Day Fifteen

At about 12:30am this morning, we pulled into Brushy Lake State Park. It is a tiny state park next to a reservoir lake that they don't want you swimming in. My knowledgeable companion told me it's because of a crocodile infestation. After some casting about in the dark, we found a grassy place to pitch our tent. We opted to not put up the rainfly since it was clear skies and stars and a waxing gibbous moon and hotter than...

We awoke this morning to the sun heating up even our very well ventilated tent. The man sitting next to the bathrooms directed me to the better shower facilities and I started getting excited. The bathroom I had found in the dark the night before had been pretty horrendous, but this shower was perfectly adequate! Robert was in a rush to leave, but we flipped a coin: heads we shower, tails we leave and be dirty hippies for another day. Heads!

It was the first proper shower since we left and it was nice. Hot and everything. Now on the way to Las Vegas, NM to camp the night. Tomorrow we plan on climbing Hermit's Peak and driving into Durango, CO.

Later...

Drove all morning, stopped for lunch outside of OK City at this great little family run Italian place called Primo's. We only found it because it had a sad billboard advertising it as "Very affordable. Very Italian." We were quite impressed once we found the place. Their antipasta salad bar was superb, then they gave us bread and oil/vinegar/pepper and then we had two giant pasta dishes that neither of us could even put a dent in. More leftovers, yum!

Next we wandered over to the Hastings next door to use my languishing gift card finally. We got a guide book to Indonesia and Barbara Kingsolver's newest book on tape, Lacuna.

More driving. Flat flat land, big sky, hot. The car thermometer registered 102 Fahrenheit at one point! Four more hours to go for today. It seems interminable.