The Great SouthWest Road Trip

Into the Mountains

2006-02-01T15:09:00.000-05:00

It is a beautiful day with high, wispy clouds. We are going east out of Montrose on Highway 50 through farm valleys with fields of corn. Mountains are all around us. Distant ones to the south are quite jagged. The northern ones come closer and look like giant mounds of tan dirt with a few junipers on top.

The road turns southeast with dirt hills on both sides now, but covered with scrub. The plants are gray, green, yellow-green, with blond grass, some junipers and small trees. The scrub is turning red and orange, the little trees yellow. It looks like fall. The road twists and turns through these hills while sheep graze in small green valleys on the south side.

At Cimarron the mountains rise on the north side with sharp shards of rock near the top. A river lined with tall trees and grass runs next to the road on the south. The trees are turning yellow, very pretty.

The land flattens out some, into farms, with herds of sheep in the north running through meadows. There are mountains in the distance to the south, dark with trees. A small rock plateau rises up to the north. Round bales of hay lay in cut green fields while black cows graze in a pasture nearby. We pass a giant grassy valley on the south side with its own reservoir lake and herds of cattle grazing.

The road narrows and goes through close, sharp, rocky mountains. As we ascend, we see an array of large, rolling mountains crested with rock plateaus.

We cross the river near Sapinero, where there is a large dammed lake. The plateaued mountains to the north are called Blue Mesa, because their rolling sides are covered with blue-gray scrub.

We turn back west now, onto Highway 92, which winds quite spectacularly around the north side of the steep, granite Black Canyon. Where they can get a foothold, pine trees grow on its sheer sides. We stop at some of the turnouts to look down into the dark, shade-filled canyon with a wide river at the bottom. It is a bright, sunny day. The rocks we walk on are covered with blue-green lichen. Yellow flowers grow here.

At one of the stops, we meet a young couple on a motorcycle who tell us about a restaurant up the road in Crawford. We talk for a while about our trip and car, and then move on. The mountains are covered with yellow-tinged birch, pines and reddish scrub. Every now and then we see small clusters of dark, tall, cone-shaped rocks, about twenty feet high. I have no idea what would make such a strange formation.

We cross the Montrose County line and turn north, ascending higher into the mountains. There are clumps of birch woods and pine, surrounded by multicolored scrub. Many mountains scenes, all beautiful.

The land levels out somewhat after a while. A small, long valley runs next to the road on the east side. Brown cows graze here in green pastures. Tall, yellow-tinged trees run through the valley, sparkling in the sunshine next to the farm buildings.

The farmlands continue through Maher and Crawford, with mountains on the east and west. We intended to stop in Crawford at the restaurant the motorcycle couple told us about, but it is closed. Instead, we go to the Branding Iron, a cute little golden brown wood building with outside decks surrounded by yellow birch. We are surprised when we see the motorcycle couple here also! Mark has been looking for a bar burger for ages. He finally gets his wish!

Farms continue through Hotchkiss, where we turn northeast onto Highway 133. Some farms are dry, while others are green. They have little dammed-up ponds. The water in the reservoirs, lakes and ponds we see in this area is very low. Fruit and wine orchards grow near Paonia. On the south side of the road, a little man-made earth viaduct runs for a while through grass and shrubbery.

A railroad appears now in the south. The mountains around us narrow into a valley, with the railroad crossing over to the north in front of a giant coal mining operation near Bowie. A train with two old-fashioned black engines and about a hundred cars filled with coal sits in front of it. There are several mines from here through Somerset. One mine has a coal chute on the north side of the road that runs down over the road to the south side!

The road bends north, with a dammed-up river below on the southeast side. Pines grow on buff-colored rocky mountains now, both sides of the road. At the bend, we caught site of very high, jagged steep mountains to the east. They are light gray on top with sparce trees becoming thicker at base.

As the valley widens out, the mountains become more rounded and rolling, with grass, scrub, pines and birch. We come to a hairpin turn facing south, with a little road going to Marble that runs into a spectacular mountain valley. I wish we could have gone down there to see what it was like. One of our maps says there are marble quarries there.

The road turns north again, going through many steep-sided mountain valleys with a rocky river running below. Rocks alternate between red and white, half covered with trees. It is a pretty tree-lined river with beautiful views.

We pass Redstone, aptly named, coming up to Carbondale. There are several old coke ovens on the side of the road at Redstone. Most of the metal doors on the fronts have been broken off. The valleys widen out into farms again near Carbondale.

We turn northwest onto Highway 82. There are red mountains to the east and red and white striped mountains on the west. We come to Glenwood Springs, an old hot springs resort town, and now also a college town. It has nice upscale shops and old houses.

We drive east on Highway 70 into fantastic brown cliff canyons. This is the Glenwood Canyon. There is a large river on the south side of the road, along with a railroad track. The old power lines alongside the track have glass insulators on them. The tracks go in and out of blackened holes in the mountains. The highway splits into two pieces and is now double-tiered, one side higher up the north canyon wall than the other side as we go through tunnels. It is a very interesting ride.

The canyon ends near Dotsero, and the valley widens out into rounder, lower mountains. We go south on Highway 6 at Gypsum, then head east. There is a large gypsum mine here (who’d a thunk?) with white hills of gravel-like gypsum in front of white mountains on the north side of the road. A train is there with many cars full of gypsum. We continue east to Eagle where we spend the night.

The Colorado River

2006-01-23T15:52:00.000-05:00

After our brunch at Eklectica in Moab, we set out on Highway 128, which travels northeast right next to the Colorado River. It is a winding, picturesque road with towering red-black cliffs and plateaus on either side. The road runs along the south shore. There are lush green trees and grasses along the river’s edge, and we come across a campground near the Big Bend area.

As we drive along, we see a place where we can walk down to the river. We stop the car in a parking lot and walk down to a light-colored sandy, gravely beach spot. It’s very pretty with green trees to the right. There are some people lounging there with their picnic. Some yellow plastic rafts drift by, sliding to the left. In these two rafts, along with the people, are three dogs! At first, I think the people are going to paddle up to the beach, which seems to excite the dogs very much. I’m not quite sure why, but the people change their minds and row away instead. Poor doggies!

We continue with our trip. All along the road, side canyons, wide and narrow, twist down to the river. They are jagged and quirky, filled with spires and chunky boulders. After a while, the land flattens out a bit. Somewhere in this stretch, we pass at least two very elegant and expensive-looking dude ranches. One has extensive white-railed paddocks for horses. The ranches have elaborate gates and plantings near the road. Very fancy-schmansy!

