We've done that drive many times. It's going to take you around 11 hours to get there so I don't know how you are going to get there in the afternoon unless you leave really early. You are going to be pretty tired--at least we always are.

We do get up really early and of course we gain an hour once we hit New Mexico.

Now I am concerned about the fires that have Raton Pass closed...

There is presently a detour that adds 90 minutes to drive time, but you can still get to Trinidad. What the conditions will be like in July is anyone's guess. It is pretty bad here right now, in addition to the one near Raton, there is one in the south of the state and the AZ fires is trying hard to cross into the state.

Thanks for that info on the detour time, Debit. So weird about the fires. Here in Texas we had our share of wildfires this spring and know how dangerous it is. They say when it is so dry like this you shouldn't even pull your car over on dry grass because a hot catalytic converter could ignite a grass fire.

I25 is now open between Raton NM and Trinidad CO after being closed for a couple of days due to the Track Fire

That is correct bigtyke, but there are still some exits/entrances to the interstate that are not yet open.

Thanks again for the help. We leave June 30 so hopefully NM will have some relief by then!

We drove thru Raton Pass on Monday and everything was ok.

Good to know. Thanks