Hiking Log 2
Captain’s Log: Stardate 220228
The first leg of the trip is in the books. It was a short jump from my house to Ozona. Still, this is Texas. It took 2.5 hours. Going east I would have been close to Houston. It’s a big state. I decided to take a stop, too, just to stretch my legs. Why not? I wasn’t going to a fire. I arrived safely. We fiddled with the trailer. Ate a steak. Played guitars. Watched a few videos about Big Bend. I had no idea there were bears. Or maybe I did and just never paid attention.
Today we’ll make our way to the rendezvous. That’s a nice word. In the old days it described a meeting between trappers as they gathered to do business and acquire supplies for the next season. This time, it will just a small group of us gathering because we like one another and want to see a bit of our state. We’ll travel through the old Comanche territory to get there, too. Nice touch. Obviously, it used to be a more perilous trip.
My only weapon for this journey, however, will be a Cutco pocketknife I bought about 25 years ago when a friend of my son was selling the company’s products. We still have a pair of kitchen shears we bought at the same time. Generally, I don’t really feel the need to be armed, but I’ve always thought a pocketknife to be a useful tool when I’m going camping, which is why I keep the knife in the car. I tried carrying it around for a while, but it became just one more thing for me to misplace. So, into the console it went and now we’re all happy. Although, I really can’s speak for the knife.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale