Day 3

Ben Johnson:

Today was incredible. It seemed like something new and unexpected happened around every corner.

First, we drove all night and into the morning through the most desolate landscape that this country has to offer, but instead of driving through endless desert during the day we enjoyed billions of stars in the dark of night.

Second, we stopped at the NM/AZ border rest area in order to catch a quick nap before finishing the trek to Phoenix. We woke up a few hours later and were shocked to find ourselves dealing with an abnormal snow storm instead of blue sky and a hot sun like most are accustomed to in Arizona.

Third, we decided to trust the gps to get us to Phoenix and it took us the most random and eventually beautiful way possible. We started by getting off Interstate 40 (for the first time in over 1000 miles) and turned on to Route 66. We then began winding our way through Arizona on the most random two lane highways. The terrain went from desert, to a tiny tree national forest, to an amazing mountain pass that took us through Tonto National Forest(that demanded 4 wheel drive or chains due to the heavy snow they recieved over night). Other than the desert this all caught us off guard. The mountain pass was incredible... first, i didnt know that Arizona had mountains like this and second, I didnt know that Arizona ever got snow!?!?!? Finally, after 100 miles of the mountain pass we suddenly shot out of the hills and found ourself in the valley town, Fountain Hills, that we had been seeking. It was an outstanding mistake and worth every extra minute that it took us to get through the mountains. Gorgeous!

Finally, at around noon we met up with Jared and Sarah Fox in Fountain Hills. We ate lunch and then Ben and I decided to sneak into Mesa and try to catch a bit of Cubs spring training. After that was relatively unsuccessful we decided to go play some basketball, eat some dinner, and watch the Kentucky/Vandy game. We will end the night by possibly playing a little more ball and then hitting the sheets with an amazing day planned for tomorrow!

Ben and Ben