The only thing to do is start another journey

One of my favorite authors is Lawrence Millman. In one of his books, he mentions that when you reach your destination, the only thing to do is to start a new journey. I am reaching my destination and starting a new journey this week.

I wrapped up another school year today. The students finished yesterday with finals and today was a work day for teachers. We had to complete reports and turn them in to the appropriate parties today. I have two inservice days next week, so I still have more to do as a teacher, even though I won't be teaching.

Next Saturday, I leave for Alaska. I will be spending about 3 weeks there. We travel by boat from Vancouver to Anchorage, then travel by car to Fairbanks via Denali, and then to the Kenai Peninsula. I am looking forward to this trip! I will be taking a sled dog ride (though it won't be on ice or snow), a kayaking trip, hiking in Denali, fly fishing, and doing some biking. I am very excited about this trip! We see a lot of Alaska in our few days there. We will be in Ketichan, Skagway, Fairbanks, Anchorage, Denali, Homer, Seward, and Juneau. I think I would be fine in just one of these places for the three weeks!

I might steal just to buy some more

I am addicted to sudoku.

Ft Davis/Davis Mountains Loop

Today, I went hiking. It was about 7-8 miles. I did a figure 8 loop between Davis Mountains State Park and Ft. Davis NHS. The loop began in the state park and followed the trail north next to the Interpretive Center. (A map can be found here). The trail follows a canyon and makes a quick climb up a ridge.


From the ridge you can see the McDonald Observatory. The picture below shows Limpia Canyon heading west from the park toward Mt. Locke, the home of the observatory.



It then closely follows Skyline Drive to the edge of the state park. Along the way, it swings by a couple of scenic overlooks and even a restroom. At the edge of the park, the trail crosses the fence line into the NHS.

Inside the NHS are several trails that form a loop. When entering the park, I followed the North Ridge Trail to the Tall Grass Loop. Along the trail, you can begin to see the fort.

View of fort from North Ridge Trail Note the parade grounds in the
center and Officers Row to the right.

Post Hospital from ridge trail

Upon reaching the fort, I followed a short trail to an abandoned military cemetery. When the fort was abandoned in 1891, the graves were dugup and moved to Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio. I then went to the visitors center to pay my entrance fee. At the visitors center, they show a short video on the history of the fort narrated by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

I walked the grounds of the fort, seeing the post chapel and some of the officers quarters before heading toward Hospital Canyon. The trail in hospital canyon meets up with the North Ridge Trail just before reaching the state park.

Post Chapel

Officer Houses

Back inside the state park, I finished the figure 8 loop by following the mountain bike trail to Keesey Creek. This trail drops over the ridge and slowly descends into Limpia Canyon before it turns up Keesey Creek and back to the main park road.

During the day, I saw several mule deer, tons of birds including a pair of quail, squirrels, and even a few flies. It was a great day of hiking and a good trail to follow if you are ever in Fort Davis.

4 Days Left

Only 4 days left in the school year. We have tomorrow off for Memorial Day. When we return on Tuesday, we start our final exams. We have 3.5 days of final exams. Noone knows what is going to happen Friday afternoon as we have a 4 hour period between the last final and the last bell.

Tomorrow I am going to go hiking in the Davis Mountains. I will be hiking between Davis Mountains State Park and Fort Davis. I have been to the state park before, but only when I was a little kid. I was at the fort just about 2 months ago. I do not think I have hiked between the two before though.

7:00 AM is NOT too early!

Last summer, I went to Nevada. I was in the town of Baker, Nevada eating breakfast at the only restaurant in town. I was ordering breakfast (french toast) and the waitress asked if I wanted a beer with my meal. I opted for the coffee. Turns out that 8:00 AM is not too early to start drinking in Baker. This morning, I was in a coffee shop in Midland and the cashier asked if I would like a piece of cheesecake with my coffee. I politely declined. Turns out 7:00 AM is not too early for dessert in Midland!

Take me out to the ballgame

This past weekend I went to Fort Worth. On Friday, I went to Dallas to take an aptitude test for the Navy. On Saturday, my brother and I went to the Rangers - Astros baseball game at the Ballpark at Arlington.



The starting pitchers were Padilla for the Rangers versus Oswalt for the Astros. The game began with a flag presentation honoring military personnel and their families. It included a speech from a Major General in Iraq.

The game began with the Astros batting first. They got off to a 1-0 start in the top of the 1st. The following picture is of first pitch.



However, the lead didn't last long as the Rangers scored 2 in the bottom of the 1st to take the lead, which they did not give up. The picture below is of Oswalt's first pitch in the bottom of the 1st.

Despite getting the loss, it was fun going to the game and getting to watch the Astros. I have always been a 'stros fan and pulled for them long before they won the pennant. It was, however, my first game to watch in person in which Biggio was not in the lineup.


The final boxscore.



The game did conclude with a concert by Robert Earl Keen. I hadn't seen him in concert in a few years. I think the last time was at a concert in College Station at Wolf Pen Creek.

Wrap it up

I took my ASTB yesterday for the Navy and my scores were good. My application as been sent off and now I will just wait until I hear back, around July 1.

Tying a knot of internet bullies

The boy scouts are well for tying knots, camping, and doing good deeds. They have updated it to now include reporting bullying. Here are the new requirements for Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, and 1st Class.

Tenderfoot: Explain the importance of the buddy system as it relates to your personal safety on outings and in your neighborhood. Describe what a bully is and how you should respond to one.

2nd Class: Explain the three R's of personal safety and protection.

1st Class: Describe the three things you should avoid doing related to the use of the Internet. Describe a cyberbully and how you should respond to one.

In case you are wondering what three things you should avoid on the web, they are: Whenever you go online: (1) Don't respond to inappropriate messages or Web sites. If you stumble across information or images that you don't understand, it's OK to talk about it with your parent or guardian; (2) Don't share information such as your address, telephone number, school name, or your parents' work address or telephone number, and never send any photos via the Internet unless you have permission; (3) Never agree to meet anyone who has contacted you online unless your parent or guardian goes with you.

And I thought it was to never pay for wifi!

The Boy Scouts of America started in 1910. Back then, scouts had to learn important skills like how to pack an animal and how to signal using semaphore. When I was in Scouts, semaphore was long gone, but I still learned it and use it in writing form. I learned nothing about the internet and it has caused much trouble when I am on the trail and I run into an internet bully at 10,000 feet and I am cooking my oatmeal or some rice and beans.