Day 2 Wind. That was the theme of the day. We got started a bit later than expected in leaving Amarillo. Apparently some sort of front has come through and there were all sorts of winds today. I went to log in to my weather iphone program and there were severe wind advisories throughout much of today’s route. Towing a trailer in winds that are gusting up to 50 mph is no fun at all. It is very fat

iguing and can be frightening at times. We made our way across the panhandle into New Mexico and made the same lunch stop as last year at Capulin volcano national park. It is essentially an old dormant volcano that has some short hiking trails and makes a good place to stop over for lunch. This year Grant has developed a fear that the volcano will spontaneously erupt and kill us. Alex wanted to know what dormant meant. I told her it’s like the volcano is sleeping. She then became very concerned on our hike that the volcano would hear us talking and wake up. Kids. We ate some sandwiches and continued on our way. Amy was driving after this as a strong gust of wind caused the open car door to slam on my knee and it was still throbbing and painful. We ran into some sort of dust storm that the wind had kicked up. Once you got into it there was almost no visibility. It reminded me of how my brother described the dust storms in Iraq that would blow through. The rest of the way to Colorado Springs consisted of fighting the crosswinds and pressing on. We arrived at our campground in Manitou Springs in one piece and quickly got set up and cooked spaghetti dinner. Our campsite backed up to a babbling brook and we ate dinner right next to the sound of running water. After dinner we went to downtown Manitou springs to the penny arcade and let the kids play on many outdated rides. They are the sort of thing that would have been at Showbiz pizza when I was a kid but now, there is no way they would meet safety standards. I was struck with a bit of nostalgia while watching them play on the same ride toys I grew up on. The kids began to melt down not long after and we headed back to get them to bed. Harris for some reason these two nights has refused to go to sleep. It must be the excitement of new surroundings and the like. Tomorrow it’s on to Estes Park.