Sun, Sept 26, 2010

Sunday, September 26, 2010

For the first time in twenty-six days I am not going to the office and that feels pretty good.  Charles got up quietly this morning and left me to sleep while he did the morning farm chores.  The pups, however saw no need for me to have any additional rest and after much collar shaking and nudging were able to coerce me from the comfort of bed.  Upon Charles’ return we got our coffee and headed outside to complete our morning ritual of discussing the day.  To our delight, we were met with the first rains we have had in about a month.  We took our time and enjoyed the hot coffee and the soothing rain before having a quick breakfast and beginning the arduous task of packing for an extended road trip in a Jeep Wrangler.  This can be quite a challenge… not because of what we need to wear (which usually consists of just jeans and shirts) but because we have to pack for two dogs, include my camera equipment and the tech gear that goes along with keeping up with the office and posting my journal and pictures as we travel.  Because we do travel a lot of remote roads we have to add emergency gear and food rations in case we get stranded.  We have this process pretty much down to a science but it still takes the good part of a half day to complete.  Just a little before noon we were packed and ready to go. 

Mattie was feeling so good that she called and asked us to come eat veggies with her before we left.  Now who could turn down an invitation for a good southern lunch before leaving for an extended trip.  After a delicious lunch and proper goodbyes we headed back to the house to feed horses before making that delightful trip down the driveway full of anticipation about the days to come.  I’m sure God put me with Charles because he found the perfect partner for me… the road trip addict.  We are like two kids on Christmas Eve as we pull onto Causeyville Road.  Add to that mix two Australian Shepherds with their heads hanging out the back windows and that Jeep is full of four happy souls.

We don’t know where we are heading except we will definitely see Yellowstone National Park again and there is a good chance we will see the Pacific Coast.  We’ll decide each day what we want to do.  So as we hit Interstate 20 headed west we made the decision to get the Interstate driving behind us by driving straight to Kilgore TX.  At that point we will, hopefully leave the big slab behind and will be on either two lane or two track roads for the remainder of the trip. 

The rain was beginning to taper off and the drive across Mississippi and Louisiana was uneventful (always good when you’re on the interstate).  We filled the time with conversation and sang along to some Prime Country which is pretty good for clicking off the miles. After a delicious BBQ sandwich at Bodacious BBQ we took the short drive to the Best Western in Kilgore. 

Interstate travel is never our first choice but it made sense to get some major miles behind us so the coming weeks will be slow and easy (unless we decide to make it different).  So the mission was accomplished with no trouble… a nice start to our trek.

We are well and hope you all are too.

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger