Three is the "Magic" Number

 Summer 2022 came to us in groups of three.  Three college graduations, three high school graduations and three (of course) confirmations.  Then add in a long three day trip to Minnesota into the mix.  It will be a busy time for us.  

The first trip was to Flagstaff, Arizona to see our first grandchild graduate from the Honors Program with a Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy.  That was on Friday, May 6th,   Now we have 2 generations of Northern Arizona University graduates in our family. Heidi graduated 30 years earlier.😊

Hailey's cousin, Cassidy, also graduated from NAU on the same day, so there was a bunch of family members at the ceremony.  Although it was windy at times, it was a pleasant day with lots of sunshine.

Three days later, we were on the road to our first stop in Tucumcari, New Mexico. We were 16 miles from Santa Rosa when Don's phone had an alert about an evacuation taking place in that town because of a wildfire.  Gusty winds and wildfires are nothing to mess with, but on we went.  We were routed off the Interstate into the town of Santa Rosa.

This has been a terrible fire season for the state of New Mexico because of the extremely dry conditions and high winds.  Both Don and I were glad that we weren't pulling our trailer in this type of weather.

It took a bit longer but we did make it to Tucumcari, a town that flourished in the 1950's and 1960's when Route 66 went through the middle of town.  However, after Interstate 40 was built the town went downhill. Today it is full of closed businesses and empty buildings.  I think we found only 3 open restaurants when we got in at 6 PM.  Fortunately, the Del's Restaurant was open, had a great selection of food and great service.  Food for the weary and hungry soul.

One of the interesting buildings directly across the street was an old gas station.  The pumps are real but the garage doors, the motorcycle and the back end of a Cadillac are all painted on. I should have checked the gas prices.  I'm sure they had to be much cheaper than the $5.45 a gallon we're paying for diesel this trip.