The motorhome is going into storage and we are making a 30 day 4800 mile loop in the truck. It is a bit of a milk-run trip and we need wheels at every location so it seems to make more sense than flying. We will see. Our route: Houston – time with Brian, Louisville – time with Sayre family, Letart, WV – Kent’s 50th H.S. class reunion, York, PA – a little Wasik family time, and NY – Kingston family time and Willa’s 5th bday then back to South Fork CO to the rig. Whew!
Day 1: CO 160 across Wolf Creek Pass at 10,857ft. It is a beautiful ride through a wide green valley then a climb into snow-capped mountains. We make a stop and short hike to Treasure Falls. 
Swollen with snow-melt the water roars across the rock ledge and spray completely engulfs the upper observation deck. I get drenched. It is pretty cold up here!
We roll into camp, Grand View Cabins and RV, mid-afternoon and spend the rest of the day relaxing, packing, and watching a very friendly group of mule deer who make themselves at home in the campground. One even beds down right by our picnic table.
I have a few hours so I trial Willa’s vanilla vegan b’day cake recipe. What a mess! It rose to the top of the pan but then fell to just ¾” high. It tasted ok but the sugar sort of caramelized all around the edges and it stuck to the pan so bad I had to scrape it out. I blame it all on a combination of a new recipes (my first foray into baked goods using aquafaba) and we are at over 8000 feet elevation. I’m going to have to try this again once we get back to more normal conditions!
Day 2: The motorhome is all buttoned up and stowed away. We point the truck southeast, Amarillo bound. The road stretches in front of us straight and flat. It is a bit windy. Dark, stormy looking clouds many trailing streamers of heavy rain form and disperse in front, behind to the right and to the left. Bolts of lightning streak to the ground. It is amazing to watch. We catch up to, or it catches us, some heavy rain. No real problem but it does cool things off for a bit. We spot prong horn antelope, some lone wanderers others in small bands chill’n and munching. Weather is still unsettled when we make our stop in Amarillo. Fortunately, the golf-ball sized hail produced by some storms never falls near us.
Day 3: panhandle to hill country. We spot two prong horn calves, roll by cotton fields and even a gin, then discover that Texas is the second largest grower of peanuts in the US. We are heading for Brenham TX with an eye out for spring wildflowers and looking forward to a stop at Blue Bell Creamery and a chance to sample a couple flavors.
Day 4: Washington on the Brazos SHS, all about the years of TX as a Republic – how it came to be, what it was like, what it means to TX and Texans today. There is a huge Museum of the Republic here too. We save that for another time. Now we are off to Blue Bell! They don’t do tours anymore but there is a great observation deck overlooking final production stages: flavoring and packaging from single serving to 5-gallon tubs. The newest flavor (Texas is all a-buzz) is Dr Pepper float. Nope, not for me! We go for strawberry and southern blackberry cobbler and are very happy with our choices. Next stop, Brian’s place.