Sunday, January 11, 2009

"Abilene, Abilene... Sweetest Town That I've Ever Seen"

Not that Cody and Scott are actually in Abilene yet... but Cody was talking about going there, so now I have that old country song in my head! They are actually in Anson, TX (about 24 miles north of Abilene), where they just had dinner at a Sonic hamburger joint. Cody was saying they hadn't done very well with their mileage this week, but I was impressed-- 124 miles since Tuesday evening. They are in line to go straight through Fort Worth-Dallas, but I think Cody has decided to go through Abilene and cut over through Hillsboro and Corsicana.

I think I need to embarass Cody a bit and tell the story of their accomodations one night this week. Finding a semi trailer with an open door the other evening, they crawled in-- it had bunk beds and all, so they settled in. Around 5:30 in the morning, Cody woke up to the sound of a diesel, so he alerted Scott. "No, that's just on the road," Scott said. The next sound they heard was backup beeps! Realizing they better get out of there, they leaped out of their sleeping bags and started tossing their belonging out their door. Cody was comforting himself with the thought, "Well, at least they will still have to crank the jacks up," when he heard the sound of the jacks being electronically hoisted up! They did jump out and make it with all their belongings intact, but if they had been sleeping any deeper, they may have had a morning chat with the Border Patrol on their way into Mexico! Thankfully for my peace of mind, they have bought a tent, so they've slept in that a few nights, too. They didn't want to spend the money or the luggage space on a huge tent, so they bought a "juniors" size, 5'x6'. Cody doesn't think it's a true six feet, since he can't stretch out in it. Whatever size it is, they are in rather close quarters!

Cody and Scott sure enjoyed their time in Lubbock. I hadn't looked at a map before I posted the entry last Sunday, so I was wrong in envisioning that Lubbock was a town they'd be going through again-- Lubbock was actually quite a bit north of their route. They were dropped back off in LaMesa by two of our ministers-- they were driving a Prius, so I guess there was quite some packing to fit the stroller, tent, clothes and two guys in the back seat! I think it is the times they get to meet people and enjoy fellowship like that that makes this trip extra special for Cody and Scott.

Scott's $11 sneakers don't seem to be helping him out a lot. (Cody's bragging on his $20 pair still going strong after walking from Pheonix.) Scott thought that Crocs might be more comfortable, so he had his mom ship down his Crocs from Alaska. Cody, not a fan of Crocs, said he'd give Scott $100 if Scott wore them the rest of the trip. The stories about why Scott only wore them for 1/2 a mile vary-- Cody says it's because Scott realized they weren't working, Scott says it's just because he didn't want to wear them out before the Crocs got to see the Atlantic Ocean! Either way, Scott is still searching for something more comfortable for his feet.

Another week down, and they're getting awful close to halfway!

"And, as always, we thank for shopping at our friendly Massena Wal-Mart" Wait, wrong tag line... (I still can do the Wal-Mart voice twelve years after I worked there while in college.) And, as always, donations to Doctors Without Borders can be made at Scott and Cody's fundraising page.