Two Leos' Wanderings: Hard Travelin'

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Hard Travelin'

August 14, 2011

The Leos are now on vacation in New Mexico. It's good to be out of the 100° plus Dallas heat for a few days. But getting here proved to be a bigger chore than I expected.

When we got up Saturday morning to load the truck and trailer, we were greeted with rain. It's the first rain we've had in over a month. So, by the time we were packed up and ready to roll, I was soaked with rain and sweat. It's a good thin T-shirts air dry well in the truck air conditioner.

We hit the road about 9:30, headed for an overnight at Caprock Canyons State Park. According to Google maps the trip is 315 mile and 5 hours and 31 minutes. This is slightly longer than my target maximum daily travel of 250 miles/5 hours.

I managed to miss a turn north of Fort worth due to construction and didn't realize it till I saw a sign telling me Denton and Oklahoma City were straight ahead. Since Wichita Falls is not in that direction, I pulled out my GPS and go myself back on track.

The next few hours were filled with the the beautiful scenery of northwest Texas.....flat...dry....straight road....oh, my achin' back (and hip and knee and neck)!!!

After missing a turn in Quitaque due to poor signage and having to backtrack 20 minutes, we finally arrived at Caprock Canyons State Park at 5:15. Let's see...that's 7 hours and 45 minutes. Due to poor navigation, 385 mile. And, IT”S STILL HOT!!!

Since this is an overnight, I didn't unhitch, so we didn't see much of the park. What I saw didn't call for a repeat visit. It looks like the rest of the Panhandle. Mesquite and rocks. There are suppose to be bison there, but Leo couldn't find them.

We went to sleep about 11:00. Leo woke me about 3:30 and said to was time to go. So off we went. The Panhandle is prettier in the dark. The flat and dry carries over into New Mexico. However, once we left I40 and headed northwest from Tucumcari the scenery started to change.