Day 1: Still Friendly

It's the end of our first day of travel and my friend Steve and I are in Kerrville, TX, staying in the same hotel I stayed in when I came east a little over four years ago. It's part of the German part of Texas, about a 6 hour drive from Houston. We took someone's advice and drove through Austin instead of San Antonio; not only did we save some time, we also saw a really cool, bustling college town and had lunch at a great little cafe.

While Steve and I have many differences of opinion and each tend to feel that our opinion is the right one, and while we do bicker a bit, we still enjoy each other's company. At least for a while.  :)  As of tonight, we are still friendly with one another. If I had some kind of gauge gadget, I'd put one up so you could watch it move around as the trip goes on!

We are currently trying to figure out how to see some of the places we've been exhorted to see and yet get home within a reasonable amount of time and without either driving for only u hours or for 10 (breaks not included). And there are a lot of in-between places that have no amenities or even small towns, so there is a lot of checking Google maps for towns and distances and our phone apps for places to stay.

I've gotten everything done except turn off my electricity. I really have to do that now. Last time I didn't and I got dinged quite a bit for electricity used by the next renters.  :(  So tomorrow, while I'm riding shotgun, I'll have to call the electric company and turn off my account.

We got started a day later than expected because I couldn't arrange a cleaner for the day after the movers came. It gave Steve and I the opportunity to see a couple of my friends and to do a lot of last-minute errands, and the next day we fit in quite a bit of stuff before collapsing.  And I found out that I was getting sunburned through the car windows, so I am now using Steve's SPF 50 sunscreen on my arms and the back of my neck, with my 25 SPF moisturizer on my face, neck and chest. I don't seem to have any sunburn today!

We've been eating a lot of desserts. Now we are going to be in a car all day for several more days. We plan to make some stops to see some scenic sites and take some pictures and walk around, but we cannot eat lots of sweets and drive the car and not expect to gain weight. And I really like the weight I've lost, thank you very much. Even if it is from stress! So today I had half of a huge salad before splitting a slice of tiramisu. (I was going to finish the salad tonight, but all I really wanted was a bit of yogurt. My bodily systems don't exactly travel well.)

It's late and I have to go to sleep, so I'm not going to take the time to upload the picture of the little cafe we ate at. I'll upload it tomorrow night, along with a picture of the gorgeous courtyard of our hotel that I will take tomorrow when it's light.

Stay with me. The day after tomorrow, we may visit White Sands, New Mexico and have some lovely pictures from there. And two days after that will be Joshua Tree National Park. So stay tuned and see what we truly end up doing!