The Plains of West Texas
495 miles, 8 hours
In June of 2010, Kim and I set out on an adventure. A very, very long road trip. 5 months. 15,000 miles. We left home with heavy hearts, but the kindness of friends new and old, the freedom of the open road, and the best of America's natural beauty helped us earn redemption of spirits.
Three years later, on June 2, 2013, we set out on a similarly ambitious road trip, but under very, very different circumstances.
For starters, there were 3 of us. Kimberly, little Camille, I piled into the Jeep. I had just accepted a new job, and I took about a month off between gigs. Unlike the last road trip, where I "worked from the road", this one should be far more relaxing, without daily work responsibilities.
Three years later, on June 2, 2013, we set out on a similarly ambitious road trip, but under very, very different circumstances.
For starters, there were 3 of us. Kimberly, little Camille, I piled into the Jeep. I had just accepted a new job, and I took about a month off between gigs. Unlike the last road trip, where I "worked from the road", this one should be far more relaxing, without daily work responsibilities.
So we set out from Austin, with 97,241 on the odometer, on Sunday, June 2nd. Our goal was to drive to Banff, Alberta Canada, and back to Austin, in roughly 30 days. In a straight shot, that's over 2,000 miles each way. But how much fun is a straight shot? If there's one thing Kim and I have learned traveling, it's really all about the journey, and never just about the destination.
Three of us packed into the Jeep and left in the late afternoon, having spent the entire morning readying the house for our house sitters, and taking care of an unending list of chores.
You can see here perhaps our most important accessory of the trip... An 11" Android tablet, loaded with 32GB of Pixar films, hanging from the back of the rear seat for Cami Mae's enjoyment :-)
The first day's packing was far less organized than the optimized version I would find a few days later. This looks like a mess!
That first day was hard -- one of the longest mileage days of the entire month long trip. Nearly 500 miles, over 8 hours of driving. And compared to the rest of our drive, West Texas is not terribly scenic. There were still quite a few wildflowers in bloom, especially as we climbed in latitude.
We landed in Amarillo very, very late that night. Camille had a tough night, as I think there was just a bit too much excitement arriving and checking in and unpacking in a hotel room after midnight. It would take us a few days before we hit our groove...
:-Dustin
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