Chapter Four: The Southwest

After trying to think of a good excuse to stay another night at The Sundance Mountain Lodge, we decided we should move on to new adventures.  It was a short drive to Colorado Springs and the fabulous city park, Garden of the Gods.

This is a popular walking and rock climbing spot.  In the distance is Pike's Peak.

We watched two raptors zooming around this big rock - they looked to be prarie falcons.

Park walkways meandered through spires and hoodoos.

There were immense boulders perched precariously.

Garden of Evolution.

What is also remarkable is that these red outcroppings seem to be isolated from the surrounding countryside.

We seemed to hit the peak of fall colors wherever we went.

Well, it was time to hit the road.  One thing you learn traveling in Middle America is that if you want a sip of wine at night, you better buy it early!  It was also a thrill to see one of my Bob's stores in most every town.

After driving through arid flatlands, we eventually started up the Arkansas River flowing out of the San Juan Mountains.  It is the 45th longest river in the world.  Our drive from here led up and over Wolf Creek Pass, 10,857 feet elevation, and the snowiest spot in Colorado.  It is also on the Continental Divide. 

Sharing driving sure makes these long trips a lot easier!

It was a relief to make it over the pass before dark.  The aspens were glorious coming down the western side.  Our goal was Durango.  The last hour and a half of driving was in the dark, and very tense due to all the animals crossing the road.  In one area there were even warning signs that flashed automatically when wildlife was detected.  You couldn't go too slow or traffic would pile up behind you.  After almost hitting a large bird and some kind of black animal streaking in front of us, we made it to Durango without killing anything.

Durango turned out to be a happening town, with restored hotels, upscale restaurants, and the Durango to Silverton train that has been in continuous service for 130 years.  A woman working in a bookstore happened to grow up in my childhood neighborhood in Santa Barbara, although somewhat later than me.

We spent most of Thursday the 17th at Mesa Verde, site of the Anasazi cliff dwellings.  Our ranger, here, did a great job of getting us to appreciate the people and amazing life style that took place here from AD 600 to about 1300.  We opted for the Balcony House tour - the most adventurous.

After descending a 100 foot staircase into the canyon, we climbed a 32 foot ladder up to the dwellings.  We then had to crawl through an 18 inch wide 12 foot long tunnel.

Everyone made it up just fine.  When Nick and Cassidy did this last spring, a woman froze on the ladder, and it took awhile to talk her up to the top.  The Anasazi didn't even use ladders - they had little handholds and toeholds cut into the rock.  Can you imagine raising kids here?  It is hundreds of feet to the canyon floor - not apparent in these pictures.

Every dwelling site had a kiva, or meeting room.  There were thick roofs over these rooms, and a firepit.  They were quite complex, and all had a similar plan.

The dwellings are very plumb and square.  There are over 600 dwelling remains at Mesa Verde.

More steps with modern safety nets.  The Anasazi carried water from seeps around the dwellings up to the mesa top to water individual corn plants. 

I began getting a little cavalier on the shorter ladders.

There were protected mesa top sites that were built into the ground and originally covered with logs and earth.

In the corner of the above site shelter was this interesting rats nest, complete with little cactus plants on top and a Nacho bag.

This site is called Square Tower, probably due to the square tower.

 

 

The Palace, as seen from across the canyon, was the largest dwelling complex.  It had 150 rooms, 23 kivas, and housed about 100 people.  About 50% of children died before they were 5.  Average life expectancy of adults was around 32 to 34 years.

 

 

Another dwelling.

 



On the way out of the park, a large coyote came out of the bushes and stood in the road for a few seconds before crossing into the bushes.  We drove on to the Four Corners area on the Navajo Reservation and stayed at a motel in Kayetna.  We began to notice that there were feral dogs around the motel, and later we would see them elsewhere on the reservation.  Gail fed them and gave them water, going out at dawn to buy dogfood.  At least they had one happy day! 

