Thanksgiving

Clouds had moved in overnight. The van's windows were open but by 6am I felt the drizzle. I closed the windows to keep the dogs dry, but was saddened to see no ambient light at all. The full moon was completely shrouded. That made the 7am sun rise rather blah, as the darkness slowly morphed into a dark brown, then brown-grey. No rays of light at all. No one was around and I got up at 8am to walk the dogs on the same fitness trail as last night, but this time leaving the leashes in the van. I could tell that the dogs appreciated getting out, as they chased each other around the course but refrained from barking and calling attention to themselves. I kept a brisk pace as I planned on showering at 9am when the fitness center was scheduled to open. By now the rain was coming down stronger. The aroma of wet dog permeated the van. I remained parked at the fitness center waiting for Eric, reading another book for review as the dogs watched all the passers-by entering the gym.

I had no idea where we would find an open restaurant for today. The plan was to drive to the business district off US82 and US277. Golden Corral is usually open, but before we got there, we saw an open Applebee's and tried that instead. There was already a line forming but we were seated right away. We both ordered a turkey meal (at $11.99 with no pie or drink included, rather steep for processed meat) but we sat there and chatted a bit. There were other parents taking their airmen out for a meal, and several larger groups as well. Service was fast. We didn't linger long and left. A nearby Cinemark theatre listed current start times for some movies: Trumbo and Spectre (the latest James Bond flick) were showing. Both seemed interesting.

First, we had to walk the dogs. I wanted to see Lucy Park, which, according to reviews I read on Tripadvisor, is the nicest city park in Wichita Falls, with a 1.7-mile paved circular route. Rain was picking up now but we had our rain gear on. The dogs didn't mind. Eric went on ahead as I figgeted with the leashes. He went straight to the Wichita Falls, which is now a man-made waterfall as the original one was destroyed in a massive flood years ago. Despite the rain, there were plenty of people walking around. In nicer weather I'd like to have explored this circular park more, as pavement meandered along the course of the Wichita River, with smaller paths dissecting the trail. The city was cutting down many of the diseased trees, so there's less of a lush forest now than before, but still a nice place to walk. The trail along the river is now is a complete 20-mile circular loop called the Circle Trail, but we only did 2.5 miles. If I had a spare day here, I'd walk the entire thing.

The Falls themselves, though, weren't running. The steps leading up to the falls were slippery from the rain. The falls were therefore not very impressive, but the riverwalk is nice.

We went back into town now, just in time to see "Trumbo" starring Brian Crayson, at the Cinemark theatre off Kemp blvd. This street has a lot of the chain restaurants. The dogs were comfy in the van despite the cool rain. We drove from the theatre to the Hasting's Book store, where I enjoyed a cappuccino while Eric browsed the books. We always did enjoy hanging out in bookstores years ago. The rain outside continued, from drizzle to downpour and back. The rain dictated what we could do today, which wasn't much on a holiday, but the mall afterwards was quite crowded with Black Friday shoppers ahead of the game. By 9pm we were tired of all the hectic and returned to base, and here my right windshield wiper broke off while on the interstate. Lovely! Luckily I found a nearby Walmart open and went inside. It was 10:30pm and I was expecting crowded aisles and crumpy shoppers. Four city cop cars were up front, armed cops were walking around inside, but there weren't that many people in the building. The cash registers were quiet. It was here that I spend several hours in the parking lot, surfing the web and playing around with my new Samsung S5 phone that was on sale for $229. I had been wanting a new phone for over a year, but didn't want to fork out the $479.

It was a cold night to sleep out. I had to use both sleeping bags to stay warm. My feet were cold.