The Highways Traveled

Purposes of this trip:
- Big Bend National Park (missed it a few years ago)
- Two National Parks in southeast corner of Arizona (but missed one of them)
- Three National Parks in northeast New Mexico
- Two National Parks in southeast Colorado
- Second visit in a month to Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park -- and actually "see" it this time

TEXAS: A loose end to take care of -- in 2017 I was just an hour away from Big Bend National Park, I had to skip it.
ARIZONA: Happened to notice that, with four additional hours of driving, I could get two national parks that are very close to each other in the extreme southeastern corner of Arizona.
NEW MEXICO: Noticed that there are three national parks along the highway when heading back to Kansas, had to visit them. Unfortunately, Pecos was gated locked and closed when I arrived a bit over an hour before the visitor center opens.
COLORADO: Noticed that there are two national parks on the way back to Kansas from New Mexico, thus, had to visit them, expecially since this was my first time in the southeast corner of Colorado
KANSAS: Just a couple of weeks earlier I was at Little Jerusalem Badlands but did not have the needed $5.00 bill to self-pay for park entry, and, I did not know I had to spend much time hiking to the actual sight. Got it this time.


MISSED VISITING:
--Brownsville -- to photograph some campus sign of the University of Texas Rio Grande instead of its adjacent campus of Southmost Texas. Will need to return to Texas someday for this.
--Brother Doug -- I was in the wrong half of the state
--Friend Dawn in Houston -- I was far west of Houston on this trip
--Friend Diana in Arizona -- I was already going out of my way to get to the extreme southeast corner of the state
--Tonto National Park -- it is a couple hours drive east of Phoenix, will get it during another Arizona trip to visit Diana
--Casa Grande National Park -- it is just southeast of Phoenix, will get it during another Arizona trip to visit Diana.
--Chiricahua National Park -- was planning to go here after seeing Fort Bowie. But my Garmin wanted me to go a much longer route than Google Maps and I did not have that shorter route with me. Bad assumption on my part, and, a lesson learned!
--Pecos National Park -- I made it to the place, expecting the park itself to be open although I knew I was there before the visitor center opens. Unfortunately, the entire park is gated and locked until time for the visitor center to open.
--Sand Creek Massacre National Park -- I made it to the place, expecting the park itself to be open. However, I learned I should have checked the hours because this park is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays and I was there on a Wednesday. Only missed seeing the visitor center because the area where the massacre occurred was certainly there to see.

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

  1. New Mexico has two 20-mile sections along I-10 that it calls "Safety Corridor". Signs say that speeding fines are double there. Uncertain what the point of the "corridor" is.
  2. Since the terrain where I-10 runs across New Mexico and Arizona, a pair of railroad tracks runs adjacent on the north side. I saw numerous trains along it and each were much longer than what goes through a big city.
  3. Texas takes quite seriously the illegal immigrants trying to "escape into" the US. Several times -- bright daylight and before and after sunset -- in various places I saw where they would drive along the fence of ranches looking for the "escapees". I did not notice this in either New Mexico or Arizona.
  4. So many square miles of land in western Texas and in New Mexico and in Arizona are uninhabitable, at least, not without much effort and expense (of time and money and water).
  5. Western Texas has some really bad dust storms, especially on a hot yet windy day. There were times where the highway was covered in a fog-like dust cloud that cut visibility to near zero. And when a vehicle drives along the highway, it kicks up a cloud of dust. New Mexico has many points along the highway explaining what to do if caught in a dust storm. And, in several places I saw a swirling funnel cloud of dust.
  6. Texas has many places along its highways -- other than interstates -- that are for picnicing. Nice!
  7. I noticed, as I have on many trips, signs saying that some historical marker is a mile ahead. This time, though, it made me wonder (1) how many are there, and, (2) what type of person makes it a special point to see as many of them as possible. Well, the answer to the first one is nearly 132,000 (per https://www.hmdb.org).
  8. Both Oklahoma and Texas have a state law saying the leftmost lane of the interstate is only for passing and not just driving. ALL STATES SHOULD HAVE THAT LAW! The drivers in Oklahoma really obey that law, Texans a bit less so. And better yet, Oklahoma drivers actually use their turn signal when changing lanes. That is something I have long (decades) teased about Kansas City drivers -- most never use a signal to change lanes.
  9. Many, many billboards in Oklahoma are empty/available. Guess the pandemic really hit that business too.
  10. Texas has an abundance of wildflowers growing along the edges of highways. Which ones varies by section of the state.
  11. Maybe I never noticed it before but many vehicles now have luggage racks on their tops.
  12. I saw several dozen vehicles -- cars, pickups, large commercial trucks -- doing both towing and hauling other vehicles. Wonder if that was caused by the pandemic.
  13. The old saying about Texas is that everything there is just bigger. That is certainly true of their small towns -- even they are bigger than similar-sized ones in other states. A town of only a couple thousand people stretches on for several miles with a couple dozen traffic lights along the highway passing through town.
  14. For their road construction areas, New Mexico puts up signs that say which contractor is doing the work, and, the expected budget amount for it. Colorado some something almost the same -- no budget amount given.
  15. With only two exceptions out of hundreds, New Mexico drivers do not use turn signals when changing lanes. While driving between Albuquerque and the Santa Fe exit (where 99% of drivers exited), hundreds zoomed past me while I only passed two vehicles in the hour-long drive. I remember when, in 2004, I was driving in the morning from Santa Fe to Albuquerque and expected to be among the rush-hour-going-to-work traffic, I noticed everyone headed out of Albuquerque (and later learned that many Albuquerque residents work at Los Alamos). Today, that apparently is still true,
  16. Colorado has a strange way of doing speed limits. A two-lane highway may normally be 65 MPH. However, all curves (which, like every other state, has the smaller yellow signs giving a recommended speed for the curve) are set to 55 MPH and the curve is recommended to be 45 MPH. Uncertain the logic for that. They do the same thing for straight road that rollercoasters with hills.
  17. On a Colorado two-lane road I encountered three cows on, or beside, the highway. Unusual sight to see.
  18. Several times on this trip, as has happened on many other trips, i will be driving down some stretch of highway and have the whple thing to myself for extended periods. Maybe I just pick unusual places to go at certain hours of the day! :>)
  19. Colorado has many signs posted on the two-lane highways that say "No snow plowing" between 7pm and 5am. Interesting!
  20. As far as the pandemic impact of 2020 from the standpoint of the travel industry, the travel industry is back! Hotels were full and the roads were certainly packed with vehicles. Uncertain about other aspects of the travel industry since I took enough food on this trip that I never did go into either a restaurant or grocery store like I normally do.

The Bests:


The Worsts:

The Totals:


Just to list this as of June 2021: