We made it! We are settling into our new Oklahoma home, and truthfully… couldn’t love it more…. Except maybe having hot water… but that’s an entirely different story I’ll get to later. We arrived in the wee hours of January 2nd, just hours past New Year’s Day.
Let’s back track a bit! We left Washington a few days before Christmas Eve. It was really bittersweet to say farewell and see-ya-later our our very dearest friends. We shed lots of tears and gave the squishiest hugs. We love our people!
We wanted to spend the days with both our families, and although we’d done the drive to Northern California countless times, we never had a 42 foot trailer being towed behind us… so we gave ourselves a few extra days, just in case. We made it safely and with plenty of time to spend Christmas Eve, Christmas, and my dad’s birthday plus a few extra days on either side to lounge and relax with our loved ones. It was truly such a wonderful time and we are incredibly grateful we could make it happen.
We left our family the 29th, and spent the night at our instagram-turned-real-life friend’s property in the Fresno valley, then woke to the first sunshine we’d seen in ages, just in time for some quick family photos. It was freezing but I’m so hopeful that Alex was able to capture some magically mundane moments! She is incredibly talented!
From there, we were heading for the outskirt of Las Vegas for the night. Little did we know we’d be stuck in Bear Valley in dead stopped traffic for… wait for it… SEVEN HOURS. We crawled, and I mean crawled. We didn’t make it past Barstow, where at midnight we finally made it to a Walmart parking lot to grab some sleep for the night. Our plan was then Zion National Park, and I cannot tell you how stoked DJ and I were!
After checking the weather forecast, we realized the roads we’d be allowed to take with the camper, would be closed to due ice and inclement weather. Tried to pivot, and make it to at least see Page, Arizona and Horseshoe Bend, and then White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico… but the weather was going to be snowy in all the places and it was going to add days to *maybe* see the incredible works of Creation and our kids had already been on the road for over a week… so we decided to just go the most direct route. Instead of spending our days hoping to maybe see all the national parks in the dead of winter, we could just have extra days exploring Oklahoma before DJ starts work.
So from Barstow, we set out for Flagstaff, and actually made it to Holbrook for the night. We visited the Petrified National Forest but it was completely icy and absolutely covered in snow. It was beautiful, but would for sure be even mores in the Spring when you could see all the colors 🙂 and appreciate the fossilization of everything! From there, we went through New Mexico, where we encountered dozens of accidents, the craziest snow storm we’ve had to drive through and the grace of God that kept us safe and sound as we navigated doing so in the middle of nowhere. We grabbed some fast food for dinner at 9pm after getting out of the storm, and powered through West Texas and made it to Oklahoma that night.
It has been so worth it, friends! We arrived in the wee hours Sunday morning, parked at a Walmart Supercenter for some hours of sleep, and woke up to the most incredible sunshine beaming in our windows. We have encountered such kindness since we first encountered anyone here, and it has been an absolute breath of fresh air. We feel so blessed and grateful to call Oklahoma our new home!
Settling into our campsite and getting our RV set up again has been both relieving to be “home” and also we’ve encountered quite a few issues that have been less than ideal… but what a gift it is just be home! After over a month of transition… it feels so amazing to just be and learn and settle in.
So hello and happy new year from the Salas family, from OKLAHOMA! We are so happy to be here. 🙂
