Ken is a Speeder

Well, we've made it up to Montana. All in all, we have driven about 4500 miles since the first of July. Heather is down fishing in the Bitterroot already, so this may be a short entry. So, I think my last entry rested on the bosom of Carlsbad Cavern. After wandering around in the 65 degrees of the cave for a few hours, we staggered out into bright sunshine and 103 degrees (yeah, but it's a dry heat). I'd already made reservations at the KOA campground outside of Carlsbad. The campsite was touted as New Mexico's No. 1 rated campground, and we were excited about using our new tent. Mom gave me one of those cool tents that fits right into the back of my truck. Turns out, we were more excited about air conditioning. Heather made an executive decision that we could forgo our reservation fee at the KOA, and, rather, drive straight through to Santa Fe.

Quick sidenote.... we drove past the campground that we were supposed to stay at, and I'm sitting here trying to think up a real witty acronym for KOA but failing. However, I bet it stands for "sucks" in most languages. Apparently, New Mexican campers must enjoy a nice tumor, as well, because the No. 1 rated campground sat beneath about 3 acres of electrical power substation. In our 4500 miles, we have passed a lot of KOA's, and the vast majority have been el stinko.

Anyway, we arrived in Santa Fe, overjoyed at the prospect of a nice air conditioned room at Ken and Cindy's house, Heather's aunt and uncle. God does have a sense of humor, the AC was broken. Nevertheless, it was probably 25 degrees cooler out, and we slept more than comfortably with the doors and windows open.

Ken had been looking at some land in Colorado outside of Montrose, and the four of us decided to a little side drive of about 800 miles. The next day, we hopped into the car and headed north. If I had driven the whole way, it probably would have taken 16 hours, as we were going over some pretty steep passes on shoulder-less roads. If Ken had driven the whole way, I'm guessing it would have taken 8. Cindy agrees with me wholeheartedly. Ken likes to drive and he likes his driving fast. I may have white knuckled a few times, but overall, we had a great trip through Colorado. Ended up staying in a little hotel in Telluride, then coming back to Santa Fe and Albuquerque to see Heather's cousins- Jeff, Julie and Jaquelyn- for a few days. Jaq- I'm betting I just butchered your name. While in Albuquerque, eat at Sadie's.

After a week, we left the Johns family and headed to the Vallecito Reservoir in Colorado. Vallecito is also known as the land without fish but great scenery. Heather and I pulled into the National Forest campground at Vallecito Creek, and were met by Calvin, the camp host. Turns out, Calvin used to live about 3 or 4 blocks from our old house in Austin. Here's a few pics of Vallecito:

A pic of Heather not catching anything.

A pic of the valley next to Vallecito Reservoir.

And yes, that is a Ken Johns' Lincoln Towncar.

The Caverns

We are "borrowing" wifi from the Best Western next door, so thought we'd have time to do another quick post. After leaving Big Bend and Marathon, Carlsbad Caverns were the next stopping point. The Davis Mountains are along the way, and a wonderful part of Texas that I hadn't been through. Dancer, Texas was filmed around the Davis Mountains; if you haven't seen it, rent it sometime. Unexpectedly, there were a group of 6 to 8 elk standing on the side of the road outside of Fort Davis. As you come out of the mountains, the springs at Balmorhea are worth stopping to look at. This kid didn't come close to landing his flip.

After this, Texas got real ugly for awhile. The next major town was Pecos. It is typically a bad indicator when the welcome sign is missing half its letters. Google said it would take 5 hours 20 minutes from Marathon to Carlsbad; we made it in 3 hrs 45 minutes.

It was 103 degrees standing in the parking lot of the Caverns. After a 750 foot ride down the elevator, it was 65ish. Heather and I had taken about 10 steps off the elevator when all but a couple lights went out. We thought it was part of a presentation, but after seeing a few rangers go scrambling, we realized it was a power outage. So sad for the people that just got on our elevator. After 10 minutes or so, they got the backup generator going, and this cute ranger nerd took us on a tour. In general this lady was overly excited about caves, but, after the tour, I could understand her excitement better.


And, apparently, the cavern is a her. Heather just gave me a look of disapproval.


Once out of the caves, we hooked it for Santa Fe to see Heather's family.

Sans Wifi

When we decided to quit our jobs, and experience some of the world, a number of friends and family asked that we do a blog so they could follow along. Well, we are coming up on 3 weeks in and here is our first post. Seems like once we got out of Austin, wifi has been a little bit hard to come-by. So far, we have been to: (i) Marathon, Texas; (ii) Big Bend; (iii) Carlsbad Caverns; (iv) Santa Fe; (v) Montrose, Colorado; (vi) Telluride; (vii) back to Santa Fe; (viii) Albuquerque; (ix) Vallecito Reservoir outside of Durango; (x) the South Mineral Creek/Clear Lake outside of Silverton, Colorado; (xi) Miramonte Lake outside of Norwood, Colorado; (x) and finally, we sit here sweating in Moab, Utah. I think we've covered around 2,900 miles so far. We've covered a whole lot of ground in a short time, but are really enjoying ourselves. And, thankfully, I finally caught a couple of keeper-sized trout this morning. Heather says "Yea!"

We started off at the Gage Hotel in Marathon, and, like everywhere else, it was hot. Luckily, though, they also had really good food, wine and a pool. Try the sweatbreads when you go there. I'm not sure what they are, and I refuse to look it up. They are, however, very tasty.

On our second day in Marathon, we were debating going to Chinati Hot Springs or Big Bend. To get to Chinati, you need to have 4 wheel drive, and Big Bend was supposedly 110 degrees. Luckily, you can see for 300 or so miles when you stand in front of the Gage, and a storm was blowing in down south. So, Heather and I hauled down to Big Bend. We arrived just as the storm hit and hid under a tiny cedar. It rained so hard that we thought it was hailing, but they were just really fat drops. The storm passed and the temperature dropped to 60 degrees. I wanted to hike to the Window since I hadn't been there since I was a kid. Waterfalls popped out of every cliff face. Really beautiful.

I'll try to catch up on the other towns and places over the next few days by typing them into Word as Heather drives. BUT, that means that Heather has to drive, and she drives creatively.
Kris and Heather