AHA! Nobody is on the Internet This Morning So It's My Chance to Finally Make an Entry!!!

MONDAY Morning - This entry will be a long one, so grab your coffee/tea/libation of choice and have time to read it.  I hope it's entertaining and informative.  

In their defense, RV parks can't afford to run a WIFI strong enough and with a bandwidth large enough to allow from 20 to 100 people on it at one time.  But it sure is frustrating for me when I want to do a journal entry and/or can't pull my photos from my phone into iPhoto so I can use them in the journal.  I know Roger likes to watch a Netflix movie on his Kindle in the evenings and I'm sure others are doing the same thing.  This trip I don't think he has been able to watch one.  Oh well, he'll just have to wait 'till he gets home!  

South of Moab along the highway.  Incredible
rock formations everywhere.

As I mentioned last night, we are in Moab, UT.  I really like this place!  This is our second trip here.  Last time we were here did some hiking in Arches National Park.  We are staying two nights at least so that Roger can rest from driving, but if the weather clears we may stay one more night.  It has been raining off and on since we got here early yesterday and the temperature has cooled down.  It is a relief from the last few days in Santa Fe.  I would like to take a boat ride on the Colorado River, but I don't want to do it in the rain, so we will have to come back.  Oh, darn!   I have a brochure for finding the areas near by with petroglyphs, and it isn't supposed to involve much hiking, so we are going to go exploring this afternoon - in between the rain drops.  That's something we can do with the dog. 

We went out to eat last night.  We forgot we were in Mormon country - half the restaurants in town were closed and all of the businesses except one grocery store. For people used to 24/7 services, this really seemed strange to us. We did find the Moab Brewery open which has excellent food.  With the liquor laws in Utah saying that only "near beer" can be sold, I wonder what kind of alcohol content the micro brews are?  I should have asked. Also, you can't buy a six pack of beer - only four packs (and 3.2% beer at that.)  Some really restrictive liquor laws in Utah.   

Is this why they call Utah the Beehive State?
This looks exactly like the logo printed on the
state road signs.

The drive here from Durango, CO had some awesome scenery. Once we left  the Rocky mountains, we climbed up onto a huge plateau where the farmers were growing beans.  We were at 7,000 feet most of the day and I was amazed at the the number of farms and ranches.   Maybe beans need the altitude and only a short growing season?  Beans and some sunflowers seemed to be the crops of choice, along with hay and alfalfa and cattle and horses, of course.  Oh, we also saw some buffalo!!!  Finally!  They were in an enclosure on one of the ranches and probably were going to end up being burgers soon, but we saw buffalo!  

I'm now going to import the entries from the last few days.

Viva la Fiesta!

This sculpture looks a lot like the images
we saw on posters and t-shirts for Zozobra
but I don't know for sure if that is who it
is supposed to be.

FRIDAY - We stumbled on a party today!  It seems this month Santa Fe is celebrating  the Burning of Zozobra and the Santa Fe Fiesta.  This fiesta is billed as the oldest community event in the United States as the first one was in 1692.  The Burning of Zozobra (the figure looks like the ones at the Burning Man festival held on the Black Rock desert in Nevada each year) is believed to rid everyone of their troubles from the past year.  

 We went downtown for a quiet walk around the plaza and some gallery viewing, but found the fiesta and lots and lots of people, food vendors, performers, and craft booths in addition to the regular Native American vendors that sit in the plaza.  Traffic, was, of course, impossible.

The crowds were just gathering
when we got there.

This little beauty wasn't sure what
she was supposed to do.

Thanks to a talking to by her mother,
she finally got the idea!

We saw local Native American children doing dances, Miss Santa Fe and her court, lots and lots of people and entertainment!  

Royalty!!!

There was a history demonstration going on in the plaza, but we didn’t stay to watch it all.   I, of course, made my contribution to the local economy by buying some jewelry from a member of the Santa Domingo Pueblo who was selling her work on the plaza!  

