An Ounce of Prevention

When they got back to their rooms, Carmen bathed Natalie and Matthew and ran water for Destiny. The children were so excited that Carmen had to scold them several times to get them to settle down. Carmen found a quiet show on television and they watched it until they fell asleep.

Carmen shut the television off and crawled into bed beside Alex. She snuggled next to him, enjoying the warmth of his body. He put an arm around her and kissed her. She lay in his arms awake for a long time. There certainly was a down side to having the children in the room with them.

The next morning they were up early, getting the children dressed and making sure they had everything before they left. Carmen was beginning to appreciate Katie's idea of a motor home. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be as easy to find a camp ground as it was to find a hotel.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized Alex was right about renting rather than buying a motor home. If they bought a motor home, they would have to build a shelter to protect it from bad weather. It would require regular cleaning too, if they wanted to keep bugs and mice out of it. That would be true of a travel trailer too, with the exception that they wouldn't have an engine to maintain. No more than they would use it, it made more sense to rent one - although they might use it more often if they had one.

After breakfast, they decided to visit the Route 66 museum, something that they found on a flyer at the hotel. Alex found that interesting, so they spent a few hours there. After that, they were on the road again.

When they crossed into the panhandle of Texas the country looked little different than western Oklahoma. It made sense that the scenery wouldn't change the minute they crossed the line, but the flat land went on endlessly on either side of the interstate. Naturally they would have taken advantage of the flattest land to build a road, but she was getting the idea that there was nothing else. Hopefully Arizona wouldn't be such a disappointment.

They stopped for lunch in Amarillo, Texas. Jonathan browsed the racks of tourist flyers while they waited for their food. He came back to the table with a flyer in his hand, a smile on his lips and a light in his eyes.

"Look at this!" He opened the flyer for Carmen and Alex to see. "Could we go there?"

"I don't know." Carmen looked at Alex. "It must be a long way."