 

Driving towards Monument Valley, which is part in Utah and part in Arizona, we saw many modern homes that also had a hogan near the house.

 

We went inside a couple hogans in the Navajo Tribal Park, where many of the most spectacular rock formations are close together.

 

These hogans have heavy juniper timbers with a mud covering which keeps them fairly well insulated.  The door always faces east.  (Picture looking up)

 

From the visitor center we took this dirt road on a 19 mile loop.  Much of the road was pretty rough and rutted.  This area was the scene of many "western" movies.

 

Once again, Gail took care of a couple feral dogs.  We were told that if they didn't have a collar, you are welcome to take them. 

 

Blue was a real champ on this trip.  The only thing he asked for was gas and a clean windshield.  Pretty good for 211,000 miles!

 

One of the reasons we went out of our way to see Monument Valley was because of a painting Gail had bought years ago at a San Francisco flea market.  There was no indication of where the painting was done, but we found some pictures on the internet of  Three Sisters, above,  in Monument Valley that looked like the subject of her painting.  We were elated when we saw the Three Sisters in person and took many pictures from different angles.  However, when we got home and compared the pictures to the painting, it didn't add up.  The search continues.

 

Two plus three.

 

There were a number of Navajo selling jewelry along the way. 

 

The red earth against the sky was striking!

 

There is nothing like the wide open desert.  I think October is one of the best times to visit, too.

 

This was an elevated view of the desert past the end of our loop.

 

This rock made even us supersticious!

 

We were excited to get some Indian fry bread, but it turned out the kitchen was closed.  It was time to hit the highway, and drive towards Flagstaff and beyond.  We detoured onto Route 66 west of Flagstaff, hoping to find Radiator Springs.  We came pretty close in the tiny town of Seligman!

 

The kitsch was pretty classy, actually.

 

This was a very entertaing burger joint.  However, we were in the mood for something besides burgers, so we headed up the street.

 

Good bye, burger and dead chicken joint!

 

Another crazy little shop, with Edsel out front.

 

Gail, groovin' with the locals.

 

Another fun looking shop!

 

Soren, we found Mater, from Cars!

 

This is the "good" restaurant in town, according to a couple area folks - and they were right!

After dinner, we drove onto Kingman, near the California border, for our last night on the road.

 

The next morning, Friday the 19th,  we stopped for gas near Needles.  We enjoyed petting some of the town's wildlife.

 

The service station manager across the street tried to be scary, and with a scowl and low voice, said, "That's no snake, I'll show you a real snake that will make you hold your knees and kiss your a.. goodbye, a REAL snake, the Mojave Green (variety of rattlesnake)."  It would have been more comical if he wasn't so serious.

 

Gail continued her work on Blue's dashboard - quite amazing, I think!  Here we are traveling through the Mojave desert along a long stretch of Route 66.  Most of the time we couldn't see a car ahead of us or behind us.  This highway has really been forgotten, which made it a delight for us.

 

There was the occasional ruin, such as this truckstop.  Tammy and Scummy seemed to appreciate it, though.  Putting in Interstate 40 pretty much wiped out all the life along Route 66.

 

We stopped at a small monument for an old rest stop that was no longer there.  What was neat, though, was the absolute quiet and expanse of the desert.  We walked a giant circle out into the desert, until Blue became a tiny dot.  We were curious about finding old bottles and cans, or maybe seeing a tortoise or something.

 

The Mojave Desert, warm, quiet, and beckoning.

 

We were delighted to see this Zebra Tailed Lizard.  It ran very fast, even running on just its hind legs!

 

There were burrows small and large, and we wondered what the desert would be like at night.

 

We saw a couple bushes covered in what looked like mud tubes from subterranean termites.

 

As we drove closer to home the traffic increased and the presence of shopping malls, all the same, tried to dampen our spirits.  All we had to do, though, was look at the dashboard and chuckle at all the sights we had seen, the fun times we had together, and our good fortune (minus our colds in South Dakota).  I'm sure we'll be planning a new trip soon!