 30, 2021. She was blessed on August 21, 2021.

On our way to St George we passed over the Hoover Dam. I’ve always wanted to see it so I’m really glad we had this opportunity. It is quite spectacular.

We got to St George late so we spent the night at Ken and Carol Richardson place. They were out of town so we had the place to ourselves. Kira wouldn’t stay at Alycia’s place because Alyica is refusing to get vacinated. I have no idea why but it is a free country.  

We went on a short hike, spent a couple of hours at the temple visitors center and then spent the rest of the day at a water park. It was good to see Alyica and her family. 

We then loaded up the van and headed for Ogden where we spent the night at Leslie & Paul Garcia’s house. We got in after midnight but they waited up for us.

Meanwhile it appears that Justin was playing hard with his friends while the family was gone.

We had a great visit with Leslie well into the night and then again in the morning as she fed us a wonderful breakfast. Leslies daughter Serena also came over and I got to visit with her for an hour or two.

From Ogden we made a straight shot to Denver. We were making great time when suddenly we blew a tire. This was a real challenge because we had to unpack the car in order to get the tire. Do you see the birds helping me change the tire?

This picture gives you an idea of how much room we have in that van. We put the tiny little spare tire on and I was worried if it could take the weight of an overloaded handicap van but we kept the speed down and the tire survived. I also got to the Denver airport in good time and came on home.

It was great to just be able to chat with Kira and the kids were pretty much angels the whole time. Thank your Kira for letting me be a part of your epic road trip.