Sunday, October 02, 2005

Jones County respite

Agent Wife, her young friend Princess, Agent Offspring & I loaded up the Millenium Falcon for a camping trip at some friend's property in Jones County. I love the mother city. One reason - it's big enough to be a city with all the amenities most cities offer. Yet it's small enough to only take 20 minutes to drive from one side to the other. And this area of the world is so sparsely populated that it only takes 20-30 minutes to drive into the country and get away from it all, as if we had driven for hours.

Our friend's the Carr's allowed AW, AO, & Princess to use their vast landscape as a camp ground. The girls and baby slept in a tent while I roughed it in the Carr's trailer hitch camper.

Jones County is a unique landscape in West Texas. The soil is mostly white sand, like a beach with mature oak trees, prickly pears and various wildlife (deer, squirrels, tale of bobcats, and... many frogs). It was hot and dusty. Autumn is here so it's 90F as opposed to 100F.

It's so good to get away, even if it's only for 24 hours. For me, the break wasn't only about babysitting, talking to the CEO, and downing Shiner Bocks, but I also got to do some manual labor. This morning I helped the Carr's mix & pour cement for a new slab they're making for a shed. Mixing cement for the first time in my life was more therapeutic than sitting under the stars with a Shiner venting to the CEO. Who would have known? And if this secret agent gig continues in the direction it seems, I'm now skilled in a trade.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you enjoyed it, let's do it again. And hey, you're skilled in lots of trades. I was just e-mailing Bela saying how I've gotten to be a cleaner, hair dresser, after school drop in center, translator... all through this undercover operation. It's an adventure and you have adapted to many roles as well. I mean who ever thought you'd be an undercover agent?

Anonymous said...

when i go camping i always like to stay in a van
signed
going around the mountain again!