My last night in a legit bed (for a while, anyway) ended abruptly at 5am. I could have easily slept a few more hours - there have been so many little tasks to get done before we start the hike that I’ve been struggling to turn off my brain at night. Writing everything down helps, but what doesn’t help is waking up every 10 minutes with something else to add to the ever-growing list. Of course, there are worse problems to have. And I do enjoy checking things off of lists, so that part is fun. :) We got up early because Mark and Mary are driving us from Dallas to the start of the trail. I am so grateful for them! They JUST got a brand new Casita trailer and they seem pretty excited to use it - we’re happy to give them an excuse to do so (not that they need one). Rather than just drive the 12 hrs straight from Dallas to Crazy Cook, Mary planned out a 3-day road trip for us.

Our first stop was the post office in Decatur, TX so we could mail our first two resupply packages.

It wouldn’t be a proper road trip without an accident causing interstate traffic to be rerouted.

After 10 hrs on the road (So long!) we made it to our first camping spot at Monahans Sandhills State Park. I’m usually not a fan of being stuck in a vehicle for longer than an hour, but so far this trip has been ok. Mark and Mary are making it fun; besides, all the sitting has me actually looking forward to hiking.

The sand dunes were beautiful, but the sand was too soft for us to set up our tent (the stakes wouldn’t hold and we couldn’t find any rocks to hold them down). No biggie, Nick and I simply cowboy camped. Thankfully it was a perfect night for it! Note: we have a Tarptent, which means our tent isn’t free-standing. To save weight, the tent uses two hiking poles and the tension of the stakes to hold it up.

Views from Monahans Sandhills: