Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) and the drive back across the country.

                Since I was very young, I learned to appreciate my family and to be thankful for them. My family did this by starting and continuing a tradition where every family member gathers around the dinner table and one by one, we each say what we are grateful for, often we give thanks for being alive and recap hard times we had during the year. This tradition alone makes Thanksgiving very dear to me. When paired up with all the great food my family members bring, well that combination is why it is my favorite holiday.

                This year, I was not only grateful for my family but for the opportunities I have had in my life, including my LHIP internship. In many ways, my LHIP internship has opened my eyes and really gave me a proper sense of what kind of field I would like to work in and where I would like to live. Being in West Texas, living in Fort Davis, I learned to appreciate and enjoy the peacefulness that comes with living in such a small community in a rural place. I flew back home to NYC and as soon as I stepped out of Newark airport, it was back to my urban reality and to the loud craziness that is living in such a fast-paced populated area. The cars were beeping, driving crazy close to one another, the steward yelling at the drivers to “keep it moving,” the traffic of hundreds of cars trying to stop and pick up or drop off their family members. That includes my family who were lucky to get the red light and stopped right in front of me, allowing me to quickly jump in just before the light turned green and we drove off without having to deal with pulling over in between all the traffic. Safe to say that in that crazy moment, I missed being back in Texas with “The Boys.”

                Thanksgiving was fun, being back with my family and showing them my cowboy hat and boots I bought in Texas. I told them of the history of my NPS site and about how the internship has been going. I also explained to them that I will be driving back from NY to Texas alone. My family, understandably, were quite concerned about my driving across the country on my own. I eased their worries by explaining that I would be making 2 stops to rest on my way back and told them that, “if I can deal with Texas and NYC, I can deal with anything.” Which at least let my family know that I am determined to make it back driving and would keep them updated about my travels. It was early in the morning (4:30am) when I packed everything in my car and made my way to the road. I headed to the NJ Turnpike and right as I passed the toll stop, as I felt something make my car shake and move. I looked in my rearview mirror to see it was a 16-wheeler that for whatever reason had passed the booth and made an immediate right turn catching me in the back left of my car. We both pulled over amidst the traffic and luckily it appears to have only been minor cosmetic damage to my vehicle (scratches to the paint and plastic) with no damage to any of my lights or integrity of my vehicle. I was concerned that I got hit but was also glad that it didn’t break any of my lights or caused any major damage that would delay my return. We exchanged numbers and settled it with each other as he accepted blame for the incident. When I asked him what he was doing, he explained he did not see me since it was dark and he didn’t check his blind spots.

                This incident happened less than an hour into my journey which made me a bit worried about what to expect the rest of the way over. Luckily, this was the only incident I had during my entire trip back to TX. The drive back was tiring but very enjoyable! I got to see all new states I had never visited such as: West Virginia, Viriginia and Arkansas; as well as revisited states I have not seen in a while like: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee. I was also able to explore and see more of Texas, staying the night in Austin and exploring the city with the motto of, “Keep Austin Weird.” I also stayed the night in Nashville, which I realized not all major cities look the same as Nashville (to me at least) looked drastically different to NYC. For one, I arrived at Nashville around 9pm yet the city was not as loud and populated as I anticipated. Then again, it was a weekday which may be a factor but, it still showed me the major differences to expect between cities. Austin on the other hand felt livelier. The hotel I stayed at in Austin was right in the heart of UT Austin and even had a little get together are at the front desk with a taco bar and games. Right next door was the popular “Hole in the wall,” on one side and a karaoke bar on the other. Unfortunately, I was too tired from all the driving to go visit either of these but it was nice walking by and listening to the fun times the college students were having creating memories in such a nice and surprisingly quite city.  The following morning however, I did make an effort to visit the UT Longhorns fan shop (Hook ‘em!) and purchased a nice Longhorns tumbler. The day I visited they were scheduled to host the USA Open Swim meet and so I saw a few University of Georgia athletes while in line waiting for my burrito. I found this a bit funny considering the rivalry between the two school which includes a funny moment in which the UT mascot of Bevo the Longhorn Bull once charged at University of Georgia mascot of Uga the Bulldog. This occurred in the 2019 Sugar Bowl where the two teams faced.

                The final stretch of my trip was from Austin to Fort Davis which, although both are in Texas, was still close to a 7-hr drive between the two. Luckily, I already had lots of experience from the 2 days prior and so this 7-hr drive was the easiest of the 3 trips. I placed my car on cruise control and drove down seemingly endless roads while listening to music and speaking on the phone with my family. There were many times on the trip where I wanted to take pictures but, since I was driving, I was not able to. I was able to take a couple images when I made a stop in Viriginia and a couple more while visiting Austin. When I finally arrived at Fort Davis, the time was not too late and so I was able to do some groceries and restock on food to cook and even stopped by to buy some dinner. Ready to get back to work early the following day.