We left Great Falls, Montana on Thursday morning wanting to get out of the area because we knew cold weather was coming our way. As we drove south we listened to the weather broadcasts on the CB and kept hearing "snow and cold." So we kept driving...Sheridan, Wyoming was supposed to get 8 inches of snow the next day and Casper was supposed to get 3-5. We finally stopped and slept in a rest area north of Cheyenne.

We woke up Friday morning to no snow and temps in the 30's...but according to the weather forecasts there was a "arctic cold front" moving into Wyoming and Colorado on Saturday - so we kept driving. We drove into Colorado and decided to take the tollway around Denver to avoid traffic - it cost us $35.00 but the road was great and traffic was non existent.

We decided to head to Raton, New Mexico because although they were forecast to get some cold it didn't sound as bad as what they were predicting farther north. South of Denver isn't all that pretty - just more brown hills - but right before the border there is a little town called Trinidad that was beautiful - it sits at the base of the mountain pass and it's like coming into an oasis of trees after the hills. The town looks charming and old. Unfortunately they were doing road construction so the roads were bad and there wasn't anywhere safe to get off and sight see - but it's on my list for the future!

After climbing a very long pass (elevation 10,000 ft) we came down into Raton and stayed at the KOA. It was sunny and 60 degrees last night so we barbecued. This morning it's only 35 - but it's sunny so we are hopeful. The funny thing is that the Anchorage Daily News says it's 47 degrees there right now...leave it to us to be somewhere colder than home...

We are headed to Amarillo, Texas today - and then onto Lawton tomorrow - can't wait to see the grandbaby!

For those of you who are interested here are some statistics on the Al-Can highway...
Anchorage to Great Falls; 2,624 miles
-it took us 8 days to go 2,000 miles - and one day to go 624 miles
Total spent on Diesel: $1,189.45
most expensive diesel: Fort Nelson $4.40/gallon
least expensive diesel: Red Deer, Alberta $3.32/gallon
average miles per gallon: 7