The dry mountainous highways we traveled seemed to stretch forever. The orange, and brown, and red colors of the region was beautiful at first, but became repetitive fast. Each sign we passed seemed to be an open invitation to detour into something more fun than seeing the same sights hour after hour.
The Grand Canyon was the first obvious stop. We spent a day out there, sight seeing, hiking, and visiting the museum. The highlight was dragging Carter's scary ass onto the glass sky-walk that hung over the canyon at about 4,000 feet up.
He begged and pleaded, but my sweet face and Rihanna's teasing got him on there. We held his hand as he shook like a baby. He refused to even look down, staring straight ahead the entire time.
After staying the night in a hotel, we took yet another detour, this time via Carter who read that there was a film festival going on in Utah. We took half a day driving out that way, and then an entire day watching indie movies and talking with directors and movie critics. It turned out to be pretty fun. Carter was like a kid in a candy store, chatting with these people, and sharing his expertise with anyone willing to listen.
Once leaving there, I saw an advertisement for a carnival that was going on in Arizona. Rihanna had gotten her way. Carter had gotten his way. Now it was my turn. I begged, and we took one last detour to the carnival. It had been a week and we weren't even past Arizona. So much for getting to Florida in a few days.
We rode bumper cars, and the Ferris Wheel, and went into a not-so-haunted house, but it was the food that was our calling. Big ass turkey legs. Fried Twinkies. Chili dogs. We pigged until we was holding in all types of gas. Well, at least Carter held his in.
Toward the end of the night, when we were about to leave, Rihanna saw a tent that was selling ox tails. She hadn't been much of a soul food eater growing up, but after visiting my mom and eating her cooking, she would go crazy over chitterlings and ox tails. I was particular about who I ate soul food from. If it wasn't from my momma, then I probably wasn't going to eat it. I think Carter was the same way, because he frowned up his face when she dragged us over to the stand. She ordered some ox tails and mac and cheese. We watched her eat, shaking our head.
Before we left, I told Carter I wanted him to win me a big prize from one of the carnival games. Rihanna pouted and said she wanted one too. And for the next half an hour, we watched, howling in laughter, as Carter lost every damn game available. Throwing darts at balloons. Basketball. Even alley balls. And who couldn't win something at that?
The vendors felt so bad for him, watching him spend all that money without winning, that they just gave us two big ass teddy bears. We teased him hard. I could tell he was embarrassed, but it was cute as hell to me. When Rihanna thanked him for her teddy, he gave her the funniest, strangest smirk, before mumbling "you're welcome" under his breath.
Too tired to drive through the night, we decided to get a room only 10 minutes after we'd gotten on the highway. We were still laughing about Carter's losing streak when I looked at Rih, who had immediately started looking funny. I asked if she was okay. She didn't respond at first. She looked like she was about to burp. She said she was fine, but her stomach was hurting. I teased her about eating those ox tails, and after hearing me mention food, she immediately proceeded to puke all over Carter. He looked shocked, and almost crashed, as her vomit rained down on his neck and shoulder. Ox tails and chili dogs everywhere.
We checked into a hotel, Carter went to change clothes, and Rihanna ran straight to the bathroom where she was puking again. For the next half an hour, she stayed face first in the toilet, violently throwing up whatever remained in her stomach.
I rubbed her back. Put a wet rag on her forehead, and tried to help her through it. She seemed okay for a minute, but when she sipped a room temperature bottle of water, she went right back to throwing up.