Roger’s sciatica has been acting up the last few weeks and we thought today we would be able to park close to the historic plaza downtown and do some walking in between sitting down and people watching.  Well, we ended up parking about 6 blocks away.  Poor Roger.  He did finds benches and steps to sit down on when he started really hurting but he walked lots more than he should have. 

Traffic in Santa Fe made Roger a crazy person.  The streets are narrow, winding,  one-way, and up and down hills.  With the truck it was crazy.  We got lost a couple of times on the one-way streets that suddenly ended and had to find places to turn around.  We were wishing we had a much smaller vehicle and a more reliable Garmin GPS.

We saw some neighborhoods we wouldn’t normally have seen tucked back in the hills and trees, though.  Well, I saw them -Roger didn’t.    It looks as if 99% of houses (and businesses) are in the Santa Fe/Pueblo architectural style and all the same color (three different shades of brownish pink).  Walls surround the homes and yards so you barely see the house.  It was hard to tell if we were in a good/bad/rich/poor neighborhood but I’m thinking that living here is a bit pricey.  The individuality of the houses behind the walls are a mystery from the road because they all look the same from that vantage point.  I wonder if there is an ordinance or something that all homes have to be in that style and color?  

Yesterday we drove to Los Alamos for lunch and a trip to the Science Museum there.  It was a beautiful drive of about an hour one way.  We couldn’t believe the location - up on top of several mesas with canyons in between.  Really a crazy layout for a town which was connected by bridges.  We had lunch in a North African/Mediterranean restaurant which offered a whole list of vegetarian food.  It was good food, but later didn’t agree with either of us.  The place was full at lunch time, so we figured it was too much hummus and falafel. We spent an hour at the museum and learned the history of the town and the making of the A-bombs as well as the beginning of Sandia National Labs.  Very, very interesting.  I enjoyed reading a book they had out for people to leave comments.  What a diverse compilation of thoughts from how wrong the A-Bomb was to how right it was to drop it when we did.  Of course the display played up how it was necessary to stop the carnage of WWII and save our troops from further harm.  It sure makes one ponder the whole thing and it was quite interesting scientifically and historically.  One of the things we found interesting was that the place was so secret during the war that people who lived here all had the same address - a post office box in Santa Fe.  Also, their driver’s licenses did not have their names on them - just a number.  Children born there during that time all had their place of birth recorded as that P.O. Box.  How fun that must be for genealogy enthusiasts looking for their family.  

We spent some time today working on our next move.  (It’s hard and very frustrating to do without being able to get on the computer and access maps, rv park reviews, rv park websites, etc. The phone worked, but what a pain.)   We are starting to think about heading home and there are only so many ways to get there and all of them not a lot of fun.  Our original idea was to drop down to I-40 and go to Kingman, AZ then up to Las Vegas and home on US95.  BORING!  No good place to stop between LV and Hawthorne and that leg is over the mileage that Roger likes to drive in one day on two lane roads.  So, we thought about going over to US 395 and up through Bishop.  Then we remembered the Rim Fire and that Mono County is having smoke issues and no place to stop once we leave Bishop - again making that last day way too long.   So, tomorrow we are going up to Durango, CO then to Moab, UT for a couple of days, then Salt Lake City and get on I-80 and just head west to home.  It, too, is a boring drive once we get on I-80, but not many choices available.   

Our grandson, Tony, is picking up our mail for us from the post office and then taking it home, checking on the house when he does.  He texted this photo of one of the new residents in our back yard today.    

He says there are three of them and the mother.  Here we go again!  A few years ago, the same thing happened when we were gone over the winter - we came home to seven kittens that time.   We are hoping that Maggie will shoo them off and we don’t have to take them to Animal Control.  I’m stressing about it already. 

I hope to post this entry with some photos from today when we land tomorrow in Durango.  What are the chances their WIFI works?  

