4,411 kilometres later...

... and we're here! Five days on the road and we can finally settle into our home for the next six weeks - the Southwestern Research Station in Portal, AZ.

It took 5 days of mostly easy driving. The first stretch was Ottawa to Toronto which I have done countless times, but it has never felt so short. When your trip totals almost 40 hours in total, your perception of distance changes.

The next day we crossed the border and were stopped immediately once the "volunteering" was uttered. When we told the nice woman at border control what we were doing (helping at a biological research station in the mountains of Arizona) she immediately looked up and asked "Now why would you want to do that?"; not joking. First of all, I'm glad Chris took the mic here - as a biologist her answer made sense. I just nodded and made it seem like I was going for the same reasons. Had I said, "Well, I hated my job and needed to get away from things back home and I have no clue what I am doing afterwards", I may have ended up in the room labelled "search" with the fluorescent lights and sterilized gloves (I really wish they had shut the door - that room still gives me nightmares). Secondly, is there a "good enough" answer? Who are they to judge our motivations? Why not ask us about the fruit in our cooler instead? Anyway, they eventually they let us go, after taking our picture and our fingerprints...

anecdote: There was an oriental couple at the booth next to us who, when asked "Where are you folks headed?" answered "Two bags of rice and some soy sauce." Even the border lady was giggling.

So after being permitted to enter, we were in the US! But only a very, very small fraction to our destination. That day we drive through Michigan (making a very short detour in Flint to see if Mr. Moore was around) and Indiana and stayed at a pretty nice highway hotel that we booked through hotwire.

Indianapolis is a weird place. We went looking for dinner and parked by their cobblestone roundabout with the MASSIVE war memorial in the middle. Walking around on the very large, excessively clean streets with very few people and no women around, I told Chris it felt like being in a place built to demonstrate what a city should look like; as if we stumbled upon Universal Studios Indiana or something. We eventually asked the only people we found who didn't look like they were headed to the sports bar where we should go and they directed us to a nice strip where we enjoyed good food and beer after an eight-hour driving day.

The next day we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast, wisely avoiding the sausage gravy which looked like the Quaker factory's Cream of Wheat rejects, and hit the road headed for Kansas City.

Now's a good time as any to talk about the landscape of the midwest, I suppose, as normally this is a big part of a road trip. In our case, however, we quickly realized why no one we know has ever done this route and why we know so little of these states. They are quite boring. Lovely and prairie-like with rolling hills and fields and all that, but never ending. And I like prairies. After a while I was jonesing for the lakes and rivers and forests and hills I am more accustomed to. But, alas, I will not see such scenery again for eight more weeks. One thing that was awesome, though, was that by mid-Indiana, the grass was green and the trees were almost fully leaved. It was summer!

We stopped for lunch in St Louis at a great restaurant that specialized in crepe sandwiches and had the option of adding bacon to almost anything (drool). We poked around a nice bookstore, got a parking ticket, and then got very lost on the gazillions of highway that cut through town.

Little did we know that this would end up being Getting Lost Day. We pulled into Kansas City in the evening, where we were to stay with a very kind and generous friend of a friend. We had to take a detour from our directions as the highway we wanted was closed due to a bad accident (second of three on the trip: two trucks collided in Michigan, this car flipped, and later, in New Mexico, a pick-up was on its side. Not great to see on a long roadtrip... or ever). So we tried to find the place sans a good city map and ended up driving through a zoological park for a while, and then a low income neighbourhood, and then a very VERY high income neighbourhood. It was surreal. Roundabouts with fountains in the centre, turrets galore, sports cars everywhere... Our little trusty rust bucket from Ontario was quite out of place. We eventually found the house, two neighbourhoods and income brackets over and were happy to be able to actually make food and drink bad American beer. Our host came home early and we chatted pleasantly about travel and the cities where we live and the education system.

OK, now comes the big haul. The next day we woke up late (7 am!) and got on the road headed for Santa Rose, New Mexico. Stopping only to pee and eat (we "enjoyed" a free breakfast burrito at the only fast food joint of the trip - Sonic) and go through a border control station (I guess white Canadian girls do not fit the smuggler profile) we arrived at Santa Rosa, NM over 12 hours later. What a day! And if anyone has been to New Mexico, it is hot and dry and straight-roaded and big. The change from green prairie to brown and prickly prairie was sudden and awesome. I have always wanted to see this desert and there it was - it appeared out of nowhere somewhere in the middle of that top square nubbin of Texas. And it was there the next day too.

Still Life at Motel 6

We left Santa Rosa, which should be renamed Sketchy Motels Galore (don't worry mom, we stayed at the more respectable Motel 6), and started on our last day on the road. And boy were we ready for it. Our bodies were not enjoying the lack of moving.

New Mexico landscape. Check out the first town name.

I was getting worried as we neared our very last turn-off to get to Arizona and the Research Station. There was no end in sight for the scorching desert. The prospect of spending six weeks without shade or vegetation or clouds was less than pleasant. For the very last stretch, I had to switch off driving duties due to the quick onset of heat exhaustion and very mild hallucinations. My body was definitely not yet acclimatized and is wondering what the heck happened to spring. But then we turned a corner, went down the first two-lane road I'd seen all day and everything changed. We were entering Coronado Forest. We drove down actual shaded roads with plants and animals an the mountains had a lot more vegetation. What a relief!

Almost there... look! green!

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So my 10-year-old Honda Civic made it from Ottawa to Arizona! There is crack starting in the windshield and a squeaking noise coming from the power steering belt when turning at slow speeds that needs adjustment. I actually phoned my mechanic from somewhere in Oklahoma to ask him about it. He'll be emailing me instructions on fixing it. Funnily enough, we woke up yesterday morning at the research centre and the back right tire was flat. Good thing it happened here and not on the side of a New Mexican highway! The maintenance guy here, Ben, plugged it and we're all good to go. Nice to be in a place with a shop and nice helpful people.

Speaking of this place, it's nothing short of amazing. It feels like I'm in a wizened elderly version of the mountains of BC I'm more familiar with. They surround us, but look ancient. There is one mountain covered in near-fluorescent green lichen.



Oh, and everything here is prickly and hurts to touch. It's kinda hilarious actually.

It looks like I may be getting to help out with hummingbird observation. And for those of you who know me, you'll be shocked to hear that so far I am getting up at 6am (!) and running . It's altitude training (we're at 5,400 feet). We'll also be doing some hiking (up to 9,500 feet), exploring the landscape and avoiding rattlesnakes. All romance aside though, if you are reading this and wondering what I might be up to, the likely answer is dishes.

More soon! Pics to come. I'm lazy. Chris isn't though, so check out her blog.