Caprock Canyons, Texas

after a much needed hiatus from traveling and camping, the allure of the road came calling this past weekend. a month away from what has come to define us, in our own eyes and the eyes of others, gave us a new perspective on the future direction of our travels.

the drive, the park, the trails and the sights of this past weekend were all familiar to us, we've made this exact trip twice before, but the feeling within us was new and exciting. we are learning that the beauty of all our travels this past year comes not from the places we've been, but instead from the fact that we were able to experience them together. 

Palo Duro State Park

cruisin' down the open road sun shining bright in the big texas sky, two pups enjoying the breeze in the back seat, a beautiful wife as my co-pilot, and our good friend shakey graves playing loud on the stereo, can life get any better than this? we're heading up to palo duro near amarillo for a weekend of hiking and camping and i can't wipe this giant grin off my face, things are just too perfect. two thousand thirteen has thus far been an endless stream of camping, adventures, friends and fun. but in the not too distant past things were not as wonderful.

the tail end of two thousand and twelve had me feeling awful. a persistent pain in my stomach had me down for the count and even though we still spent our days enjoying the outdoors i could barely make it through a mild hike without needing to take a break. after dropping a substantial amount of weight without trying, it was time see a doctor. crohns disease. i won't go into detail here, but if you do a quick search you'll see how unpleasant it is, especially for someone who enjoys spending their time outside.

i was quickly started on a regimen of various pills and steroids to try to get it in check. still extremely sick through our end of the year voyage to the grand canyon i was starting to worry about what might be in store for me. and then all of the sudden i started to feel better, whether it was the medicine(which i still take) or not i'm not quite sure. day by day i was starting to feel like my old self.

 after so many months of being sick now that i'm finally feeling healthy again i cannot contain my energy and excitement for life. we have slowly been revisiting the state parks that we explored while i was sick now that i feel like i can fully enjoy them, so if you see some duplicate posts on here don't hold it against me.

i have always been what you would call a glass half full kind of person, now that glass is always full and i couldn't ask for anything else. life is good, life is fun, life is easy.

in the words of the late warren zevon, "enjoy every sandwich."

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