road trip

On Thursday, 7 August,  we drove about 200 miles from Houston to Buda, TX to witness our niece graduating from college in San Marcos, TX.  She's already got a job starting the Monday after graduation.  Atta girl!  Nose to the grindstone!  Get to work so we can retire and collect Social Security!

We Americans love the open road.  We take the freedom to travel from one city or state to another unimpeded for granted.  Most people in the world don't have the freedom or means to travel like we do, so be grateful dammit!  

We traded in our 2004 Lexus RX-330 for a 2014 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid in July.  I didn't want to take the 10-year-old Lexus on a 3000-mile road trip.  It had developed some creaks and squeaks that were not going to go away.  The Lincoln is super comfortable and handles like a dream.  

On Saturday, 9 August, we drove another 800 miles or so west to El Paso.  Much of this stretch of Interstate 10 is an 80mph speed zone, and today's cars can hit that with no problem.  Even with clear skies and not much traffic, we didn't reach El Paso until dark.  

On these drives we vowed to stop often for stretching breaks.  One stop was in Junction, TX, where a car show was underway around the county courthouse.  Beautiful day; gorgeous cars; crummy little town.

On Sunday, it was back in the car for another 800 mile drive to Telluride, Colorado, but we didn't make it.  Stopping too soon?  Unfamiliar roads?  We ended up stopping in Cortez, Colorado for the night, about 90 minutes shy of Telluride.

rest stop in New Mexico south of Albuquerque - nice private spots for ... whatever.

The mountains can be tricky enough for driving in daylight, but at night it can be downright dangerous.  Many curves do not have railings, and if you mis-judge only by a little, you could be tumbling down into a ravine.  Driving at night in the mountains also prevents you from seeing the gorgeous terrain, so we stopped at a Best Western for the night.

Early in the morning we set out for Telluride and arrived around noon on Monday, 11 August. This was one long motherfucker of a drive, but the Sirius satellite radio and the iPod helped the time pass.