Traveling by Faith

Day 1: The Woodlands, TX to Austin, TX

Last summer, we were hitchhiking back to our car after a long hike and got picked up by two sweet old guys. They were members of the Christ Family and they told us all about how they were "traveling by faith," whatever they needed - God would provide. They held some pretty farout beliefs, but this one struck a chord with me. Earlier this week, as I began stressing about forgetting something important for our second cross-country camping adventure, Robert reminded me about our two old friends and their attitude towards traveling. If you repurpose the word "faith," to mean confidence, you have an excellent mantra for our trip. To us, traveling by faith is having the confidence in your abilities to either acquire everything you need or adapt without it. With that in mind, my anxiety melted away. We got this!

The first day of our trip was only a short hop to Austin. We wanted to say goodbye to Hope and Michael and help them christen their new, married-couple guest book! We picked up Thai Kitchen on the way to their new nest apartment and together we decimated an order of Indian Noodle Soup, Hot and Soup and some Pad Thai. Mmmm. I'm going to miss you, Thai Kitchen. We also made peach ice cream in Hope's new Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer (so jealous!) and went for a swim. Hope and Micheal hosted Michael's parents for dinner while Robert and I said goodbye to one more favorite Austin eatery, Parlor Pizza. It was a perfect goodbye meal: two beers apiece and a good buzz before the large mushroom and pepperoncini pizza arrived to be devoured with lots of cheese, chili flakes, knife and fork. I even discovered a perfectly delightful beer there, Austin Amber Ale (not sure who brews it), but it was tasty and I take back two-thirds of the nasty things I have said about the Parlor's beer selection.

After dinner: devastation. I had stubbornly brought my favorite potted plant with us for this extravaganza. I thought it needed a little drink and some sunlight, so I stashed it under the car while we went in to dinner. Spike was gone when we returned. I hope that whoever took him takes good care of him and his coffee-carafe-pot.

A game of BananaGrams and some MichaelCards with Hope and Michael cheered me up and unrolling our thermarests in their guest suite capped off a wonderful first day.

Rob, Wet Jenn, Hope and Michael Lozano

Day Two: Austin, TX to Midland, TX

Six hours in the car brought us to Midland to visit my dad. We saw only one measly peach stand and didn't stop because we erroneously assumed there would be more. So alas, no peaches.

For dinner, Dad made red beans and rice with cornbread and his friend, Jennifer, contributed a kick-ass salad (lettuce, red pepper, cuke, carrots, and blue cheese!). Dinner was excellent, despite having to improvise a recipe for the beans. After dinner, I annihilated everyone at dominoes (true story, you can ask Robert, but he will probably also reveal that it was all luck and no skill).

Day Three: Midland,TX to Organ Mountains State Recreation Area, NM

Breakfast was quite a treat - homemade omelets a la Dad. Mine had jalapenos, mushrooms, red peppers and cheese and it was as delicious an omelette as I have ever had. Light, fluffy, delicate and wonderful. Robert loved both his ham, cheese and jalapeño omelet and his French-press Kenyan coffee.

Richard Whiddon's famous omelete

J2 (Jennifer) and Dad

Next we helped Dad move some things that were too heavy for his oldman arms. In return, he took us to Rosa's for lunch - nothing fancy, just excellent Tex-Mex and a dozen tortillas for the road. Additionally, I made out with a Wusthof chef's knife, a Le Cruset cookpot that was my grandmother's, a metallic knife rack, two cookie jars and a gallon-sized mason jar. I feel more than compensated for my hour of work.

Mid-afternoon brought us back to the car and we popped off another six hours like buttah.  We stopped only twice to take a couple of pictures, bonus points if you can name the three peaks in the second picture.

Oooh Fire

Clue: Highest peak in Texas, as if you really needed one

We arrived in Organ Mountains State Recreation Area (just outside of Las Cruces, NM -- Hi RoperDog!!). Although the gate was technically closed for the evening, we sweet-talked the park host to let us in. Soon enough our $3 fee was paid, our virgin tent was pitched and we were sitting in our lawn chairs with plastic cups of fancy wine, oogling the stars.

 

5 exposures and 2 hrs later we have a picture of the night sky

Day Four: Organ Mountains to Lower Scorpion Campground, Gila Wilderness, NM Sleeping in our "extended-season" tent was a little toasty, but tolerable after half a bottle of wine and we awoke to a very pleasant morning. A quick trip to Albertsons secured our trail rations for our first hike and a couple of hours of driving took us to our front country base camp, Lower Scorpion Campground of the Gila National Wilderness.

We spent the afternoon in the shade, lying in the hammock, stalking rattlesnakes and dividing up food into baggies for the trail. We are hiking up the Middle Fork of the Gila River to Little Bear Canyon, then further up to Jordan Hot Springs, then further up to the Meadows, then all the way back via Big Bear Canyon Trail. It should take us four days and three nights. The kicker is that the Gila has Stage 2 Fire Restrictions in place - no fires of any kind. No cooking!! We are going to eat four days of cold meals (probably not "cold" per se, but certainly not hot). It will be interesting.

We found a rattle snake and Robert didn't even scream

In the late afternoon we went to check out the famous, amazing awe inspiring Cliff Dwellings National Monument. They were okay. Technically they closed at 5pm, you know, just when the desert heat is breaking and you might feel like exploring again. The park service built a large beautiful bridge across the Gila River to access the trail that leads up to the cliff dwellings and it was locked up tight with a gate, but thankfully we have feet and are more than capable of crossing the river without the aid of a giant bridge. We felt a little bad going after hours, but really, we are not the ones they are trying to keep out - we don't litter or vandalize ruins, so really their rules don't apply to us.

The trail was cool because it snaked up a narrow canyon and we got to the dwellings with minimal effort. Some pictures are below and I'm glad we saw them, but ruins don't really do it for me. It would have been amazing to see the dwellings being used and built, but at this point, it’s hard to imagine them as much more than dusty remnants.

Mogollon cliff dwellings

Jenn's hat and Robert

Tonight for dinner we had a bottle of wine and Bear Creek instant gumbo, augmented by onion, garlic and a can of...hominy. Hominy, my friends, is not the same as corn. No one would ever want to add it to gumbo by choice, but it was what we had so we wanted to use it up. It tasted like someone put corn tortillas in our gumbo. Regardless it was very tasty and now our food box is that much closer to being empty from last year's stock piling of non-perishables! We also feasted on fresh salad since we won't be eating much of that on the trail.

Standing on a cement picnic table just after dark, we each took an amazing bucket shower so that we will at least start our hike clean. Bucket showers are amazing.