We leave the ranches behind. Off in the distance to the east, we see some unusual spiky rock pillars. They are thin, red sheets of rock-wall jutting out from a monument plateau. We take a side road that leads up to their base. These are the Fisher Towers, which contain many hiking trails. The afternoon is very hot, so we just stop the car near some other tourists to take a quick look. As we are viewing the towers, Mark realizes that there are at least two people that have climbed up to the top of one of them! We have no idea how they got up there, or, better yet, how they are going to get down! If you look very closely at the middle of the fifth picture in this series, you will see them. Perhaps they are still there . . .

Highway 128 zigzags north after the Fisher Towers and passes over the Colorado River at Dewey. The original small suspension bridge still stands alongside the newer highway. The old tourist stores and picnic areas of Dewey are on the north side. The man that ran the stores is still there, in a house down the hill next to the river.

Rising up from the Colorado, we turn northwest and ride into . . . absolutely nothing! There are no houses, no plants. There is only the road. There are a few low, round hills and small ridges covered with short, light scrub and grass, but that is all. As far as the eye can see, there is nothing. This is called the Grand Valley, but it looks like a vast, flat plain.

We turn northeast and come to the abandoned town of Cisco. The dilapidated, caved-in buildings sit in grassy, uncut fields—but wait! There are new cars here! People still live in this town.

We drive past Cisco northeast onto Highway 70 into the nothing again. Pink mountains topped with darkness rise off to the north, pink plateaus are in the southeast. Near the Colorado border, dark green junipers dot the pure blond grass, shining brightly in the sun. It makes for a strange landscape.

At the border, the junipers increase on low hills. Wide rolling valleys appear with low rocky plateaus of beige sparsely covered with juniper. Blond grass with light scrub and a few flowers cover the valley floors.

To the north, irrigated farms and a town sit in a vast, flat valley edged by pink and white mountains. At Mack, the road turns southeast to Loma. The road is bordered on the south by rounded, blond grass hills. At Loma, banded pink plateaus rise up in the south, with the wide Gunnison River near the road.

We come to Fruita. The plateau cliffs and canyons to the south are quite large and interesting, with blond hills at their base. To the northeast, a range of light pink and tan mountains looks like a gravel pit! Grand Junction is next, a big city with Sears and Walmart. We switch to Highway 50 here, and continue southeast.

Near Whitewater, a series of weird little yellow and white sand hills commence on the east side of the road. Large mountains dark with junipers stand behind them. This landscape continues all the way to Delta and Olathe. To the west, widely scattered houses, each with their own little enclave of items, are stationed on a wide, blond grass plain.

As we approach Delta, we notice a low, white cloud in the distance, going from west to east crossing the road. It is thick in the west, thin and hazy in the east. It looks like smoke. Delta has an odd landscape of tiny, gray rock canyons sunk into the ground here and there near the road.

Farm fields and trees cover the land to the west after we leave Delta. The east has some farms also, along with those weird yellow sand hills. We smell the smoke! Over the southwest horizon, there is a national forest. We assume that is where the fire is located.

We are at Olathe. Smoke covers the entire southern horizon. The countryside is fairly settled now, with farms, scattered trees and houses. The land is mostly flat with mountains still to the east. The mountains in front of us to the south are barely visible through the smoke.

We come to Montrose, where we will stop for the night. Tomorrow, we will turn east and head up into the mountains.

Moonset over Moab

2005-12-05T15:58:00.000-05:00

It is morning, but not morning. Outside in the dark, the full moon sets over a monument on the outskirts of town. It falls just below the top cliff, creating a soft white glow above it. The hours before daylight are cool and still as we drive north to Arches National Park.

The road is long from the entrance to the end, where we will walk the Devils Garden. The moon, still with us, is now a deep orange-yellow, like a pumpkin. Small, brown rabbits dart across the road. Their round eyes glare brightly in the headlights. They are everywhere! Remembering the heat and barren rocks of this park from yesterday afternoon, it is hard to believe that so much life could be here.

False dawn arrives as we come to the end of the line, the Devils Garden Trailhead. We start our walk just as we can see the path ahead of us. It would be nice to have more light, but the largest arch, Landscape Arch, is about a mile away, and we want to see it at sunrise. The rabbits are jumping and running all over the place! We try to take pictures of them, but because the light is so low, the shots don’t come out very well.

Yesterday I was disappointed with the park when we found out we would have to walk quite a ways to see the big arches. It was hot and bright, and as the day heats up, the wind rises also. But timing our visit for the morning makes all the difference. The walking is quite pleasant with many interesting tree and rock formations.

We arrive at Landscape Arch before the sun comes up. There is a little side trail that gets closer to it, so we go on that to take more pictures. Just as we are about to leave, the dawn breaks over the arch, lighting it up like gold! The rocks turn rich and vibrant, and as we walk along to other arches, this gold lights them up inside. The landscape comes alive with deep shadows and colors against a clear blue sky.

For about an hour, we are alone in the park. It’s great for taking pictures! Then one guy shows up and wanders off ahead of us. Later on we meet another man with a large tripod and camera. We come to a split in the trail near Double O Arch. Here we can circle around and go back a different way, but we decide not to. The circle trail is longer, and we have already walked at least three miles one way.

About half way back, we finally see more people coming along toward us. The sun is high, it is getting quite warm, the wind is starting to pick up, and everyone is just hitting the trails! I am glad we came so early. It was a very peaceful, relaxing and beautiful way to see this park.

We end our trek by going out to brunch at a wonderful little café in Moab called Eklectica. Wide-roofed porches with outdoor seating and gardens surround the shop. A giant blue mosaic encrusted coffee cup makes for great advertising in the front garden next to the road. It’s a great place for rest and refreshments after our long hike!

Junkyard Dogs and Hole N' The Rock!

2005-11-29T16:21:00.000-05:00

They say that Ouray is open to tourists all year long, but some of the businesses in town do close at the end of summer. In the morning, we decide to visit a bakery we read about in one of the tourist brochures, but when we get there it is closed for the season, on account of the baker going to Africa for the winter! (That’s gotta tell you something about the weather here.) There are bars and restaurants, but it is hard to find anything open for breakfast. We finally go into a spacious, sunlit coffee shop with many blond wood tables and a very long line of people waiting for service. There is a lone worker behind the counter, taking orders and running around like mad. Mark is not happy. Mark does not like to wait for anything. If Mark had his way, we would never eat, except maybe once a day, when he could get a martini with his dinner. However, we do wait, because divorces are expensive.

We eventually obtain good coffee and pastries, and then Grumpy and I set off into the unknown on our next leg of the trip. We come out of Ouray’s bowl-like mountain valley and head north on Highway 550 to Ridgway. The mountains get smaller while the valley widens into farms and pastures. At Ridgway we turn west on 62. It is a sunny, clear day as we drive through farm valleys with giant rolls of hay in the fields. A row of high mountains lay behind them to the south.

We go southwest into rounded green mountains, and meadows bordered with aspen forests. The aspens start to mix with pine and blue spruce as the valley becomes narrower and meadows diminish. The mountains show more rock now. It is blocky and chunky looking, white and red.

Placerville sits in a narrow river valley along the south side of 145 going northwest to Norwood. The road runs above the town on the north. Chunky red rock cliffs line both sides of the valley with a pretty stream running through the middle.

High, thin clouds form bands in the sky as the valley widens. The mountains round and change to pinkish tan. The road crosses the river, then rises up sharply to the mountaintop on the southwest side. A grassy pastureland covers the high plateau. Norwood and Redvale are both ratty little towns with small houses. Junky farms are scattered about. There are high, pointed mountains to the west with lower, longer mountains to the north and south.

Near Junction 141 just before Naturita, desert plants start to take over! We see junipers, blue-gray shrubs and yellow-flowering bushes again. Naturita is another junky town! Junkyards are all over, with more ratty houses and many rusted cars. I guess people like to keep their own personalized dumps here. You never know when you might need to recycle something!

We turn northwest onto 90 at Vancorum and drive through rocky tan mountains that turn down into a wide valley. This valley runs northwest for miles all the way to Paradox. There are long flat mountains dotted with junipers to the south, while the north is dominated by a long, red and white banded rock plateau. The valley starts with desert scrub and junipers and ends with farms. At Paradox, the road twists up over the southern mountains into red and white rocky cliffs, very picturesque.

We pass over into Utah, going west on 46 up into white, chunky pine-covered cliffs. They end in grassy plains with farmland and trees stretching north up the sides of a beautiful set of rounded mountains with bare tops. These are the La Sal Mountains, and we circle them as we continue west and then north on 191. We view their pretty green meadows and forests from many angles as we travel along.

On 191, the country changes completely to red rock canyon lands! Then we see something quite amazing. It is Hole N’ The Rock! We know this because there are giant, white letters about 20 feet high painted on the side of a small, red mountain right next to the side of the road. This tourist trap has every kitschy thing you can imagine. It also has a house with regular windows and doors built into the rock!

There is a small pool filled with plants and sculptures, many cactus gardens filled with statues and other various objects, a zoo and a trading post. And of course, the Hole N’ The Rock, which started out as a small restaurant. Albert, the guy who made it, just kept blasting out more rock until he turned it into a house.

Albert had many hobbies including painting and sculpture, which he got pretty good at. Then he tried his hand at taxidermy. Boy, he should have left that one alone. Poor donkeys! He didn’t kill them; they were the donkeys he used to carry out the rock after blasting. When they died, he decided to stuff them, and they can still be seen inside the house today. This whole place is an unusual, fun area to visit.

We continue north to Moab, a large tourist town surrounded by red rock desert. We check into a hotel, then drive up to Arches National Park. We find out that although there are many interesting rock formations, most of the arches are at the very end of the park and you have to walk about five miles round trip to see them! It is afternoon and very hot, so we decide to do this tomorrow morning.

The Million Dollar Highway

2005-10-13T17:47:00.000-04:00

The day is cool, very clear, with no clouds. We head east for Durango on Highway 160. There are tall mountains in front of us, covered in pine. They look dark, backlit by the morning sun. We drive toward them through hilly, treed plains with blond pastures and green farmland where cows and horses graze, a land of lush trees and streams.

We pass through Mancos and rise up into the mountains, with green valleys and farms in view down below. The mountains are covered with tall pines and other trees. Green grass has replaced desert scrub. Cows graze in mountain pastures.

There are rows of blue hazy mountains in the east as we go by Hesperus and drive down into a valley. The valleys and mountains continue, pine-covered, rocky and narrow.

We come to Durango, a pretty town with the sparkling La Plata River running through it. We eat breakfast at Le Rendezvous, a great gourmet restaurant and bakery in the historic district. I had French toast made out of a sliced baguette, with blueberries. Two divorced high-maintenance broads sat near us, talking about their bad husbands, work and kids! Afterwards, we walked around town and bought an aspen leaf picture in a very nice high-end art and furniture shop.

After breakfast, we drive north on Highway 550, the Million Dollar Highway. There are two theories about this name. One is that it cost a million dollars to make the road; the other is that a woman said she wouldn’t go back there again for a million dollars! Personally, I think it is spectacular.

We travel through rounded pine-covered mountains, thickly banded with dark red and white rock. A white glider flies through the valley, landing at a small roadside airport. We pass through Honeyville, set up as an old-timey railroad town, complete with train and large tan-painted wood water tower for the train. A large herd of cattle graze nearby.

We drive halfway up the west side of a larger valley. In this valley there are long, narrow, lumpy, rocky ridges running along through the middle. These dark ridges are topped with expensive, million dollar houses. It is an oddly unique landscape, but very beautiful.

We go up higher now into splendid, pointed mountains with tall, skinny pines and aspen. We take pictures at Coal Bank Pass and before Lime Creek Burn. We cross the Molas Divide and head down out of the mountains into Silverton, a small, pretty Victorian town in a flat valley.

Then we head up through higher mountain valleys again. We have seen hillsides of pine poles laid down flat, probably from avalanches. Between the pines there are open patches of brown, rust and deep yellow gravel on the mountainsides. There are no guardrails on the sides of steep drop-offs. Sneeze once driving a Mini Cooper and you’re done for!

In the Red Mountain area, old wooden mine shafts appear. There is one large one in particular halfway up the mountain, with old mine tailings running down into the river. We see some fall color on the hills, yellow aspens with the pine. We stop in the valley to take pictures. There is a high railroad trestle for loading ore, and some white clapboard houses, probably for the workers or mine company officials.

We continue north on 550. A little way past the mines a bright yellow river runs next to the road! The surrounding rocks are also dyed yellow, possibly pollution from the mines? Part of a snowdrift still lies in the riverbed!

