June 24th, 2019
Miles to date: 2110
Daily Mileage: 294
It’s a big day in the Kennedy house. Today is Michele’s birthday, And while we have all sent birthday wishes from the road it’s just not the same as being there to wish her a happy 39th birthday on our own. Happy Birthday Michele — We Love You!
I am sure I will be eating these words as we continue west and move into dryer, hotter environments, but after 2 days of thunderstorms we are enjoying some sunshine and no storms. Our initial plan for the day had us turning south at Amarillo and heading into Palo Duro Canyons but a quick Google search from the car as the temperatures started creeping in the nineties the kids made the call that a lake sounded better than some kick-ass canyon. Dad loses again, but the trip is really about them, I am just the conduit. And if you believe that I have a nice (slight used) and well equipped (if only slightly over built) JKU I will sell you (available in 3 weeks).
We rolled into Lake Meredith National Recreation Area in the early afternoon. After some quick scouting, and a change or two, we found a nice place to park the jeep overlooking the lake and plenty of flat area for both the rig and ground tent. While would all stuff ourselves on top, we have been using a ground tent the nights we have been able to camp just so we all have a bit more space.
The ground tent is becoming prime real estate. For one thing it offers the sleeper some “me time” away from the others. But I think the real reason is that when you need to get up in the middle of the night as nature calls, you don’t need to climb down a ladder to take a wiz. We are going to try the old 24oz Gatorade bottle trick tonight (something we use to do when camping in cold weather ). The kids are skeptical at this “dad wisdom” but are game!!
Tomorrow we push onto Santa Fe for a few down days so I can catch up on some work, take a few calls, and otherwise make sure I still have a job at the end of all this. From there we head into the San Juan National Forest and up into Colorado.
Cheers from the road.
Brandywine Overland 