Let the Games Begin

It's that time of year. From the title, you probably think I'm talking about the Olympics. That, after tonight, is now over for a few years. Actually, I've got fall football on my mind. And not just NFL or NCAA but good ol' high school football under the Friday night lights. This year is a whole new ball game. For the last two years, we've had a first string player to cheer on but they do grow up don't they. So this year, our middle child is there to keep our interest. This will be her first year on the school spirit team.

Over the last week she finished decorating her overalls. These will be worn at all of the games and several events throughout the year. She really did a great job and I'm proud of her willingness to show her school spirit in such a public way. Here's a close up of some buttons that are sown along the front pockets. These came from her great-grandmother, Elizabeth Thompson or Mullie as we call her.

Welcome Home

Trek Update: It's always nice to know you were missed back home. Cameron decorated 'the plate' for us. Here's a pic of his art work...

Heading Home

It was an early rise at 3:30 am for everyone so that we could leave Salida by 4am and get home before too late in the day. Everyone handled the exhausting nature of the schedule well. Even Hayden, who had the bunk bed directly beneath mine, didn't complain. He did inquire as to what time did I finally go to sleep?

The drive home went very smooth. No flat tires was good. Randall and I had arranged for a new tire to be ready by the day we got back down the mountain. We put the spare back in the trailer and felt much better on the way back. I drove the mountain roads and I think I was able to keep just about all of the adults awake with all of the turns. Randall took the second shift from Raton to Amarillo where we stopped at the famous Big Tex Steakhouse.

Rachael again took the leg from Amarillo to Quanna and Jessy took us home from there.

Down and Out

Wow. What a week. I have to admit, the whole experience was even better than I expected. Sure, the full pack was heavy but nothing any of the kids or us old people couldn't handle. One last circle around where the campfire had been and it was back to the trail.

On the way down I snapped a picture of the back of Shelley's shoes. The image doesn't do justice to how extremely muddy she had gotten but that wasn't the purpose of the photo. On Trek, you spend a great deal of time slightly bent over in deep study of the steps that the hiker in front of you is taking. Not particularly exciting but a fact of the matter none the less. Shelley was a great pacesetter and one of the reasons I liked to study her shoes.

When we got to the trail head, we all gave some love to the van. Matthew's version of that involved a huge face plant on the passenger door window. The imprint lasted almost all the way home.

Jessy did the honors of driving us back down the dirt road and the almost two hour drive back to Salida. After everyone had showered and changed, we took one final group picture. Actually, we took about 13 final pictures. I think everyone present had their own camera to get a picture.
All in all, it was a great experience. You don't have to be in Olympic shape to enjoy the ride. You do have to be prepared to ache a bit. If you can climb from the bottom of a football stadium to the very top without thinking you're going to faint, you'll probably make it.