Philmont to Colorado Springs, CO
We got up early (6:30 parents, 7:00 kids) and started straightening the camper and had a granola bar/fruit roll-up breakfast in the car. We stopped along the road between Cimarron and Philmont's Base Camp because the buffalo were out.
We got to Philmont by 7:30 where we met the crew who had just finished breakfast and packing up all their stuff. They were signing each other's T-shirts for souvenirs and taking care of end of trek paper work. The two girls who had mainly worked on T-shirt design (Ellen and Jennie from MN) along with Jeff and Eric went to logistics/registration and presented a T-shirt to Philmont to hopefully be displayed among scores of similar gifts they regularly receive.
We said our good-byes to Jeff & left to go to our 8:00 a.m. Villa Philmonte tour. This was the summer home of Waite Phillips, of Phillips Petroleum, and benefactor of the Boy Scouts. Waite & his wife would tour Europe & send home pieces of furniture that they liked. They even had a 16th century carved walnut chest that they used for their wood box! This 16,000 square foot home is furnished in the Mediterranean Renaissance style but also features a game room, as in dead animals, and lots of southwestern influence. One is truly impressed with the generosity of the Phillips who once said, " to truly keep something, it must be given away," or something to that effect.
We then met the girls, loaded up their stuff, & went over to the trading post. We shopped a while, then gave ourselves a quick tour of the St. James Hotel, an historic operating hotel that was once the scene of some wild west gun battles. The bullet holes in the dining room are visible and are kept as a tourist attraction, and the place is said to be haunted.
We then went back to the camper, had lunch of leftovers, and took the camper down. A bit more shopping and art galary gazing ended our time in Cimarron. By ~2 p.m. we arrived at Capulin Volcano National Monument. The weather was cloudy and a good bit of lightning was flashing around but not real close. Eric, the boys, & I went in the welcome center & watched the 10 minute film on volcanoes & the geologic history of the area. John was thoroughly mesmerized by it. The girls were too tired and stayed in the car. When they asked questions later, John explained everything to them and added, "You should have seen the film."
We drove up a two-mile road to the top of the volcano to look down into the caldera. This road was very narrow and had no guard rail; we had to unhook the trailer and leave it at the bottom. None of us liked this road. We were also advised not to hike along the rim due to the threat of lightning. Some people were ignoring this. John would have liked to stay longer and wanted to hike the rim, but Eric convinced him it wasn't a good idea to risk getting struck by lightning. We were happy to have the inside lane on the drive going down.
In the picture, John is explaining about volcanos. He could entertain many with his volcano lectures, but needed someone to pick him up and place him on the wall he was on.
As we started our drive from Capulun to Colorado Springs, it began to rain. It rained and it rained, and it rained the whole four hours to Colorado Springs. We stopped to eat in Walsenburg and arrived in Colorado Springs at the Lorrigs's at about 9:30 p.m. They are college friends who have lived here many years and also raising a big family (seven children, six currently at home). They suggested we not set up the camper in the rain and dark, so we all colapsed on beds, couches, and floor and slept very well.