Dispatches From The Field - 3/6/11 - Going Home

Time to go back to work.

I'm helping my in-laws move back from PA to Vegas. My contribution is to drive their car from Memphis to Vegas. Need to be back by Monday afternoon to be at work. I stop to fill up the gas tank before leaving town and have my first moment of amusement...

 

Memphis - What was he buying at Target?

 
The first day of travel was hectic with getting my family on a plane and getting the car packed, etc. Memphis weather was also still sketchy with heavy rain in the morning and then brooding clouds through the day. With the late start, I had to push until late to get to OKC, missing my 12 mile run in the process.

Today, I planned to run from the hotel in the morning, but sleep didn't come until the sun came up. By the time I woke up, I needed to get on the road again. Needed a big mileage day in the car today.



Recurring themes in Oklahoma City

I drove across the bottom on the Great Plains, the tail really, and yet it seemed to run across my windshield for most of the day.

Groom, TX - I was originally going to run here, but as you can see the winds were a little severe.


In the afternoon, there was a tangible change in the contour of the land as I got within 15 miles of the New Mexico border. The character of the plains remained but the face had changed adding slope and contour to the equation. As I came upon the town of Cuervo, I knew I had to stop.

Cuervo is three seemingly abandoned buildings with no parking signs and a half dozen ranches spread out overlooking I-40. I took a side road to a crest on the hill where I found a wide spot in the road to park. After a quick-change into some running clothes (fortunately avoiding mooning a rancher). I took off up the road.

Starting out in Cuervo

The road takes a straight line to what looks like the horizon. Golden grass and a persistent headwind are the recurring themes, with the occasional scrub bush or stunted tree for flavor, as I push forward. After the first 20 minutes I am wondering if I really want to do this for 12 miles. Then I see the "T" in the road and the stop sign.

I actually laugh out loud for the grass. I can see for miles to the left and roughly two miles up the hill to the right. There is nothing but the ribbon of black asphalt splitting the dried desert grass. I break traffic laws and run the stop sign. To salve my conscience, I looked left - right - and left again, as I had learned on Saturday cartoons as a kid.

I chose to run up the hill into a quartering wind. At least that way, I could imagine what I would find over the hill. It turned out to be the same thing at higher elevation. I used what landmarks I could find to keep going. I would run to the tenth fence post...I also found a windmill, a dumpster, an abandoned shirt and a bulldozer along the way.

I also passed three cars (if you count the car that came back to make sure that the guy running down the road in the middle of nowhere was not a mirage). At six miles, I turned around and ran back, racing the daylight. The wind becoming my friend for most of the return.


Finishing at Cuervo


The run felt good. On my way back into Cuervo, I see a Bobcat through the little town cemetary before running across the road in the pre-dusk. He hunkers down in the grass and waits for me to go by. I stop the car and we look at each other for what feels like five minutes, but certainly must have been less, before he takes off. I remember my Father telling me as a child that he had only seen two Bobcats in his life. I wish he were here to share this moment.

2:07:42 / 12 miles