Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Elk Hunt Chronicles - Day Two

Finally got out of Texas today. If you've never driven through the Panhandle it's hard to describe it. The word "flat" doesn't do it justice.

Take a look at your tabletop. It is positively undulating compared to the Panhandle.

The horizon is a perfectly flat line.

The roads were all laid out with one tool - a ruler. There are no curves anywhere .

(Well, except for the women. I dated two gals from out there. One was from Post, and the other was from Snyder. They were both cute as bugs and a lot of fun. But they both shared the same flaw - an inability to put up with youthful me. Not their fault - I was pretty immature back then. But still, they could have been a little more tolerant.)

There is also a noticeable lack of trees. In fact, trees are so scarce that dogs make reservations three days in advance.

Once I left Texas the terrain changed rapidly. About an hour into New Mexico I drove through Sierra Grande, at an elevation over 7000 feet. Around the New Mexico-Colorado border I went through Raton Pass, close to 7400 feet. In fact, the drive north from Raton goes through some pretty serious mountains.

I then battled my way through the Colorado Springs-Denver-Fort Collins traffic nightmare. That's about 150 miles of urban sprawl and city congestion. I don't see how people can live in those conditions (although I did live in Houston for twenty years - I guess you can get used to anything).

It was with profound relief and pleasure that I crossed the Colorado-Wyoming border. Traffic virtually disappeared. I think Wyoming has more antelope than cars.

Anyway, I'm spending the night in Douglas WYO. It's about halfway between the southern state line and the northern one, which is my destination. Tomorrow should be an easy day - just a three or four hour drive, then settling in and getting ready to start hunting bright and early Thursday.

I'm not sure what the Internet connection will be like at the ranch where I'm going, so posting my be a bit sporadic for a while. But I'll do what I can.

Y'all hold things together while I'm gone.

5 comments:

Bag Blog said...

The LLano Estacado is well known to me especially the road from Wichita Falls to Red River, NM, my hometowns. I always think about "Lonesome Dove" where Gus is after Blue Duck and riding across the Staked Plains trying to get away from the bad Indians. There was no place to hide or take cover - just open grassland.

I'm headed to Amarillo next week if the weather is good.

CenTexTim said...

You're right about no place to hide. . It looks like a fuzzy Welcome mat out there.

I drove through Amarillo on the way here. Hope you have a good trip.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Here is a suggestion for your return trip that will avoid the whole Ft Collins to Colorado Springs I-25 mess.

I-25 to Cheyenne, East on I-80 about four miles to US 85, South on US 85 to Greeley, East on US 34/I-76 to Brush, South on SH 71 to Limon, East on I-70 a few miles to US 287, then South to Texas.

For history buffs, that is approximately the route of the old Goodnight Cattle Trail.

Good luck on your hunt.

Old NFO said...

Good luck, and we'll be waiting for the AAR and pictures! :-)

CenTexTim said...

WSF - that sounds good, but I'll have to wait until next year to try it. I have a nonrefundable hotel reservation in Colorado Springs for the return trip.

NFO - thanks. Hopefully there will be something worth taking pictures of.