Thanking my Lucky Stars

 

We were driving along to Lake Brownwood State Park for our New Year's camping trip and I came across this:

It truly is amazing when we think about all that exists out there beyond the blue of our atmosphere.  It reminded me of the Christmas camping trip two years ago when we got up early to see the James Webb Telescope launch, and the incredible pictures that have been sent back along its journey. 

We settled into the park Saturday afternoon, snuggling down for a "cold winter's nap" as the temps were going to be just above freezing overnight this weekend.  Nothing that we haven't experienced before.  But thinking of things we haven't experienced before, let me back up a moment and tell you about the drive across and refueling the truck in the little town of Early.  

We stopped off at the Allsup's gas station, which had a separate island for diesel pumps, and the prompts for the singular diesel nozzle asked you to select either "Tractor" or "Refer."  We both kinda looked at each other, having never been presented with this set of options before, we surmised that Tractor would be farming equipment and reefer would be like a refrigerated trailer on the road.  And with that, we started pumping fuel.  

And then I thought - well, why didn't we ask Uncle Google?  16 gallons in, I Googled and we found out: we had it backwards! Whoops!  Next fast Google was "will red/tractor diesel harm my truck?" (no) and then "what's the fine for putting ag diesel in an on-road vehicle?" ($10K!!) and then "how long will my engine stay stained from red diesel dye?" (it clears out after 2-3 more tanks' worth of fuel, but the current fuel filter will likely stay stained until we replace it).  Fast learning, and grateful that we didn't cause any harm. 

Thank goodness the stars aligned on that one!

Settled into our site for the long weekend, we were really surprised with how low the lake water level was. Water data is showing that the lake is only 60% full - and with the really long shorelines, you can tell it's not at its prime.  All that being said, it's too chill to swim or enjoy water sports this weekend, so we were content with just taking a walk along the water's edge and getting some steps in.

We spent Saturday evening with some of our favorite space-themed movies playing in the background (The Martian, Oblivion, Despicable Me, The Fifth Element) while we waited for midnight.  As a surprise to RDB, I signed up to have our names engraved on a microchip as part of the "Message in a Bottle" campaign NASA is running for the Europa Clipper orbiter that is launching in October of this year to orbit a potential water-based moon of Jupiter.

We're going places, y'all! ;-) 

(Speaking of “going places” - NYE I was chatting with a.Fox about tacos and she said they were fixing a batch for her in-laws next Saturday and somehow I ended up booking a flight to Arizona to join them for dinner! AND I’ll get to have dinner with WLTR on the return trip thanks to a 5 hour layover in Denver on Sunday! I blame it on the champagne and flight credits burning a hole in my pocket... and the homemade tortillas - how could I resist?) 

As midnight approached, RDB wanted to walk over the moment of New Years and I just happened to grab the trash from cooking lunch on our way out of the camper.  We ended up literally "taking out the trash" and walking into the New Year.  New tradition? Maybe so!

Monday we made our way over to the Brown County courthouse. It was an interesting building of red brick and tall columns supporting the second story veranda above arches that lead to the front entry.  It may not have the same architectural draw of some of the other court houses we've seen along the way, but it was interesting in its own right.

The former county jail across the street, with its stone-hewn castle-like style, made for an interesting contrast.

Back at the campsite, we went for a late afternoon walk around our camping loop and over to the fishing pier, taking time to play for a bit along the jagged limestone rocks exposed by the low tide. I of course managed to stab my palm and injury myself on those rocks; the painful scrape becoming a nice counterpart to the massive bruise forming on my thigh from running into the table in the camper earlier. RBD calls me his Clumsy Girl. (He’s not wrong, y’all.)

RDB was wise to check the weather forecast for our drive home Tuesday and realized that there was a high probability of rain starting in the late afternoon.  So we called it a night at a decent hour (kinda hard after staying up late for NYE and then sleeping in Monday morning while all the other campers backed up to head home.) and turned in for the evening.

As we said our goodnights, we reminisced about the last time we were at this campground- the week that we eloped on a camping trip - and how we wouldn’t mind coming back to this quiet and peaceful place again. (Maybe next time we won't wait ten years between trips!)

To know that there is so much out there in the galaxies and universes beyond ours, and that the odds of the composition of stardust that created our unique DNA just happened to be on this Earth at the exact same time, in a way in which we could meet, appreciate, and love each other - and share these sweet moments together - to know how unrepeatable those odds are simply reminds me, year after year, of how lucky and blessed I am that I get to share this life with you, RDB.  I thank my lucky stars for you.

“If we have souls, they are made of the love we share, undimmed by time, unbound by death.” - Jack Harper, Tech 49 

We were at Lake Brownwood State Park, Willow Point, Site #19, 50a/W. Only one Lego unlevel to the driver’s side, this spot is everything you’d want: easy to back into, no overhead obstructions, nearly a 180* view of the water and a stones throw from the bathhouse should you need it. Only downside would be the picnic table set towards the back drivers side - great if you’re using the tent pad, not so much if you’re in a hard-sided rig. Plenty of bird life around the park and we saw lots of people boating and fishing in the lake.  

We’ve been here before for our wedding, ten years and two months ago: We could do it, ya know…

_________

PS - talk about thanking our lucky stars?  We pulled into the storage facility to put the camper to bed, and I heard this *woooooish* sound coming from under the camper as I went to open up and unload the fridge.  After 5+ hour drive home, it was in the literal last 5 minutes that we got a screw in our trailer tire that was very quickly flattening out!!  I cannot say how grateful I am that it happened where it did, as super low speeds, and not out on the highway between the middles of nowhere!

