Via Omaha

Even though it was still cold and snowy back on the property, I only spent a day in Texas before starting making my way back. Don’t get me wrong, it was definitely tempting to stick around and enjoy the balmy 80 degree days. I just had an itch to get moving. That and my car tags expired while I was gone (confirmed by a Plano policeman). There wasn’t much in between weather between Texas and Washington, mostly Winter So I just headed home.

When I was in Texas last fall, I was chilling in a grocery store’s magazine aisle one Saturday night when the cover of “Texas Monthly” caught my eye. As a fan of things like the world’s biggest Frying Pan in S Pittsburg, TN and the Largest Ball of Twine in Darwin, MN., I was disappointed that I missed it when I was just 20 minutes away in Amarillo. It doesn’t have the “est” claim to fame but the 47 ft tall Tex Randall statue standing on the side of the road for no reason other than civic pride at this point is pretty “est” in my book.

I said to myself that I had to see it someday. Nine countries later and here I was “in the area” so I headed to Canyon, Tx to see it. This is Texas though. Nothing in Texas is “in the area”. I left Dallas before the sun came up and 300 miles and 6 hours of flat scrub land later and I was still driving. It was really good to finally stretch my legs under Tex’s shadow. I am glad I made the effort even if it was just a 10 minute visit since Canyon is kind of a 5 minute town. No reason to really stick around other so onward I went.

The 1990’s were a decade of aimless wandering for me. Wanderings that found me in Omaha for a couple of years. Two years with red meat eating football fanatics. Neither of which were on my list of activities that I had any interest in. I never really felt the desire to stick around so moved on as soon as my lease was up. I did stay in touch with the woman who recruited me to move there after my New York job disappeared. 25 years later she is still there, eating meat and watching football. Except when she can’t get time on the Pickleball court.

700 miles (and 25 years) later I am driving down the same roads and not much has changed; besides the traffic and how far into what were once corn fields the suburbs have grown. It was a nice catch up visit where no meat was eaten nor football spoken. It was a nice visit but the road was calling and there was a lot of it. I took an obscure route from SE Nebraska to Northwest Nebraska into South Dakota. It took forever and I was pushing it to find a place to pullover for a sleep before it got too late. There was absolutely nothing but little towns looking like they were vying to get the next installment in the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” franchise. I finally ended up in a Wyoming Home Depot Parking lot long after dark.

I am pretty stealthy but Parking lot camping lends itself to early departure. Especially now that there are few if any 24 hr box stores anymore. I try to pull in late enough to see where the overnight stocking crew parks and slide in among their cars. It works but they are usually gone way too early and I am hanging out in the middle of the parking lot by myself. It doesn’t make for a good night’s sleep but that’s what truck stop coffee is for.

And there are plenty of opportunities and need for gas station coffee along the 600 miles of Interstate 90 as it rolls through relatively boring Southern Montana. I made it as far as Missoula before I slept off the day’s drive at another Home Depot. The really good thing about Montana is the tax free shopping. Only this time, I had nowhere to put anything since I still had another month of car camping, at least. So I settled for a pair of work pants and a broom this time through.

Except for the last mile, It’s a pretty easy trip back to the property from Missoula. Just a whole lot of wheat fields. I pulled into a friend’s party that was pretty far into a daylong happy hour. I don’t think they knew I was even there but there was plenty of food left over so it was pretty good compared to the fast food I had been eating for the past few days.

I hiked into camp the next day. The winter must not have been as bad as the previous year. At least no crushing snow load storms. Everything seemed to be in good order and ready for another build season. A build season that would have to wait a few more weeks.

 

The road back to my property wasn’t drive-able until the last week of April. March was too cold to stay up there anyway. I found a good parking spot next to our funeral home. No noisy neighbors for sure. I got a room at a local hotel once a week for a shower, good sleep and all I can eat DIY waffles.

I decided to hike into the property and stay in my shed on the aptly named April Fool’s Day. April turned out to be relentlessly cold and even snowy. It was only the last week of April before I was able to make it through the night in one sleeping bag with out 2 winter coats. I stocked up on propane and canned goods before I left last year so hot food was plentiful but hardly gourmet. I have been filtering melted snow to boil for tea, coffee and ramen. I think it was a successful effort as I have gained 20 lbs since I left last fall. Definitely not all muscle either.

As I write this at the end of April, the days are getting really long, the road is mostly dry and it is supposed to hit 80 degrees today. Time to get busy busy busy. Stay tuned for build progress.