It is time for another road trip! After weeks of high temperatures, high water on the local rivers, and delays in getting our house started, we decided we could take a couple of weeks and head for cooler weather, changing aspen colors, and hopefully some monumental fly fishing in Colorado (recent reports point to excellent September fishing conditions).
So again we hit Highway 412, which carries us from home across the panhandle of Oklahoma before we hit I25 headed north for a first night stay in Walsenburg to acclimate to the altitude. Among several options of highways to Colorado, this route is our preference as we get a taste of small farming towns interspersed between miles and miles of wide open highway. We are drawn to the sights of the old homesteads, ranches, and towns with their abandoned windmills, machinery, barns, storefronts, and vehicles – but at the same time saddened that these once vibrant areas are slowly fading to remnants of what they once represented.
We are always on the watch for wildlife along the way. We always see red-tailed hawks in great numbers. We did see two dozen wild turkey pecking their way across a freshly-plowed field. And once in New Mexico, the antelope are plentiful near the highway.
Of course, hours of driving across hundreds of miles of relatively uneventful terrain can lead to monotony – but it doesn’t have to. Satellite radio provides endless useful entertainment with a heavy dose of Soultown, BB King Bluesville, and Classic Vinyl. And put on the recently released CD of Keb Mo, and a duet of Keb Mo and Vince Gill singing “My Baby’s Telling Lies Again” becomes a quartet with the two of us singing along, and even at top volume the cows and antelope don’t seem to notice (no humans are within eyesight). A little waist-up dancing does wonders for a tired body and mind.
Started raining the minute we unloaded at the cabin in Fairplay – and the first 2011 winter advisory for the high mountains for tonight. We only received about ½ inch of snow here at the cabin, but is a big change from the hot and dry at home.
Signs posted at the roadside rest area after entering New Mexico
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