Last-day posts are always hard for me to do once we return home. I guess I get out of the groove, but I thought I’d catch y’all up before we head to Houston tomorrow for a check-up on the rejection. We were up early, leaving Colorado Springs, but not early enough to beat traffic. It was terrible all the way to Pueblo.
As day broke, we saw our first snow-capped mountain of this trip. I am sure they were all around Colorado Springs, but with an after-dark arrival, we didn’t see any. About halfway from Pueblo to our first stop, we saw what I thought would be our last snowcap. Amanda had missed the first, and my rambling woke her for this last view. She looked up, said, “Awe, pitty,” and promptly went back to sleep. Our first stop, a couple of hours out from the layover, was in Trinidad for the last Starbucks for a while.
The StarBs, which we’d planned to drain our remaining points on, ended up being one in a grocery store. In our vast experience, these typically aren’t as good as standalone ones. It didn’t matter with this one because it was shut down for remodeling. So, we used our Google and Apple Maps Fu to find another one. There was one that had a honey bee latte, so we headed that way. A small lone trailer next to a building housed this coffee shop. There was a huge size available, which is what we chose them. They were good but not spectacular, either.
It’s a pretty drive which I always like the drive between Raton and Trinidad. You go up and over the mountain. When going north, this is always where you are, like ok we are in the mountains now. Raton is where I25 veers southwest toward Albuquerque and where we exit and head southeast toward Texas. You can see an old volcano for miles along the flat, barren terrain. We’ve talked about seeing it and planned it on our last trip through the area in February, but we didn’t make it.
It was perfectly placed on this trip for a potty break. Anything beats the nasty hole-in-the-wall interstate bathrooms of Raton! You can drive to the top of the Capulin Volcano on a narrow circular road that winds around it. The drive up was quite scary because of the height, the narrow road lined with a sheer cliff, and the lack of guard rails.
Once you reach the top, you can see for miles and miles. What I thought was the last snowcap would be from the road but not from the new high vantage point. It felt like a volcano from the top, and you could see down into the base. It was neat, and I would like to return and hike the mile-long rim trail.
From there, it was on to Texas; the next stop was Amarillo for lunch. There is a ski shop, of all the places in Amarillo, we like. Every year on our travels, we end up in Amarillo and stop by, usually buying matching Patagonia pullovers. So we picked a Chick-fil-A just down the street from the ski shop for lunch. You guessed it, lunch was all on reward points, saved $21.75, to be exact! I cheated and had a chicken sandwich, which we had a separate reward for, and it was about to expire. Amanda scolded me because she usually gets these rewards for the dogs. We normally grab and go but decided to sit down on this long drive.
After lunch, we visited the ski shop and perused the sale rack. Even the sales prices were a little high, and we’d maxed out on our “fun” budget, so we skipped buying anything. I wasn’t pressured since we already got matching pullovers in February this year, but the pressure will be on the next time we go! However, that didn’t stop us from trying on a set of traditional Patagonia pullovers.
The next stop was Lubbock for the needed afternoon potty and pick-me-up stop. A familiar Starbucks that is the closest one to I27. An interstate that will soon be extended all the way through our area, connecting Laredo to Raton, New Mexico. I’m excited about this “Plains to Ports” corridor; the faster we can drive this desolate area without stopping in tiny oil field towns, the better. We picked up hot lattes, cups of ice, and a side of nondairy cold foam. Drink half the, then pour the rest over ice and add the cold foam. This would make four drinks in total, maximizing our points-to-caffeine ratio! With Chick-fil-A sunjoys still loaded in the cue, we would surely be caffeinated for a while.
Back on the road, it was hammer down time. That was until the red and blue lights caught up to me just north of San Angelo. I didn’t get off so easy this time. The trooper was very nice; seeing all our luggage, he asked about our trip, and I told him the purpose and that we had already made over 4,000 miles. We chatted a bit more, and then he stated my speed and said, “Well, I will have to give you a ticket.” I had it coming; I passed a car to have them speed up to stay in my blind spot, so I bumped my cruise up a few miles an hour to keep him from being right next to me and forgot to ease it back down.
Our next stop was for dinner in San Angelo, Olive Garden. I wanted to sit down, and that was the fastest waiter-served meal we could think of—that’s what we thought! It was a busy Friday night with low staff, so getting our soup, salad, and breadsticks took quite a while!
Sonora was our next stop for some Sonic drinks. Then, it was on to the house. We rolled into the house around midnight, greeted the dogs, and promptly hit the sack! The next day after church, we settled in our chairs to watch National Treasure: The Book of Secrets. It had a scene filmed at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, where we’d hiked. The scene was near the movie’s end, and neither of us was awake to see it!
We still have tons of content from the trip we plan on sharing on social media, so if you don’t follow us yet and want to see more South Dak content, make sure to give us a like. We head out tomorrow for tests and labs in Houston to investigate the rejection situation further. I’ll post more about that later in a medical journal post.