It was
strange but oddly calming to be back on the road again. The pace of each day was our own and we had a
couple thousand uncharted miles to travel home.
One day at a time seems to be the only way to go.
I thought
Rob would play golf in the morning but he really wasn’t enthused about playing
alone so we opted for a bike ride around the lake before check out time. Rob was on watch for any wildlife because he
was determined to contribute to the wildlife spotting wipe off board in the
visitor center! That wipe off board was
a subject of conversation for days!
We were on
the road before noon and headed for a stop in northeast NM at the Capulin
Volcano. The ride was blissfully
uneventful and we made good time enjoying the gorgeous scenery of southern
Colorado and the buttes of New Mexico.
The
disappointment of the day was that the volcano was closed to all vehicles over
26 feet. WHAT?! Yup, that’s what they said. It wasn’t terribly out of our way but I was
excited to have our “family vacation” style experience to add to the
books. Undaunted, we created a picnic lunch
and wandered the hike we could take from the visitor center.
Hiking over
large, sharp chunks of ancient lava flow, we walked the trail searching the
surrounding area for any way we might hike to the top of the volcano (those
Kramers never quit!) We finished the
short trail back at the visitor center hoping we might hitch a ride in a pick
up – that didn’t work either.
There was a
picnic area and another trail a short way up the volcano road but we weren’t
supposed to walk on the road. We decided
to see if we could discreetly make our way on foot. We were pleased to find it wasn’t too far of
a jaunt and we snuck into the picnic area unnoticed. Lunching on our pb&j’s, we were joined by
several birds I had never seen before.
These birds had me baffled – looking the size of a blue jay with the
look of a bluebird (kind of), I was transfixed.
(I have since discovered they are black throated blue warblers – they
even sound exotic!)
The hike was
another couple of miles and did the trick for stretching our legs so we gave up
on the volcano and got back on the road.
The plan was to make it to the Oklahoma panhandle for the night. Campgrounds of any sort are hard to find in
this area but I had found a National Grassland picnic area just over the border
that allowed overnight parking and we headed that way.
Arriving in
Felt, OK we looked for the picnic area.
Google maps prompted us to turn on a road that, well, didn’t look like a
road! When rerouted, we ended up taking
another road of the same description. The
town had a main street called Madison Ave (really?!) that was the only street
with some form of asphalt. The picnic
area was at its end.
We pulled
into the ample parking lot to find a well-kept area with picnic tables, vault
toilets and a horseshoe pit (sans horseshoes)?!
Anyway, the surrounding area was pretty desperately isolated and a bit
eerie and we both had to consider our options before we got our head around
actually spending the night.
We set up
camp and wandered around our new territory, really a nice spot intended for
what exact use, we still don’t know. We
were taking it all in when the first tarantula came to check us out! REALLY!!!
I’ve seen plenty of these things in cages and even a few as pets but …
here?! NOW?! YIKES!!!!
It wasn’t much interested in us really and headed into the grass where
we followed it to it’s hole in the ground.
Of course, this made sitting with feet on the ground or otherwise
utilizing our feet on the earth’s surface a very questionable activity after that!
That one wasn’t the only one we saw. Another was the subject of Rob’s entertainment while I stayed happily inside and created dinner which we also decided to eat indoors…hmm. To top off the surreal nature of our experience, at one point two kids (the only people we saw this whole time!) pulled up in a pickup to sell us fundraiser candybars. Oh, and then the coyotes started howling … Seriously, who can make this stuff up?!
We had crossed two state lines and had enough entertainment to cover a couple pages all in one day. I’d say that we’re definitely back in our element!
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