A few words on Dashers and Santa's Fe

 Woke up to another chilly desert morning at Palo Duro and headed out for one last trail run. Kate and I ran separate, but both traversed the "Comanche Trails" which are more rugged than the ones we'd done yesterday and the day before, but offer awesome scenery on the edge of the canyon. There's a trail that then connects to the top of the rim that I wanted to do and figured if it was steep, I'd just walk parts of it to get to the top. It was slowish moving, but still run-able and I was able to crest to the rim for a half mile or so before I turned around. Great views from the top. Well worth the trek.      We took off for Santa Fe around 11:15 with the box ratcheted down and also supported by the canoe rack guides. Very windy on the drive, but it held. I-40 is a pretty arid stretch between Amarillo and Santa Fe. Long stretches without services. We did stop at a "route 66" gas station that certainly looked the roll.     Pit-stopped at Pecos National Hist...

  3/29 Well, we gambled that a sleep sack would be enough warmth and even added a couple blankets on from Katie and Greg. It generally held up, but I was kinda chilly by 4 in the morning. Still a good nights sleep though. First one in a tent for the season, which is always a nice benchmark of spring. Enjoyed the standard granola/coffee breakfast and then Kate pounded out an 8 miler while Katie, Greg, and I sat around like bums.  The 4 of us and dash then set out for the lighthouse rock formation which we could hike directly from our campsite. It was an 8 miler, with good views and pretty gentle elevation changes. Nice view up next the the formation after a 5 min scramble up. It was a fairly hot return with a tail wind and none of us are used to the head yet. Not a cloud in the sky though. Beautiful SW weather.  Got back a bit after 2 and Katie and Greg packed up and set off for Santa Fe. Dash and I took a nap and Katie hit the shower. This was dash’s longest hike yet. Kat...

  3/28 Woke up and did a nice run around greenbrush, KS. It’s a relatively small town, made smaller in 2007 when and f5 came through and destroyed 95% of the town. They’ve been rebuilding since and are attempting to rebrand themselves as the greenest town in America. Kate and I pondered what percent of the town was behind that movement. We ran down their small main street, which had maybe one original building and then a rebuilt strip. Then down to their school and track. 360 total enrolled, but they did have a nice track. There’s actually a “state park” on the other side of town that we actually had a little trouble finding, which should tell you a lot about the size of said park. It was a state fishing lake and actually was decent sized. Maybe .75 around the lake on a dirt road. Could have been a lot worse for a morning shakeout. I wouldn’t want to spend the day though. Pounded out some more miles of SW Kansas, which looks like you think it does. Stopped for lunch and groceries I...

 Well, the day started and ended well enough, with a very unfortunate mishap on the Interstate in between.  Woke up in Lincoln and we both did a run on the Rock Island trail that cuts through the middle of the city up towards downtown from our hotel. It was decent scenery, but cement the whole way. So, not great running, but it got the job done. Headed over to Zupan's one more time for brunch and so Jack could get some more quality time with Dash. He and Claire kept trying to hide the ball in the yard for Dash to find it, but it was too good for them. We headed west again around 1:00 PM with 40 min on I-80 yet before cutting south towards Nebraska. I was still a little paranoid about the box, but after an entire day of freeway driving, wasn't thinking nearly as much about it any more. There was however, and extremely strong crosswind and lots of semis in fairly heavy traffic. We were passing a semi when the paranoid nightmare actually came true. I looked in the rear view mirro...

 Well we're off and running on another road trip. Left around 9:30 after each getting our respective runs in for the day and headed south. It feels like you're making a ton of progress at first as it doesn't even take 2 hours to get to the Iowa border and Mason City is up pretty quick too. Stopped for some lunch at a Subway (thanks Jackie!) at a truck stop north of Ames and tried (and failed) not to judge the middle-aged white dudes with truckers caps that didn't even have a mask around their chin. Ames/Des Moines were up pretty quick too. Lots of traffic in Des Moines, to the point of actually getting a reduction of speed. Dash is locked in and ready to roll      Despite Iowa's small size, the leg from Des Moines to Council Bluffs seemed to drag out. I started getting nervous that we wouldn't be able to get to the barrel place I had wanted to check out with 4:00 fast approaching and we weren't even across the river yet. Once you get to the Missouri though, ...