I’m going to do something different from my normal trip reports. Usually I would wait to get home and write it up later. This time, cell coverage permitting, I’ll try and post each night. Without further delay, here we go:
Day 1. Truck is ready. It’s partially packed just short food in the fridge, duffel bag and my new sleeping bag and pillow. I’m up early, one I’m at a certain age where that’s just what you do, even if I wanted to sleep in. Second, I was excited to go.
Rolled out of bed at 5:30, cleaned up and packed my bag. Got everything else gathered at the back door ready to load. After loading I take a few to get the navigational aids up, running and recording. My Garmin tracking link
It’s 7:30 and I’m pulling out of the alley. Stop to top the tank off by the interstate and grabbed some caffeine and the obligatory gas station burrito. The cornerstone of any road trip breakfast. No fork required either.
Plan is to meet at Bill’s place in Pueblo. Right I time I pull up and Bill is waiting by his truck. We talk for a few minutes to catch up and decide to hit the road.
I should revisit the topic of the target of our exploring. I had indicated in my other thread the target was Death Valley. Rain right before the holiday flooded some of the roads. Nick has the most experience exploring DV and most of Arizona so we followed his suggestion to start in southeast Arizona and since the forecast for DV improves in 2-3 days we can work our way to it. So that’s the plan. It’s why I met at Bill’s place since it’s on the way.
The new routing avoids crossing wolf creek pass with any possibility of bad weather up there. We just have to cannonball south on I-25 all day. Bill’s idea for a landing spot to park for the night was a good idea to me. We eventually need to go west on I-10 and we can take a state road to cut the corner off versus driving all the way to Las Cruces where they intersect. Brill saw on the map that most of the area is BLM so we’d just look for a flat spot and call it home.
We make good time to Trinidad CO and stop for some food and water we needed to pick up. Also Gas stop number one. 17 gallons from Englewood to Trinidad. 11 and change. Might had a little headwind or I was going closer 80. Could have been both. That number is a little lower than average.
Onward to Raton pass and the state line. The decision had been made over the radio that we would stop for lunch a little later in the city of Las Vegas NM. That had us doing lunch a little later, so much so we weren’t hungry much for dinner.
High plains and some of the mountains is all the view is from this part of NM.
We stopped in Las Vegas and hit up the McDonalds. I did shout “wolverines!” As I crested the hill and saw the town finally. For those that didn’t know Las Vegas NM is were the original RED DAWN movie was filmed. Bill also told me today that parts of the movie Convoy was filmed there too. I was also informed of a connection Bill has to both movies. One of Bill’s grade school buddies was an extra in Red Dawn. The same kid who was from that town also met Kris Kristofferson on during the filming of Convoy. Small world I guess.
Lunch being what it was got consumed and we got back on the road. Next fuel stop would shooting for Albuquerque. It was bit windy all the way to Santa Fe. Find a Maverick for some fuel for both of us. 21 gallons over 247 miles right in the same range. We braved the insane traffic through ABQ and made it out the other side unscathed.
The sun setting just days after the winter solstice still robs us natural sunlight to drive by sooner than we would like. We did have a pretty nice sunset though.
Rest of the time is in the dark. Our pace slows a little but we push through. Finally we make out turn off at the town of Hatch. Well known for the local crop of Green chiles too. We talked earlier about stopping for dinner in town but by the time we rolled through, nothing looked open. We drove through town and were watching for dirt roads into BLM land. First spot ended up being here a cattle feed lot that wasn’t in use, but smelled something awful. Driving away from the smell Bill sees a county road across from us and we go for it. A few turns and we find a nice flat spot to park. I pull gear out of the back and get the diesel heater going. Temps was at 63 when we stopped. Slight breeze makes it feel cold sooner. 10 minutes and it’s much warmer in the camper.
I talked to Bill for a while and we both decided to turn in. Heater had the camper toasty and warm. Worked up this page and it’s time to crash.
Total mileage today 640.
Day 1. Truck is ready. It’s partially packed just short food in the fridge, duffel bag and my new sleeping bag and pillow. I’m up early, one I’m at a certain age where that’s just what you do, even if I wanted to sleep in. Second, I was excited to go.
Rolled out of bed at 5:30, cleaned up and packed my bag. Got everything else gathered at the back door ready to load. After loading I take a few to get the navigational aids up, running and recording. My Garmin tracking link
It’s 7:30 and I’m pulling out of the alley. Stop to top the tank off by the interstate and grabbed some caffeine and the obligatory gas station burrito. The cornerstone of any road trip breakfast. No fork required either.
Plan is to meet at Bill’s place in Pueblo. Right I time I pull up and Bill is waiting by his truck. We talk for a few minutes to catch up and decide to hit the road.
I should revisit the topic of the target of our exploring. I had indicated in my other thread the target was Death Valley. Rain right before the holiday flooded some of the roads. Nick has the most experience exploring DV and most of Arizona so we followed his suggestion to start in southeast Arizona and since the forecast for DV improves in 2-3 days we can work our way to it. So that’s the plan. It’s why I met at Bill’s place since it’s on the way.
The new routing avoids crossing wolf creek pass with any possibility of bad weather up there. We just have to cannonball south on I-25 all day. Bill’s idea for a landing spot to park for the night was a good idea to me. We eventually need to go west on I-10 and we can take a state road to cut the corner off versus driving all the way to Las Cruces where they intersect. Brill saw on the map that most of the area is BLM so we’d just look for a flat spot and call it home.
We make good time to Trinidad CO and stop for some food and water we needed to pick up. Also Gas stop number one. 17 gallons from Englewood to Trinidad. 11 and change. Might had a little headwind or I was going closer 80. Could have been both. That number is a little lower than average.
Onward to Raton pass and the state line. The decision had been made over the radio that we would stop for lunch a little later in the city of Las Vegas NM. That had us doing lunch a little later, so much so we weren’t hungry much for dinner.
High plains and some of the mountains is all the view is from this part of NM.
We stopped in Las Vegas and hit up the McDonalds. I did shout “wolverines!” As I crested the hill and saw the town finally. For those that didn’t know Las Vegas NM is were the original RED DAWN movie was filmed. Bill also told me today that parts of the movie Convoy was filmed there too. I was also informed of a connection Bill has to both movies. One of Bill’s grade school buddies was an extra in Red Dawn. The same kid who was from that town also met Kris Kristofferson on during the filming of Convoy. Small world I guess.
Lunch being what it was got consumed and we got back on the road. Next fuel stop would shooting for Albuquerque. It was bit windy all the way to Santa Fe. Find a Maverick for some fuel for both of us. 21 gallons over 247 miles right in the same range. We braved the insane traffic through ABQ and made it out the other side unscathed.
The sun setting just days after the winter solstice still robs us natural sunlight to drive by sooner than we would like. We did have a pretty nice sunset though.
Rest of the time is in the dark. Our pace slows a little but we push through. Finally we make out turn off at the town of Hatch. Well known for the local crop of Green chiles too. We talked earlier about stopping for dinner in town but by the time we rolled through, nothing looked open. We drove through town and were watching for dirt roads into BLM land. First spot ended up being here a cattle feed lot that wasn’t in use, but smelled something awful. Driving away from the smell Bill sees a county road across from us and we go for it. A few turns and we find a nice flat spot to park. I pull gear out of the back and get the diesel heater going. Temps was at 63 when we stopped. Slight breeze makes it feel cold sooner. 10 minutes and it’s much warmer in the camper.
I talked to Bill for a while and we both decided to turn in. Heater had the camper toasty and warm. Worked up this page and it’s time to crash.
Total mileage today 640.
