Cliff was offered the opportunity to visit Salt Lake City for meetings with his team from Western Governors University and commencement exercises, so we decided to camp there for the week. The first day of our Salt Lake adventure was spent driving from Dallas to Amarillo, traversing seemingly endless miles of oil fields, cattle ranches, wind farms, decaying Texas towns, and freight trains hauling double-decker shipping containers.

The topography in this region of Texas consists primarily of gently rolling plains speckled with shrubs and grasses sprouting from coarse sands to tight clays and shales. You have to love splendid desolation to enjoy a drive like this, as there are few distractions other than one’s thoughts. We took the occasion to engage in several discussions about our current situation (jobs, house, yard, visits to Jon’s mom, our health, etc.) and our future plans (retirement, debt, travels, aging).

Upon arriving at the Amarillo KOA, we set up just in time to enjoy a proper cocktail hour followed by a Date Night dinner with a T-bone, asparagus, and peppers—all grilled to perfection—and a baked potato.

Heavy rains moved through overnight and into the early morning hours, leaving the entire campground saturated. But after a relaxing morning, we were finally able to embark on Day 2 of our Salt Lake adventure.