On the Road, Austin to Lubbock

On day one of our road trip, we packed up in Austin, picked up our rental car, and said good-bye to my parents and (sniff sniff) Cooper.

The good-byes were pretty difficult as we likely won't see the three of them for at least a year. Cooper tried to jump in the car, thinking he was coming with us, and that made us pretty sad. Since dogs aren't allowed in our Kabul housing and my parents were willing to take good care of him for the next year, this was the right decision. He is already in LOVE with their swimming pool - he played there for a solid hour the other day! After the goodbyes and cries, we were off. We came across a pretty nasty thunderstorm that conveniently struck when I had to get out of the car to fill up the tank. I got soak by the sideways rain. Otherwise, the ride was beautiful and uneventful as we took in the wide vistas and colorful Texas wildflowers.