Saints be with us

Life is one beautiful trip

For some mysterious reason, our Santa Fe pictures won't post, but we can fix that later. While we were there, we found these beautiful pieces and added them to our car shrine.

San Miguel, St. Christopher, Virgin de Guadalupe

We pulled out of Santa Fe and started heading toward Gallup, NM.

We were thankful to our saints later that night when we heard a loud, mournful wail emanating from our back, driver-side wheel. We were so fortunate to be pulling into a Comfort Inn at that exact moment. Poor Miss Cherokee was no longer drivable, but we were safe. Just a few miles down the road a truck dropped it's transmission and several cars were involved in that wreck. During the next 12 hours, we met four people who survived the wreck. Thank you Saints!

Poor baby

Getting a diagnosis

Her parts fell right off.

Axle, rotor, and brake all were damaged. Joelle and I are so thankful the break happened when we were in a parking lot and not driving down the highways with 75 mph speed limits. Miss Cherokee is presently up on a lift in Gallup, New Mexico, waiting for her new parts. 

Undaunted, Joelle and I carried on. We found a Budget Rent-a-Car at the airport.

Airport lounge with Budget office. This airport is mostly used for medical flights.

Our new wheels. Nothing says crazy, cross-country road trip like a family van.
 Living on the edge with lighted cup holders. Thelma and Louise would have loved it.

Happy Joelle back at the wheel

Linda, our Budget rep, was a complete darling and very patient while Joelle and I transferred all of our belongings from the Jeep to the new wheels. I think she may have been concerned that we were actually living out of our car when she saw the camp stove come out. Linda was happy to see us go and even suggested a great lunch spot.