Flow...

It's 6:35 a.m. Mike is already out of the house and on his way to work. The NPR station is having a membership drive. The dogs are unsure what to do with themselves. And I m not sure why I am awake.
We did a little heavy camping this weekend.
Steve and Patrick wanted to put together a gym trip. I'm thinking they envisioned huge group of regulars in a long caravan heading south.
But Patrick drives too fast for Mike. And so the caravan was really more a cell-phone party. But oh well.
Cecil and Suzanna decided to go, too. And Kim rode with us. So we has seven total. And three dogs.
We met at the gym at 6 a.m. and proceeded south. Patrick immediately driving Steve's Xterra right out of sight.
Kim slept the whole way. And Cecil and Suzanna were waiting for us at Exit 416.
So we were off.
The trip to Austin goes quickly at that time of morning. And I was sleeping when we drove right past Highway 620. Turns out it was probably the right thing to do. We made one stop and were off again. Taking the Mopac to 71 and then finding our way to 3238 = Hamilton Pool Road.
Unfortunately, Cecil and Suzanna stopped at SuperWalmart and then found out the directions they had were very old and outdated. It took them hours to find Reimer's Ranch... and then they spent even longer wandering around the crag.
Meanwhile, Mike started to ride his bike and Kim and I geared up and followed Patrick and Steve to Cat Tail wall (I think).
Steve and Patrick both lead a nice 5.9 while I tied up the dogs and we ran a second rope up the very next climb.
Reimer's is set up like the gym. Route after route after route, all bolted and anchored. Well maintaind. Clean. And unbelievable beautiful.
When you park, you can't see where you're going... you wander down three little rock steps and into the beginning of a gully. The limestone has been washed away for centuries, and as you descend you begin to see what the climbing will be like. Before you is a grove of trees and then the Perdenales river. Then, just 20 yards on, a slight turn to the right and an overhanging grotto unlike anything I've seen in Texas.
When I originally came to Reimer's, the leaves were still on the trees, which made the whole experience lush and green. Still, on Saturday you could see the river, which literally flows turquoise from the Limestone, and the sun shown just enough that we were not overheated and yet never really cold.
After four climbs at the Cattail wall, we moved left. To the Arbor Wall. Steve was leading an gorgeous overhang with what looked like nice large holds. He got the rope up and Patrick and Kim followed. Then, we ran up three more climbs... with Kim doing a 5.11n (for Nasty as Steve calls it) and finally, Suzanna and Cecil arrived with Mike.
After nearly 6 hours of this, we agreed with Patrick that it was time to head out. Stopping for beer, we realized that it was, in fact, getting much colder.
We drove the 20 miles to the campground and got our spot. The tents went up immediately, while I salted chicken and sliced potatoes. Once the charcoal was hot, we buried the dutch ovens, steamed some cauliflower and dinner was served.
Steve drank five Sunshine Wheat beers from New Belgium. Patrick mentioned that Steve was out of practice. Steve needed something to stave off the cold.
It did not drop below freezing... but there wasn't much firewood and Mike and I went to bed at 9 p.m. anyway, so we have no idea how anyone stayed warm.
We awoke with the sun. Steve still in his bag - a rarity - and by then it was too cold for my buffet stove to work (needed a real camping stove at this point) so I had to wait for Cecil to make the coffee. Scrambled eggs and toast were had. Fire rekindled. Dogs fed. Steve watered. Tents packed.
We pulled out and headed back to Reimer's. Kim and I decided to ride with Mike. He'd done 17 the day before and 15 seemed a good number for a Sunday.
We dressed in tights and fleece to conquer the wind and then promptly laughed our asses off as some poor climber was chasing his dog - a six month old Aussie Shepherd pup - who was hearding the Reimer's yearling bull and some cows. Oops.
That took 30 minutes easy... and the big pup (he was mixed with a malamute) made Jenna brave - so she was off chasing cattle too.
Luckily, on trail, Jenna only encountered a deer who ran off at 40 MPH... something even the little brown dog couldn't hang with.
Mike and Kim finished all 15. I cut off the expert and pro loops. Fishing before them and laying out the food for lunch as they returned.
We had sandwiches and dressed extra warm. Then loaded up exhausted doggies and took the 620 north. Big mistake. It's much quicker to drive through Austin. There are like 600 stoplights and much civilization on the 620. It took more than an hour to make it to 35N.
We hit the driveway at 6 p.m. and finally, finally, I was warm enough that my feet weren't aching.
I thawed soup and showered. Then, we watched some TIVO, realized Johnny Carson had died, and messed around for a while before heading to bed.
I'm giving away the rest of the soup -- it makes my allergies go nuts. Mike has graciously offered to clean the cast iron tonight, while I am at Joe's.
Guess I'll go unload the dishwasher now. And do some laundry.
There you go. The weekend I have been looking for since last January...
Next week, Steamboat.