Big Spring State Park

7am. Uppenattum.

It was a warm foggy morning. A friendly fog, that held us and hugged us, but didn't constrain us. It was close and thick while we were getting ready to roll, but lifted just enough to let us drive seventy on the highway. A nice early start, headed for Caprock Canyon State Park, in North Texas.

That didn't last long. Fifty miles into the day, we decided we'd rather detour to San Angelo, find the Wal-Mart, unhook, get some barbeque from our favorite barbeque place, check out the San Angelo River Walk, look at some jewelry made out of those neat pink and purple freshwater pearls they get out of mussels in the Concho River, then head north to Big Spring State Park. So we did.

Driving fast on the highway, birds crossing close in front of us, I'm surprised by how little bird-thunking we do with this thing. We push a big block of air out of our way. So far, none of it has had any birds in it.

The sleep monster never struck this trip. Ten hours a night always took care of it. We can get up early and get by with eight hours on driving days.

My mind rambled to running. I ran every day, but didn't really cover that much ground: fifty or sixty miles. In perspective, over the course of an entire month, I ran the distance of one of Stephanie's training runs.

Every January, on vacation, I stay active. I exercise every day. And when I get home I'm surprised by how poorly prepared I am for the demands of racquetball. I attribute it to being in "running shape", but not "racquetball shape". My mind continued to wander, and arrived at another possibility. Altitude! I forgot about the altitude. I'm not immune to altitude. After a month at sea level, no wonder I get winded during racquetball bursts at five thousand feet. I have to reacclimatize.

Getting this close to home, Judy is feeling pleased that we have made it an entire month on the road without stopping at a Laundromat. Practicing life on the road. Life without Laundromats. Didn't seem like such a problem to me. I didn't mind dropping Judy off, then coming back for her when the laundry was done.

Nice early stop for the night. Time to walk around and explore before dark. Big Spring State Park. Two, count 'em, two campsites. We got the last one available. I haven't figured out yet whether we got the best one or not. From up on top of this hill, we can look down over the lake where the sandhill cranes hang out every evening. There are some here now. Thousands will pass through on the spring migration.

We're spending the night at 2,500 feet. Based on elevation, we're half way home.

A 250 mile day.

Tomorrow, we'll cover a lot of ground.