# Road trip! Ride along through (Now with 183% more train)



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I’m Taking a road trip! And this is a very special road trip, my first travel in over a year. It’s also special because it’s the prototype for other road trips I hope to take over the next few years as I approach and then enter retirement. Quite different from other road trips I’ve taken. For those who don’t know me, I love to travel and in the past have posted threads about trips here (Search can be your friend if you’re bored and curious—Look for Antarctica and Cambodia for a start).

For decades I’ve been jealous of people with four-wheel-drive rigs who could get further back into the Wilderness than us ordinary mortals in sedans. I thought about buying something with four-wheel off-road capabilities and in fact got as far as making a deal on a Subaru Forrester many years ago before losing my nerve and deciding I didn’t need a new car for a couple more years while the salesman went back “to talk to his boss. “. I settled for taking rental cars places they had no business going on some of my trips. During the pandemic I had time to think about things and with my age being what it is figured that if I didn’t get a four wheel type car now I’d never do it, plus stateside trips looked even more attractive now since overseas travel may be difficult or impossible for a while. So I bought a 2021 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk! It is not as capable as the Jeep Wranglers which are the classic off-road jeep, but it is a lot more comfortable on the highway while driving to the National Parks. With the chip shortages and potentially rubber shortages affecting manufacture of new cars looks like I bought it just in time last fall.

















I have reported here on other trips I took, usually they were overseas ones. But this one is still special! You are welcome to ride along, but don’t even ask to drive my new Jeep!

I will leave Oklahoma and head west, starting on Interstate 40. I have driven this route before, and explored quite a bit of New Mexico and Arizona as well as some of Colorado. But I have new destinations in mind for this trip that I’ve never visited before.

The first destination is a seven hour drive to get to. We will visit Capulin Volcano National Monument. The main attraction is a extinct volcano that last erupted about 50,000 years ago. Those are not unusual in northern New Mexico but what is unusual here is that you can drive up to the rim of the crater. If we start early and make a good time we will be able to visit this afternoon before it closes. Complicating things a little bit is the weather forecast. Even though it’s mid April there is a good chance of up to an inch of snow at the volcano!

Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma is honestly kind of boring:








In West Texas we diverge from I 40 onto a lesser highway and when we get into New Mexico we at least can see some volcanoes:








Snow is falling around us as we near the National Monument, but not sticking. But when we can see Our destination it looks like snow is sticking with the higher altitude up on the volcano.








We make it to the top of the volcano with 20 minutes before the Ranger will shoo us out of the park. The precipitation has frozen on the plants making it a sort of winter wonderland. It’s great for just a few minutes. Then we have to go to the hotel in Raton, NM. I’ve already made plans for us to return in the morning as soon as access to the top opens at 8:30. The skies are supposed to clear and hopefully it will be cold enough that the frozen plants will be shining white in the bright Sunlight! But for now it is dinner at Arby’s and a good sleep.

















This road trip has a sound track, recorded special for us by CW McCall! Before tomorrow I highly recommend that you listen to the designated song for tomorrow, Wolf Creek Pass. We will be driving that pass tomorrow and from what CW says it sounds pretty dangerous. Better have your affairs in order....






I will continue to post updates, though I may fall a day or two behind sometimes...

I should mention that I’ve diligently masked and distanced for the past fourteen months, and got my second dose of vaccine three weeks ago. During the trip we will be wearing KN-95 masks when anywhere close to others, and either eating in the car after drive-thru, or seated in low occupancy restaurants outside rush hour. If you haven’t had both doses of vaccine yet, you are welcome to come along virtually anyway!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Um.. "We"? who be with you?


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

telracs said:


> Um.. "We"? who be with you?


I’m by myself, but since I offered a virtual ride along to the Board members, I addressed everyone as plural....


