Travel Day – Colorado Springs to Dumas

Yes, back “On The Road Again.” We missed the family before we lost sight of their cars leaving the campground on Sunday evening, so it was a sweet/sad morning for us both as we finalized the wrap-up and got ready to roll yesterday morning.

We were up early, and as soon as I made the bed, I piled all the stuff that rides there on it. Steering wheel table, my Wii Fit board and Guitar Hero guitar, a fan and all the little stuff from the credenza. With our showers done, I packed away the vacuum cleaner in the shower where it rides. The floors were cleared and ready for the slides to come in, coffee made, drank and things cleaned up.

The campground office opened at 8:00 and we were waiting at the propane station for a fill-up before final departure. We used about 12 gallons of propane while we were in the Springs, lots of cold mornings! I’m sure I’ll remember those as we spend the summer in the south! Finally, around 8:30, we were merging onto Southbound I-25 for today’s destination.

Coming down Raton Pass into Raton, New Mexico, this was almost our last look at trees and mountains for awhile:

At Raton, we turned left at Highway 87/64 East towards Clayton, New Mexico. We’ve traveled this road many times over the past 25 years. And every time has been through miles and miles of road construction. Someday, but not in my lifetime, this will be a nice, 4-lane highway. It was an easy drive today without a lot of traffic and reasonable weather – not too hot, not too windy. Just right. Somewhere along that road, I fixed us both a sandwich, and of course, fetched drinks and snacks as needed. We made one quick pit stop to walk the dogs and check things out – all good.

Early in the afternoon, we crossed another state line – haven’t seen this sign in a couple of years!

Trees and mountains were replaced by:

And:

Around 3:30, we pulled into the little Texhoma Park just as we got to Dumas, Texas. This is a parking lot with a few electric poles, but the city provides it for a free overnight stop. Since we haven’t been in our home state for 2 years, our inspection stickers are a year overdue. We’d made plans to stop overnight here to get both the car and motor home inspected. While we are here, we got the chance to have dinner last night with Jim’s cousin, Weldon and his wife, Tammy. Also joining us were their son Seth, daughter Lindsay and her husband Ja’Miah, their 15 month old son Cas. What a great group! We went to a local Mexican restaurant for a very good dinner, thanks again, Weldon! After dinner, Seth brought his 3 Mini Schnauzers over to meet our kids. Ja'Miah and Lindsay also brought their Great Dane (who is 5 times the size but thinks he’s the same as the little ones) to join the fun! We hope they all can make it to the family reunion this weekend!

Today, the journey continues!