The Incredible Shipley Road Trip

We went on a ROAD TRIP! It was so great because it was a road trip, but pretty miserable due to the massive moving truck we had to drive. We towed our car behind us, and the splash guard underneath got ripped to shreds. Great learning experience, ha!

On Saturday, May 31st, we cleaned up our apartment, said goodbye to some dear friends, ate lunch at a ward BBQ and then got on the road! Leaving Provo was hard! Yes, I cried. But more importantly there was the hope of a future with each other and the happiness of moving forward and progressing. We drove South all the way to Cortez, Colorado where we last-minutely found a hotel. As a note, ALL the hotels we found were last minute. It was kind of nerve-racking not knowing where we were going to stay every night, but also kind of exciting. We just drove as far as we could get every night, looked up the cheapest hotel we could find, and called up to make sure they had room. A couple times we called a local bishop to double check if we could park the garbage-mobile (what we named the stupid truck) in the church parking lot. IT WAS LIKE BEING HOMELESS!! And frankly, it was awesome.

Sunday morning we ate a crappy continental breakfast, went to church at the Cortez ward, and drove to Mesa Verde. It was SO COOL! I had been there once when I was 10, but Matt had never been. We went on a couple "walks" (sounds more Sunday-appropriate ha), explored some ancient ruins, found a couple of weirdos obsessed with navajo culture, encountered a snake, and took lots of selfies. 

Model shot

Ponytail guy who kind of reminded us of cousin Clark, and Fedora guy

We then made an hour drive to Four Corners national monument: the only place in the US where 4 states meet at 4 right angles. We stayed... like 5 minutes. Not a TON to see here but you have to go to say you've been right? 

From there we drove until we reached good ol' Roswell, New Mexico, home of the totally random UFO museum. We found our second little hotel for the night, and the next morning visited said UFO Museum. Matt was enthralled. I was bored to death. Interesting, not worth $5 a person, since I'm fairly certain everything there can be found on the internet. Except the thrilling experience of the plastic aliens floating in creepy tubes of liquid, and the very realistic ufo that flashes lights and spews alien jabber every 5 or so minutes. Take that for what its worth.

From there we drove a couple hours down to Carlsbad Caverns. During the entirety of the trip, I had been waiting to hear back after interviewing with the school I recently got hired with. While we drove our massive truck up the windy road to the entrance of Carlsbad Caverns and slowly lost cell coverage, my phone rang with a North Carolina area code. I picked up the call, and it was the principal of the school. We chatted for a second and he started asking me some routine interview questions, and I hesitated between my comments as I was driving a truck and was afraid I would lose the call. He noted my hesitation and asked if it was a bad time, and I replied that I was driving up a road to Carlsbad Caverns and was concerned I would lose coverage and the call would cut out... seconds after which the call cut out. Luckily I had the chance to say that before it did, ha. We pulled over, unhitched the car, and turned around until we got coverage so I could call him back. The next couple of days we played cell phone tag, and a week later I got the job offer! Huzzah!

Back to Carlsbad Caverns... pretty insane. I know I had gone to Carlsbad Caverns as a kid, but to be honest, I didn't remember it at all, so it was a new experience for both of us. Very smelly, but very cool. We walked a very steep mile down into the cave and then walked a couple mile loop around the entirety of a cave and it was really cool! Too dark for any really cool pictures, but lots of good memories. The hike down REEKED of bird poo, as the opening of the cave is inhabited by hundreds of Cliff Swallows (Making matt very nervous if you remember his encounter with the barn swallow nest in his doorway last summer ha), and I was pretty nauseated the whole way down. Then they have a very convenient elevator up to the visitors center. Hurray for not having to hike up the nauseating bird poop trail.

Hmm???

We left and drove OVER THE TEXAS BORDER!! WOOHOO!! To Junction, TX and stayed the night. That morning we made our way to San Antonio where we visited the frankly, boring, Alamo (but also one of those places you have to say you've been right??), which I have been to before, but had to introduce Matt to, the beautiful river walk, where we took a little boat cruise, and the San Antonio Temple.

We then left the hot and humid city for Houston, where my cousins Ryan & Roo live, who graciously saved us from another night of a ghetto cheap hotel and fast food and provided us with a real bed and delicious food. It was so great. We chilled with them and their adorable kids Lucy, Jack, and Will for the evening, and then hit up the Houston Temple in the morning. It is as beautiful as everyone says! 

We had planned, as suggested by Ryan & Roo, on going to the NASA space museum in Houston, but we were so content in the real bed that we slept in and did not feel like being homeless anymore and decided just to get to Flower Mound. Probably a good choice. We drove the 4 hours north to Dallas, and Matt was rewarded with a big fat burger from Fuddruckers, and we finally got to get rid of the garbage-mobile and fix our poor wrecked car. 

All in all, it was so great! For reals though, road tripping with a moving truck is the worst. But we had lots of fun with each other and saw some new great sights and made memories galore. I love Matt, being with my family, and not being homeless. Matt is working on his BFA project, a free lance job, and religiously watching the world cup. I have a nannying job with a couple of lovable goofballs from New Zealand and am trying to endure the world cup. Tomorrow is the first time that we will go to the same church 2 weeks in a row, since the beginning of May, about 6 weeks ago. It's good to be home.