Is it time to think about Summer travels?
Now that I've only got about a month before I head back to Denver, and I don't have much of anything going on in my life, it feels like I'm just killing time, and at my age, I don't have much time to kill. So I don't like doing absolutely nothing when nothing is going on, so I've been giving more thought to a more interesting way to get back to Denver.
My normal way is pretty straightforward: take I-17 North to I-40, take I-40 East to Albuquerque, where I catch I-25 North and keep going till I reach my destination.... And I've done that so many times I could probably do it in my sleep. The distance is about 900 miles, and many times in my younger days, I was able to do that in one long day of driving.... But I don't do that anymore.
I have a personal rule that I don't drive more than 250 miles in a day unless I absolutely have to, and I much prefer 100 miles a day since I don't have a place I need to be anyway.
I've considered taking some back roads and getting off the interstates, but Northern Arizona and southern Colorado have some really lonesome back roads where towns are few and far between, and if you happen to break down in an old truck like mine, help could be fairly far away and slow in coming.
But I'm sure I'll figure out something. I would like to spend some time at the Petrified Forest National Park, since it's right along my way on I-40, and I would like to go to the Sand Dunes National Park even though it's slightly out of the way. But there's free boondocking there if I want to stay for a few days.
But I've got plenty of time to think about such things, and a lot of it depends on the weather.
Theboondork
Desert Sunset .
The town of Wickenburg with Vulture Peak in the background.
My boondocking neighborhood and rapidly diminishing neighbors.