Why you would live in a dugout

One can get so spoiled living in nice, weatherproof houses! Over the weekend, we went camping at Palo Duro Canyon, a few miles south of Amarillo, Texas. The weatherman said it was supposed to snow on Friday, warm up a bit to 50-degrees on Saturday and really become nice by Sunday. Under normal circumstances, we would have postponed our trip, and left Norman on Sunday. But, for reasons I'll explain in my next post, it was not normal circumstances.

So, off we went, leaving Norman at 4am on Saturday morning. By then, the highways had been cleared, so we made good time. Still, the gorgeous winter-wonderland did give us pause: were we really going to pitch a tent on that?

The early morning light on the canyon was gorgeous and once you dress warm enough, there's not much of a difference between 30-degrees and 50-degrees.

Amazingly enough, the weatherman was right. It continued to warm up and by the next day, we had 72F, clear blue skies, postcard perfect views:

But before we could get to the next morning, we had to go through the night. You can dress warm for the cold, but it is hard to dress warm for the wind. And the West Texas wind howled louder than the coyotes on Saturday night. Makes one appreciate why early settlers in the region would decide to live in dugouts like this: