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| Inactive oil rigs 'stacked' near my parents' house in Odessa The oil boom is winding down in West Texas |
Back in Odessa we did some packing and house/RV cleaning,
changed the oil in the Honda and generally got ready to go. Washing and packing for a long trip is never
easy and now that we take seriously long trips, there is always an amazing
amount to do. But a lot of our stuff
does stay ‘packed’ in the RV and that certainly helps.
The night before we left, my brother, Tim and his wife
Linda, invited us and mom and dad over to their house for a farewell hamburger
cookout. It was a nice evening with lots
of visiting going on, dogs and cats playing, good wine and juicy burgers. With many hugs and a few tears we said goodbye
the next morning and made our way to Abilene State Park. Rain, high winds and tornadoes were all around
the area, but we only ran into rain and a little wind. Spring is not my favorite time to travel ‘tornado
alley’ in an RV.  |
| Spring storm clouds near Dallas |
One of my cousins, Mary, moved to Abilene a few years ago and I had not seen her since she moved (or for many years before for that matter). We had a nice time catching up with each other and she fed us the best biscuits and gravy for breakfast that I think I have ever had. The coffee was pretty darn good too.
From Abilene we made a quick stop in the Dallas area to
get the new tires on our RV aligned. Because
our Mercedes RV chassis is a little wider than most Mercedes vans, not every
dealer can align the tires. The dealer
in Grapevine is one of the few in the state that can do the job. So we were able to check off the last thing
on our list we had to do to get the RV road-worthy for our journey.
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| The 'gang' at Gloria's Luther and Pat, Richard, Cindy and David, Resa and Chad, Elizabeth and Byrd plus Maya |
When David and I moved to DFW back in 1986 I first worked
at Texas Christian University for Luther Smith and then later at Tarrant County
College with Richard Doherty. At Tarrant
County and Collin County Colleges, I taught with fellow adjunct professors,
Byrd Williams and Chad Smith who is now at Texas A&M Commerce. All of them are professors at their
respective schools and still making photographs. It was just wonderful to see them and it felt
like no time at all had passed. "Still crazy after all these years..."
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| After a few margaritas things were in much better focus... |
From Dallas we had one more appointment to make in Texas
before we could head for the state line.
David and I both applied to go to school at Stephen F. Austin State
University (Lumberjacks) in Nacogdoches, Texas for the fall semester. So on May 1 we had a ‘transfer student
orientation’ to attend.
For those of you who don’t know, we have decided that
this summer will be the last portion of our ‘continuous’ three and a half year
RV journey. We will travel this summer
but settle in Nacogdoches for a time and try out the college life. We still plan to be ‘On the Road with Maya’
every summer but we will be taking some classes and exploring the pineywoods
and surrounding areas on the weekends. The blog will continue this summer and on into the future but the focus will vary between life in Nacogdoches, going to school and traveling on the road. And who knows, in a few years we may decide to go back on the road full-time again.
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| Statue on campus of Stephen F. Austin a.k.a. 'Surfing Steve' |
We enjoyed our orientation (Go Lumberjacks!), learned a little about the university and registered for classes. David is taking forestry and wildlife management classes and I will take a digital photo class and yoga. But first things first – vacation. To Texarkana, the state line and beyond…
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