Travel Bug

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Corn Star and a Fire! -- Sat., July 28

Today's post has some odds and loose ends.

First, happy birthday to my sister, Jan. Have a great day. I miss you.

Driving miles upon miles in remote areas not many radio stations come in: NPR, talk radio, country western music or religious broadcasting. Bob and I aren't country music fans, but we wanted to listen to something. For miles we laughed and laughed at the lyrics and choruses to some of those songs. I wrote down a few that tickled our funny bones: "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," "He's Got His Beer Goggles On," " Corn Star," "She Makes My Shirt Look Good," and "Is that Your Whiskey or Your Cowboy Talkin'?" Pretty good, eh?

Last night we were treated to the sound of raindrops on our roof. So soothing.

Our path today took us from Mesa Verde National Park (Mancos, Colorado), through Monticello and Moab, Utah north to I-70, east on I-70 to just past Grand Junction, Colorado, south on SR 141 to US 50 into Delta, Colorado. For days, thunderstorms have teased us with lightning shows in the distance, including today, but on our five-hour drive, we had rain only about five minutes.

If you are thinking of driving I-70 west of Grand Junction, Colorado, be aware there's miles of road construction. (They're repaving the freeway.) Part of the way, you'll be switched over to the eastbound lanes with one lane in each direction. For miles there is one lane of freeway open in each direction. Eastbound, Bob had to drive on the freeway shoulder for about six miles as both freeway lanes were closed.

Here are pictures of today's drive. (Note: I was driving south of Moab, so wasn't able to take pics of the beautiful red rock scenery.)

Goodbye Mesa Verde--photo taken from our campsite.

US 191 north of Moab almost to I-70.

Scenery south of I-70 east in Utah.

I-70 west of Grand Junction, Colorado.

Grand Junction, Colorado.

As we entered Delta, one lane of traffic was closed due to this accident. We don't know what happened.

We're staying at Four Seasons River Inn and RV Park in Delta. Our pull-through site is right next to the Gunnison River. I can see it from where I'm sitting.

As soon as we had the 5er set up in place, we did laundry. When I do laundry, I set the kitchen timer on the microwave so I have a reminder to keep the laundry moving. Tonight, I set the "timer" and walked away from the microwave. About 30 seconds later Bob walked in the door of the 5er and raced over to the microwave. He opened the door and hauled out a flaming bag of chips and put it in the sink. I had set the microwave to cook, not to put on the timer. We had a bag of chips stored in the microwave. It's a good thing he came in the door when he did!!! I was mortified.

Bob took me on a dinner date to Davelo's Italian Restaurant in Delta, Colorado. It was "okay." Don't know if I'd eat there again.

Tonight there are fireworks over the lake (that couldn't be set off on 4th of July because of a drought causing a burn ban). The burn ban was lifted and we're fortunate to see the fireworks from our site...through the cottonwood tree...but it gives the fireworks a cool effect. The cats are freaked out. Sunnie is hiding behind the couch. Bowie is on the couch with his back turned toward the fireworks.

Animals we've seen over the past few days: one prairie dog, one red fox, six pronghorns, squirrels, chipmunks, turkey vultures, and lots of mule deer.

Tomorrow we plan to explore Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: south rim in the morning; north rim in the afternoon. After our day of hiking and sightseeing in the park, we will have dinner with Jeanette, a full-time, RVing workamper friend we met while working at amazon.com in Fernley, Nevada, last winter.

I must say goodnight in order to sleep, then wake up early for another full day.

Travel Bug with lights out.

Clyde the Guide -- Thurs., July 26

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado:

Up bright and early, entered Mesa Verde at 7:00 a.m. for our 9:00 tour of Balcony House. The Park Ranger who sold us our tickets yesterday informed us of road construction within the park and told us to allow extra time to make it where we needed to go.

On our way to Balcony House, construction stopped us dead in our tracks, but only for about 5-10 minutes. We had enough time to stop at the overlook for Cliff Palace and snap a few photos.

Cliff Palace

Stairs down to Cliff Palace--for guided tour only.

We mosied over to the start of Balcony House Tour and arrived at 8:30 a.m. At exactly 9:00, Clyde the Guide introduced himself to us and went over pertinent information. This is the most strenuous tour in Mesa Verde National Park. It is 3/4 mile but involves a lot of ladder climbing, crawling on hands and knees through a small tunnel, and going up an almost vertical cliff face using footholds and chain railings. He gave the usual warnings of avoiding this activity if you suffer from heart problems. And off we went.

Clyde the Guide

We were fortunate to have a Native American ranger for our tour. We enjoyed his talk so much. He was funny, insightful and helped us understand the culture of the Ancestral Puebloans who lived in the cliff dwellings.

Yep, we're going up that!

Where we were.

We were with a fun group.

Lining up to crawl through the tunnel.

Bob crawling out of the tunnel.

This is the cliff face we scaled. (Don't know the people.)

Just one more ladder.

After Balcony House Tour we had four hours until our 2:00 p.m. Long House Tour. We took advantage of the time, ate lunch at Spruce Tree House Cafe, then hiked the one mile, round-trip trail to Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling.

Pictures of Spruce Tree House hike...

Verbascum thapsus (Great or Common Mullein)

Switchbacks

Our next tour was scheduled at 2:00 p.m.; however we arrived over an hour early and asked if it was possible to go on the 1:00 tour. The ranger said if there was room on the tram, we could go early. There was room on the tram for us and one other couple to go earlier. Yay!

The Long House Tour started with a short tram ride to the start of the trail. Our ranger's name was Lisa. She worked as an archeologist for a number of years and had been an elementary school teacher. We learned a lot from her.

Our ranger, Lisa, explaining yucca fibers.

The Long House

More ladders!

Tree ring sample to tell age of tree -- dendrochronology.

Bob is third one back.

When we finished The Long House Tour, we took the tram back to the parking lot and hiked to Step House, a one-mile loop trail.

Cheeks full of berries. He didn't care about us.

Bob on Step House Trail

A different kind of pit house.

"I give you...the world!"

Yucca--up close and personal.

Earlier in the day when we finished Spruce Tree House walk, we didn't have time to go to the Chapin Museum and I wanted Bob to see it. We went back to that area and toured the museum. I learned a couple of new items. (1) Mesa Verde is not really a mesa; it is a cuestra. A mesa has sheer drops on both sides of the plateau, while a cuestra has sheer drop on one side and a slope on the the other. (2) The Ancestral Puebloans (who used to be called Anasazi) were able to farm the top of Mesa Verde because of loess (red dust/dirt) blown up to the top of the cuestra from the Kayente Plateau.

We weren't quite done with Mesa Verde. Bob wanted to see the Far View Sites, so we wandered around that area.