For better or for worse

Click the photo for a slide show of today's travels. You will notice several things: 1) the changes in terrain, especially the colors of the rocks; 2) Jill's dad worked for the railroad, and our grandson, Josiah, is nuts about trains; 3) windmills are really big - compare the windmill vanes to the earthmover parked under the windmills!


Another successful travel day is under our belt. We left Moab Valley RV Park this morning with mixed emotions. We had a wonderful stay in Moab, and enjoyed ourselves. On the other hand, shortly after we arrived on Thursday, a travel trailer pulled in adjacent to us. When the doors of the Toyota Sequoia tow vehicle opened, people just kept pouring out of it. At the same time, another SUV pulled up to the cabin across the driveway pulling a trailer loaded with ATVs. More people piled out.

Joy, the matriarch of this clan, came over to greet us effusively and announce that more were coming the next day. When it was done there were 14 people involved - 7 adults and 7 children, ranging in age from about 1 to about 11 years of age. Guess where the hub of activity for this group was. That's right, at Grandma and Grandpa's trailer. I couldn't believe the amount of gear they unloaded.

The "shared" space between our two vehicles was about 12 feet wide and 40 feet long with a tree in the center and a picnic table on each end. Ostensibly, one end of the space was ours and the other end was theirs. Well, it wasn't long before tricycles and bicycles were whizzing past Sadie's door. There were children perched on "our" picnic table, presumably because "their" picnic table and an additional table that they had brought along were both covered with gear.

Now don't get me wrong. I like people, especially the ones I meet in campgrounds, and I adore children. But fourteen people in an area designed for about four is a bit of an overload. The clan was very friendly and not rowdy, but that many people just take up room and make a lot of noise. Consequently, we were not able to enjoy "our" yard, except when they were off "4-wheeling" or at the swimming pool. In retrospect, I think they did an amazing job of keeping the lid on things, but it would have been better if they had had an end space for their trailer, where they would not have had to "share" the yard.

We bid the park and the neighbors adieu and headed north on U.S. 191. We followed 191 all the way to I15, just south of Provo. At Provo, we exited and found the Lakeside RV Park, which is quite lovely. There are lots of trees (albeit cottonwoods, which are in the process of shedding their cotton!), and the lady who checked us in was sweet as could be. The trade off for the trees is that we are unable to get a clear view of the southern sky, so we can't get satellite TV reception. All things considered, that is a small price to pay.

Our trip today took us from 4,200 feet at Moab to 7,476 feet at the summit of Soldier Pass and back down to 4,500 feet at Provo. Sadie did amazingly well. Either I am getting used to driving her, or all this exercise is doing her some good. She purred along and took the hills in stride.

The terrain changed a great deal as you will discover in the slide show. Tomorrow, we will contact Jill's cousin Carol and see if we can get together with her and her husband. We haven't seen them for 5 years, so it will be fun to catch up with them.

Big rocks and small worlds

Click the picture for a slide show that should leave no doubt why it is called Arches National Park

We will spare you about 2/3 of the photos that we took at Arches National Park today. Some of them didn't turn out, but even among the ones that did turn out, there were too many to put them all in the slide show today. Jill has become an accomplished photographer, especially when it comes to making amazing photos while we are underway. We both were carried away by the beauty and the uniqueness of the rock formations we saw today. We have seen a lot of red rocks in the past three weeks, but these formations were so unusual we couldn't stop shooting.

At the first place we stopped to take pictures, there was another car parked, and a couple about our age was just about to get in it. Jill noticed that they had an Oregon license plate and asked them where they were from. The woman said they were from West Linn, and we told them that we were from Clackamas. Then the woman took off her sunglasses, and Jill realized she was a teacher who used to work in Jill's school. We had a lovely chat with them. They are on more or less the same loop we have been on, but they are going in the opposite direction, so we were able to make some recommendations for their sightseeing itinerary. What a small world.