Untethered

Looking back, we had a really rough time over Christmas and New Years, y'all.  But the great thing about time, though, is that it just keeps moving on; someday we'll sit down over a campfire and share all that transpired between the last camping trip and the roadtrip RDB and I are on this week, but for now, I think a quote from my favorite Martian is enough to sum it all up:

"Things didn't go exactly as planned, but I'm not dead, 

so I'll take that as a win."

What did go as planned was packing our bags, jumping in JOY and getting the first half of this year's 10th Anniversary PostCARds Across Texas Miata Challenge completed along the way to a destination RDB and I have been wanting to visit for years now: Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

We left out Saturday morning and got #3 on the list - Brenham - and opted to grab the "choose your own adventure" #10 - Austin - before stopping for dinner at Salt Traders in Zilker Park. If you find yourself in south Austin hankering for a REALLY good fish dinner, this is your place.  And for someone who doesn't normally like fish to say it was comfort food is saying something! (Click here for my full review)

Sunday morning we pointed the car towards Odessa to spend the afternoon with L&M and grabbed #2 - Oatmeal - along the way. Not exactly a postcard, but I didn't design the list, so I'm not complaining... well, not too much at least!

Y'all know I have a thing for courthouses, so I couldn't help but ask RDB to stop whenever we passed thru a county seat.  Especially on this trip where we were going to hit so many out west in Texas, knowing that we might not be camping in those parts of the state anytime soon.

San Saba County

Sterling County

Glasscock County

Monday mid-day we made it into Carlsbad, New Mexico.  With a few hours of daylight left we made our way up to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park. 

It's a neat facility in that all the creatures there were either injured and rescued, unable to be rehabilitated, or were born in captivity and wouldn't survive in the wild.

We didn't stay too long, as the weather was turning cold and really windy.  Even the Bald Eagle was fluffing himself up to try to get some warmth!

Before we left, though, we did find one other fun thing - a geocache! Completely unexpected, I just happened to see the ammo box out of the corner of my eye and thought: I'd bet that's a cache. Sure enough, checked the app, and it was!

Tuesday, Valentine's Day, we made our way over to our main attraction: Carlsbad Caverns.  RDB and I have loved the other caves we've had a chance to explore on our camping trips, and a few that we've seen while not camping, but we always had Carlsbad on our list of must-dos. 

I'll tell you one thing - it takes the better part of a full day to really enjoy and explore the cave. From the mile-plus walk down the natural entrance, to the guided tour we took of the King's Palace, to the Big Room which is larger than SIX football fields(!) be prepared to stay a while.

The Natural Entrance and Main Corridor:

King's Palace Ranger Guided Tour:

The Big Room (Shortcut Version):

I have to give a BIG shout out to our tour guide for the King's Palace portion - Ranger Devan not only had technical knowledgable (a geology major in college) but he put an interesting spin on things (he also studied philosophy).  So, he took us on an adventure to look at rocks, and think things.  His story telling, and near theatrical performance at times, pulled us in and got us emotionally involved in the history of the cave, that destruction and beauty can occupy the same space, and the imagery of "water as paint, the rock as canvas, and Mother Nature and Time as the artists." 

Wednesday morning we started our trip back home, taking a longer northern route to get a few more of the postCARds for the Miata challenge.  This meant we had the chance to drive thru Roswell - and couldn't help but stop for a quick picture and lunch; the Mexican food place we found was out of this world! ;-)

Traveling along the dusty (and windy!) roads in eastern New Mexico was both beautiful and treacherous - you haven't lived until you've been in a tiny Miata trying to dodge tumble weeds the size of your car!

We happened along a two-fer when we drove thru the tiny town of Dimmit, Tx.  Both a beautiful postcard, AND the Castro County courthouse!

One more courthouse in Briscoe County before we settled in for the night at Hotel Turkey, a tiny Air B&B style hotel (we let ourselves in and found our key on the front desk) that boasts being nearly 100 years old (and being the only hotel even remotely close to our next postCARd in Quitaque.)

Thursday morning we got up and drove back over to Quitaque to grab a photo of the "welcome to" postcard. I'm telling y'all, at 35* and really strong wind, it was a COLD week to decide to take this road trip for these fun pictures!

Along the country roads heading towards our next stop, we passed another courthouse  - Childress County - right along the side of the road.  

We continued on down towards our last postCARd for this trip, in Decatur, Texas, and realized it was going to be another two-fer, too!  Both the mural AND the Wise County Courthouse!

Thursday evening found us in north Dallas at Ran-D's house for the night, along with a celebratory dinner at KAI for some excellent sushi.  The meal was outstanding and the service was second to none!

You might be wondering, What are we celebrating?  Well, last week I resigned from my job after 18 years with the company; it was an incredible journey and I know I made significant contributions to the business and to the people I had the privilege to work with.  And those of you following my blog for a while know that these last few months were some of the hardest with the restructuring of our business unit and the elimination of my leadership role; which lead me to looking for other opportunities...

Next week, I start a new position in leadership at another financial firm; I’ll have a physical office location to go to and coworkers to work alongside for the benefit of the clients we’ll serve.  I can't begin to say how excited I am to have this opportunity to continue to grow and to mentor and coach others again - something I absolutely fell in love with these past few years. 

This week, and this incredible roadtrip that RDB and I were able to take, was the in-between; I've felt untethered, mid-stride between my past and my future.

And it’s been ridiculously awesome.