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Crossing the Colorado Prairie – La Junta, Rocky Ford, Springfield, Walsh

The southeastern corner of Colorado is prairie, although the Comanche National Grasslands south of Springfield have their own sort of beauty. Not much traffic on these roads. Of course, most folks on motorcycles consider that a good thing.

Lamar area Colorado Springs area Walsenburg area

La Junta, Rocky Ford, Springfield, Walsh US 50 passes through La Junta and is the best east-west road in this area as it runs alongside the Arkansas River. If you are coming up from Texas you’re probably traveling on US 287, through the Oklahoma panhandle. Springfield has a couple decent motels and one nostalgic-looking old hotel that you might want to check out if it’s that time of day.

Be aware that there is major highway reconstruction work going on along US 287 between Springfield and Lamar that is likely to cause delays. When we came through here in June 2007 it looked like the work will probably not be completed until September. But it’s not enough to change your route. Just expect to get stopped for maybe 20 minutes at most.

There is one very interesting sight along US 287 between Springfield and Lamar, and that is the wind farm that straddles the road for several miles. Scores of huge wind turbines spin, converting the wind to electricity. They’re very picturesque. Here’s a shot:


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