We got up early so we could arrive at the park for its 7:30 AM opening. Our purpose was two-fold. First, we wanted to capture the early morning light. Second, we wanted to be ahead of the crowds, this being a Saturday. We scored on both counts. As I believe you will see in the photos, we got a lot of great shots that play up the shadows against the red rocks and the blue sky. We also found that, by the time we were about to complete our exploration of the park, there was a large influx of new visitors showing up.

I don't think there is a way for photos ever to capture the essence of a place like this. It is too grand, and as I remarked to Jill, the beauty of the desert can only be appreciated by both seeing it and experiencing it first hand. There is just an indescribable feeling about walking among these wonders and feeling the sand beneath your feet as you wander among unfamiliar plants and unfamiliar sights and odors. As one woman we met at a viewpoint said, "It would be hard not to believe in a Creator once you have seen this."

After we finished exploring Arches, we returned to Moab, where we found a farmers' market underway in the local park. It was a time capsule of the sixties. There were people selling all kinds of craft items, longhaired people in tie-dyed shirts, and a trio comprised of guitar, mandolin and harmonica playing and singing bluegrass music. I told Jill, this seems like "hippy central." Later we found the KaleidoScoops and had some ice cream.

We decided yesterday to forgo visiting Canyonlands National Park. The activities that are available there seemed to be beyond what we could comfortably undertake in a day. Instead we rediscovered the joy of taking care of the mundane necessities of life: laundry, grocery shopping, exploring the town and just enjoying quiet time to read and relax.

Tomorrow will be a travel day. We have now completed the "planned sight-seeing" that we had set our hearts on for this trip. So, we look forward to the serendipitous discoveries that God undoubtedly has in store for us. Our next destination is Provo, UT, where we hope to connect with Jill's cousin Carol. Stand by for further developments.

Over hill, over dale

Click the photo for a slide show of our drive from Durango to Moab, UT.

We bade a fond farewell to Durango and Alpen Rose RV Park this morning. This was not without some trepidation, because we had driven the first forty miles of the road we had to travel yesterday on our way to Mesa Verde. Right out of Durango, there is a long uphill grade, about eight miles, if memory serves. As usual, though, Sadie behaved herself and there was no strain. All systems functioned as they are supposed to, even though we rose from 6,500 feet to 8,300 in a short time.

Once we cleared the mountain grades just about at Mesa Verde, we saw before us a vast sprawl of rolling hills, very lush and green. At Cortez, CO, we turned northwest on US 491. That took us into Utah, and at Monticello, we turned north on US 191 toward Moab. From Monticello, we lost nearly 3,000 feet of altitude coming into Moab. The terrain also changed from the lush green of Colorado to the red rock formations we were so familar with in southwestern Utah.

We are set up at the Moab Valley RV Park. Which is lovely. Our space has a nice shade tree and some lawn for Pogo. In fact as I write this we are sitting on the lawn. We have spurned the jeans and flannel is favor of shorts and sandals. Pogo got a bath, and she is outside with us drying off. The temperature is a balmy 85. We look forward to seeing two more national parks in the next two days.

More ancient history

Click the photo for a slide show. The first three are from our campground. There is one of Mesa Verde, and yes we drove all the way to the top of that mesa! Then we visited two sets of cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. The first set is called the Cliff Palace. There are a few flower pictures in between and then a set of photos from Spruce Tree House, the best preserved (90% original) cliff dwelling in the U. S.

Just another crummy day in paradise! I took the dog out for a walk this morning and snapped a few photos from the 1 acre off leash dog park that is part of our campground. After breakfast, we packed up and headed for Mesa Verde National Park. From the gate it is a 15 mile drive to the visitor center, and it is ALL uphill! There are a number of ruins to see here, and we didn't have time to see them all, so we chose the most famous (Cliff Palace) and the best preserved (Spruce Tree House).

These areas were inhabited from c. 750 A.D. to c. 1300 A.D. The remaining structures were constructed during the last 100 years or so of that period. The Cliff Palace is thought to have been a gathering or ceremonial area, inhabited by some kind of leaders, government or religious or both. The Spruce Tree house was more like a residential area.

