The second trip was better than the first

San Antonio, Texas·Nov 2025

We first went in 2023, just the two of us. This time we went back with six friends who had heard us talk about it for two years and did not entirely believe us.

Booking for eight is a different exercise and I braced for it to be worse. It was slower, because eight people have eight opinions, but the planning came back to us as one document with the disagreements already resolved into options rather than problems. That is a skill.

November is the short rains and the shoulder season and we chose it deliberately for the emptiness. It rained on four afternoons out of eleven. The sky over the southern plains during those storms is something I have not seen anywhere else.

Two of our friends have already asked about going back for the calving. So it spreads.

The only thing I would change is that we should have added two more nights in the north. Everyone says this. We were told we would say this. We said it.