Prologue
I am not an elk hunter. I love to hunt and fish but my hunting is normally limited to deer, dove, and wild pigs. However, my son loves to hunt elk. He’s studied hunting strategies, calling elk (bugling), maps and all things elk hunting and he’s been to Colorado 3 other times for an archery hunt. Now, here’s one of the #OldManInTheWoods’ guiding principles – if you get an opportunity to have an adventure with one of your kids or grandkids don’t hesitate. Do it!
Last year my youngest son asked me to go with him on a scouting trip during the summer. Unfortunately, wildfires closed much of the National Forest in southern Colorado so we had to cancel that trip. Earlier this year we were talking about his hunt and somehow I found myself interested. The next thing I knew I was logging on to the Colorado Parks & Wildlife site and signing up for the draw. The #OldManInTheWoods is heading for the mountains.
I found out during the spring that elk hunting is apparently hard work. My son introduced me to Train to Hunt. The idea is to work out to get you ready for mountain hunting. Old men get to carry only 30 pounds as you work through the challenge – gee thanks. The competition was the first of June at Cinnamon Creek Ranch in Roanoke, Texas.
I survived but at times I wasn’t sure. Guess this should have been a warning of things to come. Shortly after the competition, I found out that I had drawn a bull tag for unit 67 near Gunnison, Colorado. Uh-oh!! Keep hiking and try to get ready.
Getting There – Day 1, October 4th
On Friday, my wife and I began the first part of our adventure with a short trip to Dallas to pack up my son’s gear. Soon after we got out of Longview she asked if I had gotten the apples out of the fridge. “What apples?”. No problem, we’re going to the grocery store anyway and “… I didn’t tell you to get them.” “Whew!!”. Then as I thought about the fridge, I remembered the groceries I had put in there for our camping trip – oops.
We, of course, stopped in Dallas to do a little shopping. Most of my trips to Dallas with #ShoppingBeauty involve “a little shopping”. This time it was just a return – making money so far. There was also the inevitable trip to Central Market.
A common theme in our travels is food, especially local or exotic grocery stores. When you’re from Longview, Texas Central Market is considered highly exotic. I mean they have one area of the store that is the size of some small-town grocery stores totally devoted to produce. There was one whole wall of apples! Who knew there were so many different types of apples? Our mission for today was primarily picnic supplies, but more about that later.
We got to the kids’ house in time for #ShoppingBeauty to pick our grand-daughter up from kindergarten while the guys worked on packing the truck. The first problem I noticed after we finished packing is that there’s no place to put an elk – the truck is packed! Oh well, get on the road and we’ll figure something out when we get there.
Day 2, October 6th
Our grandson is an early riser, so #ShoppingBeauty and I had planned to get on the road shortly after he got up. If you have grand-kids you know you don’t just get up, say “good morning” and then “good-bye”. We had a little playtime, drank a cup (or three in my case) of coffee and hit the road a little after 8:00.
The plan was to go through Lubbock and spend the night in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. The shortest route from the northern D/FW area to Lubbock is highway 114. It’s a small road with very few towns of any size so we planned to picnic on the way. As we approached lunchtime I realized it would coincide with our arrival in Guthrie, Texas. Perfect opportunity to show #ShoppingBeauty the 6666 ranch.
Now if you’re wondering about that 6666 ranch, the folks in Guthrie would say the four-sixes. It’s the brand of a 275,000-acre ranch that breeds quarter horses and cattle. Several years ago a friend of ours worked on the ranch in their horse breeding operation. She is a fabulous horse-woman and now works in the LSU vet program. #ShoppingBeauty and I sat on the tailgate of the truck and had our picnic while watching the cattle graze.
After lunch, we drove on to Lubbock. We stopped off at the McPherson winery and tasting room. We didn’t stay long because Texas Tech was playing OSU, the game was in the 4th quarter, and we wanted to get out of town before the crowds let out. We motored on through Muleshoe to the New Mexico border.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico was a welcome stop for the night and it was a surprise. The town is on Route 66 and has a nice looking (from the outside) travel museum. The real surprise was the Blue Hole. If you stick with this blog you’ll hear many stories about the Blue Hole but that’s where the old guys hang out.
The blue hole in Santa Rosa is an 80’ deep artesian well that is one of the most popular scuba diving spots in the US.
Day 3
The last day of our journey started with a short hop to Santa Fe in time to have brunch at Pasqual’s. New takes on traditional Mexican breakfast foods for us including smoked trout hash. They have a community table that seats 8-10 people right in the middle of the room. If you go I encourage you to try this. We struck up a conversation with a young lady from Houston that was in town for a conference and swapped advice on places to visit in Santa Fe.
Short Diversion – We were introduced to the community table concept on a trip to Germany and Austria. There, many of the tables are large community tables. This was a little uncomfortable for the #OldManInTheWoods but we found that all of the people were friendly and eager to talk with us. Some of our best advice on local things to see came from these tables. It takes a little more effort in America but is usually well worth the effort to put yourself out there.
After a short stroll around the plaza, and a little shopping, we headed to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We spent Sunday – Tuesday nights with a friend from Longview who is transitioning to full-time life in Colorado after retirement.
