Day 2

This post is a day late again. At the end of our second day on the road I was barely awake enough to eat dinner and crashed soon after. But here is an account of our journey.

We began our day at a motel in Gallup, New Mexico. This time we managed to get on the road by 7:30 AM. Heading east on I-40, we were accompanied by dozens of long haul truckers all the way to Albuquerque. We passed a number of places we’d like to see on our return trip. One is the meteor crater in Arizona and another is the Petrified Forest.

In Albuquerque we made a right turn and got onto I-25 heading north to Denver. Thankfully we left the trucks behind on I-40. It’s a pretty drive and after close to an hour we made it to Santa Fe. The approach to Santa Fe is pretty spectacular. I-25 climbs to the top of a mesa and then an entire valley opens up to reveal Santa Fe. As you drive north through the town, you get into Rocky Mountain foothills and more and more trees. The road then winds through more foothills until it opens up onto a vast plain and you come to the little town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. This is a cattle town and still retains remnants of the Old West. It's also been made famous by radio host Don Imus since his ranch is somewhere in the area. We stopped in Las Vegas for lunch and gas and then it was my turn to drive.

My turn at the wheel took us through lots and lots of cattle range. It reminded me a lot of driving through California’s central valley on bigger. Lots bigger. Apparently, I-25 was built along the old Santa Fe Trail so everywhere we stopped there were signposts with tourist information. We’ll have more time to meander on our return to San Diego so we may do some exploring.

Just shy of the New Mexico/Colorado state line, Dave took over driving duties again and stayed at the wheel the rest of the way to Denver. Although there was a short range of mountains to cross at the state line, at Trinidad, Colorado we descended down to the Great Plains. It’s quite a sight. The Rocky Mountains rise to the west and off to the east is endless rangeland. At Colorado Springs we spied Pike’s Peak and shortly after that we reached our destination.

Now we're in Denver and will stay a week working on a few projects around the house for Dave's sister. The weather has turned cold and windy so I think we'll tackle inside jobs for now. I should be warmer tomorrow.