The Golden Anniversary Road Trip -- part 1

The point of this road trip was the celebrate the 50th anniversary of my in-laws, Jack and Nancy Wenner, married 04-October-1958 in Rome, New York. They have seven kids and 11 grandkids, so it takes serious planning to round up the entire clan, and such reunions are sufficiently rare and complex that they are worth extending for a few days. Thus, Thanksgiving Weekend is a perfect opportunity. Eldest son Mike found a rental ski lodge in Angel Fire, New Mexico, and that is to where we are heading.

Day 1 (Tues. 11/25)

Austin to Lubbock

As is typical for our little clan, we hit the road bright and early at the crack of 2:30 pm. And as is true of any road trip we undertake, simply getting out of Austin is the worst part of the drive. Once we reached the mostly-open road, emotions cooled, toys were unpacked, snacks were deployed, and we started putting many miles of pavement under and, more importantly, behind us.

Our ultimate destination was a rented ski lodge in Angel Fire, New Mexico -- a place roomy enough for the dear wife's entire family side, which works out to 23-or-so people. The reason -- in October, my in-laws, Jack and Nancy, had the 50th wedding anniversary, the rare golden, and this gathering would be the official celebration thereof. Hey, gathering over a score of people who live all over the place (from Mississippi to Alaska), many of whom need time off, takes some planning.

Our drive mapped out around 720 miles, and that's too much for us in one day, so we aimed for Lubbock, a bit more than halfway. Unfortunately, because of our late start, it would take us half the night to get there -- but onward.

After an hour and a half, making good time ex-Austin traffic, we approached Llano, home of Cooper's Barbeque, one of the finest practitioners of the fine art of smoking meats. I hadn't planned on stopping, but the timing was right for an early dinner, I hadn't really had any lunch, and a stretch was welcome. Plus Cooper's was right along our way. We parked, wrangled the kids, bathroom breaks first and foremost, and then placed our orders. Cooper's has several brick pits, though I've only ever seen the first two going -- cooking on the second one, heating and serving from the first. It's warm standing hard by the pit, with its generous arrays of ribs, sausages, chicken halves, brisket, pork... yum. Tell the pit master what you want, he cuts it quickly, dips it in drippings if you want (I recommend it), then inside for drinks, side dishes, desserts, and weighing your pit selections. Amie had sausage, Val had brisket and beef ribs, while I went with sausage and one rib and more brisket. Carson isn't much for meat at his age, so he got a pickle and a corn on the cob. Along with small sides of potato salad and cole slaw, beans, and white bread, we feasted.

I wanted to top off the gas tank, so Val took the kids on a roadside ramble while I took care of that, then zipped past and let them catch up. This way the little ones get to burn off some energy. Gas prices have still been dropping in Austin, now into the mid-$1.60s range, but in Llano it was back up in the $1.80s. Still a welcome relief from the summertime prices we faced.

Back on the road, and now it was dusk, sundown, sunset. We completely misnavigated one of our few major turns, in Eden -- I blame myself -- and continued on into the night, through San Angelo, Sterling City, Big Spring, Lamesa. At one point, south of Big Spring, we noticed blinking red lights in the distance. This was puzzling; there were too many for radio or cell towers, and we were nowhere near an airport. As we continued on, there were more, until suddenly the entire western horizon was bedecked with red lights, blinking in unison. What the heck? Val guessed at it first -- a massive wind farm, blinking red lights alerting aircraft to their presence. And in fact, when looking just to the side of a red light during the on cycle, a turbine blade could be just glimpsed turning along. I love watching wind turbines, and even though I could not see this huge array, I was delighted to know it was there.

The kids had run both laptops dry playing movies, and Carson got very quiet, drifted off. Amie was also tired, and decided to nap until we got to the hotel. We drove through Tahoka, and finally, into Lubbock. I turned on to the city loop, 289, and finally found our exit. The night's destination: a La Quinta, one of my preferred chains, where I have nearly always been pleased and treated well. I hadn't made a reservation, since I was never sure we'd make it to Lubbock, but they had rooms, no problem. None with two queens, ah well, but we got a king and a foldout sleeper sofa. Carson woke up, energized, and so did Amie, though she stayed just sleepy enough to get a ride inside on the luggage trolley. They both are night owls under the right circumstances, and a hotel always perks them up.

By both being exhausted and not worried about the neighborhood (largely undeveloped), we left the roof rack on the car. It contained nothing but blankets, pillows, and some cheap kid toys, so risk of theft loss was minimal.

The La Q had a heated, indoor pool, but it was closed and we planned to leave before it reopened in the morning, so that was no help. Val had the kids run (quietly!) up and down the hallway, just to help them drain, day-long car rides being akin to a covered pot aboil, no matter how many stretch breaks we take. They are good travelers, but childhood imposes certain demands for chaotic release. No one complained, which is to everyone's credit. I set up in the lobby to take advantage of the wireless for a while -- the room signal was poor -- and after checking a few things, we all settled down for some well-earned rest, long past midnight (which is not at all unusual for us; you get used to it).