EPIC 20 Year Anniversary Trip...September 4...Day 10

(Kim's Perspective)
We met our goal of getting up early and getting on the road by 5:00 (4:59 to be precise) and plotted our way to Colorado.  Kitteh assessed where we were and helped navigate the route.

With my hubby driving, the Best Cat Ever chilling in the backseat, and endless miles of beautiful countryside to admire, I was indeed a Happy Camper.

We drove through New Mexico (Lane got to bag another state - and so did the camper) and drove, and drove, and drove some more. 

The transition from northwest Texas through the eastern portion of New Mexico resulted in a continuance of flat, straight roads, but the fields along the highway started popping with more color.

Eventually, flatness gave way to a hint of the changeover to mountainous terrain in the distance.
Wildlife road sign antics...

Bye, bye, New Mexico.  Hasta la Vista, Baby.
We were happy to cross into Colorful Colorado, but knew we still had a few more hours on the road before we would make it to Ridgway State Park.  I may have commented on this from past trips, but I find it ironic that "Colorful Colorado" signs are always dreary, muted shades of brown.  Is that just someone at the DOT trying to be funny?

I DO love their big ole' bear signs.  :)
The beauty of Colorado begins....

I love the brightly colored flowers cheerily waving along the road with the mountains rising up in the background.

I want one of these...

I want one of these, too...

I'm not as interested in these...   :)

Cute and quaint Colorado towns...

Ah, Route 50.  It's a shame 50 doesn't look like this on our end.

I'm not sure why they paint murals on the buildings here....stop looking at the buildings and just look to the horizon....oh, look at that... nature's own mural. 

Even the runaway truck ramps are pretty here.

It is, indeed, a land of many uses.

Aspens!

I want this, too.

It was fun to drive by here again....

 ...but it was sad that Merlin and Twister were only along this time in our hearts.

 I never tire of seeing this place and traveling here.  It's so just beautiful!

We finally arrived at the park a little after 4pm and, being quite tired from the last two days' early departures and long hours on the road, decided a nap was in order.  Sadly, neither one of us were able to sleep so we did the next best thing when you have a couple hours of downtime at a campground....laundry.  While not an exciting adventure, it was much needed after the abuse we put our clothes through in the Texas heat. 

We sat outside on the deck attached to the laundry center while we waited for the laundry, and I couldn't believe how chilly it was.  Of course, we're in the mountains of Colorado in early September....there's going to be a nip in the evening air, but I had just spent the last week in the desert so my body wasn't cooperating with the need to adjust to the temperature drop that had occurred over the space of 12 hours.

Once the laundry was done, we walked the campground a bit and then headed back to the camper to discuss our riding plans the next day.  Knowing it wouldn't be warm enough to ride until well past 9am, we weren't too concerned about sleeping in a bit and having a slow morning. 

EPIC 20 Year Anniversary Trip...September 3...Day 9

(Kim's Perspective)
Knowing we had a lot of  miles ahead of us, we woke at 4am, and said goodbye to one of the greatest camping spots in the lower 48.  We stopped by Panther Junction so I could mail some postcards and we got caught up chatting with a few college kids from Austin who were visiting the park for the first time.  It was still dark outside so we gave them a quick lay of the land and after 30 minutes or so of sharing some of the highlights of our time there, we finally headed out of the park at 5:30.  It was still dark outside when we passed through the Border Patrol checkpoint station.  We drove through the darkness that is the vast Texas desert and finally got a glimpse of the sunrise.

After a few hours of driving, it was obvious we were in the Wild West.

We motored along towards Amarillo and passed quite a few large grainery and milling companies.

 

We were excited when we realized we had found Happy.

We drew closer and closer to Happy...

...and we wondered... what makes it so happy?  And then we saw it.

Yep, that's what makes Happy.  :)

We continued on and arrived at Palo Duro Canyon State Park around 2pm.

We set up in record time (so fast, we neglected to get a picture of the campsite) and drove the road to the canyon floor.

The fact that there is a canyon right outside of Amarillo is kind of cool, but from a "wow factor", it doesn't really rank very high on our list, especially when comparing it to Canyonlands or, uh, I don't know, the Grand Canyon.  We drove through the campgrounds which were nice (albeit somewhat packed) and then stopped by the general store.  Overpriced tourist items and disappointing food options resulted in us leaving without purchasing a thing.  It was blazing hot so we didn't linger anywhere for long and headed back to the camper to change out of our sweaty clothes and into something more presentable before driving into Amarillo to do some shopping and to grab a bite to eat.

We drove around looking for dinner options and set about to find some boot stores.  We went into Cavender's Boot City and were both blown away by the size of the place.  I've never seen so many boots under one roof.  It was almost overwhelming.  Bill was set on buying a proper pair of cowboy boots.  Little did we know that even in Texas, the boot stores mostly carry boots made in China or Mexico.  What?  That's so wrong. After nearly 2 hours in the store, and much to Bill's dismay, we ended up walking out the door with nothing but what we carried into the place.  I was secretly grateful, because he kept eyeing an $800 pair of Lucchese boots and I was getting really nervous that he was going to give me that "It's our 20 year anniversary trip, let's live a little" spiel that would somehow manage to make me feel guilty for talking sense into him and telling him we can't afford an $800 pair of boots - even if they are handmade in the good ole' US of A.  Fortunately, he managed to recognize the lunacy of buying a pair of boots that cost nearly as much as our mortgage payment (there's a shot of perspective for ya') and I never actually had to officially rain on his parade.

We left the store and drove around trying to find a taste of local flavor.  We settled on the Blue Sky restaurant which was really nothing more than a burger joint with a cool mural, obnoxiously loud music, and freezing cold air condition.  Bill loved it.  I was a bit disappointed with my meal - I was in Texas and thinking I was going to have the best burger in my life.  Come to find out, Texas burgers aren't really any better than the burgers you get at Red Robin - and at least I'm able to gorge myself on bottomless fries there.  Mmmmm....bottomless fries.....

After dinner, we headed back to the camper and arrived by 9:15.  We set the alarm for 4:10am with a 5:00am planned departure.  Overall, it was primarily a travel day with a bit of interest sprinkled in.  Not much to write home about.  Is that blogging irony?