Happy 231st America

4th of July, 2007

Santa Fe, NM to Fountain, CO

Sunny, partly cloudy, rain

321.1 miles

Except for a downpour right after I hooked up this afternoon, it was a fairly uneventful day - a long day (I don't like to drive more than 300 miles a day - I'm exhausted, especially since I was fighting winds most of the day!). But it was a surprisingly pretty drive!

I don't know what I expected this part of the states to look like, but it certainly wasn't what I saw today. After getting out of the mountains around Santa Fe, I spent most of the day cruising by wide open expanses of ranch land - hundreds of thousands of acres of grass lands . . . no trees to speak of (they couldn't stand up to the wind!), just miles and miles of gently rolling hills of grass. It was lovely!

I-25 is called the Santa Fe Trail, and I couldn't help thinking how much this land must have appealed to the settlers as they entered this vast area.

And the area is clean! Very little trash on the roads! Made it a very easy drive - it helped that it was the 4th of July - almost no traffic, all day!

Crossed the Pecos River, and was very pleased to see more water - more water means more green! The grass was green, the trees were green, it was beautiful!

The little town of Villanueva claimed to have a winery, but I couldn't find it. Sure never saw grapevines, but they are popping up everywhere, so why not here too?

Pueblo is a pretty town - and I had to smile . . . the first thing you see is a big Budweiser plant, and just down the road is the Rocky Mountain Steel Mill - is that a proper combination or what?!!

All in all, a lovely day - ending at a KOA in Fountain, Colorado. A beautiful park! And a little lightning and thunder to usher in the fireworks on TV - perfect 4th of July! Now if I can just stay awake to see all the fireworks!