The Long Road Home: Day 1 and 2

Buffalo

I was greeted by a very special sight when I left the ranch. I finally spotted the buffalo! The road out runs along the back of one of Ted Turners ranches and I'd always heard there were buffalo there but never actually spotted them so I took that as a good omen. My first stop was at Pecos National Historical Park. I didn't realize my GPS was set to avoid highways and I had been planning to get gas in ABQ. By the time I got to a gas station in Mountainair, my car said it had 5 miles left in it. As nerve wracking as that was, it was nice to be off I-25.

Kiva

I arrived at Pecos and there were 3 buses in the parking lot and it was swarming with high schoolers. Luckily they were just heading out so I embarked on the self-guided trail.

Church Ruins

The rangers provide you with a really nice written guide to follow along and learn. You can walk down into a kiva and explore the ruins of a church. It was located in a very pretty setting and I was glad to walk around after over 5 hours in the car.

Fort Union

Fort Union

My next stop was at Fort Union. It had another self-guided walking trail. The fort was fairly extensive but it was all ruins. Again, there was a great written guide provided so I followed that along to learn all about the history. A really cool aspect of Fort Union is that you can still see the wagon ruts from the Santa Fe Trail. After walking the grounds, I got back in my car and headed to Raton, NM for the night.

Capulin Volcano

Capulin Volcano

Capulin Volcano

Capulin Volcano

The next day I had one more stop left in New Mexico. I drove to Capulin Volcano. There is actually a road up to the top which is pretty unique. There is a trail at the top around the rim of the volcano. It had a 12% grade so it was exhausting! It was also almost at 8,000 feet elevation so I had to stop and take a lot of breaks. The view went on forever though so it wasn't too much of a hardship. There was also a trail down to the bottom of the volcano. It was a unique landscape to explore. Then I hopped back in my car to cover some miles. I drove out of New Mexico and into Oklahoma then crossed into Kansas.

Fort Larned

I arrived at Fort Larned in the late afternoon. I had been there before with Jess 9 years ago but I was ready to get out of the car and stretch my legs. The fort is restored really well and most of the buildings are open so I toured around and refreshed my memory. When we were there before we had Breezy and Max so it was bittersweet to reminisce about those sweet puppies. The sun was setting so I got back in my car and drove to Topeka for the evening.