On the road again. Arrived late this afternoon. Swam in the spring pool before dinner. We left Sylva on Sunday and drove through a snow storm in northern Georgia. Altanta was quiet on Superbowl Sunday and we slept in back of a Cracker Barrel near Meridian, Mississippi. Dawn revealed a world of frost.

On Monday we chatted to Mom and Dad Woods while crossing the Mississippi River and saw a crop duster fly underneath powerlines while spraying a rice field in Lousiana. We paused at a rest stop and made and enjoyed dinner before passing Dallas/Ft. Worth during the early evening hours. Today, we watched oil pumps turning across the Permian Basin and warmed in the Texas sun.

Our objective was El Paso, but realizing we wouldn’t make it, we elected to stop here. We had visited this park last spring and enjoyed the clear 76 degree spring water then and the birds visiting the oasis. Today the waters refreshed us after a three-day drive from cold into warmth.

Tomorrow we will move on to El Paso and spend some days looking for birds and scenery. From there we are on to New Mexico and Arizona. The wandering has resumed.

We set up camp in our motor home tonight for the first time since last April when we arrived in North Carolina after setting up for our backpack from Fontana Dam to Springer Mountain. The house sitting and work in Carolina followed this hike and provided a serious intermission in our travels. We enjoyed our time in the high country but also longed to resume our journey.

January was to be a time of reunion with visits to Ft. Myers, Schenectady, Princeton, and York. We made our reunions and we also bought a small log house on South Mountain in Adams County Pennsylvania. This broad forested set of ridges between the Cumberland Valley and the Gettysburg Plain is largely public forest and park land and has been a playground of ours for decades. Our former and again neighbors Jane and Bob spotted the house up for sale a few doors from theirs. It seemed perfect and we closed on the purchase January 29th.

The house may be good for us, but we won’t have a chance to move in until October. Meanwhile we plan to be on the road. Winter in the Southwest, spring along the Pacific coast, May and June in Alaska, July in the Rockies, and August across the northern plains. Labor Day should find us in Vermont for hiking the A.T. before another set of reunions on our return to Pennsylvania.

We are thankful to all for this opportunity to explore the reaches of this nation. I just stepped outside. The night is now chilly but the Orian constellation and the dog star are brilliant in the clear Texas sky. Good night.