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Day 35 – Sat. May 16th: The End of Texas

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<– Day 34 – Fri. May 15th: High Plains Drifter | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 36 – Sun. May 17th: Tracking the Ore –>

2015-06-16-leaving-texas2Today was my last day in Texas. Both Ann and I feel satisfied that we did enough and went enough places to get a taste of Texas regions. We appreciate Lee, Sam, Brian and Jason for taking time to meet and talk with us. Also, as always, we appreciate everyone’s suggestions!!

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Today I drove from Amarillo, Texas, to Alamosa, Colorado.

To bid me a memorable goodbye, Amarillo threw me a thundershower party. There was thunder, lightening and plenty of rain. The worst of it came just as I stepped out of the motel with my arms loaded with stuff for the Jeep. So, I ran for the jeep and unlocked it as quickly as I could, but I still got pretty drenched!! I hopped in the jeep and drove to the covered area by the reception desk and snapped this photo.

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Rather than try to photograph the Cadillac Ranch area in the rain, I headed north hoping to escape the storm. The plan actually worked. Within an hour I was cruising along under clear blue skies.

2015-06-16-north-texasI even got a chance to see one last jeep before leaving Texas:

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I wanted to drive to Oklahoma to see Boise City, a place heavily affected by the Dust Storms of the 1930s. The museum wasn’t open when I drove through the city, but I did find this tribute to a bomb dropped by a B-17 during 1943. My wife reminded me that this is why bombs are not armed until ready to drop. There are a surprising number of accidental bomb droppings I’m told, but safety procedures and good luck have kept us safe.

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Next I headed to New Mexico. I did this just so I could say I’d made it to four states today.

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I didn’t realize it, but part of my trip to Mexico followed the old Santa Fe trail. There are multiple markers and tributes to that effect.

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Courtesy of the Herzstein Memorial Museum

When I arrived at Raton, New Mexico, I decided to drive downtown. On the way there I spotted this old gas station. I can’t tell if it is a museum or just something to look at. But, it is certainly from a bygone era.

2015-06-16-raton1 2015-06-16-raton2 2015-06-16-raton3 2015-06-16-raton4Following Raton, Interstate 25 takes travelers over Raton Pass. It was raining as I hit the summit, so I only got a partial shot of the welcome sign. When cresting the pass from the south, there is a line of snowy mountains in the distance that instantly notifies drivers they’ve entered Colorado!

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Interstate 25 drops out of the pass and into the town of Trinidad. It has become quite the tourist place. Here’s a shot of downtown.

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I found this restored engine built to haul coal (or coke) from Trinidad. Smelters required tons of coal or coke to smelt the argeniterous (lead bearing silver-lead) ore. This train was built early enough that it could have made deliveries to my family’s smelter in Pueblo.2015-06-16-trinidad5

I liked Trinidad. Not for the downtown or the trains, but for the jeeps. I was in Colorado a total of a half hour and spotted four jeeps. Three were CJ-5s that I saw from the highway and couldn’t photograph. However, this militarized CJ-3A sat parked downtown.

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North of Trinidad I headed west. I was hoping to visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park, but the rain and cold made that impractical. So, instead of my toes in the photo, here’s my son’s toes from his photo last month.

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So, that might be it for Texas, but I/we will still be on the road for another couple of weeks. I’m trying to get some research done for my books during that time. So, while there won’t be these nightly long posts, there will probably still be some occasional photos.

<– Day 34 – Fri. May 15th: High Plains Drifter | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 36 – Sun. May 17th: Tracking the Ore –>

 

6 Comments on “Day 35 – Sat. May 16th: The End of Texas

  1. Joe in Mesa

    You look seriously happy to be out of Texas in the Oklahoma sign photo! … or perhaps just happy to be outside in the sunshine? Seems like your trip provided more than enough weather diversity 😉
    The Station in Raton NM looks very cool. Thanks for bringing us along on your travels.

  2. Mom

    I would have recognized Karson’s toes anywhere. Good thing you had that photo to fall back onto.

    You are fortunate you didnt run into worse weather as you probably realize. Its been pretty ferocious in the mid west and it seems Oklahoma has been experiencing the worst of it.

  3. the doge

    We have traveled the Raton Pass quite a few times. One time was in the middle of the night in a icy drizzle. Not fun

  4. mmdeilers Post author

    I can’t think of a pass that is fun in an icy, drizzly night 🙂

    Mom: Yes, we got pretty lucky with the weather given all the storms that have blown through. I didn’t mention it, but there was lots of standing water in northern Texas.

  5. mmdeilers Post author

    Brian,

    Yes we did. I need to write up a compendium of the things that we noticed most.

    – Dave

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