I was the first up the next morning. It was bothering me that the other guys kept having to wait on me, so I wanted to be ready to go. I showered and got dressed before anyone else got up. The other guys groggily came around and we began packing up to leave. The office opened at 7:00 and we wanted to be there when they opened so that we could go ahead and get on the road. None of us were really hungry, so we decided to wait until Fort Stockton to have breakfast. The sky behind Casa Grande - formerly El Capitan - was beginning to glow where the sun would rise over the ridge, so I got out my camera.
We checked out of the cabin and complained about whichever liar had determined the mileage up on the trails. What they claimed was 3.3 miles felt a lot more like 20 or 25 miles. And we got on the road. Johnny wanted to try to get some wildlife shots on the way out, and was hoping that we would see some javalina or a bear. We saw some javalina, but I didn't stop the truck in time and messed up his shot. I told the guys that if I saw Creepy Guy walking on the road that I was just going to run him over. As we were headed down the mountain, Johnny suddenly spotted something big and black to the left near the top of one of the hills. It was a bear. We slammed on the brakes and all jumped out of the truck to take a look. It was about 300 yards away, headed up the hill. All of us had our cameras out and were snapping away. Then some rude lady in a white Honda came up behind us and yelled at us and barked at us to please move, even though the truck was about 80 percent off the road already. Stupid crabby lady. I hoped that back up at her campsite that a mountain lion was eating her dog.
As we reached the Panther Junction park headquarters, all of our phones sprang to life and began dinging and pinging with missed texts and messages. The signal wasn't very strong, but it allowed us some contact with our loved ones for the first time in a few days. It was odd because we hadn't gotten any kind of signal when we passed by just a couple of days before.
We left the park quietly, begrudgingly. Outside the park, the speed limit increased, so we went faster. There were birds everywhere. We saw quail all over. Ahead of us, there were some on the road that began running off the road as we approached. Suddenly, one darted back onto the road and tried to fly just as we reached it. It slammed into the passenger's side window with a loud thud, waking the snoozing Harris and Mark with a start. The window had already been cracked, but now there was a big, new crack where the bird had hit. I think that if he had hit just a couple of inches to the left where the other crack was, that it might have shattered the window and Johnny would have had a quail in his lap.
The drive back to Fort Stockton seemed extraordinarily long. Maybe it was because we were hungry. Maybe it was because I was worried about every bird I saw flying into my truck. I don't know. But it seemed to take forever. We stopped at IHOP and everyone had a really big breakfast. The wind was really blowing and we were fighting a nasty headwind on the most of the way back, which didn't do great things for our gas mileage. Lunch was Mexican food in Fredericksburg. Had we had one more day, I bet we would have gone and hiked Enchanted Rock while we were there. But that sounds like it'll be a good trip for next time.
We pulled into Brenham around 6:30 and unloaded the truck at Mark's house. We shook hands and said goodbye and all went our separate ways. Harris almost took out one of Mark's trees with his truck as he was backing out. And normal life resumed.
It was great to see Kristi and the kids again. I felt as if I had been gone for a couple of weeks instead of just four days. I came back and there was a notable improvement in Noble's speech and he was using some new words. Right now, he's changing hour by hour. I swear Kayci, in addition to losing the tooth, had grown two inches. I came back home to the life that I love and to the people that I love. All the next week, I slept very, very well as my body tried to recover.
So now it's time to finish putting away the camping gear. Kristi and the kids have been very patient about it. And it's time to start planning ideas for the next trip. It took me 15 years to get back to Big Bend after last time. I don't want it to take that long again. In fact, camping and being outdoors is something that I love - it's so much a part of who I am. Back in high school and college I went camping all the time, sometimes three times a month. And I want my kids to grow up with the great memories of camping and the outdoors that I have. So my pledge to myself is that we're going to build that into our lives. It may only be a camping trip a couple of times a year with the family - and hopefully a couple more every year with the guys - but it will be something. Being outdoors in God's creation recharges my batteries and re-centers me in a way that nothing else can. It's part of what makes me... me. And I like when I feel like me.
Thanks for reading my long, rambling account of the trip. I know it's been long, and there have been a few inside jokes. It'll be back to geeky things, Apple and politics before too long here at Destructoville. But I think I'm going to take a little break and just relax for a little bit. But before long, it'll be back to regularly scheduled ranting. Take care.
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