SATURDAY - well, no worries about the WIFI working.  There isn’t one.  I’m thinking that is better because it is less frustrating not spending wasted time trying to figure out how to make it work.  

We are in a campground outside of Durango, CO.  It is in a deep canyon along a stream bed which is dry.  They are only open for two more weeks - then they shut down for the winter.  The place is pretty pricey - the most expensive so far (over $50) and they charged $5 for the dog!  None of this was mentioned in the reviews I read.  It is how they get to take off for the winter, though, as they make all their money between Memorial Day and the First of October.  We have trees, grass, quiet, dark, and only about half full.  Supposedly we also have bears during the night but “they haven’t bothered anyone so far.  They just eat the berries on the bushes.”   Yeah, right.  Rog will get the 9:30 PM "going out to pee" Maggie duty tonight!

Today’s drive from Santa Fe included some time on Route 66, we crossed the Rio Grande several times, followed the explorer Coronado’s trail, and we are now back on the western side of the Continental Divide.  The drive was a long, but pretty easy one as the road was four lane all through New Mexico and didn’t narrow down to two until we entered Colorado. Not much traffic, either.  

Note huge moth in lower left corner.

Maggie thought she could catch it!  Silly Dog!!

Oceans of bloomin’ rabbit brush which kept us sneezing every time we got out of the truck for a break.  We stopped once and I noticed that there were these huge moths hovering around the bushes.  It was very strange looking but obviously pollinating up a storm!  

I counted six Indian Reservations (Pueblos) including an Apache, Ute, Zia, and the largest of all - the Navajo Nation.  It was all quite depressing seeing all the derelict homes, the beat up trailers, the burned out businesses, and discarded cars and vehicles out in the desert.  So very sad.  I felt often as if I were driving through a Third World Country!  How can we let this happen?  

Then to our surprise we started seeing oil and gas wells and people working on pipelines.  We had no idea that the Navajo Nation was so mineral rich until we saw this.  I Googled it, and apparently they have one of the world's largest coal mines as well as all of this petroleum and gas.  So, why are the people of the reservation living in squalor?  I’m so confused. Tribes that have casinos seem to do well, why not the Navajos 

Tomorrow we go to Moab, UT where we will sit for two nights so Rog can have a rest from driving and Maggie can have a day without drugs!  

Slow as dial up!

We have WIFI but it is extremely slow tonight as everyone is probably uploading Netflix or their on-line journal!!  So my plan is to try tomorrow morning before everyone else gets on.   Wish me luck!!   In Moab UT for a couple of days.  

No WIFI tonight

In Durango, CO on a deep canyon.  No TV, barely have phone and no WFI.  Hoping cell signal can handle this.  

No WIFI AGAIN

We've been here 3 nights. Have yet to connect. Wanted to do journal tonite but can't get in. Doing this note on phone with 3G. Not patient enough to do a real entry.  Went to office to see what I was doing wrong.  I have Apple products. "Our WIFI doesn't work with Apple ."  Aargh!!!!

A Slow News Day

It was a very short easy drive today. 61 miles. Had time to get groceries and a frozen yogurt this afternoon. We spent an hour or so going over maps trying to find a way home!!!

Maggie did great today with no drugs for the short trip!  

Tomorrow we plan a trip to Los Alamos after an oil change for the truck.  

An Eventful Day

U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO

It was a bright and clear day when we left this morning and drove south along the the eastern side of the Rockies.  We couldn't have asked for a nicer travel day!  

The view of the Academy from I-25 was so pretty that I couldn't resist trying to capture it from the moving car. 

After we left Colorado Springs we were in "virgin territory" as Roger put it.  We had never been on this particular route or seen any of this part of the country before.   One of the sites we saw was this butte with Trinidad, CO at its foot.  The rest area where we stopped for lunch had a wonderful view!  From there we climbed Raton Pass and at the top found ourselves in New Mexico.  

