Texas on the map... and in my heart

I may have grown up in Minnesota, but Texas was my college home and the first place I made my own.

There's a sort of magic about choosing a place to be when youthful hope, emotion, and intuition take precedence over logical criteria. These rolling plains and big skies were the backdrop of many firsts and important moments in my life.



So, as Scotty and I cruised into El Paso on I-10, it felt really good to cross that state line again.





Initially, the only drawback was that on our way there, we (*Scotty*) drove most of the night on a very icy highway where semi-trucks were pulled over in droves and nearly every stopped car seemed to be the victim of a fender bender.



We kept going... because the van had new tires and Alaska license plates.



The above pull-off is where we spent the latter portion of that first night. Supremely taxed after a straight shot all the way from San Diego, we decided to stop in Austin after another four hours of driving. Even after living there for four years and driving some pretty insane distances alone, the state still seems huge.

We checked into a simple Crowne Plaza the first night on the outskirts of Austin, but when we got a late start the next day, decided to stay in Austin a second night. Hotwire came in handy when we scored the Omni hotel downtown within spitting distance of 6th Street (we were on 8th).



Even more unexpectedly, the lady at the front desk gave us a suite on the top 18th floor.

I still have no idea about her motivation (it was a Sunday, kind of slow, and we checked in early around 2 p.m.), but we thought her kindness was pretty awesome indeed when we saw the room and our view.

And since 6th Street was really close, of course we had to go check it out. The last time I was here I was twenty-one years old, on a road trip with a group of friends and sleeping on the floor at a friend of a friend's apartment. It looked a little different this time, though perhaps it's the lens. ;) I'm just glad to see Austin is still thriving and that even on a Sunday, live music is omnipresent around town.

And if you're ever in the Austin area and want a really great spot with "real" food for breakfast all day, check out Cherrywood Coffeehouse.

This place is one the best made-from-scratch breakfast spots I've ever been.

The next day we made our way to East Texas to see one my closest and dearest friends from college, Kristi, and her sweet family.

  

 

It's hard to believe it's been almost ten years since I've been back here. The next time I visit won't be anywhere near as long!

Yep, watch out Texas. I'll be back. ;)

32 days on the road and 6,372 miles later

Last Friday, December 20th, we finally arrived at the boatyard where our sailboat is being stored!

It had been 32 days since we'd left Juneau on the ferry and 6,372 miles on the road beginning in Bellingham, Washington. Now that we're comfortably aboard our boat in Beaufort, North Carolina for the time being, it's time to play catch up.



Not everything went as planned during the road trip- namely my plans for the weather to be warmer *wink wink*- but that being said, our road trip was an awesome journey and we were lucky enough to be able to hang out with friends and family along the way, some of whom we hadn't seen in years.



And even with over a month spent traveling, I wish we'd had more time to stop and been able to divert from our route in order to see more people along the way. But since we're planning on making this migration to a from Alaska at least a few more times, there's a good chance we can!

While I'm not signing up to be a long-haul trucker just yet, I love life on the road. It's a great way to see some incredible places and to talk, laugh, and gain greater insight about the world around us and each other. Scotty and I learned very early on in our relationship that we travel well together, a must when you're trying to do the kinds of things we are (i.e. going cruising on a budget on our own boat, doing seasonal work, and taking long road trips that require sleeping in a mini-van).

It also helps that when it comes to being on the road, we share a lot of the same preferences about eating, sleeping, how to spend time and money, etc. Not that we don't butt heads from time to time, but fortunately it's never come to a total impasse. ;)



A lot of it boils down to that we have similar preferences and needs surrounding issues of comfort and risk. And when you're trying to save money by cooking outside, staying at campgrounds, and doing laundry on the go, being on same page is priceless.

Happily, we also tend to agree about when it's time to suck it up and get a hotel.



Now that we're experiencing life in the sticks (er, amid masts?) I'll be back tomorrow to share more photos and highlights of the road trip, and to share about what's next... cruising south in our sailboat!

On the road again: California to Texas

Before we left San Diego, we got our chores done, then dedicated a full day to having fun. It started with a trip to the KOA hot tub and heated outdoor pool. And we were the only ones in both of them, despite the fact that it was around 10 a.m. Traveling in the off-season rocks.

Surprisingly, the hot tub was actually hot and the main pool felt comfortable and not cold at all! Yet another reason to love California...

 

We also had to pay one last visit to the Pacific with a walk along Mission Beach.

And what trip to San Diego would be complete without getting fish tacos on the beach?

From there we took a short drive to Harbor Island for happy hour at a nice restaurant we've been to once before on a previous trip to Southern California in 2008: C-Level/ Island Prime.

The restaurant is called C-Level during the day and through happy hour, and reverts to Island Prime's dinner menu afterwards. We'd looked it up beforehand and when we saw that happy hour appetizers and drinks were only $5 the decision was made!




Plus, with waterfront views just being there is incredibly relaxing. We sat in the semi-outdoor heated patio and watched daylight begin to fade and transform the buildings of downtown San Diego into a virtual Crayola box of color.

After three nights at the KOA near San Diego, we packed up and got back on the road, this time heading east. Fortunately, sleeping in the van means when it's time to go, there isn't much to actually pack. We take showers, put clothes away in backpacks (we each keep 2-3 days worth of clothes in each of our small day-packs), put the cooler back in the van, and go! It's a pretty nice way to start the day.

And so we waved a long, sad tearful goodbye beautiful California and the West Coast, at least until spring.

Then, we Scotty began an epic driving marathon on Interstate 8, and later, 10, that took us through Tucson, Arizona, and the southernmost part of New Mexico (Deming and Las Cruces),  and into Texas via El Paso.

During the drive, our only considerable stop was at the Tucson REI to buy a Bio-Lite CampStove and grill. This thing is so cool and we'd both been eying it for years. I'll have to write about it once we use it.

So why did we bypass so much of the country, including Arizona and New Mexico, two of my favorite states? Blame it on the winter storms whole regions have been pelted with for the past week, with well-below average temperatures in many places.

Our original plan was to spend a few days in Joshua Tree National Park (I even had two nights reserved for us at this awesome campground) drive up to Flagstaff/ Sedona area and see the Grand Canyon, then north into Utah to do some mountain biking in Moab (something Scotty had been looking forward to) and stay near Arches National Park.

Because of re-routing south, we also missed the Four Corners area and Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The last time and only time I was there I'd gone to visit a friend just before I moved to Alaska in 2006, and I sort of fell in love with the place. Perhaps in spring we'll be back on our return trip to Alaska to see what we missed.

After we crossed the state line into Texas, the lights of El Paso and neighboring Juarez, Mexico stretched out like a giant glittering blanket.



A few hours later as we crossed the Davis Mountains at 6,000+ feet above sea level, the highway turned to ice. I woke from "napping" in the back to find Scotty inching the mini-van along behind the few semi-trucks that kept going; most were pulled over on the shoulder and we saw plenty of fender benders and a few overturned trucks that had run off the road. At that point, we both felt very glad to have just purchased new tires for the van back in Oregon.

Because even the most dedicated long-haul driver such as my man needs sleep, he finally parked us at a rest area next to this old (fort?) building close to Fort Stockton. In the morning, I saw that we had also parked next to what looked a big litter box for humans behind it...

That day we made it Austin- more to come!