In the photos, you will notice a number of round structures that are dug into the ground and lined with stones. In their original state, these holes in the ground were covered over with a roof made of beams and sticks and covered over with mud. There are two pictures taken inside one of these "kivas" that is intact. You can get a little idea of the way they were constructed. In another photo taken at Spruce Tree House, you can see some holes in a flat area with ladders protruding out of the hole. These are kivas that have been covered over and their tops make a kind of patio for the kivas and other structures built on the next level.

The kivas were dwellings for extended families and were very cleverly designed. There was a fire pit in the center, just under the hole that the ladder protrudes through. Along the side of the wall was an air shaft that allowed fresh air in to provide air for the fire and the inhabitants. You will notice in the indoor picture a small wall behind the ladder. This was a "vane" to direct the air around the room. As you can imagine, even with this clever system of ventilation, the inhabitants breathed a lot of smoke. Many of them apparently died from emphysema.

The people who lived here farmed the land on the top of the mesa, growing corn and squash. Later they also grew beans, which filled in their dietary needs for protein. It seems that corn protein can't be processed by the human body in its native state. With the addition of beans to the diet, the corn amino acids can be processed and used by the body. Prior to the introduction of beans into the diet, many of these people were malnourished. They ate little or no meat.

Now, I haven't mentioned that both of these ruins are located about 100 feet below the top of the mesa. So, you guessed it, we walked down a hundred feet and then back up 100 feet. The exit from Cliff Palace is via a number of stone steps and three ladders. It is quite a climb! At 7,000 feet it is quite a challenge, too.

We ended our exploration of the cliff dwellings tired but happy. This was what I had in mind when we began planning this trip. We snapped a few shots from the mountainside on the way down. After a quick drive through historic downtown Durango on the way back, we returned to Alpen Rose RV Park, where Pogo was very glad to see us. She got a run in the off leash dog park!

You better stop, children. What's that sound? Everybody look what's goin' down.

Click the picture to see a slide show of our trip from Santa Fe to Durango.

Jill: "Do you hear something?"
Tom: "Yes. What do you think that is?"
Jill: "I don't know. Do you think we should pull over?"
Tom: "Yeah. I think we'd better. I'll just pull in in front of this gas station."

Tom pulls the coach over on a large paved area in front of a gas station about 14 miles south of Chama, NM, which is about 14 miles from nowhere. He gets out and walks around the coach, looking under and up, trying to find something that would make a metallic sound. Nothing.

He continues back to walk around the toad. About this time, Jill comes out and asks, "Did you find anything?"
Tom: "Yeah. The right rear tire on the toad is gone."
Jill: "Gone?"
Tom: "Gone! It must have had a puncture and got low on air and just blown out."

Looking at the right rear wheel, we found a ring of rubber around the wheel, and the edges of the rim were scuffed up from rolling on pavement. There was a little damage to the fender liner, but it was very minor. Ironically, we had seen a pickup we were following have a blowout some miles back, and I told Jill, "That's why I check the tire pressure on Sadie every day before we hit the road."

I got the spare out and the jack. There was a weird looking part in with the jack tools, which of course, I had never looked at before, so I got out the owner's manual to see what it was. About that time a grandfather/father/son trio, who had stopped for gas, came over to offer help. The father said he had a floor jack and insisted on using it, instead of that "piece of junk they sell you with the car."

Before I knew it, he had the tire changed and the jack back in his truck. We thanked him profusely and wished him safe travels. He did the same, and we got back on the road. Our rescuer had told us that in Chama there is a Chevron station that sells tires. We drove around Chama for a few minutes, looking for the Chevron station, and then decided to go to the tourist information center that Jill had seen as we entered the town. As we approached it, we could see the Chevron station, so we bypassed the TIC.

The owner of the station could not have been nicer. He first said he was out of the size tire we needed, but then he came back and said his employee had found one. Inside of 15 minutes, the new tire was mounted, balanced and replaced on the car. We again thanked our second rescuer profusely and hit the road for Pagosa Springs, CO, some 47 miles distant. The worst of the damage was that we lost the wheel cover. Nevertheless, we felt blessed that the damage was not worse and that no one was hurt.