As we drive on, the mountains become solid gray, bare rock with sheer drop-offs and no guardrails. Michigan authorities would be appalled! We are about to descend into Ouray (pronounced You Ray), the Switzerland of America.

Before we go into the town, we take the turn-off to see Box Canyon, a narrow fissure between high rock cliffs with a spectacular waterfall running through it. This tourist attraction is at least 100 years old, because we actually have pictures of it in our stereograph collection!

You see the falls and river via a metal mesh walkway hung halfway up the fissure wall inside the canyon. Because this small canyon is so narrow (only a few feet wide in places) it is mostly dark inside. At the back of the canyon there is a stairway to the river below.

The falls rush down, then turn like a waterslide around a giant rock column, with a final mighty cascade into a circular pool. The crystal clear water runs through the fissure over rocks and around boulders until it leaves the little canyon. It is an absolutely beautiful display. You can take another walk up to the top of the falls where you can look down through the fissure as the water rushes around the rock column slide.

After seeing the falls, we drive into Ouray and stay at the Box Canyon Lodge, complete with hot tubs on the mountainside! While we enjoy the wooden tub on its little deck, a deer walks by on the hill behind us. The motel takes its water from a hot spring running down the hillside, reduces its temperature from 140 degrees, then pipes it into the tubs. In fact, Ouray is known for its hot springs. Many of the hotels have hot tubs, and there is a giant, public hot spring pool on the north side of town.

We walk into town for dinner that evening. Ouray is an old Victorian town with beautiful, ornate houses and highly decorated town buildings. We eat dinner at the Bon Ton Restaurant in the basement of the St. Elmo Hotel. The side entrance of the hotel is reached by walking through a patio filled with tables topped with umbrellas, which are surrounded with plants and trees lit up with soft white lights.

We sat for a while in the elegant main parlor of the hotel until our table was ready, and then went downstairs to the beautiful red brick and timber restaurant. The food and drinks were superb. Mark was very impressed with the quality of the martinis!

We relaxed in the hot tub again after dinner, with another deer and fawn grazing on the side of the hill above us. Ouray is a beautiful place, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here!

Tomorrow we will drive down out of the mountains and head northwest into the desert again to Moab and Arches National Park!

Storm Clouds Rising----Burnt to a Crisp!

2005-10-11T18:10:00.000-04:00

This is a day of storms and rain—but all the storms are far away, in the distance. They surround us on all horizons as we move through the land, always in the sun.

After taking pictures of the sunrise in Monument Valley, we leave Gouldings and head south on 163 to Arizona. Storm clouds flank us on the east and west. The clouds are white, with points of rain falling from them. Long plateaus of monuments follow us down the western side of the road. Kayenta lies in front of them. The tan mountains are dark with vegetation and cloud cover. Rain falls above them and also to the south now.

We turn northeast on 160 into a yellow-green plain. Some horses and cows graze to the south. A single, dark gray monument sits before us to the northeast, backed on the north by a very long, low mountain range of light red round-top tipped-up rocks. They are tipped high to the north, low toward us, and go on in a straight line for miles. This might be what they call Comb Ridge on the map, except that this comb is stubby and the teeth are fat!

South of the road, a small red monument range comes into view, with chimneys like Bryce facing our way. Several arms stick out, with many defunct tourist buildings sitting in front. This place is called Baby Rock. Several police cars with flashing lights drive toward us. They are escorting a giant dump-truck box from a T-Rex!

The plains are reddish rolling rock now, with very little vegetation. The land burns in the sun. A low, round-edged buff-colored canyon appears, running southwest to northeast under the road. It is Chinle Wash near Tes Nez Iah. People live near scattered trees and brush in the wide, flat wash bottom. Horses graze above on the southwest rim. (What are they eating, rocks?)

The road turns more easterly to Mexican Water. Pointed brown mountains rise up, which we pass through into another plain of yellow-green scrub. It slowly becomes more grassy, with a little red monument to the northeast. A small, curious town called Red Mesa sits in front of it near the road. The houses are metal, surrounded by a square metal wall around the entire town.

There are mountains on the south side of the road now. They look dark, back-lit by the sun, with white storm clouds drifting above them.

We come to Teec Nos Pos, very close to the New Mexico border. The dark mountains to the south are much bigger now. There are mountains to the north also, with bands of buff, mint green in the middle and pale purple on the bottom. The grass is more sparse here, with scattered juniper trees mixed in.

We turn north, seeing dark mountains in the distance, still on 160 to the Four Corners area. In front of us a stake truck is rolling along at 65 mph with two cows milling around in it! Too bad for the cows if anyone suddenly stops!

The Four Corners is a bare rock wasteland. Of course. That’s why we gave it to the Indians. The Navajos have made the place into a tourist trap, $3 per person to get in. Hey, they gotta make money somehow. What would you do if you were living on a rock?

There is a cement plaza circle with flags flying, marking the area where the four state corners meet. The plaza is surrounded by another circle containing a small tourist office and many wooden booths with Indians selling their wares. Mark told me that each tribe has to be in its own state. Most of the jewelry is quite nice with good prices.

We bought a dark red pot with black designs and turquoise painted bands. The carving is very neat with clean, straight lines. I thought it was the best pottery there. It was done by a Navajo artist, Freida Lee. I also bought a sand painting done on a sandstone rock by the artist Alfred Beyaue. It is an Indian on horseback hunting a buffalo, and again the work is very precise with clean lines. We think his sand paintings are the best and most imaginative in the group. He’s kind of a jokester, too. As he was writing the title on the back of the rock, he said to me, “How do you spell Indian? I….N….” I said, “If you don’t know how to spell Indian by now, I’m not going to tell you!” Mark also bought a decorated arrow, which he later hung in his workshop at home.

After the Four Corners, we turn more easterly on 160 into Colorado, passing over the San Juan River, filled with small, lush trees and actual running water! Quite a novelty for this part of the country. Most of the land we have traveled through today has been quite barren. This area is no exception, with many low, rounded sand-colored hills covered with short, pale gold grass.

We go north on 160/491, heading to Cortez. A light gray-brown monument lies east, with plateaus behind it. The plateau has a thick rock cap on top with sandy hills eroding down from it. The storms continue around the edges of the brilliant blue day, with much rain to the south of us right now.

As we approach Cortez, the sandy plateau draws near, skirting the eastern edge of the city. The dark mountains we saw in the north at the Four Corners are closer and bigger. Horses graze on large, grassy lots with short trees, and small houses and trailers mark the southern outskirts of the large, spread-out city. In the modern, central part we stop at Radio Shack to get another photo memory card for the camera. We look up to see storm clouds and rain covering the entire eastern horizon.

