Day 14 - Great Sands - Espaniola NM
I had a nice chat with Pam at Island Acres before we left. Island Acres Motel has been there since 1954, and was originally a ranch. When it was developed, there was a drive-in theatre, the trailer park (where we used to live), and the whole area on the west side of town was referred to as "Island Acres".
We headed down CO-149 to Lake City. About 10 miles before we got there Skye wanted to stop and put on rain gear. I thought we could make it before the rain hit and stop for lunch. I didn't realize how cold she already was, so when we started to get wet it triggered a foul mood in her.
A place called Southern Vittles was our choice for lunch. It didn't help Skye's mood that people coming in kept leaving the door open. It was cold!
Though it had stopped raining by time we were finished eating, the wet going over Slumgullion Pass made us extra cautious! It would have been slow going in any event! The ride to South Fork is known as the Silver Thread Byway and we stopped at the Visitor Center in Creede hoping to find something hot to drink to ward off the cold!
The cold was really a challenge, especially for Skye! In Monte Vista we stopped to warm up and check on hours at Great Sand Dunes National Monument. It was already after 4 and they close at 5! I didn't think we could make it. Skye thought otherwise, and we flew the 40 odd miles to get there! The doors were locked, and we scooted in as others were leaving. People were still in line waiting to check out. I grabbed our pins, patches, and tokens and got in line while Skye stamped our Passport books and WITW NPS pages. The park itself is open 24/7 so we were able to spend some time walking around before heading down to Alamosa.
Checking for the shortest route home, we found our original plan to go through Roswell NM was only five miles longer, and the weather looked better! We decided it was time to leave when a kid came into the c-store with a bandana over his face, playing a rap song that went "I want to tie you down ...". It may have been nothing, but we didn't want to take the chance of getting caught up in some kind of mess!
Going down US-285 was desolate. Dark. Wet. Cold. Tres Piedras had nothing. Ojo Caliente had a self-serve gas station (where we filled up) and a road going off into a business district we thought may or may not have a place to stay, so we continued on into Espaniola. It's really a lovely area not far from where Patricia and Robin lived in El Rito, the Santuario de Chimayo and the Puye Cliff Dwellings.
There was something going on in town and we got the last room at the Days Inn, which was more expensive than advertised. The pizza ordered from a nearby Dominos took over an hour to arrive. We were cold, hungry, and exhausted ... and finally getting along again!