We crossed the state line into Colorado a little while later. The landscape had changed a great deal from our beloved Santa Fe. It was equally as beautiful, in a completely different way. We continued on to Durango, where we are parked in a beautiful grove of aspens, nestled in a valley. I will post some pix of the park tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the pix that Jill took along the way today. I think you will notice the gradual change in terrain.

Incidentally, Sadie did just fine, even though we changed altitude from 7,000 feet to 5,600 to 7,800 to 8,100 and finally settled in Durango at 6,500. Veronica, not so much.

Decisions, decisions.

Click the photo to go on a hike with us in William Hyde State Park, NM

Today the sun came out. (For a minute we thought we must be in Oregon, not New Mexico). I had a few little maintenance projects to do on the coach, which I was able to dispatch pretty quickly. Jill wanted to do a load of laundry, but someone beat her to the machines, so she put that on hold.

We were not sure what to do with our day. We saw most of the outdoor stuff in downtown Santa Fe yesterday, and we had planned to go to Museum Hill, which is home to four museums. But when I saw the cloudless sky, after so many rainy days, I said, "Let's find a park, where we can take Pogo for a walk." Jill was not enthusiastic, at first. She had her heart set on the museums.

There is a collection of hiking/biking trails just outside of town, called the Dale Ball trails. We thought they would be perfect for our purpose, and as the beautiful weather grew on Jill, she consented to the hike. We programmed Maggie (our Magellan Maestro GPS unit) and hit the road. Eventually, we arrived at the William Hyde State Park, named for a beloved scout master of Santa Fe.

As we puzzled over the map, the ranger approached us and asked if we needed any help. We explained that we were looking for the Dale Ball trails, and he told us that we had gone way past them, but that there were nice hiking trails in the state park, one of which leads to a waterfall. Well, that was all we needed to hear. We paid the $5 for a day pass; I threw on the back pack, and we headed up the trail.

If you have lived your whole life at sea level and then started hiking up a trail beginning at 8,400 feet elevation, you can understand that this was no mean undertaking. The beginning of the trail is quite steep, and it was not long before all three of us were winded. We stopped, had some water, caught our breath, and continued. Soon, we were wondering whether the altitude or the scenery was taking our breath away. I estimate we climbed to 9,000 feet.

This is a gorgeous park. After a number of rest breaks we arrived at the waterfall, which isn't large, but it is beautiful. Pogo had a drink from the stream, and Jill and I sat and drank in the beauty of it all. Finally, we decided that we needed to head back down.



Arriving back at the visitors' center, we explored the lodge, which sits back from the road. It is used primarily for gatherings. The ranger told us they have had two high school graduations there this year and a number of weddings. We hiked up behind the lodge and sat on a bench. From that perspective, it became clear that there is a run above the lodge that is used in the winter for sledding and tubing.

Reluctantly we packed up and left. There was still that pile of laundry awaiting us, and we needed to stop at the grocery store. We returned to Sadie very tired, but very happy. Jill acknowledged that she was glad we had not spent this day of glorious weather inside of a museum.

The town with the really long name...

Click on the photo for a slide show of Santa Fe.

In case you were wondering, I took a day off from blogging yesterday. It was a travel day, which means there is always lots to do. The weather has been cool (upper 60's to lower 70's for highs), ever since we got to Arizona and New Mexico. It has been gusty, rainy, and today we had hail.

Nevertheless, we have been having a wonderful time. The drive from Gallup to Santa Fe was pretty uneventful, except that it did involve some altitude changes again. Gallup is at 6,400 feet; Holbrook is at 5,000; Albuquerque is at 5,200; and then in the 55 miles from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, we had to rise to 7,000 feet. In fact that rise occured mostly in the last 1/3 of the drive from Albuquerque.

