The idea for our road trip came a few months ago after I took a couple of days and headed to East Texas to start work on my book. (Don't ask.)
After talking to Jason about visiting Carthage and our shared heritage from that area, we threw around the idea of taking a road trip there and spending a few days. In college I'd spent some time camping at Caddo Lake. Tim and I visited there a few years ago and had a wonderful time camping. So I thought, why not? That was the plan. A few days at Caddo, perhaps some time up in Arkansas with Robert (who we eventually found out was in Tennessee.)
But somewhere along the way Jason began subly nudging our direction back west toward San Marcos and Blake and Karla, I relented, (it's not hard to convince me to do anything,) and I'm glad. Because Texas in August= The Fiery Inferno of Hell and when you are in The Fiery Inferno of Hell it's always better to have artificially cooled air blowing on you than not.
I think this change in direction, toward people we know, also ensured enough variety in who we were with, preventing us from getting annoyed with each other. Not that anyone could ever get annoyed with me, because I'm the coolest person in The Fiery Inferno of Hell, but Jason is another story.
I checked the map, determined a route, and despite Fortenberry telling me there was a shorter way, I decided to stick to my guns (which, remember, can be mail ordered in Merryville.)
(Speaking of which, and this is totally off subject.... There is a sign up at a Pawn Shop down the road from my house that reads "Show Your Love With a Firearm." How sweet.)
The path: Highway 87 South to I-10. I-10 West to some road I forget, several other turns, and into San Marcos.
This drive was the longest of the trip. And, in my opinion, the best. There was the perfect mix of good conversation and good silence. Here are some highlights, in bullet form...
-- Once we got out of Louisiana, the first item on my agenda, the one I'd been waiting for, was to call Waco and wish Sutton and Jude a happy 3rd birthday. Being in the sticks, this plan was constantly thwarted. Also, the battery on my phone was running dead and I quickly found out the charger I had in my car wasn't for my phone, but some other phone. (I have no idea how it got there.)
-- In Houston I stopped and paid too much for a cell phone charger. Thirty dollars. When there are kids you love as much as I love those boys, you'll do stupid things like pay thirty dollars for a cell phone charger.
-- Somewhere along the way I did get to talk to them. They knew it was their birthday, but I'm not sure at three if they actually knew what a birthday was. They just knew it was there's.
-- Jason got a lot of reading done. And a long nap.
-- I decided to spend his nap time without the radio. I had never seen the part of Texas between Houston and Austin, and was glad to experience it without noise. (Except for the noise of my window rattling.)
-- Blake and Karla took their youth group to Austin that day and not knowing how long it took to get from where we were to where we were going, we planned on meeting up with them. But it took longer than we thought, which was no problem since we still had plenty of time.
-- We met up with them at the Outback in San Marcos....
TBC...
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