Day 14 can’t be considered our lucky day of road tripping. It was Day 14 last year that we woke up to our car being broken into and our camping and hiking gear stolen. This year, after a lovely visit to Organ Pipe National Monument, we encountered our first flat tire of our road trips.
The day started off great. We woke up fairly early, enjoyed the delicious breakfast the Embassy Suites Tucson had to offer, and made our way to Organ Pipe NM. After our heavy hiking day yesterday, we wanted today to be more of a rest day. We drove the 21 mile loop through the park, learning about all the vegetation and wildlife. Although we only saw one other car, it was the most touristy we’ve done a park this year. We only got out of the car to snap a few photos, the oppressive heat and our worn legs not allowing us to do much more than that. After the drive the girls were sworn in as Junior Rangers again and we were on our way toward Phoenix.
We were beginning a lunch in the car of leftover pizza from last night when we heard a szzzzsssszzzz sound immediately followed by the car beeping notifying us of 0 tire pressure. We pulled over and confirmed that our front driver side tire was as flat as imaginable. Zak and I began emptying the back of all our bags and gear to get to the spare. Once we got the jack and spare tire out we began the long processes of getting the car up off the ground. Within minutes a someone stopped asking if needed help and shortly after that an unmarked border patrol officer stopped with his lights flashing, protecting us from the fast traffic. The car slipped off the jack once, but other than that, and the 103 degree temperature, it all went smoothly. We had the spare on within an hour.
(Quick pause in the day’s events to brag about how awesome it is to partner in life with Zak. We both kept our cool with minimal bad words slipping out. We took turns jacking the car up and sharing the responsibilities of getting done what needed to get done. This whole thing could of easily ruined the day, but we’re still having fun and laughing. Kind of like last year’s break in. We handle this kind of stuff fairly well.)
Once the spare was on we slowly drove the 28 miles to a NAPA car place in Ajo. We were fortunately met by Tom, a very friendly technician, who said he could patch the tire within an hour. Still driving with the spare, we went to a cute coffee shop and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and an iced latte, while Tom got to work patching the tire. The hardest part of this was spending more time than planned in Ajo and not seeing my friend, Angie. Angie was one of my dearest friends in late elementary and middle school and lives in Ajo with her lovely family. She lived on my block growing up and her dad was my awesome band director in middle school. Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for us, her family is on a Disney vacation and we couldn’t catch up this trip. Next time, Angie! We’re going to make it work. 🙂
After our coffee, we headed back to NAPA. Tom was finished, had done an over-the-top job, and we were back on the road, with only a few hours of delay.
There aren’t many Kimptons in the southwest, so we are taking advantage of them all. Our first Kimpton nights are in the Palomar Phoenix and we immediately felt at home when we their signature scent hit our noses. Maybe it is because we have invested in a Kimpton candle so we can actually smell their scent at home. We have a lovely room and were greeted with a sweet amenity. Wine hour was delightful and we dined at their restaurant, Blue Hound, this evening. As Inner Circle members we received a chef’s tasting, a special dish that isn’t on the menu. The chef brought to our table the most insane buffalo cauliflower and sunchokes with a housemade feta ranch and fried parsley. We were all impressed with our individual meals and it was a perfect end to the day.
Can’t say it was a great day 14, but it certainly wasn’t awful.
