The Great Jones Family Trip of 2012 - Day One

Seven-year-old M and I hit the road Thursday morning to begin our portion of The Great Jones Family Road Trip of 2012. Two almost miraculous things occurred in the launching of this journey, one of which is that I left with my house clean upon departure. It's always my goal to arrive home to order and cleanliness after a vacation; it just so rarely happens. As I am not always known for my early rising habits, the other borderline miraculous event was that I actually managed to get up at 5:00 am and pull out of the driveway at 6:07. I wanted to leave plenty of time for stops on our long drive to West Texas to pick up DH and the two big brothers who had left the Saturday before for a week of Boy Scout camp. I was a little nervous about the gas situation - it goes fast in a gas-guzzling SUV and there's not a lot to choose from when you're Deep in the Heart of Nowhere - so to be safe, we stopped to fuel up just about every time the gas gauge got below a half a tank. (And we may or may not have gotten a snack or two while we were at it.) After nine hours hauling west on I-10 (and you gotta love the 80 MPH speed limit out there), we finally exited at Balmoreah and stopped at the state park to check out the spring and pool there. Scuba divers in deep west Texas...who'd a thought? From there it was south to Fort Davis, which I though was a cute little town. Kind of in the middle of stinking nowhere, like everything else, but quaint. We got settled in our room (up narrow wooden stairs, no elevator) and ate dinner at the Fort Davis Drugstore. I was a little concerned about leaving some of our luggage in the car, but when I asked a woman if it would be safe, she said she didn't lock her car or her house. (And guess who's not from a big city?) Next on the agenda - is it just me or has this day been forever long? - we headed up into the Davis Mountains to a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory, where we were meeting up with the scouts. To say that M was happy to see J and the boys is an understatement. The night was quite cloudy, but thankfully it cleared up enough to get a good look at the moon and Saturn. And, finally, a little past midnight, blessed sleep back at our hotel.... More tomorrow as the vacation adventure continues....