The Trunk That Bought Us 5 Extra New Mexican Hours

On the final day of our trip, we planned to take the kids swimming (hadn't the night before, but it's what they live for), throw them in the car, grab Subway breakfast sandwiches, and drive on to our homestead. Swimming, check, in car, check, shut the trunk . . . um, no can do. We'd been having a hard time opening the thing for a long time now, and I've done all sorts of things to avoid using it. On a trip, though, it has to be done. And suddenly, right there in Farmington, New Mexico, the trunk refused to work one more second. So . . . plan B suddenly hatched. Luggage back into the hotel, Em with kids to Village Inn (right next door), and Gare figuring out how to get it repaired. After finding many places all full ("We can get you in July 16," one said. Which was two weeks from then.), Midas definitely had the touch. Gary drove there slowly with the trunk open while I walked with the kids to a park.

As any good stroll should have, there was a wall to walk on.

Splash pad! Yeah, they were wearing their clothes. But it was darn hot, and  we were stuck. So, why not?

My kids are the less-diverse ones.

Look what Andrew found in his shoes!

From my view sitting with Lissy under a tree, I saw Andrew making friends . . .

. . . Josh and Noah sifting through the sand endlessly . . .

 . . . and Lissy getting excited.

 They had a sand-creation pow-wow . . .

 . . . and they all got pretty sun-soaked.

When Gary showed up at the park with our newly-fixed trunk, the kids were little sand-sculptures, but ready travel. Man, that trunk opens like a dream come true now. So, at the early hour of 4 p.m. we pulled out of Farmington. Didn't expect to spend so much time there, but it was relaxing, and did I mention the ease of use on the trunk? So, with only one stop in Moab for dinner, we pulled into our driveway late that night. Big road trip 2012 was over. Oh, I didn't mention Texico, New Mexico. My kids love, love saying that. What a life. The End.