There Really Is No Place Like Home

Arrived home Wednesday afternoon... a few hours later there was a high-pressure gas line explosion and fire very near our home (contractor setting guard rail posts punctured the line) and then the electrical power was shut off for the next 4 hours while firefighters fought the fire in 90 degree+ temps (Noah was working at a fire station on the other side of town.) In the meantime, traffic was re-routed around the fire through our narrow and winding little mountainside community as we recognized immediately that our entrance gate was on one side of the mishap and our emergency fire road exit on the other, so we (our community residents) graciously called authorities and offered the use of our private roads to the town... threw open the gates while police and public works vehicles escorted many, many hundreds of cars Pied Piper-style first one way through the development and then returned with vehicles going the other way. This continued well into the night and through the next day. Since we had no electric and no gas (and no breeze!), we and the neighbors all brought out lawn chairs and watched the parade go past!! People were very grateful to our community and many waved and many called out their thanks to us -- although many people wondered what we were doing out on the road in our lawn chairs!! Later Wednesday evening the fire was controlled and the electricity was restored although the damaged road remained closed most of Thursday... we are a group of "doers" here and not a bunch of whiners... no one got on television wondering who was going to take care of them, or pay them or GIVE them anything... There was a problem, we had the solution and got it done.

DH, son Evan (directing traffic in the picture above) with baby Tom in his arms, SSM, Tom, Geri, Jacky & El

All pics except the group pic above were taken by Jacky... the group pic was taken by a road worker in a brief lull in traffic.

Then to top off the day, I stubbed and broke one of my toes in the wee hours of Thursday morning (sigh).

The following images are from our last day on the road through New Mexico and to our home in Arizona.

Arizona is a Free Range state -- no fences required (in most areas) for livestock. This little colt ran in front of our car on a frontage road with his mother casually looking on... but we were watching him and he was not in any danger from our car...