Is it time to hang up my traveling shoes? ~ 6 comments.
I had planned on going into Trinidad, Colorado, this morning and spending tonight at the Trinidad Walmart parking lot, but when I checked the weather this morning, there is 100% chance of snow all the way north to Denver. I'm not supposed to stay another night at the Walmart in Las Vegas, New Mexico, so Plan "B" is to drive a couple of miles down the road and spend one night at Storrie Lake State Park, and hopefully things will clear up tomorrow. It's going to cost me $15 to stay at Storrie Lake State Park tonight, but that's better than taking a chance of driving up Raton Pass in the snow….. Remember what I've told everyone about Colorado and snow, you never know when it's going to snow, so you have to be prepared.
Driving through Albuquerque, New Mexico, yesterday was unpleasant. Not only has that town grown a lot, which means a lot more cars on the road, but they are also doing major upgrades to I-25, which means lots of barricades, many lane changes, and major traffic jams.
I try to avoid Albuquerque if at all possible, or at least get there when the traffic is not too bad, such as a Sunday morning, but yesterday things didn't work out, and I hit the traffic situation probably at its worst.
I know it sounds odd that someone who travels as much as I do and, for all intents and purposes, lives in my truck would be concerned about driving through a city as small as Albuquerque, but it's not the city that bothers me; it's the traffic, the way it's handled, and my old geezer driving abilities.
98% of my driving is on roads where there's very little traffic, if at all, and I do that on purpose. I can tell that I no longer have the reflexes I used to have; my head can't turn as much as it used to, so it’s harder to see what's going on beside me, and it's more difficult for my brain to keep up with what everybody's doing when I'm surrounded by cars and semi trucks going 75 miles an hour. In fact, it seems the only thing that's physically better is my eyes, and I can see a lot better now than I could when I had cataracts. But other than that, I realize I'm not the driver I used to be, despite taking great pride in my driving record of never having an accident in a car or on a street motorcycle.
But I do have enough smarts to realize that my thinking has slowed down, so I avoid traffic as much as I can, which means I have to avoid places and times where traffic can be expected, and yes, that limits the places I go. But I have no desire to hang up my traveling shoes just yet.
Theboondork
The Painted Desert.
The Petrified Forest.
Sunrise at my boondocking area.
These red headed Desert Eagles seem small compared to regular Eagles but they're still able to take down Mountain Goats, and the giant Crocagators that infest the petrified rivers around here.
A couple of folks walking on a paved walking path out through the desert.
If you look carefully, you can see a train stretching all the way across the picture.