Pulled out of Elk City, Oklahoma this morning, by the time the sun was setting in Alamosa, Colorado we had completed our exit from Oklahoma, crossed Texas, New Mexico and into Colorado. I thought Texas was suppose to be the second largest state, we drove across it in one day! The good thing is that it was the first state that we did not spend a dime!

Just checked my Doppler radar, seems that everyone in LA is getting some type of moisture, I am assuming rain. Again, today we had to brave sunny sky's and temperatures up to 80 degrees - that is above zero! Texas was non-descript, at least the panhandle, just very small rolling plains primarily sage brush, but in the areas that are cultivated, they had some great looking fields of cotton, hay and grain.

Getting into New Mexico, we had a very beautiful drive, a part of New Mexico that I have never seen. We got off the interstate at Tucumcari and headed northwest on the secondary roads. Going through Taos and Las Vegas. At first it stated out typical New Mexico, rolling hills of sagebrush, then it turned into larger rolling hills of cedar and pinon trees. No sign of civilization except an occasional herd of cows. We then entered the Santa Fe National Forest, towering Ponderosa pine trees and great rock formations. I was very impressed and will make the trip through this area again. We had to go up one pass that gained elevation rapidly, but once on top it was a flat mesa. As far as the eye could see it was just slight slopes covered with grass and not a tree in sight, one would have expected to see herds of buffalo roaming the countryside. We never left the mesa and later gained a little more altitude into Colorado. Did cross the Royal Gorge of the Rio Grande, very impressive deep canyon but not nearly as deep as the Royal Gorge in Colorado. Beside the scenery in the National Forest, another reason I want to re-visit this area is the structural buildings. I have never seen as many "old" buildings in one particular area, some were run down old wooden homes, but most of them were either rock or handmade red clay bricks. By the looks of them, I would guess that they were built back in the days that the buffalo did range this area. At anytime, I expected to see "Blue Duck" come riding in, it would be a great place to shoot a western movie. The great thing about it, no population. A few, small, towns that definitely showed that they were at or below the poverty level. If you ever get a chance, make that drive. The third good thing about it, I never saw a truck!

We are less than 200 miles from Montrose, so we will be in there early tomorrow. We have decided to go the Monarch Pass route and through Gunnison instead of going west to Durango and over Red Mountain - maybe on our way out. If we get the time, we are going to look around Montrose or Grand Junction for a motor home. That way, if we get one we would just leave it at the Miller's and fly down next spring to retrieve it - just looking - nothing firm. Funny story that I forgot from last night, we got into Elk City, Oklahoma to find most of the hotels were full or would not accept Dutch so we drove into town to find accommodations. Stopped at this one place, decent looking but not a name brand type operation. Was greeted by a young desk clerk of Spanish decent, asked her all the typical questions, especially wireless Internet connection which she assured me that they had. For the first time, we asked to see the room which gladly produced us a key. As we walked across the dark parking lot, I could not help but notice a group of young men sitting on a car and talking loudly in a language I could not understand except Si! At first the key would not work in the door, after the third attempt the door opened, I reached in to flip on the light switch and nothing happened. Walked into the unit to the bath room, flip the light switch, nothing happened. It was at this point, we decided that perhaps we should find other accommodations. About the time we were crossing the lot to return to the office, the group of guys started walking the same way, but they went in the back door of the office, Terry got in the truck, I heard the locks snap shut as I went into the office to return the key. The young lady was smiling and asked if I liked the room, I told her that I probably would have liked it but it did not have any electricity, it was then that I knew for certain that she was of Spanish descent, as I slipped out the door she was still screaming at the guys that came in the back door in Spanish, I can only assume they were discussing the lack of electricity in their motel rooms. If we would have stayed, I feel certain that I would have found my truck sitting without tires this morning, if I even had a truck left. 534 miles today, 5,856.8 for the trip, talk to you on down the road.