Day: February 23, 2013

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Stuffed

I just got in from dinner at La antigua. I got the enchilades verdes again even though I had avocado for lunch AND I got L’s guacamole. I think I should cut myself off from avocado for a few days, but I have two left at home. 🙂

To my delight, my enchilades were better than the first time I had them! There was less green sauce and what was there was less cilantroey. Usually a dish isn’t as good the second time around, so this was a nice surprise.

L had fajitas and we both had a beer, meaning that with the damn chips we’re served at the beginning, we were stuffed coming out of there. Next time I go there, I will tell them, “No chips!!!”.

We toyed with the idea of going to the Saltwater Saloon for another beer and a game of shuffleboard, but neither of us was in the mood to consume anything else tonight.

I’ve decided to take the plains route back to Canada, so he and I will be seeing each other again when I drive through Wichita. I was promised the house to myself for a few hours so I can use the tub. That almost makes me want to go back to Canada. Almost. 😀

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Writing Day

This grey cold day wound up being perfect inspiration. I haven’t sat down to write for several hours in a row since the days I was finishing up Full-Time RVing in Canada.

There are no words to describe what it felt like to have the right words flow effortlessly out of me like that. It’s still a little too soon to make an official announcement about this ebook, but I’m hoping to do so during the next week. I’ve talked about it so much that it will be nice to have something concrete to show for all that talk! Right now, I have three quarters of a solid first draft and a quarter of a very rough beta draft. 🙂

I’m going to finish my current chapter, then call it a day. L invited me out to dinner at a location of my choice (“It’s Saturday night, we have to go out”) so we’re heading to La antigua at 6:00. I had avocado for lunch, so I don’t know yet if I’ll be having green enchiladas or something new. 🙂

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Thoughts On Two Possible Routes North

Rather than keep hashing this out in the comments to my post about Wyoming, I thought I would present the two routes I am considering so as to get input on them. One route has me shooting straight north and then northwest through the Dakotas. The other has me going northwest from Austin and then straight north from New Mexico.

There are two factors I would like folks to keep in mind before they give me their thoughts.

1) Weather

I am going to be leaving Austin in very late March or very early early April so as to give me a full five weeks to get to Saskatchewan in case the weather gets ugly along the way. Either route is going to take me a week to do at a comfortable pace, but regardless of how quickly I travel or not, I am going to be traveling through one of the iffiest weather periods of the year in some of the most isolated areas of the US. Facilities may be closed or offer reduced services.

2) Elevation Changes

It’s my belief that the second route is going to have more elevation changes than the first, which could also impact on weather. I also do not want to face any really steep grades. I just want a nice easy lope back to Canada.

Here is the direct route:

route 1

This route mostly takes I-35. I believe that elevation changes would be a non-issue as I am mostly going through the prairies. I have found an abundance of places to overnight along this route, even in the wilds of the Dakotas where you can stay overnight at a rest area.

If I was just focused on getting back to Canada, this route would be a no brainer. But I’ve already been through most of these states.

Here is route two:

route 2

This route mostly takes I-25. It would allow me to add several more states to my map. I am concerned about elevation changes. Most of what I remember of Denver is a 10-lane highway, so driving through that city sounds a little unnerving and there doesn’t seem to be a good way around, but RV forums say to just drive through outside of rush hour. I have found fewer overnighting options on this route, and none that sound like a sure bet in Wyoming.

I like this route because of the additional states I’ll get to add to my map, I really want to see Colorado again, and I’ve heard that Wyoming is gorgeous, but it doesn’t sound like a sure bet in the shoulder seasons.

Both routes are about the same distance and terminate at the tiny Scobey, MT border crossing near my property.

Thoughts?

I don’t want to go back. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.