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I'm enjoying the virtual ride along already. Our yard is beginning to look like your snow pictures of yesterday. I'll go with "makes me feel like I'm really with Claw"


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

crebel said:


> I'm enjoying the virtual ride along already. Our yard is beginning to look like your snow pictures of yesterday. I'll go with "makes me feel like I'm really with Claw"


well, at least you can't get carsick on a virtual ride....


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Virtual is definitely the best way for this Texan to enjoy snow. Lovely pictures Claw.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

It is a bright sunny morning, and we are ready to check out of the hotel and backtrack half an hour to the volcano. But if you didn’t listen to the Wolf Creek Pass song yesterday, please do it quick! We’ll wait...

The clouds are gone and the sun is bright and in about half the crater, the ice is still on the plants! Here are a few shots....I walked about halfway down into the crater before worries about my knees and my wind at this altitude (over 7000 feet takes a some energy out of you) make me turn around.
























And it is time to move on. We have a six hour drive to Durango, Colorado. I want to get there before dark. And of course we will have to brave Wolf Creek Pass! On the way down, we notice several of these curious items. I had to ask a ranger at the visitor center what they are for, I’ll share the answer next time.








We head back through Raton and turn north towards Colorado. I don’t like driving through open range. You never know what the cows will do.








Early lunch in Trinidad, Colorado, then a long rural drive. Soon it is obvious we are leaving the high plains to head into the mountains.









We pass through several small towns. Some of them have time capsule old buildings. I’m happy to report that the Fox Theater is still in business!
















After awhile there is no “heading towards,” we are definitely in the mountains. We will pass through two tunnels this afternoon, fortunately we don’t have cluckers loaded to thirteen-nine and there is no problem.








And now we are over the top of the mountains in Wolf Creek Pass! This is the Continental Divide, though they don’t make a big production of it. The long downward stretch begins. The signs say this is a seven percent downgrade.








*I have just learned there are limits on how many pics I can add, so I will add the rest of today in another post. *
There are indeed hairpin turns! Fortunately I don’t own a truck with bad brakes, and the curves are just a little bit interesting, not truly scary. Speed limit was 35 for most of it, and in a couple of stretches 25. Here is an example sign, I’ve included an enlargement to make it easier to read.

I spotted some bighorn sheep after the worst was over. Of course the name isn’t really appropriate for the females....

Now they even have a scenic pullout for us. From there we go on to Pagosa Springs and things flatten out.

And we arrive in our Durango hotel where we will spend the next three nights. Microwaved stuff in the hotel room for dinner tonight, it will be a quiet evening.

The official song for tomorrow is required listening. Enjoy!


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## loonlover (Jul 4, 2009)

Liked the snow pictures. I'm with Andra on enjoying it virtually. It's been 24 years since we were in Durango. We always arrived driving down the Million Dollar Highway with a stop in Ouray. Beautiful drive as long as someone else is doing the driving.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

claw, as much as i am enjoying your pictures, i really don't like you taking them while driving, even on straight roads, so please be very careful.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

There are indeed hairpin turns! Fortunately I don’t own a truck with bad brakes, and the curves are just a little bit interesting, not truly scary. Speed limit was 35 for most of it, and in a couple of stretches 25. Here is an example sign, I’ve included an enlargement to make it easier to read.


















I spotted some bighorn sheep after the worst was over. Of course the name isn’t really appropriate for the females....









From there we go on to Pagosa Springs and things flatten out.And we arrive in our Durango hotel where we will spend the next three nights. Microwaved stuff in the hotel room for dinner tonight, it will be a quiet evening.

The official song for tomorrow is required listening. Enjoy!


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Claw, DH and I are enjoying our virtual trip with you! We are enjoying the soundtrack as well! The photos brought back memories for DH of a family vacation back in his early teens. He is not sure which roads in Colorado they took but he remembers the two lane blacktop roads, with rare passing lanes, through the mountains.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I had a long day and am pooped! I will skip posting except to mention that this afternoon I passed 1000 miles since Saturday on this trip, with over twenty hours of driving!








