Continuing what is now a yearly tradition, we looked for a way to get outdoors and away from DFW around the Fourth of July holiday. While this has generally involved herding various cats (read: children, adult and otherwise) towards Arkansas and the Buffalo River, we increasingly find that scheduling is complicated. Given schedules, we gave up on trying to include family members. We had both blocked the week off from work but with teenager work schedule, we decided to break up travel into two quick trips instead of spending the whole week out of town. This would allow for a few days in between to check on a teenager at home, keeping one of our party from fearing the worst depredations of unsupervised high-schoolers.
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Plague Travels Under Open Skies
In early 2020, our world was turned upside down with the news of a global pandemic. We were one of the last groups of travelers allowed on the slopes in Breckenridge that year, and as we drove home in the middle of March, we tuned into the unbelievable news. Ski resorts in Colorado and New Mexico were closing down for the season. Restaurants in most states would limit their service to takeout only. Masks, at first were discouraged. Then encouraged. Then required, depending on the state. And then fought over. Arriving home in Texas that March, we resigned ourselves to the idea that we’d be stuck at home for a while, along with the rest of the country (and in fact, the world).
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Injuries Before Ithaca
In 2018 we were working on a long-term goal of completing a half marathon in all 50 states. This was an ambitious goal for two average, middle-aged runners, but we had started off well, having already accomplished Texas, Michigan and Nevada by the beginning of the summer. When we booked a trip to Ithaca, we knew this didn’t really fit the mission as we’d already run a half marathon here two years prior. Ithaca is a beautiful little college town tucked into upstate New York on the south end of Cayuga Lake surrounded by trees and well-known for its waterfalls and dramatic gorges.
As it was probably our favorite course to date, we determined that duplicating a state was worth the money and time. Excited and planning ahead, we had booked flights, a place to stay, reserved a car, and registered for the race several months prior to the run, expecting we’d be in prime condition to tackle the route again. The best laid plans …
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Ninja Style Kung-Fu Grip!
In 2018, we decided we needed some specific goals oriented around physical activity. The year before had been chaotic, with work and kid schedules. Anticipating a more routine year ahead, we decided it was time for stability. Also, aging bodies needed something to offset excessive food and alcohol. Simple math – more (many more) calories need to be burned to compensate for diets like ours. Someone recommended the Austin Marathon – the half would be 13.1 miles of hills, starting in the city, wandering around the river, and finishing up downtown. Easy enough, said the sacrificial victims …
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We Went To Paris … Texas
Tour de Paris
Trying to find the combination of a Saturday morning, a reasonably close bicycle ride shorter than 50 miles, and a location of interest has been an ongoing challenge since picking up the cycling bug a few years ago. We discovered the Tour d’Italia in scenic Italy, TX, last year and really enjoyed it. However, this year’s run conflicted with our half marathon run in Ithaca, NY (linked here). The organizers of the Italy ride do two others each year as a part of the European Tour of Texas, with a ride in Paris (Tour de Paris), the Tour de Norway (in Clifton), and the Tour d’Italia. If we can’t get them all in one year, guess we’ll make a stab at getting all three over three years …
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We’re Going to California …
Having been up and down the East Coast, over the Mississippi, and into the mountains, it was finally time to organize a joint trip to the West Coast. One of our party had been out several times around work trips and conferences, but schedules being what they are, a long weekend hadn’t worked out as of yet. VMworld 2014 turned out to be a perfect intersection – conference in downtown San Francisco wrapping up the Thursday before Labor Day weekend. Juggling VRBO and airline miles, a late late late night arrival into SFO and a winding drive up to the Point Reyes area looked like a great way to see some of California with slightly less people than Times Square on New Years …
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Antebellum Cycling and Meat Pie Failure
Mission
In early 2013, a rare weekend came along in January in which neither of us had other obligations to attend to. We considered options. Last minute flight? Expensive. Road trip? Possible, however we’ve traveled to most places available by vehicle. Additionally, we always attempt to visit a new state on random road trips.
So similar to spinning a globe and making your destination spot wherever it happens to land, we picked a place. Somehow, we ended up here.
Bugs, Dolls, and No Good Food
When we first started traveling together, our time was extremely limited. There were kids at home, work obligations and school schedules. Free weekends were few and far between, and on the rare occasion there was one, we had a tendency to simply zone out and recover from life. Planning trips was a challenge. Not just because there was so much going on at home, but accounting for the travel time, the trip expenses, the reliability of vehicles – it was a monumental task.
One year prior, we had explored east Texas, which included several ghost towns, abandoned buildings, and some creepy graveyards. It was fun, educational and as required, allowed minds to unplug from life obligations. When we were planning our trip to Oklahoma a year later, we were hoping for a similar getaway. Instead of southeast, we looked our neighbor state to the north. We stumbled on an isolated farmhouse about an hour south of Oklahoma City. This would allow for time to decompress away from home while exploring an otherwise unknown area. A remote destination; we thought surely it would be similar to the east Texas trip – full of off-the-beaten-path exploration items.
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The Locals Just Don’t Understand
Having started a slow cadence of travel when we could arrange child care and time off from work, we approached the end of 2011 and started checking calendars. Schedules being what they were, it turned out that children would be cared for during the New Year’s holiday., and we considered the possibility to get out of town for a few days. So, where to? The West Coast would involve a lengthy flights, the Midwest at the time didn’t seem particularly interesting (at least the parts within driving distance), and we’d already been to Arkansas, New Mexico and chunks of east Texas. Scanning the maps of the east coast, we spotted Savannah, tucked into the tall pines trees and coastal swamps and fields of southeast Georgia. The city itself is not directly on the coast, but its proximity to the Atlantic would allow for some time on the beach, the city history looked interesting, and neither of us had ever been there. Savannah it was.
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The First (Accidental) Tripping on a River
Arkansas was more of an accident than an organized adventure. Mid-2011, we found ourselves with an unexpectedly obligation-free holiday weekend (this is normally how the trips start) and debated our options. We had taken a few short road trips, mainly in Texas, and one quick trip to Santa Fe, NM, which involved air travel. Up until now, free time was limited with two school-aged kids in one house, full-time, chaotic work, school and sports schedules, and life.
The goal was to do something different, go somewhere new but within driving distance. A cabin in the woods sounded appealing, but … Texas. “Cabin in the woods” options are limited. We considered Oklahoma again, but since we had some extra time, one state further out seemed manageable. Neither one of us had ever explored Arkansas (or even been there), so the Ozarks it was. Searching the ever-expanding Internet, we found a tiny cabin on VRBO (exciting newness in the ancient year of 2011) which fit the requirements. Located in a town called Snowball, smack in the middle of the rolling hills of Arkansas, it looked like a promising fit for a weekend escape.
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graveyardsandghosttowns 