Arizona Sunset

We have finally made our departure from Taos! We are currently staying in the Meteor Crater RV park, just off of Highway 40, the San Fransisco Peaks are in the (near) distance, and the sunset this evening was spectacular! I was reminded of how many evenings (almost every night of the year) I watched the sunset in Prescott when I lived there. I can think of about 5 favorite spots to watch the sun go down over distant mountain ranges. How much I have missed that. I can probably count the number on one hand of great sunsets I've seen since living in Maine. There are lots of tall trees that get in the way, and the sky just doesn't feel as vast and accessible for viewing. It is not a bad thing....just different. The endless sky and distant mountain ranges are something I've really missed. It was a great sight to see the amazing transition from night into day as we drove west this evening.

So the conclusion with our van is that we had a bad ball bearing (?) and bushing on the front left side, the A/C has a leak that hasn't been fixed, but is working for the time being, and our catalytic converter was clogged and needs to be replaced. The last thing is something (well, they all are) I knew nothing about, but it turns out it has to do with emissions. New Mexico being the low density populated state that it is actually has no emissions standards, so we had a muffler man ram out the clogged parts of our cat con (I am sure you can guess that is the mechanic's lingo for the part), and we will have to get a new (and expensive) one once we get back to Maine, or sooner. SO, that is the story with the van, it is running, still making some weird noises, some squeeks, but we are running smoothly and the kids are sleeping in the "penthouse" as I type.

Tomorrow we will drive down 89A from Flagstaff through Sedona and up over Mingus Mountain, through Jerome and on to Prescott. We know several people that are still there, so we will have some good visiting time to catch up with old friends. I definitely felt a level of comfort (mentally) when we started driving into AZ, but as James's friend we will see in Prescott told him today as they talked on the phone- New Mexico is like Arizona's cousin, Arizona is the right wing conservative cousin and New Mexico is the liberal leftist one- they are from the same family but have different views to offer. I thought that was a great analogy. Now we just need to feel out of we can live inland, or if the coast and oceanside place is really what our hearts are needing. We asked the kids about this when we were in Taos, and they both said "the ocean!", (Sorrel tends to say whatever Parula says no matter what), so we shall see!

Well it is getting late, James just informed me that the stars are amazing, but I don't think I will venture outside as I just want to lay down in my sleeping bag and go to sleep!