Last Hiking Meetup

It was at O.P. Schabel park, which is one we go to all the time in my family. I thought I knew the park pretty well, but we didn't go on the trails I knew. Anyway, I got there a little early because I didn't want them to leave without me. I brought Bucky, as he seemed to like it the last time I took him to that park. Other people brought their dogs, too, and Bucky wanted to bark at them, of course. I picked him up, and he got quieter. So I just held him until we were ready to leave. As it turns out, I was the only one who brought a small dog. All the others were golden retrievers or bigger, so he was really out of place! A few people were worried he wouldn't make it or that I'd end up carrying him part of the way. But really, they don't know him like I do!

We took off walking, and it was a nice day. It was warm and a few people wore shorts even. Yes, even in January. There was someone who said, "It feels like summer!" and I just wanted to laugh as there's no way it would be that cool in summer. It was only about 73 F at the warmest. But a lot of people in the meetups are new to San Antonio, so I didn't want to make them feel bad or scare them off before summer really hit. Anyway, so we walked about an hour and a half in one direction, until we reached the road down at the far end after you go down into the ravine. It seemed to take forever. I was stupid and forgot to bring water, so I was dying of thirst by that point. Someone was nice and let Bucky have a sip of the water she brought for her dog. That seemed to perk him up a bit. His ears were sort of drooping a little by that point. But then we had to walk back the other way. So it was another hour and a half back. My legs were a little tired, but the thing I noticed most was that my knees started killing me. Really, I didn't think to wear a brace on my bad knee. Not very smart of me. People were marveling by that point that Bucky was doing so well. Really we took a short breather to let some people catch up who'd fallen behind going up a hill. He was jumping up on me and wagging his tail. He was absolutely fine. One guy even made a comment, "he's making me look bad." Well, they shouldn't have assumed he was weak just because he was small, should they? When we got to the parking lot at the end, a lot of people were relieved. And I wanted to go straight home for a tall glass of water or two. Bucky was looking at me excitedly, like "What are we gonna do now?"

Some of the people there were going to this bar afterwards, but I couldn't as I had my dog with me. So I just went home. Bucky wanted to be walked immediately, but I wanted to go straight upstairs. My knees were so sore I could hardly move them. Then, I got upstairs and had a full glass of water. Bucky saw Snoopy getting walked and got upset at me because I wouldn't take him, too. Goofball. Like he hadn't been outside for 3 hours already. I stretched as much as possible, although my joints still hurt later that night. By morning they were fine, but I think I'll wear a brace next time. Don't let me forget. : )

Anyway, not much going on. N is still in Austin and I haven't heard from him. He said he might be able to come down this coming weekend, but we'll see. Again, I haven't heard from him. I haven't gotten any more job interviews and I'm obviously still not employed, or that would have been the first thing I wrote about. But a couple of people in the coffee meetup had some tips for me, so I'm looking forward to the next one of those. : )