On The Road Again

Friday morning we said goodbye to Fayetteville and once again set off on the road. The night before I had a hard time getting to sleep because I was so excited about our departure. I was really looking forward to being on the road again, and the freedom and the possibilities that come with that. We had packed everything up and had gotten the travel trailer and truck all set to go the night before, so when morning rolled around, all we had to do was eat breakfast and do a last detail cleaning of the guest room we’d stayed in. Once we climbed into the truck and were on the road, it felt like we had never paused our travels. How is it possible that we keep switching life styles and it always feels like nothing’s really changed?

The view on highway 540, just outside of Fayetteville

The six weeks we’d spent at home went a bit different than we’d expected. Our old stomping ground was not as exciting to explore as we’d hoped it would be. It’s possible that we've gotten used to having something new to explore all the time, and being in a place where we’d spent most of our lives was not quite the same. Getting back into a routine and having our friends and family around was definitely the best part of being home. Living in a space that wasn't completely ours and not being able to do everything on our own schedule was probably the worst part of being home.

My most favorite part of being home these last few weeks was getting to spend time with my little sister. The last time I’d spent time with her one on one was before we left, last February. Back then she was still a little kid and we had little in common. Now… now she’s maturing. She’s got her own opinions and her own personality. We can have a conversation and I can see resemblances between us and how we are different. It is so exciting to watch her grow up; sometimes I feel like her progress is daily. I think the biggest downfall of this adventure of ours is that I do not get to spend as much with my little me as I would like to. Maybe soon she’ll get her own Skype account?

Anya and I making cookies

So, Friday morning we set our sights for Texas. This time, instead of going through Tulsa and Oklahoma City, we drove south into Fort Smith and then crossed through Oklahoma briefly before entering northern Texas. We encountered very little traffic through Arkansas and Oklahoma, but as soon as we hit the state line in Texas, we were pretty much surrounded by cars. We, along with five million other people, drove the hour to Dallas, then another hour past Dallas, to a rest stop on the side of interstate 45. Texas has some of the best rest stops (and information centers) of all of the US, and we’d heard that overnight camping was allowed at the roadside rest stops.

Well, there was camping to be found, and it wasn't too bad, except for the fact that we were joined there by several over-the-road truckers that had no problems leaving their diesel engines running all night long. The good part was that we were so tired that we fell asleep by 8pm and slept like babies through the night.

Our first homemade dinner back in the trailer!
Basil, tomato and garlic chicken over spaghetti. 

Parking at the Texas rest stop 

Our first homemade breakfast back in the trailer.
Scrambled eggs, cucumber and tomato slices, blueberries and coffee! 

The next morning we woke up and had a homemade hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and coffee. We rolled out of the rest stop by 11 (yep, babies sleep in late) and made it to Houston by mid-day. Our plan is to visit Houston and the seaside for the next week and then to head to Austin, where we’re currently planning to spend a month. We really liked Austin last time around and hope to explore more of it. Sky is excited about taking our bikes in for some needed maintenance to the Yellow Bike Project and I’m looking forward to running the Barton Creek Greenbelt. We have a few exciting prospects on our horizon that might sway our plans in the meantime, but I won’t go into any details yet.

Happy Being On The Road (Again)!

M.