The route this day took us from Alamogordo to Denver, the last full day on the road. Mainly just driving, but still a nice day on the road.
Approximate time on road/out caching: 12 hours, 55 minutes
Total miles driven: 563.2 mi / 906,38 km
Total cahes found: 21
Total DNF: 1
States visited: New Mexico, Colorado
Famous places visited: A Dog Will Lick His Butt But Won’t Eat a Pickle Road
Most memorable cache: GC7GEMN Phone Home – Corona
Biggest surprise: How early we arrived after such a long day
Weather: Sunny, light clouds, rain
Highest temperature: 25,5°C / 78°F
Lowest temperature: 16,1°C / 61°F
Not that early today
We didn’t get up that early today, so we didn’t leave the hotel until around 7:30am. But that was still too early for the pistachio farms to be open. But at least we got to find GC2Z9FV Nuts About You and see how the nuts grow.
What a nut!
The next cache, GC1NDK2 WHAT-A-NUT!, brought us to the World’s largest pistachio. This farm was also closed, and getting to the cache was made a bit harder by all the roadwork here. Even though we couldn’t go inside, it was worth the stop for the cache and this huge nut.
Phone home
A couple caches later, we stopped at GC7GEMN Phone Home – Corona. A nice surprise after driving for a while 😀
A quick rain shower
The weather was mostly good all day, except for a couple quick showers. So we had to sit and wait a bit at GC4TGQM SFGT: Raton Pass Area for the worst weather to pass.
Ludlow
We had a couple virtual caches on the plan as well, and after finding some caches in Trinidad, we continued to GCGGCJ Mining I- Ludlow Massacre. We’ve never heard about the Ludlow Massacre before, so it was rather shocking to read about what happened here when the Colorado National Guard opened fire against the striking coal miners. But it was also interesting to read how this eventually led to a change for the better.
Detour
We had a couple hours to drive between the Ludlow virtual and the next cache on the plan. About halfway, we first noticed warnings about a crash ahead, then we were guided off the interstate by a trooper blocking the road. We had now clue where to drive, so we just had to stay close to the car ahead, and hope someone knew where we were going 😛
The Nüvicam eventually understood that turning back wasn’t an option, and then started telling us how to get back onto the interstate.
A dog won’t eat what?
The last cache on the plan was still a couple hours away from the hotel, so we had some really long stretches to drive today, compared to the other days. GC78R1R What Won’t a Dog Eat? was also a short detour, but totally worth it!
Emptying the car
We eventually made it to the hotel, the same as we stayed in last year. We arrived around 8:30pm, and knew it would get very late before we were done getting all of this ready for the flight home…
Our regular place
After emptying the car, and getting almost everything into our room, it was time to head to Uno Pizzeria & Grill. The place we always eat when traveling home from Denver. The food was great, as always.
Pictures