The plateau recedes from the city and ends as we turn east, still on 160, which is now running on the north side of the Mesa Verde Park. The Mesa Verde Mountains mark a change in the territory. They are more pointed, taller and darker than the sandy, rock-covered plateau near Cortez. The ground cover is a medium green with junipers on the southern Mesa Verde Mountains. We turn from 160 onto the park road, which runs south for 20 miles. We decide to explore the park first, before we go to our room at the main lodge.

You have to drive through the WHOLE park before you can see any of the cliff dwellings, which are at the very bottom. As we are going along, looking at the scenery, Mark and I both decide that, you know what, there really isn’t much to look at here! This park is merely a series of north-south rounded, low rock ridges covered with scrub and short bushy trees. And all of the trees have been burnt to a crisp! Fires have gone through the park continuously over the years. Actually, if the trees had not burned, you wouldn’t be able to see any of the park at all, because they are very close to the road. We decide that it would be better if nine-tenths of this park were turned into condos!

We go south to the Spruce Tree House, an interesting cliff dwelling that is easy to get to. There is a round subterranean room that you can climb down into via a wooden ladder. We walk back up the trail to the museum, also very nice.

We travel north about half way up the park road to the Main Lodge, Visitor Center and Far View Terrace gift shop. While we are buying souvenirs, we turn around and see the most exquisite pottery ever. And the artist, Bob Lansing, was there! He had just finished a demonstration of his carving techniques. He makes the pots, then etches the designs with an Exacto knife. The detail is so fine it looks like an engraving. He does patterns and animals that are just superb! We did buy some other souvenirs—two wine glasses with whimsical petroglyphs on them, and a sweater for me.

The Far View Lodge is a series of rectangular buildings facing south on a hill that overlooks the park. Now, there may have been a view at one time, but half the rooms don’t look at anything any more! Typical of most parks, they let the brush grow up, obstructing the view in many areas. Also, the more northerly buildings simply look into the backs of the south rooms! What a dumb design! The rooms don’t look like much from the outside, but our room at least had very nice western furniture inside, and a balcony with a view. All the rooms are built high up, with balconies on the south side. We went out on our balcony, looked down and saw a deer grazing right below us!

We went to the Main Lodge for a superb gourmet dinner. It’s a beautiful place, with white stucco, dark wood beams and posts and a view south to the park.

The next morning we wake up to a cool, clear day. We see deer again off our balcony. As we drive away from the parking lot, we see four bucks feeding at a large metal tub. The park is feeding the deer! That’s why they are hanging around the motel rooms!

We have decided not to see the other ruins. We’re not that interested in them, and the rest of the park is nothing special. I think this park would be a good place to go, just as long as you realize there is NOTHING here except for the ruins and the fine dining at the main lodge.

America the Beautiful

2005-10-01T19:09:00.000-04:00

We leave Bryce Canyon going southeast on Highway 12. The road leads down through the arid canyon lands we saw from Bryce.

We go through Tropic, Cannonville and Henrieville, old towns filled with small houses in large, flat valleys. I have noticed that most old houses in the Southwest are small. The long irrigation lines with their large wheels are spraying brilliantly in the morning light, making the fields green.

The road turns northeast, gathering more vegetation and trees as we approach Escalante. Cows and horses graze here and there in fields and in the dry wash beds. At Escalante, a half-dozen turkeys cross the road!

Going east, the country turns to canyon lands again after Escalante, colors alternating between white rock canyons and red. We come to a large area of white rounded canyons of deeply scored smooth, bare rock. It’s different from the other areas and quite striking. The variety of rock shapes and colors and quantity or lack of vegetation in this Southwest trip are astonishing. Within a few minutes the landscape can change completely. Or…..it can just go on forever!

The red Escalante Canyons and Calf Creek area are especially beautiful, a narrow river valley filled with trees and grass with the canyon walls close to the road. There is camping nearby and nature trails which I’m sure would be great to see.

We turn north to Boulder (Utah!), a town sitting on the edge of white-plateaued cliffs. The large, flat valley next to them is filled with grass, trees and little old houses. Neat motels and camp outfitters dot the valley and nearby hills. I get the feeling it’s an organic community. (Probably full of Bush haters!) I really liked the looks of this town.

After Boulder, the mountains turn to wooded pine. A deer and fawn graze in a small meadow. The road ascends north into green rocky pastures with birch and other trees, creating beautiful, pastoral scenes with vistas of canyons below.

We descend from the Boulder Mountains just south of Grover. Mark is having fun again, racing thru some curves. As we come over a little hill, three giant black cows are standing right next to the road! Boy, that would have been a mess! Grover sits below, in flat, green valleys with red cliffs all around. North of Grover, the vast red plateau cliffs of Capitol Reef run west to east. I didn’t understand why it is called a Reef, but looked at from a distance, it looks like you are coming up to a reef or an island, the plateau is so large. The road, Highway 24 now, follows it along on the south side, a spectacular ride.

After a while, the red cliffs turn tan with the road going through them. Then the cliffs turn into a bizarre, gravely gray landscape with no plants, very similar to the Tepee area of the Petrified Forest. This area is called Luna Mesa. I think it is between Caineville and Hanksville. I wish we had stopped at a weird store we raced by, called the Luna Mesa Oasis. It’s a little hippie shack covered with kitschy stuff sitting next to the road. I don’t even know if it’s really operating any more, but it looked intriguing!

We stopped in Hanksville to get gas at Hollow Mountain, a store built inside a little mountain! Then we went next door to Blondie’s (surprisingly good), the only restaurant for the next 100 miles until Monument Valley. So be forewarned! There are no towns going south from Hanksville on Highway 95.

We drive south, through desert lands on the east and the tall, dark, Henry Mountains on the west. There are no trees. The ground cover is dark green, light green, blond, tan and yellow. We are amazed in this trip at how colorful the desert can be.

Near N. Junction 276 we pass through light red-tan rounded top cliffs very close to the road. Little green trees and scrub cover the valley floor. The cliffs turn redder going down to Glen Canyon. Lake Powell is all dried up! It’s pathetic! The boat ramp, which looks like an airport runway, still isn’t long enough to reach the water!

Going southeast from Lake Powell, the cliffs turn a blackish red color, but the valley floor is buff colored. This is the White Canyon area, and there are narrow white canyons and other holes in this valley floor. The red cliffs diminish after S. Junction 276, and the ground cover thickens with gray-blue scrub and junipers. The road turns east with the red mountains of Natural Bridges Park on the north side.

