The Day of Days

Getting off has been harder than we anticipated this winter. First there were the holidays and then we went cross-country skiing in Vermont with some of our oldest friends. Suddently it was Frebruary and the snow and bad weather just wouldn't end. Right now we're waiting for a winter storm to work its way through Texas, Oklahoma and several southern states. We're hoping to leave on Friday. We'll head south along I-95 to Virginia and then turn right, ending up along the Gulf Coast and making our way to the Padre Island area of coastal Texas. It should be warm there but just last week they closed the bridge to the island because of ice. Ice? In south Texas? What a winter it's been and we sorely need to see something that's not white and frozen.

After Padre Island, we plan to visit Big Bend National Park, along the Texas and Mexico border. Here we'll do some hiking and ride our motorcycles on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, the El Camino del Rio and lots of back-country roads. We're planning to visit the Guadalupe Mountains and finally make our way into southern New Mexico. Here we'll meet up with our old friends, G. and K., to explore the Gila Wilderness. G.'s originally from Silver City and we hope he still knows where to find the best burritos in town. After that we'll head home to greet the spring, see how our gardens survivied the winter and plan our next trip.

The Day of Days? This phrase was used by Margaret Gehrke, one of the park visitors portrayed in the Ken Burns National Parks series on PBS. She and her husband visited many National Parks between 1915 and 1930. Margaret kept a wonderful journal and this was how she always described the first day of their travels—the Day of Days. So we're hoping that tomorrow (Friday) will be our Day of Days.

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