Program note: it’s almost funny to look back at my last post and see myself confident about resuming a weekly or semiweekly schedule for my History of the United Offworld Colonies series. I could write a whole blog post in itself about all the false starts, but I’ll just leave it at this: my love of the details in inventing that universe evidently went into a growth spurt, and there’s only so many times I can throw away a draft that just spent ten pages on how many staff officers a Naval headquarters needs before I finally admit I need to back off for a while. I do, absolutely positively, mean to get that series back on track… but I don’t know when.
Meanwhile, for the next month, there will be this:
The Return of the Epic Road Trip
Back in 2015 I set off on what I called my Epic Road Trip, spending around three weeks driving from National Park to National Park and posting a daily trip diary here on my blog. Last year— around ten months ago to be exact— I got it in my head to plan a sequel, one that would surpass the original! So today I embark on Epic Road Trip 2: Four weeks on the road from National Park to National Park, with a mix of favorites I’ve seen before and new destinations.
The news of the last three months has made it uncertain whether the trip would happen. I’ve watched as parks, hotels, and entire states have closed, opened up again, debated whether they should open up again, while I’ve done things like making anti-COVID masks that look like cowboy bandanas— because what else would I want them to look like? —until finally only a little more than a week ago I was able to confirm that everywhere on my planned route is open and the Epic Road Sequel is a go. Like the last time, I’ll be posting a trip diary with a selection of photos most evenings (there will be some driving days without any news worth posting). Today, it’s day one.
June 10: Dallas to Amarillo
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Yes, I’m mixing my travel metaphors given my car’s license plate is “TARDIS,” but still… time to cowboy up and hit the trail. |
There’s not a lot to say about the trip’s first drive day. Dallas to Amarillo is a long way through unremarkable scenery. For most of the way, the landscape is actually pretty pleasant— but not particularly newsworthy.
I did stop at the house of my famous relative, Charles Goodnight, for one bit of sightseeing on the first day. Restored as a museum, this is the house Charles built for his wife Molly (even though he personally preferred to sleep outdoors under the stars).
Across the road from the restored house and museum is the cemetery where Charles and Molly are buried. There has long been a tradition of local ranchers and cowboys tying bandanas to the fence around the grave, in tribute the the founder of the Texas panhandle, and I had planned to add one myself. But to my surprise, I found no bandanas at all on the fence when I arrived. Whether they get cleared away periodically and I just happened to be there right after such a cleaning, or whether the people who run the cemetery are trying to stop that practice, I don’t know. Not knowing, I chose not to add the bandana I brought. I may look in again when I pass this way homeward bound in a month, and tie on my bandana then if the tradition has resumed.
That’s pretty much all there is to tell for day one. Tomorrow, I’ll be driving on to Colorado Springs, where I’ll be staying for two nights.
Trip report:
Miles driven today: 351.7
Total miles so far: 351.7
