The trip began today. Clif, Charlie, and Marty departed from the MacDonalds in La Porte, TX at 6:00am. They arrived in Austin at 10:00am. Jane prepared a "bed & breakfast" quality brunch which everyone enjoyed, including our friend Kate who joined us to take pictures. After several rounds of pictures and goodbyes, we departed close to noon.

The ride to Brownwood was hot but uneventful save for an accident which caused a big (and hot!) traffic jam on the way out of Austin. We stopped in Zephyr, TX (near Brownwood). Charlie's mother went to school there. Several oif his relatives, including his maternal grandparents, are buried in the town cemetery. We walked around awhile and found their graves.

There is a large oak tree on property that Charlie's grandparents used to own. The tree is still there but the house and other buildings have given way over the years to a parking lot for the school. As you can see in the picture, the tree is large and bent. Charlie told us that he used to play in that tree as a kid, and so we just assumed that had caused it to be so crooked. ;-)

However, the superintendent of the school (he said "schools" but we think there is only one school in the town!) saw us and came over. He told us that the tree supposedly bent during the cyclone of 1909. That was a story that Charlie didn't know and it got him off the hook as the cause of the bending.

We left Zephyr (home of the Bulldogs) and proceeded on to Brownwood. The Days Inn had a pool so Clif and I soaked off the day for quite awhile. Then we went to dinner at a BBQ place. Not much to do in the evening except to edit some pictures and write these notes.

We leave early tomorrow for a long, hot ride to Dalhart. The weather there is much cooler but we don't know where the front line is. Marty seems to have a slow leak in his rear tire. The motorcycle dealer was closed and he's going to just press on.