shortly after logging the previous day, and after i finished chasing off the raccoon that came out on my site even before dusk, i got to bed and enjoyed a good night's rest. ( i think he could smell the cheddarwurst... and we all know how intoxicating and odiferous they are. nothing tempts the palate quite like the 'eau de searing fat, melting, cheesy, calorie-laden goodness $3 brauts put off. anyway, the little bastard would come right up to the opposite side of the table if i didn't scare him off. sorry no pics of that, i was too busy scrabbling for rocks and sticks to defend my dinner with.)
anyway, on with the show. after breakfast, a walk, and a chilly swim, i hit the road at about 10am. i knew this would be the longest day of driving yet. i had no stops scheduled so it was going to be a marathon of interstate driving. a regular ironman for my bladder.
i was met at the OK border by the likes of these guys.... ominous, dark, foreboding no? i wasn't too worried, my car and tires have proven to do pretty well in the wet stuff. this was also the first foul weather i had run into on the trip. well sure enough...
let's just say there was lots of rain. every asshole on the road went 30 mph, it sucked. it did only last about 45 min, so i was thankful for that. i didn't have too much trouble and was the idiot who was taking pictures while i slammed through puddles driving one-handed, passing everyone as i went.
the only other thing worth looking at in OK were these wind-generators. they were right near the TX border and you can see the bad weather had passed. it got me thinking about the recent turmoil over the possibility of wind farms in the Lake Champlain Valley in VT. i can't help but find the whole thing silly. i look at these and find them less offensive than a silo, and the slow, synchronized motion mesmerizing. rrrrroooouuuunnnndddd aaaannnndddd rrrrooouuunnnddd. it's kind of nice.
into texas i went. at this point i had been in the car more hours than i cared to take note of. it was a nice sight to see this sign and know i was approaching my destination.
my day ended with a beautiful panhandle sunset. i drove into lake meredith in the dark and setup my tent sometime after 10pm. i was exhausted. i did end up meeting a scab worker from a local refinery who was the only other person camping in that particular area. so after a few brief introductions we sat down to stogies and the rest of my bottle of wine. talk ranged from politics to faimly, motorcycles and women, weed and work, to life and everything in between. i finally crawled into my tent around 2am.
day 4 wasn't as picturesque as the previous day... here's the
pictures in their entirety.
