An unexpected journey

Well, not complete surprise. We were planning to leave for Houston tomorrow. But the weather had other ideas – there was a winter storm warning coming up, so in less than an hour we packed everything, threw it into the car, and headed south. I’m hoping that by cutting down to New Mexico and then across to Amarillo we’ll avoid the mess in Kansas and Oklahoma.

It was an okay drive… mostly. We got over Monument Hill just as it was starting to snow. It seemed like clear sailing after that, but there was some kind of isolated storm just north of La Veta pass and that got a little dicey. The highway was covered with snow and I ended up following the tracks of a semi that passed us.

…which swerved kind of alarmingly at times. I half expected to see that guy on his side and off the road, but we passed him again later after the snow had stopped and he seemed all right.

Raton pass was shockingly all right, though there was a scary moment where the highway signs said the highway was closed up ahead – but the road was clear. I guess we got to the pass right as the highway was opened back up, because the highway was open, and that stretch of road was just wet.

Anyway, we’re down in Santa Fe and doing all right. Had some awesome quesadillas and got aggressively panhandled at the restaurant. So that was sure a new one. The internet at this hotel is absolutely terrible, but I think I’m going to fade out pretty soon anyway. I drove for six hours straight and I’m just utterly fried. Mike doesn’t do bad weather or dark when it comes to driving, so it was basically the Rachael show all the way down I-25.

Goodnight, and… more driving tomorrow. So much more driving. We’re aiming for Wichita Falls. We don’t have to be in a hurry since we left a day early.