On the Road Again

Well, after a long break Paige and I are back on the road again. We hung around Texas for a long to get things settled a bit, hang out with family and killed time so that when we left Texas we could go through Louisiana during Mardi Gras.

So now we're on the road. We got things started off right with a trip north through College Station where we spent a night with my sister and her college friends where we played games and danced at the local, collegiate watering hole. Despite the fact that we were about 10 years older than her and her friends we had a fantastic time. Nothing beats people watching on a Thursday night at a bar called Hurricane Harry's.

From there we continued the northward journey towards Dallas and spent a long, peaceful weekend at my mom's lakehouse. We arrived in Dallas yesterday and spent the night with Lisa and Todd. Our plan is to spend the rest of the week here in Dallas with family and friends, then head out on Sunday or Monday. If the weather is good in the Ozarks of Arkansas (i.e. no wintry mix forecasted) we're going to go up there to camp and climb for a week before we drop into the Gulf Coast to start our trip. If the wintry mix wins out, we'll skip the Arkansas leg and go into Louisiana early.

Here is a map of our projected itinerary:

View Road Trip: Portland to Houston in a larger map

From Louisiana we'll be driving east along the Gulf Coast to Florida where we'll jump straight across to St. Augustine to meet friends from Portland. From there we'll head up the coast to Savanna and Charleston, then inland to Atlanta to stay with family. After that we'll go roughly along the Appalachian mountains all the way to Maine. We'll be coming back via a more midwesterly route with stops along the great lakes, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

At that point we don't really have much of a plan. Assuming we make it that far, we'll have to evaluate what's left of our bank account and motivation. If we need a break, we'll probably head back to Texas. If not, we'll be westward bound.

Start looking for more regular updates starting next week. In the meantime, here's a rough itinerary for you to look at and figure out where you want to meet us.

2/1-2/6 Arkansas: Climbing at Horshoe Canyon Ranch, camping on the Buffalo River, Aunt Nette in Heber Springs
2/6-2/8 Shreveport, LA: everyone's dream vacation? We'll be staying with our wedding officiant Ben Luck, aka mr. fun
2/8-2/14 Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida: Mardi Gras, Gulf Coast fun
2/14-2/17 St. Augustine Florida: Yay Lincoln, Leola, Blackie and Mariann
2/17-2/21 Savannah, Charleston, Atlanta
2/21-3/3 Atlanta to Washington, DC via Chatanooga, Asheville, Red River Gorge, and the Virginias (this is where our dates start to get pretty loose so if you want to meet us somewhere, let us know and we can make arrangements).
3/3 -3/8 Washington, DC: Happy hour anyone? Camping trip Maggie?
3/8-3/10 DC-NYC: We're taking recommendations for things to do between these two spots. After being forced to watch Jersey Shore last night I've decided we'll definitely be avoiding the coast.
3/10-3/15 New York City: I've never been. Looking forward to it.
3/15-3/19 Explore NH, VT, Maine: Hopefully we don't freeze to death.
3/19-3/21 Boston: Cameron and Josh, I hope you don't have plans yet
3/22-4/? Rochester NY, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, Madison, WI, St Paul, MN: This is a long ways off. The dates and locations from here on out are fuzzier than my vision without contacts in, but we'll be moving a tad quicker through this section of the trip.

Holiday Recap

In case you're wondering what's new with Paige and Zach, the long and short of it is not a whole lot...which has been nice (for now).

We spent the holidays hanging out with friends and family, shuffling between houses in Houston and Dallas. All of our Christmas celebrations were wonderful. Friends. Family. Presents. Lots of food. Probably not all that different from anyone else's Christmas, but special in its own right. I will spare you the blow by blow, however highlights include...

• Seeing one of Paige's best friends act in the play A Christmas Carol.
• Homemade cinnamon rolls and family time on Christmas day.
• Getting to play with all five of the nieces and nephews in Dallas.
• Playing a new board game called "Quelf" with my family and then having to explain to my aunts what the word "quief" meant. My sister used the word in a "list as many words that start with the letter 'Q' " competetion and no one else would explain what it meant to them.
• Getting settled into Justin's house. I forgot how fun it was to live with another guy. I finally have someone who will do all the stupid crap with me Paige never would.

We are spending the next few weeks in Houston and then heading to Dallas for a bit before we get back on the road February first. Depending on the weather we'll either be heading through Louisiana by way of Arkansas or straight into Louisiana.

From there we're trying to figure out our route. We'll probably hug the coast until we get to Florida, where we'll jump straight over to the Atlantic side for a few days. After that we'll cut inland to the mountains via Atlanta and stick close to the Appalachian Trail all the way up through New England. Start looking at a map and a calendar and figure out where you want to meet us. We want to see you in a bad way.

Thats all for now. Give us a call. We'd love to hear from you.