Westward and Upward

We departed DFW at noon on Tue, July 11th. Elena and I had to dodge morning rain showers to get the van loaded up, but once we got west of Denton, the sun broke through with a vengeance. We spent several hours driving west in 105 degree F temperatures with the sun beating on us through the front window. We stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs and a car pulled in beside us. The driver got out and used an infrared thermometer to check his tire temperatures. He then aimed them at ours. Our front tires were 145F, back was 158F. His car tires were 138F.

We arrived at the Amarillo Travel Center, where there is a nice parking lot for sleeping. And the good news for our 5-week trip - we got the longest drive day (363 miles) and the hottest day out of the way on day one!

Daily miles drive plan

On day two, we completed our 3rd longest drive day. About 450 miles from home, we finally got out of Texas. We made a couple of stops in NE New Mexico to break up the drive to our campsite at Trinidad Lake, CO. The first stop was at Clayton Lake to view the dinosaur footprints. Bebop enjoyed checking them out and noted that they were even older than me. No treat for Bebop after that remark.

Clayton Lake Dinosaur Footprints

We then visited Capulin Volcano. A relative youngster, it last erupted about 60,000 years ago. Bebop was not allowed on the trails, but she got plenty of love outside the visitor center from a mom and 4 girls. We drove up to the top parking area and hiked the rim trail around the cone. We were above 8,000 feet and the trail was 1.1 miles with a 350-foot elevation gain. Great views in every direction.

Rim trail at Capulin Volcano

We are settled in to our campsite at Trinidad Lake in southern Colorado.

View from the back of our campsite - Trinidad Lake

And some bonus sunset walk photos too.

Sunset at Trinidad Lake

- Paul