ID/WA Photo Run – Day Ten

Late night for me last night. Got into town late, ate late and got done writing late. Also stayed up too late watching TV. Was up and on the road by 10:30 though. Would have liked to have been on the road sooner but I slept as long as I needed to.

We headed south through the Texas panhandle towards Lubbock. Off the interstate and onto Texas highways. It’s all four lanes and is basically still interstate so we’re still moving fast. We make good time to Sweetwater, wind turbine capital of the world. Maybe not but there’s hundreds of them here, amazes me every time I come through here.

At Sweetwater we jump back on the interstate, east on I-20, headed to Abilene. It’s around 2:00 now and I’m a little hungry. I could also use an extended break so I stopped for lunch. Just a quick bite before heading south east towards home, we’re less than 200 miles away now.

We’re back on two lane road but still moving pretty well. There’s plenty of passing lanes. Back into the small towns of Rising Star, Comanche and Hamilton. At Comanche we’re right at 100 miles away, the longest miles of every trip. At Hamilton we started to hit rain. It never got too bad but I got a little wet, mostly because it was stop lights all through town and I was just sitting in it. Probably would have only lasted about a minute had we been running at speed.

There’s a good bit of rain all around us but we avoid it all. We’ve missed a lot of it as much of the road is wet and already drying out. If I’d have skipped lunch we’d have likely gotten much wetter. We hit Gatesville and aren’t far now, just about 30 minutes. Pulled into the driveway right around 6:00. The kids are all super excited to have me back home, my little girl especially. She’s always the most excited to have me home and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The wife is of course happy to see me as well and my pup, Jake, is as excited as a puppy. He’ll be 12 years old this week. He’s rarely left my side since I’ve been home.

It was a good trip this year. All trips have been good but it was nice to have a simple goal and a couple of days where I didn’t know what I was going to do or where I was going to go. I started out late more than once and it didn’t matter. It was nice to head out in the morning and just go, figuring it out later. Or to decide where to go the night before. The first half of this trip was pretty well planned out and locked in but the second half was more laid back.

Next year we’ll likely run up to the northeast again. Still about six photos I need. I imagine I’ll be much like this year’s trip. Libby and I will run up to get the photos we need then hopefully just meander our way back home. I’ll figure that out later tough. For now I’m going to enjoy my own bed and I’m still going to take tomorrow off from work. I won’t be any more of a mess than it already is.

Tomorrow I’ll see the kids off to school, get my forest of a yard mowed and get Libby shiny again. There’s some interesting stuff plastered to her front end. I’ll then be able to see the kids off the bus, a rare event for me.

My butt’s sore but otherwise I feel good. I could easily do another 500 miles tomorrow but I don’t have to. So until next year, farewell my friends. It’s always a great feeling to have to out on the road with me.