Leaving Colorado to return to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Taking in some National Parks along the way and realizing COVID is looming large in the rear-view mirror.

After all the wedding receptions, parties, and events, we packed the leftover wedding stuff back into the garage of the van. It was still an amazingly full load, especially once we got all of our own stuff in. The weather was still nice, but the temperatures at night were starting to get pretty low. Also, the Pandemic was starting to rebound from its summer decline.

November was proving to reinvigorate the virus. The US was on its way to having more cases for the month that most countries would have all year. In early November, about the time we were leaving Boulder, Colorado was hitting a daily record for number of new cases, Texas was racking up a million illnesses, Ohio declared the state was seeing a “rampant spread” of the virus, and most other states were making changes to their previously relaxed rules, changes aimed at slowing the onrushing viral train. All of this was occurring while we were driving south to meander home.

Our first pandemic alarm came when we were on the way to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We were trying to find a campsite for the night before we went to GSDNP, and realized that many Colorado highway rest areas were closed or didn’t allow overnight stops due to COVID. Luckily, we found a campsite at a Colorado state park and could stay the night. It was our first state park overnighting in the van, and it proved to be beautiful and very scenic. It got down to 16 degrees that night, and without any heat on, the van dropped down to 36 degrees inside. Our portable propane heater warmed up the small space quickly. But, to quote a Santa Fe writer (GRRM – GOT)…”Winter’s coming…”

After a quick hike up into the hills above the lake to take in the views, we headed west to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We could see the dunes miles before we got to the park, with mountains rising up just past them. GSDNP is up against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and they provide quite the backdrop for all the sand.

GSDNP was cold and windy and amazing. The area was incorporated into a national park and preserve in 2000, and the dunes are the continent’s tallest. I kept thinking that Lawrence of Arabia would ride up over a dune, on a camel of course. Sadly, it never happened. We hiked the dunes and marveled at the snow-covered mountain range looming over us. The visitor’s center was mostly closed off due to COVID. After a short visit, it was back on the van to get out of the wind. We continued south on Interstate 25, bound for New Mexico and more sand.

Next: South to New Mexico. It was Nuts.