The drive was pretty easy, if you factor out the road construction and the downpours, but Sadie is not really fond of climbing steep grades when she starts above 5,000 feet. In spite of that, she did fine. It was the people behind us that suffered. (Yes, Charlie, I do remember when you chided me for buying an RV and being the guy you always get behind on a hill with no passing lane.) Fortunately, I25 from Albuquerque to Santa Fe is 4-6 lanes all the way. Jill got some nice landscape photos that begin our slide show for today.

Our sightseeing outing for today included going to the Rodeo Road Baptist Church. Unfortunately, they had published the wrong time for their worship service on their website, so we missed that. We found the Grace Community Church and went in, but they were in the middle of the sermon. So, we went to Tortilla Flats and had New Mexican food for breakfast. It was pretty wonderful, and Jill thinks she can duplicate it.

After breakfast we went back to the Trailer Ranch RV park where we are staying, changed our clothes and caught the bus for downtown Santa Fe. What a treat. (No, not the bus, although that was not bad.)

Santa Fe is a charming town that has remained true to its Spanish/Mexican heritage. It was founded in 1608 by Don Pedro de Peralta, on orders from his superiors in the Catholic Church in Mexico. The official name given to the town by Peralta was "La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís", or "The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi." Santa Fe (I'll just use the short-hand name; I think you can follow which town we are talking about) became the capital of Neuvo Mexico in 1610, making it the oldest capital city in the U. S.

The Spanish, Indian and Catholic influences are all readily apparent in the architecture of many of the buildings in Santa Fe. As you look at the slide show, you will see the Basilica of St. Francis, the Loretto Chapel (more about that in a moment) and the Church of San Miguel. There are photos of a number of other buildings as well, but you will notice the architectural themes in everything from government buldings to hotels to shops and churches.

Loretto Chapel has an interesting history. It seems the chapel was built two stories tall, but the architect somehow forgot to include a stairway from the ground floor to the second floor. The nuns who were connected to the chapel prayed for a solution. Shortly thereafter, there came an itinerant carpenter, who made a spiral staircase which uses no center post and no nails. It is called the "Miracle Staircase."

San Miguel church, as you will see in one of the photos, was built in 1610 and is the oldest church building in the U. S. We were unable to go inside, because a wedding was in progress. The same was true at Loretto chapel. So, in spite of their age, and in contrast to the Mission church in Zuni, these churches are alive and being used.

Across the street in front of San Miguel church is an area called the Barrio Amolca (I think). It is said to be the oldest neighborhood in the U. S. Across the street beside the church is a house, made of adobe, which is said to be the oldest house in the U. S. I don't know if this means that it is the first house built or the oldest house that is still standing. At any rate it is a tribute to the durability of adobe construction, as are a number of other buildings made of adobe, including the Barrio and San Miguel church itself.

In the center of the town is a square, called "The Plaza" by the locals. It is very similar to the town square, called "Zocolo" in Oaxaca, Mexico, which I visited many years ago. Given the history of Santa Fe, I was not surprised to see this feature.

Today happened to be the opening day for the Museum of New Mexico History, a couple of blocks from the Plaza. That fact, coupled with the fact that this is a holiday weekend, probably account for the crush of people we found in the downtown area. There was a line about two blocks long of people waiting to get into the museum, which definitely accounts for the fact that Jill and I did NOT go in. As much as we love history and museums, we hate standing in lines.

We also walked by the State Capitol. It's the one in the pictures that shows part of the Seal of the Great State of New Mexico. The front of the building is hidden behind some beautiful trees. In spite of their beauty, I was not happy that they blocked my view of the capitol.

Having finished our self-guided walking tour, complete with rain squalls and hail storm, we headed back toward the bus stop. Along the way, we encountered a fun art show in an alley, and then we came back to the Plaza (which just seems like it ought to be the Zocolo).

We smelled a wonderful aroma wafting across the street, so we crossed over to the Plaza, and there we found a street vendor selling fajitas and such. It was too much for our resistance. Jill had a chicken fajita, and I had a chile relleno burrito. It was the perfect end to our day of exploring this beautiful city.