La Junta, Colorado to home

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September 13 La Junta to ….
Morning - MY planned route from La junta, Colorado to Bryan is a lot longer than I had thought. I had thought I would make it in a couple of days but now that I see it is over 800 miles it might take me 3. So It will probably take me till Thursday instead of Wednesday to get home. Unless I make a long day of one of them which I may. Today I am going by Bent’s Fort east of La Junta as well. And I may stop and see other things on the way as well, so Thursday sounds more like it. I would not like to push my truck too hard on this last leg and something give out and cost me an expensive repair on the road.
I was surprised to see I drove 383 miles yesterday. A goodly portion of them were mountain miles as well. I went from just east of Steamboat and took the long and scenic way around to Denver via Poudre River Canyon to Ft Collins Then after stopping at the Macdonalds in Ft Collins to get on the internet and think things over a bit I went south through Denver to Pueblo and Southeast to La Junta. I generally don't like having to drive through large cities but there was pretty much no practical route around Denver. I had to go through it.
Been drinking my coffee and thinking things over in my motel room but I see it is now 9 and check out time is 11, so guess I had better get moving.
Evening- I drove out to Bent's Fort and was very annoyed to find out that there was a 1/4 mile walk from the parking lot to the Fort...........Stupid ! Those people are on drugs if they think I will make a half mile walk to look at their stupid fort when there is plenty of room around it they could have built a parking lot. So I took a few pictures from the parking lot and started heading on out 50 east and then south on Hwy 287. A dull featureless landscape.
Drove on through Amarillo and then back southeast on 287 towards Ft Worth. I stopped at a New rest area about 43 miles southeast of Amarillo thinking I could just overnight there and save a few bucks but they have it too brightly lit up, and unless I had went into the truck parking area the lights are pointed in such a way as to shine in your windshield (deliberatly I believe). It is legal to overnight Park in Texas rest areas but that doesn't mean they like it. There was no legal way to get back to the truck parking area so I said heck with it and just drove on to Childress.
In Childress the Superwalmart there had its parking lot full of 18 wheelers and RV's so they definatly allow overnighting. It was too hot for me to stay there (would have been good if it was cool though) since while a truck can run his engine all night and thus keep his AC on I could not. So I decided I would just have to cough up the $50 or so and rent a room.
I didn't like the look of any of the budget motels in Childress so drove on to Quanah where I got a nice room with a fridge and microwave for $48 with tax. And they had good wifi. I stayed at the Casa Royal Motel.
I drove 451 miles today.
Sept 14 Wednesday Quanah
In Quanah , Texas getting ready to head south on 281 to I-35 in Ft Worth and then south towards Temple and then to Bryan. I figure it will be about 385 miles or so. Yesterday was a long boring drive though a fairly featureless landscape. And it surprised me how hot it still was in the late evening here in Texas. Driving along with the windows down it felt like I had my heater blowing on me. That stupid AC of mine still leaks oil so I can’t run it without risking burning up another compressor, so I just have to tuff it out till I get home again. I have never been able to keep that AC working in that truck, it always would start leaking again. I guess if I want to enjoy having no car payment I will to put up with things like that. Besides I've known people with new cars that have them in the shop all the time. In any case once I get home I won’t have to go anywhere in the heat of the day anyway but can wait till it cools off a bit in the evening. Being retired is so, so, so nice. You can work your way easily around most everything. Guess I had better get moving and try to get down the road a bit before it gets too hot.
Evening - I usually drive around big cities but decided to drive through Ft Worth even though though there were several good routes west of it. Not a good idea. Those Texans in Ft Worth drive crazy and I barely escaped with my life. I believe next time I will take the safer route to the west.
It started getting seriously hot after I got south of Ft Worth and by the time I got to Waco I was on the "well done" side. So I stopped in Temple at Temple Mall and went to a movie (Captain America) to wait for it to cool down a bit. I just told them to give me a ticket to the next movie coming on that I was just getting out of the heat. I was going to get a bottled water to drink but they wanted $3 for one which I declined but they were good enough to give me a free cup of water to drink which I could refill from the water fountain if I wanted.
I arrived safely in Bryan around 8 and had a good dinner and visited with family till late.
I drove 400 miles today and they were some tough , hot miles. Getting out of or back through Texas always seems to be the longest part of any trip.
This trip I left home at 310,254 miles on my truck and came back with 316,595 miles showing. This trip was 6,341 miles a goodly portion of them through desert and in mountains so my truck has held up very well. This trip took about 5 weeks.
Sept 15 Thursday- Bryan
Went to bed late last night and slept till 1100 today. I must have been tired. It felt good to be able to just drink my tea and think things over without having to get out of a hotel room or whatever before 1100. I have quite a bit of wash that needed doing so I got started on that. Spent a very pleasant day visiting with family and just editing my pictures from the previous trip. I can’t imagine how some people think they won’t have anything to do once they retire. The day has never happened that I didn’t have a full plate. Living a life of leisure will keep you busy.

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Photos

Bent's Fort outside of La Junta, Colorado
Bent's fort near the Arkansas River in Southeastern Colorado was a very important trading and military center on the Santa Fe Trail.