All right... back to the blog.

So, Flagstaff got completely snowed in on Saturday night. It's been years since this California boy saw so much snow, and I've never tried to drive in anything like this (never mind while towing a heavy trailer.

However, not too far east of Flagstaff the weather got clear and beautiful and for most of the day things were going great. We stopped in Gallup to have a late lunch at the El Rancho Hotel, a historic landmark building which is actually worth the stop. After lunch we fueled up with diesel, and as I was pulling out of the gas station, I heard..... a very loud noise.

Yes, a trailer tire had popped. But closer inspection revealed that it had popped because it had been rubbing the fender (which it's not supposed to do) because it was in totally the wrong place in relation to the trailer because..... the leaf spring hangers had completely broken off the trailer!!! Yes, that's right, the axles were no longer attached to the trailer!!

So, at 6 PM on a Sunday in Gallup in 10 degree weather, I set about getting the damn trailer jacked up and put back together (as much as I could) while Christina worked her phone magic and actually found a guy named Steve who would come out at 6 PM on a Sunday in Gallup in 10 degree weather with a generator/welder and weld the damn thing back together (at a gas station!!!!!)

Three hours later we were on the road again and we finally got to Taos at 4 in the morning.

We slept well.