Yesterday I posted a pic of a mysterious cylinder near the volcano. It is a rain barrel! When They get rain it runs off pretty quickly and mostly is wasted for watering the plants so in some areas where they’re trying to re-vegetate to help the plants grow they put rain barrels that capture the water and slowly trickle it out so it has time to soak into the soil.

Since there isn’t much to look at tonight, you may want to look at this old trip report of a trip above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. It was a road trip, but I didn’t get to drive!








Ice Road Claw


I'm about to head off on vacation! It is traditional during the cold of winter to head for balmy tropical climes, so naturally I am doing the opposite, and heading to Alaska and going above the Arctic Circle. Wednesday (March 7th), I will fly to Fairbanks, Alaska, arriving just after Midnight...




www.kboards.com


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

And no song for today, but since I mentioned shopping for a Jeep in the original post, this song about another auto purchase will cover.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I’m excited to ride the famous Silverton train for the first time after hearing about it forty years ago! On this trip I actually took two trips on it, Monday and Wednesday, and I’ll cover both trips in one post.

This is now a tourist train, but it was established about 140 years ago as strictly business operation to transport mining supplies and product. Most of the equipment is original. We will take a five hour trip out and back to a turnaround in the wilderness where we will have a box lunch before heading back.

“Down by the station, so early in the morning...” this is the original station, well over a century old.








On board our car, Yankee Girl. Different cars have different comfort and privilege level. We will ride once in a car called Yankee Girl, and once in a car called Prospector.








Lots of great scenery on the ride!
















This is very old equipment and track, and it is not a smooth ride. The swaying in this video is from the train, not me!




This is the train letting off a blast of steam to help clear the boilers. You could watch out the car window as I was doing here, go up to an open-sided observation car that you can see late in this video, or stand on the platform at the front and back if your car.

Silverton train blows off steam!

We come to our turnaround and have 45 minutes to eat a boxed lunch (the turkey sandwich was WONDERFUL on Monday. Italian chicken today was merely okay). They provide picnic tables under a pavilion away from the river for us to eat but I preferred to sit on the ground by the river and enjoy the view while dining.









After lunch we have a few minutes to admire the locomotive.









Riding the train was a great experience. Highly recommended!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

ME LOVE TRAINS!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I’ve covered train rides on Monday and Wednesday, but haven’t covered Tuesday, or the late afternoon drive Wednesday where I went from Durango to Moab, Utah. So let’s do some catch-up!

I had two main goals and one secondary goal on Tuesday. I definitely wanted to go out in late morning and take pictures of the train from an overpass it goes under. I’d been told it was a good photo op. I went, and shooting from the overpass Wasn’t going to work. There was chain-link lining the overpass presumably to keep jackasses from dropping things on the train and tracks. That is death for photographers! Can’t get camera lenses through the fence. The bridge was kind of narrow and I wouldn’t feel safe with my rear end so near speeding cars anyway. The next day I watched the overpass from the train and realized I could shoot from a different spot nearby and probably get some good shots but that will have to wait till next time I visit. Too bad I was fixated on shooting from the overpass!

My second goal was to visit the famous Indian cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. I wasn’t terribly excited about this because I knew that most of the options there are closed off until a little later in the spring. I would only be able to view some of the ruins from a distance. And it would be in mid daylight which is not good for photography. I still drove out there and got some nice shots of condos with beautiful canyon views. Like all the shots in this report these are iPhone pictures. I took some shots with my fancy camera equipment that I will review and probably post after I’m at home.










About a mile and a half from the entrance to Mesa Verde I saw this interesting building:










The signs talk about toxic waste and a leaking storage tank. Not nice to have close to the areas signature tourist attraction at the national Park. I am assuming that the owner wants to be obnoxious enough that someone will agree to buy it from him so they can take down the signs? (Shrug)

I had a secondary goal of visiting some Indian ruins at a place called Hovenweep. It is not a national park but a mere national monument, which is less prestigious. It was a long drive and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it but I decided to go ahead. My day’s run of mediocrity continued. I had trouble finding some of the sites. In the course of looking for them I did do some driving on pipeline and mining trails Which was confidence building for the new Jeep’s capabilities. I have done some four-wheel-drive work at home but Oklahoma is not known for great wheeling. So it was great to get some more experience for me, and demonstration of the vehicles capabilities. But by this time I was tired and frustrated and I knew the drive home would be long so I did head home early.