We drive south on 261 towards Mexican Hat. Junipers cover the land, but two to five foot high yellow, bushy flowers line the highway. Now comes the best part! I really wish they wouldn’t print cautions on maps for this area: Warning! Mokee Dugway is gravel with 10% grades and switchbacks for 3 miles! They make it sound like you’re going to drop off the edge of the world. Well, guess what? You are!

Giant, steep switchbacks drop off from narrow, gravel roads into Monument Valley, an immense, yellow-green plain stretching south all the way to the monuments, 40 miles away. We could actually see them in the distance, and the view is just awe-inspiring! The distance to the horizon is incredible. One minute, you’re driving along in your little world, thinking everything is OK, and then the next minute, that world goes away. It is a stunning view on a clear day.

We travel southeast through the plain to Highway 163, then south to Mexican Hat, which gets its name from a little rock pinnacle that looks like a hat. The monuments to the south are dark hazy blue, silhouetted against a white hazy blue afternoon sky. We continue southwest to Gouldings. Cows are in the road as we take the turnoff west to Gouldings, a few miles above the Arizona border.

The main motel faces north and sits in front of a giant monument! It’s really cool! The place is really like a small town. There is a gift shop, museum, restaurant, laundry, car wash (Mark was ecstatic!), grocery store, a campground in between two monuments, and a plane out in front of the whole area! The long motel runs east and west, and every room has a balcony and a view. They also have little bus tours to see more of the monuments on the Indian lands.

Mark and I ate dinner, which was very good, and then sat outside. Our particular room led out onto a large, triangular patio made of red slate that sits atop a little rocky cliff. We are on the second level of the motel. The first building sits below us. As the sun goes down, the monuments get redder, and then headlights can be seen all over the yellow-green valley.

In the morning, Mark gets up early to take pictures of the sunrise coming up over the monuments. There are little fleecy clouds in the east, which add great color and interest to his shots. The monuments to the west turn bright red. Other people are standing on their balconies or walking out onto the large patio in front of our room.

Later, we visited the museum, which is the original Gouldings Trading Post. It is very interesting, with many old pictures of the Gouldings, their Indian neighbors, and also movie stars from the old western movies made in the valley. The Gouldings lived on the 2nd floor of the trading post, and their belongings are still there, a really neat house.

Then it is time to get in the car and head south to Arizona, many other monuments, the Four Corners, and Mesa Verde!

Bryce Canyon - A Surprise

2005-09-25T17:42:00.000-04:00

I always thought that Bryce Canyon Park was nothing but red rock spires and canyons, because that is all you see in pictures. Actually, the park road runs south on a ridgeline covered with pine forests. One striking feature about the forest is that almost all the trees have been burned at one time or another. It’s incredible. The trunk can be burnt black but the tree will still be alive. Some trees die, some do not. The western view is white mountains and valleys covered with pine, but this view is mostly obscured by trees. The eastern side of the road drops off into the canyon lands. The canyons are really a long series of cliff faces. There are several viewing points on top and many trails down into this land.

For the trails, we were told to go down the Wall Street side on the Navajo Loop and then go back up on Queen’s Garden Trail. This would be about 3 miles. The Wall Street side of the trail can be seen from Sunset Point which is just southeast of the park’s main lodge. It looks fascinating, but we were too tired from our last two days of walking to attempt it.

The trail descends sharply in a series of smooth-pathed switchbacks that are surrounded by dozens of closely packed rock spires. Apparently the trail leads through these down to the canyon floor. From there you pick up the Queen’s Garden Trail, which meanders north and then west with a gradual ascent to the canyon rim again.

Instead of going for a hike, Mark and I took the road and stopped at all the overlooks. We took many pictures, then went to the lodge. The Bryce Canyon Lodge, grounds and cabins are absolutely beautiful western architecture. The blue-green shingled roofs are done in a wavy pattern, and the cabins are log and stone. The peaked roof inside ours was made with huge bark logs and smooth roof boards. It had a working gas fireplace, which we enjoyed very much that evening. Little cement paths wind through the cabins, which sit in a pine grove.

We ate lunch at the lodge. The salad bar, which included taco fixings, was excellent. It was a beautiful, cloudless day, but the temperature here is colder. The highest point in the park is 9,100 feet. We wore jackets most of the time. Instead of dinner, we sat outside on our cabin porch with drinks and snacks and enjoyed the view of the other cabins under the pine tree forest. Later, we went inside near the fireplace. This is one of the most beautiful places we stayed on our trip.

Angel's Landing, No Water. See God!

2005-09-11T21:06:00.000-04:00

Arrived at Zion, fantastic scenery going up to Zion Lodge. We had a great room with a balcony overlooking the front lawn area of the lodge. There were deer grazing there in the evening.

Our first trail attempt was Angel's Landing, 5 miles round-trip and 1,500 feet high. About 10:00 AM we took the shuttle bus (no cars allowed) up to the trail start. The trail runs along a beautiful flat river valley and then starts snaking up the rocky base of the mountain. The mountain was on the west side of the valley in the sun and was already starting to get hot. We soon realized that we didn't have enough water, but I was stubborn and wanted to continue on.

The pathway's kind of comical for someone from Michigan. First of all, it's paved, and second, there are no railings. It does make sense to pave it, though, because millions of people walk the trail. The trail was full when we were there. Another thing we noticed was the number of foreigners in both the national parks we've been to. Tons of Germans, I mean tons! Orientals also, but not as many.

After several switchbacks up the base of the mountain, we came to a pathway through a narrow cravase which ran from the front of the mountain to the back. It was in shade at the time (about 11:00) and fairly level, so it was a welcome break. Then up the mountain again, with more switchbacks. One is a serpentine stairway called Walter's Wiggles which is pretty neat. The whole thing is constructed of rock blocks. The paths are beautifully made, with rock retaining walls that look like giant bricks. The rock is predominately red in the park.

We finally got to the top (we thought). It is a long, very narrow, rocky ledge, dropping off on both sides. Views of mountains are all around, and the place was packed with people. Mind you, this is an area where if you take two steps to the side, you're over the edge! It's 900 feet straight down at this point. There are no railings.

Most people can make it this far. The next part is quite difficult. And we were almost out of water. The ledge dips down in a crescent shape, then goes back up to the final top of the mountain. It is narrow and you have to hang onto chains as you climb. It is interesting, beautiful, but dangerous. Everyone moves slowly.

