Day 21, Monday, June 22nd - Cimarron to La Junta

Got up at 5 AM & got the heck out of the motel a bit after 6.  That means the cafe we'd planned on visiting for breakfast wasn't yet open.  We drove past the CS Ranch, picked up I-25, and stopped for breakfast (at McD) & gas in Raton.  Nothing open yet.  Toured the town & headed off to Raton Pass - all those trips to NM & we'd never crossed this way.  The pass is an easy trip - not like those wagons that paid their toll to "Uncle Dick" Wooten  the Santa Fe Trail was active.

View from Raton Pass

We'd hoped to see a couple of museums in Trinidad, but our early departure made us way too early to visit the museums.  The grounds of the main museum were open, so we shot some pictures & headed for La Junta.

 Trinidad was a coal town.  Here's a remaining sample

Wagon at Trinidad Museum

Got to the HIE in La Junta by noon, and a room was ready for us.  After unloading and relaxing, we went to lunch at the Copper Kitchen, a real-live quintessential small-town cafe, with all the usual diners.  Then we headed for the local museum, where we got a guided tour of a rather eclectic multi-building establishment.  The star of the collection is a real stagecoach that ran what passed for roads out here.  It's a nice, well-supported museum with enthusiastic volunteer guides.

Historic stagecoach at Otero County Museum

Tomorrow we're off to visit the Sand Creek Massacre site, ride the Kit Carson County Carousel, ending up at Colby, KS.  Getting close to home.