Going out to Hovenweep I did have another experience of the wonders of open range. This horse seem to be daring me, “want to bet I can leap in front of you before you can hit your brakes?”












Wednesday afternoon Sightseeing was not on the agenda, but I needed to drive about 2 1/2 hours in the late afternoon to get to Moab. After crossing into Utah I learned that you don’t even have to go into the parks to see some beautiful sights there. These were all come upon by accident and shot from the road!



























when I next post, I will cover my first ventures into Utah parks, as well as a dramatic four wheel drive trail experience. As usual, CW McCall has a song for the occasion:





FYI, a CJ5 was a 1970s-era Jeep...


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Note that all shots yesterday and today were taken from a stopped vehicle...

If you think you have a tough drive to work, you might check this out! Pretty scary! Did I get myself stuck under the Boulder? All will be re later! For now, breaktis over and I’m hitting the road!


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

telracs said:


> ME LOVE TRAINS!


especially steam trains!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Lunch break! I’ll post some more train pics tonight.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

theme song for today!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Here are some more stills. Most of these were of engine 493, which is converted to run on oil instead of coal. Two other engines will be converted soon. They have been burning anthracite coal mined locally, but the mine is shutting down in a couple of years.
Bonus trivia...The original operators wanted to shut down the line in the 1960s, but the federal government wouldn’t allow. This is fortunate because it preserved the line and equipment to be purchased and converted into a tourist and historical attraction later.
It takes about four hours to start the locomotive engine from cold in the morning.
Before the train runs each morning a small motorized car runs over the track to look for any thing that has fallen on the tracks or caused damage during the night.
There is a hotel adjacent to the station in Durango so dedicated train fans could fly into Durango and take train trips and other tours to their heart’s content.
The line does not have signals like most railroads do and dispatchers control who is on the line where in a way similar to air traffic controllers. During the summer they have multiple trains running and all year round time they have small motorized cars doing maintenance or moving personnel about.
The train staff recognizes passengers who are extremely obsessive about railroad equipment and trivia and call them “foamers.”


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)




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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)




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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)




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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

The Texas State Railroad used to be part of Texas Parks and Wildlife. It was one of my favorite places to visit. I have a wonderful memory of going early one morning with my dad to be there when they started the process to fire the engine. I rode in the engine pretty much every time I visited for work. One time they had a school trip and took them half-way to the turntable. I got to ride on the turntable when they turned the engine around. They ran a train from Rusk to Palestine and at the same time ran one from Palestine to Rusk. But we only had one steam engine working. The cool thing about riding in the diesel is that it's pretty easy to drive - there is just one lever 
We try to ride a train any time we get near one. We rode the Georgetown Loop when we were in Colorado because it was closer to our location. I would love to ride the Silverton train. Thanks for sharing.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Here are a few more pictures from the trip....

The Colorado River flows through this canyon










This series of switchbacks is the way down. Not difficult to drive, though it made me nervous! It is supposedly eight hundred feet, though seemed like more!









Here is the view at the bottom of the switchbacks. Compare with the first and second shots above!








After a very scenic twenty mile drive through the canyon, getting out is easier than getting in as we drive by a potash plant!









This balanced rock is on the potash plant property. If you look carefully, you can see the little sign saying “private property!“ This whole drive, including the switchbacks, is actually considered a public road!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I had intended to do some star trail photography, but had not a single cloudless night this trip. Here is the theme song for today, anyway!


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## Muddypawz (Jan 13, 2009)

These pictures and narrative were outstanding! I’m going back to look at your other trips now.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

As always your trip reports are great.
Love the pics and your selection of destinations and routes.


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