We almost made it to the top. The final stage is a 100 yard almost vertical climb, which we were too tired to attempt. I was too weak, and Mark was too weak due to lack of water. Also the wind was blowing quite strongly. So--we went back down.

We went back to the hotel and got water and food. It was a tiring walk, especially only one day after the mule ride! But--what the heck, there were still a couple of hours of daylight left, so we went for another walk! We did the River Walk, a beautiful path which undulates up and down along a large, shallow river. The side of the canyon near the walk is covered at times with hanging gardens of small plants. The path is fairly level and 1 mile long, longer than I thought it would be. At the end, if you are properly dressed, you can continue walking in the river itself for several miles. But not us!

We had an excellent dinner at the lodge. The next day we saw Weeping Rock, a shallow crescent overhang with water dripping from the top. Very pretty and a short walk. We had lunch and then went to the Emerald Pools. These also have overhangs with tiny brooks (tiny in summer) flowing over into small pools. The pools are green with algee. It's a nice walk, not too vertical. We didn't do the higher, upper pool.

We left Zion and went to West Zion park (Kolob Canyons), a much less traveled park. It has some long hiking trails and a 5 mile drive to view the main mountains. We skipped the trails and took the drive. It was well worth it with a spectacular group of mountains at the end.

Next was Cedar City and our hotel for the night. Yesterday we walked 7 miles, 5 of them vertical, and today we walked 3 miles. I need a sick day!

Mules, and you thought the MINI was bad!

2005-09-10T08:23:00.000-04:00

Monday, September 5

We head over to Bandolier park, south of Los Alamos. We get there before the park office opens. The buildings are really cool, old wood and adobe squares with flat roofs. They were built by the CCC groups after the war. The park is one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. It is in the bottom of a long canyon with cliff dwellings on the sides. A stream runs thru woods on the canyon floor. There are large pine trees and tons of other grasses and plants. The air smells wonderful, like pine and some kind of spice, like sage.

Since we are the only people in the park, we can explore the cliff dwellings at our leasure, and take pictures with no one else in the picture but us. We explore the cliffs and take many pictures. Just as we are leaving, more people show up, and we are very glad we got there early.

We leave the park, come down west out of the mountains to a view of a gigantic grassy valley surrounded by pine-covered mountains. As we get out to look, we realize the tiny black dots in the middle are cows! There are also cowboys on horseback driving them along. We read the signs which say this is actually a gigantic caldera from a blown-out volcano!

Next is the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. This area is very hot in the afternoon and the colors are actually rather pale. Looks like a hot desert to me, and we are not really very impressed, although the landscape is quite wierd-looking in spots.

We drive over to the Wigwam and Curios Motel in Holbrook, a pretty neat old Route 66 town. The motel consists of about 15 restored concrete Tepees lined up around a central parking lot filled with old cars. It's really cool-looking and the rooms are quite nice inside.

Next day. Stopped at the Meteor Crater. Looks like a big gravel pit.

On to the Grand Canyon! Bigger gravel pit, but prettier! We check into the Bright Angel Lodge, which has a hotel and cabins. We were in a very nice old cabin on the rim of the canyon. All the cabins and area are very old-fashioned and cute.

Next day we were up bright and early and eager for the trip down into the canyon.

Pound Me In The @$$ Mule Ride!

Hey! I got a good idea! Let's go outside, sit on a cement block, and pound our butts up and down on it for 5 hours straight. Sound good to you? Yeah!!! Thus the mule ride down into the Grand Canyon begins. Actually it begins next to Bright Angel Lodge where the cowboys (who know better) match the mules to the people and proceed to tell you all kinds of scary stuff about the trip. You know, like, maybe you could die. Then after they get all the stupid people matched up with the smart mules, they drive the whole lot right over the ridge into the canyon.

My mule's name was Gator. Gator either had emphezema or was a heavy smoker, because he coughed all the way down to the ranch. Pa Hah! Hack! Hack! Gasp, Wheeze!

Mark got Pac Man. We were told to whip our mules rigorously to keep them close together, or else they would start to trot or run later on to catch up to the group. Believe me, you do not want your mule running down a 45 degree incline with a 1,000 ft cliff on one side and you pounding away on top of that saddle! No siree bob!

But Pac Man was a little slow. Apparently he's a mellow kind of guy and likes to stroll along and take in the view as he's walking down to the ranch. So Mark got out his motivator (whip) and decided to apply it to Pac Man's backside to move him along a little faster. According to the cowboys, this does not hurt the mule one bit. They kick each other in the sides with their hooves all day long. Pac Man, however, got a little cross, lowered his head and tried to buck Mark off! Mark, being the nice guy he is, held on tenaciosly and whipped that mule all the harder! After a while, the two of them came to an understanding and Pac Man kept up with the group, mostly. All that "alpha male" theory didn't stop Pac Man from leaning back every now and then to try and bite Mark's foot, though.

You know, they just don't tell you everything up there at the canyon rim. They'll tell you that no mule has ever gone over the side with a person (Stupid) on his back, but what they don't tell you is that they often stumble, slip, slide, and almost fall down (like Mark's did) on the way to the bottom.

When I first felt my mule stumble, I thought, "Hey, aren't these things supposed to be sure-footed? Did he just trip?" Sure enough, he did it again, along with a nice, hard jump to get himself back in balance. That felt good! Then I looked closely at the other mules. They were all tripping and skittering along the trail! Finally, about an hour into the ride, I learned to lean back, point my feet out and up and stand in the stirrups a lot. I actually started to relax and enjoy the view, which was spectacular. The saddle and the stirrups (which are completely enclosed on the outside with heavy leather) made me feel pretty secure. Besides, the mules are self-guiding anyway. Other than moving them along with your motivator every now and then, they just follow each other down the trail all by themselves. And, amazingly enough, they really don't fall over the edge.

After a while, it was time for our first pee break. For the mules! A mule can walk down the trail and poop all day long, but when he has to pee, the world stands still. The whole train stops. Then the other mules see what's going on and they start getting ideas. Each one pees a couple gallons, seems like. Mind you, while all this is going on, hundreds of hikers are also walking up and down this same trail. Fortunately, the pee sinks into the dirt right away, so they just have to hop around the poop. The farts are harder to avoid, though. They can last for up to a minute and be very expressive.

Ok! So much for the mules!

We are using the $10 an hour hotel computer, so I'll shorten this story. We got to Phantom Ranch, which is on a side stream of the Colorado River. The valley is tree-covered and quite beautiful. We had a cabin which was made of stone and very old fashioned. The place was great.

