Climate Change

Being from the northeast, I have a thing for seasons. I like to complain that it’s too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. I like hearing horror stories about New England snow storms and New York summer scorchers. But most of all I live for the changes. It’s no accident that everyone loves spring and fall – not only is the weather perfect, but they are periods of transition, helping you mark time and shed the past, giving the year a natural, unavoidable rhythm.

But enough new age talk. I gave this a fair amount of thought while Gwen and I lived in Cambodia after I noticed the climate starting to wear on me. The weather there changes only slightly from season to season – ranging from kind of hot to really hot – and months of the year started to blur together. I found myself becoming listless. I needed something cyclical to feel like I was making forward progress (which as I write it seems a bit contradictory… but oh well).

We ran into the same problem while in the southwest. The weather was oh-so-beautiful, but relentlessly so. How can you fully appreciate dry, sunny, 80 degrees with a slight breeze, if you don’t have the occasional day of gray drizzle for comparison? I’m not sure, but folks seem to manage.

Ahh… being on the road is hard. We tackle some of life’s biggest problems – like how to cope with another perfect day.

Many a Campground

I just want to give a quick shout-out to the state and national parks systems, and their fabulous campgrounds. After staying at a (big) handful of these places, Christopher and I have gotten really good at backing the car into small parking spaces, constructing our tent on the least bumpy ground we can find, setting up the camp stove, lighting a camp fire, and settling in for the night. It’s a pretty cushy life once you get into the groove of it, and some campgrounds offer certain amenities that make it downright deluxe. More than once have I caught myself exclaiming, “ooh – they have hot showers here!”

Most importantly, public campgrounds tend to be located in or near expansive and beautiful natural environments, and they always cost less than a motel. Here are some of the nice ones we’ve been to lately…

Balmorea State Park, TX

Jack Black! In the Desert!

The first truly ridiculous thing we saw out west was White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The link will explain the science behind its formation better than I will, but you have to understand how strange a place it is. You’re driving through one kind of desert – the standard southwestern scrubland we became very well acquainted with – when suddenly you come across another, completely different kind of desert – a la the Sahara.

The name says it all really. There is white sand. And lots of it.

Some observations about boys and girls

The wild west is decorated with geological formations that attract tourists from far and wide. Some visitors express their admiration for these red rocks and jagged peaks by pulling over on the side of the road and taking photos. Some, like me, will hunt down paths and trails which allow for the dual achievement of physical exercise and sight-seeing (I’m a multi-tasker at heart). Then there are the conquerors. The climbers. The individuals who cannot be satisfied with merely sharing space with large rocks, but instead feel compelled to stand on top of them. Christopher, unfortunately, belongs in this category.

Since I’m the girl and Chris is the boy, I tend to associate this behavior with males. That’s not to say that I haven’t met males that are even more lazy than I, nor does it mean that there aren’t plenty of women out there who exhibit this conqueror’s drive. But generally, I’ve observed that boys – when faced with a defeatable foe, will tend to go ahead and crush it. Even if it means getting all sweaty before a long car ride. Even if it means forcing your girlfriend to wait around at the bottom of some rock formation, getting sunburned and playing out rescue scenarios in her head that almost all involve her having to drag an injured boyfriend a few miles to the nearest ranger station.

Luckily, our trip has not resulted in any major falls or traumatic injuries, and if any happen to occur in the future, I’m the one with first aid training. Plus, all the waiting around at the bottom of rocks has given me ample time to observe local wildlife, work on my tan, and build up leverage to help me win future arguments. Girls and boys may be fundamentally different creatures, but I’m finding that our opposing positions and views (perspectives gained from time spent on top and at the bottom of things, no doubt), do balance each other out in the end.

Biggest Pool Ever

Having strayed from our planned route while tilting at windmills, we opened a map of Texas to find somewhere to sleep. What we discovered was a little place called Balmorhea State Park, which is just outside a sleepy town of the same name. As a camping site the park is lacking. We arrived to a vicious wind and a full on desert campground without trees. But the view was nice, and by the following morning the wind had let up enough for us to enjoy the main attraction: a spring-fed swimming pool covering nearly two full acres of desert – the picture doesn’t show half of it.

The Wind State

Uh-oh, Gwen’s letting her eco-geekiness show again. (sorry)

We only spent two nights in Texas, and we didn’t really have any plans for the state except for one thing: visit a wind farm. I had learned a while back that the state produces more wind energy than any other in the US, and I hadn’t ever seen a wind farm first-hand before, so on our first morning there we headed out to the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center – currently the world’s largest wind farm.

To call this wind farm huge would be an understatement. It wasn’t really even a place, but more like an uncountable number of wind turbines scattered across a vast landscape. The tall spiky turbines stretched literally as far as the eye can see (and probably farther). I found it quite stunning and I would even use the term “beautiful” to describe it, but it turns out that the locals have not taken so kindly to this green energy wonderland. In fact, they sued the farm shortly after it was completed, declaring it a “private nuisance”. They lost the suit.

Christopher and I wanted to get some footage of locals talking about the farm and giving their opinion about the 300-plus turbines that decorate the landscape around their ranches. But we failed (mainly out of laziness resulting from the hot Texas sun), so instead you get to watch me stuttering into the camera instead. Enjoy!

Breakfast in Buffalo Gap

After a long night of driving and then a few hours of sleep in the car, Christopher and I found ourselves at Lola’s Mexican Cafe in Buffalo Gap, TX. Lola herself fixed us up some breakfast, which consisted of beans, eggs scrambled with chorizo and veggies, a tortilla and homemade indian frybread, which was sweet and delicious.

Welcome to Texas

We did the first truly long-haul drive of our trip across Arkansas and the eastern half of Texas. And by long-haul standards it wasn’t much, 14 or 15 hours at most. But those of you who have driven through the night know just how whacked-out your head gets around 2 in the morning. Personally, I find the zombie-zen driving state kind of nice. At least until I start swerving – then it’s time for another cup of coffee. It was during one of those truck stop breaks that Texas decided to say hello…

And by the way… I may be a little vain, but I’m not choosing the still images for all these video posts. YouTube seems to have a strange affinity for my face at its most awkward moments.

BBQ in Arkansas