Road trip redux, day 1

For the rest of the pictures so far, click here: Yellowstone Road Trip

This is where I'll dump the day's photos and captions; you're welcome to browse around if you wish. If not, you won't be hurting MY feelings.

Pleasant and uneventful day overall. Everyone's getting along so far. Last night I got ONE HOUR of sleep; every time I laid down, I would think of something else that needed to be done.

We began the morning by meeting at Starbuck's in Gainesville, Texas for coffee. Got a phone call from Rick, who had just gotten home and had found all of Alice's meds still lying on the kitchen countertop. DRAT!! He jumped into his car and drove over to meet us and hand it off.

The wildflowers in northern Texas are astonishingly profuse and beautiful this year, thanks to all the extra rain we haven't gotten in so long. It's as if everything that's been dormant for so long during the drought has just burst into glad bloom. If there's anyone in the brochure-making business, this is the year to photograph north Texas because nothing's looking dead and brown. By August it likely will be, but for now we can enjoy the spectacular show.

Stopped just west of Childress, Texas for a picnic lunch under the shade of a hackberry tree.

Even with the dearth of sleep, I managed to stay awake without much ado. I suppose a road trip to Wyoming packs a certain adrenaline punch. We switched drivers in Amarillo, just for the heck of it, and I laid down in the back for a nap but didn't really sleep. Mom drove for a while, but it was her sleepy-time, too (she'd gotten about as much sleep as I), and by Dalhart she had to pull over for an ice-cream cone. I took the keys again and drove on into New Mexico.

The scenery as you cross over the northeastern corner of New Mexico is gradually more and more stunning the further in you get. By the time you're at Raton, you're overwhelmed by the beauty. Pronghorns nibbling peacefully in fields all around us... rugged mesas and buttes and defunct volcanoes become more and more frequent until finally you're enveloped by them all.

After Raton, we headed north toward Trinidad, Colorado, where we've now bedded down for the evening at Super8. I heart free wi-fi in hotels; it should be standard everywhere.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we continue our trek, this time through the Rocky Mountains. If tomorrow night's hotel has wi-fi, look for another post...