I would like to continue, but we must close for now, storey to be continued later!

Disasterous Data Dump Delays Digital Details

2005-09-04T18:17:00.000-04:00

A disaster has struck! While working on the blog Friday morning, we took a break for breakfast and came back to the blue screen of death! We are using the detestable hotel computers now, so future postings will be sporadic.

On Friday we continued to follow Route 66 on our way to Tulsa. Just outside of Tulsa, at Catoosa, the Blue Whale appears, looking cute as a button in its own swampy little pond! We pull off into a small treed picnic area beside it.

It looks just like it did in the pictures, bright blue with its concrete mouth open and smiling, awaiting any would-be swimmers.

These days, however, the ol’ swimming hole is closed. So much for the good old days when you could open a fun spot like this without worrying about getting sued if someone fell off the dock the wrong way.

The whale has many entrances and exits, and is great fun to visit, whether open for swimming or not.

You walk through the whale’s mouth on its big red tongue, and out onto the open back with the high-tail diving platform. There are ladders into the water on either side of the whale’s body and water slides on either side of the head. Inside the head a ladder goes up to the second floor where you can look out any one of several portholes.

We take several pictures, and then move on to downtown Tulsa and the Double Tree Hotel where we had a great view of the city and a fine dinner.

On Saturday, we traveled from Tulsa to Tucumcari. On the way, we ran across a giant cross sticking up out of the plains. It is the latest tourist attraction in the area, and is 19 stories high. Incredible! Also incredible are the life size figures of the Stations of the Cross at its base, the three crosses on the hill, a replica of the Shroud of Turin, and Christ’s tomb!

Ten miles west of Amarillo, we come to the Cadillac Ranch. They are ten Cadillacs buried at an angle in the ground. They are mostly pink with graffiti written all over them.

After this, we stopped for the night in Tucumcari on Route 66.

On Sunday, we left Tucumcari for Santa Fe and Los Alamos. We head North West on scenic highway 104. All of a sudden, Mark shouts “Tarantula!” We stop, and sure enough, a spider is crossing the road. As we continue driving, we see more tarantulas. They are all over the place!

Highway 104 continues northwest towards Las Vegas (New Mexico). About 20 miles from town, the land flattens out into pure, gently rolling grassland as far as the eye can see. The short, soft grass is gray-green with small patches of light blue here and there. Some areas are covered with yellow mustard. You wouldn't think that just grass could be so pretty, but Mark and I are amazed at how absolutely beautiful these grasslands are. The grasslands end at Las Vegas where the mountains begin again. As we are approaching the town, a badger crosses the road in front of us and disappears into the grass!

We arrived at Santa Fe which had a street art fair going on. It was very politically correct western art a la Ann Arbor. We found one artist whose colored pencil we bought. She was 11 years old and the best artist in town!

After that, we went to Los Alamos and saw the Manhattan Project Museum. The area around Santa Fe and Los Alamos is surrounded with unusual plateaus and mountains. We ended up in White Rock near Los Alamos.

That’s it for now, on to Holbrook, Arizona tomorrow. Next posting will be in about 5 days because we will not be staying in Hamptons. Mark will be very happy not to sit next to a computer!

We found out how to better post pictures, click for larger view.

2005-09-02T06:35:00.000-04:00

At Henry's Rabbit Ranch on old Route 66

Route 66 - First Day on the Road

2005-09-01T23:40:00.000-04:00

4:00 AM, September 1, 2005. The starting gun has sounded, and we’re off! The car was successfully packed the night before, and the cat dropped off at kitty prison (the vet’s). $500.00 for room, board and shots, thank you very much.

First major stop, Cracker Barrel (still in Michigan) where we acquired our first souvenirs.

In Highland (Gary) Indiana while pumping relatively cheap gas, we met Leo and his wife and got several great tips on things to see on our trip.

Then on into Illinois to Mother Jones Memorial. She was a crusader for the miner’s union, and is buried in a cemetery in front of a memorial to them. The political Mother Jones magazine is named after her.

Henry’s Rabbit Ranch on old Route 66 near St. Louis was next, complete with live rabbits and old Rabbit cars. We were met by Montana, the greeter bunny, and received a personally autographed (gnawed) brochure.

Arrived in St. Louis around 4:00 PM. Not a bad ride. Car held up well and so did we! We checked in at Hampton at the Arch, then went out for the evening with Becky from NAM (North American Motoring, the North American MINI Club). We went to a very good local Italian restaurant just up the street. Later, she took us to Ted Drew’s Frozen Custard on historic Route 66. Really great custard, the place was packed.

On the road tomorrow!

2005-08-31T20:44:00.000-04:00

Well it's packed, three weeks worth of too much stuff, but it all fits. On the road by sunrise. Beginning of 5200 miles @ $3.50 a gal. We'll probably get a Christmas card from Exxon.

2005-08-29T21:26:00.000-04:00

The Plan

2005-08-29T21:08:00.000-04:00

Damn it Valentine, you never plan ahead, you never take the long view, I mean here it is Monday and I'm already thinking of Wednesday... It is Monday right? -- Earl Bassett ~ Tremors

Two days to go!

Danbo asked me what our route was. I suppose this is a good time give you the “short read”.

We leave Thursday morning and follow 94 over to Chicago. From there we follow Route 66 to Flagstaff AZ. Route 66 is not totally complete any more, so we will use the expressway but exit often to look for the old alignments (Rich, this is not a bad word in regard to the old road). Stops include St. Louis, Tulsa, Tucumcari, Los Alamos and Holbrook.

After Flagstaff it’s north to the Grand Canyon and the mule trip, then Zion, Bryce, Monument Valley and Mesa Verdi. On into Colorado and the million-dollar highway, a short back track to Moab and Arches Natl. Park, East to Rocky Mountains Natl. Park, Cheyenne and home.
So that’s the short version, who knows what it will really be. Maybe we will sell the MINI in Denver and fly home. Stay tuned…..

Getting Started

2005-08-22T20:56:00.000-04:00

Thought I might as well get started. It is less than two weeks before our trip begins.

Irene and I are celebrating our 35 anniversary this year and wanted to do something different. Irene picked last time so this was my turn.

We have always wanted a trip out west, so why not now. My little addition to the plan was to make it a road trip and do it in a MINI Cooper. So that is what this will be about, a 3 and a half week journey to the American Southwest, 5200 miles in a MINI with a checkered top.