Day 71 - To Palo Pinto

Monday, November 8, 2010

The spot I chose to camp last evening turned out to be a good one. It was warmer than previous evenings, and supposed to be warm for the next few days. I was up at 6, and took my first step east at 635. It was light enough for travel, especially with little traffic on the road. My goal for today is to get some miles toward Mineral Wells. It's more than I can do today, but I can get there tomorrow morning.

I hadn't traveled far until I saw a sign for the MT7 Ranch. It's really an impressive looking place based on what I could see from the road. Most of the ranches houses out here are set back off the road, so all you see is the entrance. I walked a while longer and saw a beautiful, small, gray fox. I know some of these animals are pests to the ranchers, but they are really beautiful in their environment. I walked a little farther and came to a small community named Caddo, which has an interesting history.

I rested a while......it was a beautiful day. Maybe mid-70's, and not a cloud in the sky. The wind, which was out of the north a few days back, is now out of the southeast to southwest. I soon came to Palo Pinto county. One thing I immediately noticed was, they have mowed the grass along the road. Why is this important? Because if opens up lots more places for camping. To the west, Shackleford County had mowed theirs, then Stephens County had not which limited choices, now Palo Pinto has. When Hwy 16 intersects with Hwy 180, the elevation starts dropping and continues for almost 5 miles. This is the third drop in the past few days, and I would guess it has changed at least 1,000 feet.

As I walked along I noticed a sign stating Palo Pinto 9 miles. I can make that today if all goes well. It's hunting season out here, and there are lots of deer corn bags along the road. Anything to give the advantage to the hunters seems to be ok. I soon had to make a "restroom" stop, so left my cart and walked to more privacy. While there I had a phone call, and for some reason laid the phone on the ground. I then walked back to the cart and headed down the road. After walking a couple of hundred yards, realized I didn't have the phone, so went back to try to find it. I searched for maybe 30 minutes and finally found it........and was lucky at that. About that time I received a call from Laura Lawler, a former co-worker, telling me she had a sister-in-law who lived just a few miles from Hwy 180, and would like to meet me.

Then the sister-in-law, Kim Lawler, called, and invited me to spend the night in their home. Hmmm.....warm house, shower, charge batteries, etc. Ok, I think that sounds nice. She had to run an errand and said she would pick me up in Palo Pinto around 630. I got there a little early and hung out at the convenience store until she arrived. We loaded up the stuff, and before long I had showered, washed clothes, a nice dinner, working on the computer, and a warm room and bed. So tonight Ill be just like you..........(BTW, I forgot to do the SPOT thing this afternoon, will do it tomorrow morning when I get back to the convenience store.)