Storms and Clouds and Dunes, oh my!
After a night of rest I headed west into Colorado. Great Sand Dunes National Park was the destination. I had been to 24 of the national parks so far and I was ready to check the 25th off the list. I packed everything back into my car from the hotel room the night before and headed west. It was about a six hour drive to get there, but I was in no particular rush. Being my second day with the trailer, I was sticking to a self enforced 65mph speed limit when on the highways despite the signed 75mph.
Storm clouds fighting back the sun over Great Sand Dunes National Park
Including a quick stop for lunch, I arrived at the park around 4pm. Being Colorado in the summer, the daily thunderstorms were building as I approached. There is a 14 mile road that leads to the park from the highway. This meant you could see the huge clouds looming in the distance, spewing rain from their most saturated parts. I set up my time lapse rig for a bit before entering the park so I could get some footage of the clouds building over the flat farmlands that give way to it’s entrance.
Our first meal together
While my time lapse was lapsing time, I decided to make my dinner. Although there is nothing inside of the Airstream at this point that didn’t stop me from making my first meal in there. I grabbed my camping stove and set it up just inside the door, shielding me from the surrounding winds. It might not have been a gourmet meal but my Trader Joe’s All Natural Uncured Jumbo All Beef Hotdogs would do just fine. (This post is in no way sponsored by Trader Joe’s, although I am open sponsorship talks!) After finishing my haute dogs I packed up the time lapse gear and headed into the park to hopefully get a few shots.
Sunset trying to penetrate storm clouds over Great Sand dunes National Park
Although they weren’t the most cooperative of conditions for photography, the clouds parted long enough to let a little light through. Zeiss had sent me a few lenses to try out on this trip so I was happy to get a little color while at this epic destination. It is certainly one that I will be heading back to at a later date for some more serious exploration. Tomorrow I would be headed into Colorado Springs to explore the surrounding area and to stay at my first RV park. While in the area I would be headed north to Denver for my 50,000mi tune up on the car so it was reassuring to have a safe place to drop the trailer for a couple of days. For now though I was headed back to a spot on the side of the road I had scouted out earlier to settle in for another night of sleeping in the back of the car.