On this trip we have followed parts of the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, the Morman Trail, the Pony Express Route, Lewis and Clark's route.  Today we found ourselves on the Santa Fe Trail and Route 66.  

Then, about 60 miles from our destination the biggest "event" of the day happened:   

Yep, we hit a milestone!!  We figure that  at least 85% of these miles has been pulling an RV back and forth across the country!  (This trip alone will be about 4,000 miles by the time we get home.) What journeys they have been!!  With any luck we will see many more miles on "Ole Blue."  

At one stop in the last few weeks, a neighbor said to Roger, "That sure is a nice wagon you've got, but it is a tired old horse pulling it." Well, it's going to continue pulling for a while longer!



After one of our longer drives, we stopped for the night in Las Vegas.  According to the brochure this Las Vegas in New Mexico was the first one and is quite famous for having famous residents and visitors including  Doc Holliday, Big Nose Kate, Jesse James and Teddy Roosevelt announced his candidacy for president here.   The KOA is not one of the nicer ones but we got the best site with no one next to us. 

We did finally see antelope today!!  A whole herd of pronghorns. The land we passed through today was mainly large ranches with cattle and horses.  We saw no agriculture. One ranch we passed, called the "Fire and Ice" ranch, was absolutely huge. Western ranches erect grand entrances displaying the name of the ranch wherever a road entered the ranches' property. Entrances to this ranch went on for probably 10 to 15 miles as we drove by on Highway 25.  A single family has owned this land since 1916 in the business of "quality" beef for America. This is really the soul of the western identity.

Maggie let us sleep last night (maybe we finally figured out the real culprit for her discomfort) and she had some nice naps today in the truck (her happy pill worked!).  

Tomorrow we have a very short day to Santa Fe where we plan on spending three nights.  We need to get an oil change and we hope to spend a day in Los Alamos and a day in old town Santa Fe.

Last Day in Colorado

Today is our last day here in Colorado Springs.  Tomorrow we will head south on I-25 towards New Mexico where we plan on a few days in Santa Fe.  Rog is currently washing the bugs off the front of the RV (so there is room to collect more on the trip from here to home) while Maggie and I sit here and watch him work! 

Ben and Pam hanging with out the folks.

We have had a really good time here with Pam and Ben! Most of the time they spent with us here at the campground just "hanging out," which has been nice. They even brought Roger his favorite cake to celebrate us being here.  

Yesterday, though, we got to have lunch at Colorado College with them and then we had a tour of Pam's new workplace. She recently was hired as the Publications Coordinator for their library.  She is thrilled with the position (and benefits) and is looking forward to a long career there!  Colorado College is a private Liberal Arts college and is 2 blocks from where she lives.  It has a beautiful campus and is so perfect for her! They both had to work today.  Would you believe that the college's first day of class is today!!  Ben is still working for a defense contractor at one of the bases here and the work is 365 and 24/7 and today was his regular shift.  That gave us time, though, to get ready for the next leg of our road trip.

Pam and Ben fell in love with Maggie and I had to watch carefully that the dog didn't go home with them last night!!! It's a good thing they have cats or we might have found her missing! 

Dog is still having gut issues - but only in the middle of the night.  We have yet to figure out what the cause is.  We are now closing her in the bedroom with us at night so she has to make noise to get out, which she did four times last night!!  It is scary out there in the middle of the night, but when she's gotta go - she's got to go!  We have our fingers crossed that we will get a full night's sleep tonight before we get on the road tomorrow. We have gotten rid of the can of dog food we've been using to mix with her dry food thinking the "wet" food may have been contaminated and may be the cause of her GI distress. It's 7:00 PM and she's been good so far.  

Weather has been very warm during the day with some pretty strong afternoon thunderstorms.  We are still watching the weather - mostly the smoke alerts - at home and dissipation of the smoke will help determine how much longer we stay gone.  Current thinking is that we'll get home around the 15th - 17th.