Durango, Colorado

July 12, 2008

On the road again, just can't wait to be on the road again....this morning, we walked Pooh Bear, took a couple more pictures of the campground and began to pack up for the trip. All went well with the teardown and after loading the car and showers, we headed out. Getting out of the Campground proved to be interesting as we needed to make a turn that was too tight. I had to back up several times which with the tow dolly is very dicey. Fortunately all went well.

We had not been on the road for very long when Sue realized that she had lost her cell phone. She remembered having it a Ruby's yesterday and called them. In and around more Verizon service problems, her phone was located and the staff at Ruby's is going to ship it to her in Manassas. A guardian angel was looking after her, again.

We stopped in Page, Arizona at a Walmart. I went into the store and dropped off the four rolls of 35 mm film we took on the Colorado River for processing. While we were waiting, Sue and I did much needed food and miscellaneous shopping. At the end of the one hour, we went back to the photo counter to be told that all four rolls of film had been blank. We were heart broken. I don't know if I purchased bad film, if someone at Walmart messed up on the processing or I failed to properly load the camera with each roll of film. In any event all the pictures of the river rafting trip and the canyon were a total loss.

We got back under way and travelled across a very very rural area of northern Arizona. I went for over 100 miles without seeing a fuel station. The Silver Lady was getting thirsty and we were getting a little concerned at the desolate environment. We finally found one on the Navaho Reservation and paid $5.079 for each gallon. The station put a limit of $300.00 on our charge card so the tank was really not completey full. Heading on into the area where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado meet (Four Corners) I missed a turn and we ended up going about 40 extra miles out of our way. Sue helped me get back on track with alternate routes as there was no way to turn the Silver Lady around.

As we neared Durango, Colorado, we were traveling up into much higher altitudes. The terrain changed siginificantly as did the vegetation. Most of the day, we drove trough these very arid and sparsely populated areas called the "high desert." There is no way I would every consider living in this area. Obviously others feel the same as we would travel miles and miles and never see any sign of habitation. It is a very hot and barren land. We arrived first in Cotez, Colorado and then travelling on for an additional 40 to 50 miles, we arrived in Durango. This was a very hard drive and I think we actually traversed about 359 miles. The KOA was a very welcome sight. We were warmly greeted. They escorted us to our site and helped us get lined up. After that I hooked up everything and with Sue settled down for a very welcome glass of wine. We walked Pooh Bear, explored the campgound, discovered the perfect spot to watch tomorrow night's sunset, had pizza prepared by the campground staff and decided to turn in.

Tomorrow we are off to ride the Durango to Silverton narrow guage railroad.