We've made it 10 months! We are in the home stretch to the anniversary of leaving a typical life behind for the adventure of living more freely and minimally. On Wednesday I had an early shift from 5:45 to 2:15 for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Dom had a few people asking him questions and showing interest in the X5 from the first day that we listed it online for sale. After work we met a couple to let them look at it. They wanted to buy it for their son and they were a family that loves BMW and specifically the X5M line. They actually showed up in a new X5M! After a quick look around and a short test drive, they handed over a cashier's check. We knew that while we were sad to see Ron "Burgundy" go, this family was going to love him like we did. That made us feel a little better about seeing him drive away without one of us behind the wheel. Afterwards we headed to our friends' house with the Adventure Pups to celebrate their puppy's first birthday with pupcakes for the dogs and Cards Against Humanity for the adults. It was a good way to help with the little sadness of selling the X5.
Thursday was Thanksgiving and we chose this year to skip the larger gathering that we normally attend. We were very sad about this turn of events but we knew that it was the safest option this year and we hope to be able to see everyone next year. Instead of a big meal with all the sides we made turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing sandwiches. We went for a few walks and watched movies. We also drove to check out the trailhead of the Greenbelt which has been closed for several years due to massive flooding caused by fallen trees making a dam that backed up a river. Trailforks said that it was open. The trailhead that we had come to know was still closed so we figured that it must only be partially open at the other end of the 14 mile trail. We made plans to go to the other side to ride the next day.
Friday I had a 10AM appointment four hours away in Austin, TX to have my dreadlocks installed professionally. I cancelled the appointment due to the rise in covid cases lately. I'll reschedule once everything settles down again, probably after most people have received the vaccine. With that appointment gone, it freed up our day to ride the Greenbelt which we were hoping would be a 20+ mile gravel ride since we would have to ride down and back to the car. We packed up and drove the 10 miles to the trailhead. When we got there we saw that it was actually part of the Texas State Park, Ray Roberts Lake. There is a $7 per adult fee to use the park and a self-pay station that takes only cash or check or you can buy a year pass at another location first. If you plan on riding at any of the state parks in Texas, the pass can be worth the money. Don't risk not abiding by the self-pay rules either as the fine is $500 for fee evasion. We bundled up as it was pretty cold and headed for the trail. Gravel is a tougher ride than we expected as it sucks the energy of pedaling away just to keep moving. It was the cardio workout we were looking for without the technical sections to slow us down or risk another injury. Unfortunately the trail was still closed due to debris from flooding after only 4.5 miles. We turned around and headed back to the car. This was not enough riding for us so we went back home to let the dogs out and grab some food then drove to another trail. We chose River Legacy as our second trail for the day with plans to ride every loop. We finished the day with 16.64 miles ridden between the two trails and we felt really good about our accomplishment.
Saturday we made plans to install my dreadlocks ourselves like we had done the first time I had them. We planned to make a video out of it and what it takes to do something like this in a small space. We cleared off and removed the table top to be able to have me sit in front of Dom so that he could sit behind me to section, twist and rip the hair.
After six locs were installed it was clear that they were too skinny despite large sections of hair being taken for each one. My hair was too thin now to have them look the way we wanted them. So I combed them out. I found a loctician closer to where we are staying right now and contacted them to see about a consultation appointment to discuss my options for after covid is under control. That night it rained pretty hard and all the local trails closed
Sunday was a more relaxing day due to colder weather rolling in and planning to stick around for the next two weeks. We had bought gym mat flooring as an idea to help keep the floor from being so cold and we cut them to fit around the trailer floor. It was a huge success. The floor feels significantly warmer on the mats versus the bare floor. These also give the puppies more traction and safety when running and playing fetch inside. I also came up with a new design for an infinity scarf and I started working on that. The weather over night was set to get down into the 20's so we pulled out an extra blanket, made adjustments to the pillows to create a barrier from the cold windshield and climbed into bed to prepare for Monday with a good night's sleep. We stayed warm throughout the night and have figured out how to manage in colder weather.
It was a great short week at work with time off to get some things done that we enjoy doing and getting some down time. We are thankful to have you along with us on our journey and look forward to see you here again next week.