KOA south of Pueblo, CO, to KOA, Goodland, KS:  A much better driving day today.  Headed north on I25 and exited on Rt. 24 in Colorado Springs which will take us to I70 and Limon, CO.   After leaving the outskirts of Colorado Springs, Rt. 24 is very rural high prairie.  At one point we were at 6500 ft., 1000 ft. higher than Denver.  Saw a herd of prong horn.  The road wasn’t bad, even though it was only two lanes.  In a little over two hours we were in Limon and stopped at a Flying J to fuel up and get something to eat.  Then Mike took over.  I never noticed the wind on Rt. 24—probably because it was coming out of the south and was behind us—but when we started heading east on I70 you could really feel it, hitting us broadside.  We arrived at the KOA in Goodland and were set up by 3:00.  I was really glad to see Colorado in our rear view mirror—the mountains, at least.  88 here in Goodland.

 

Durango to Silverton train ride.  You can see how high up we are.
Picture by Mike

Kayaker in the Animas River.
Picture by Mike

Rafter in the Animas River.
Picture by Mike

 

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO, to KOA, south of Pueblo, CO:  Today started out great.  A nice, sunny day.  We continued east on Rt. 160 through the San Juan Mountains.  We found a place to pull over in Pagosa Springs, CO, one of our favorite towns in Colorado.  Had breakfast in the Rose Restaurant and then Mike took over driving.  Good thing, because we had to drive over Wolf Creek Pass, and just before the summit the truck overheated.  Luckily, we had a large place to pull over.  We had to sit there for well over an hour for the truck to cool down.  Mike had to put a lot of water into the radiator.  Finally, we were able to go on.  I was freaking out.  The only thing that would have made this debacle better would be if David were with us.  Then, David and I could have freaked out together.  Poor Mike.  He continued driving because we still had another pass to go over—La Peta Pass.  We got over that okay and finally made it to our park.  After cleaning and setting up, I made myself a stiff drink.  At least we made it here in one piece.  I think it’s time for a new truck.

 

On the way to Wolf Creek Pass.

A cute little ranch.

 

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO:  Had breakfast at Denny’s this morning, ran some errands and then came back to the park and relaxed.  Since the laundry room is right behind our site (more or less), I decided to do a couple of loads.  Got those started and sat in the adjacent patio and read my book.  While I was taking care of the laundry, Mike was getting the reservations for the rest of our trip.  Another beautiful day here in Durango.  And it’s a really nice town.  I just couldn’t take the winters.  And we’re still in high desert.  I’m always having to put hand lotion on my hands and lip balm on my lips.  Dry.  But we leave tomorrow for the rest of the trip home.  I must say I’m looking forward to it. But then I'll be looking forward to going back out again as well.  I guess I'm a gypsy at heart. 

 

Mike and I in our seat on the train.

 

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO:    Up at 6:30 this morning to catch our train to Silverton.  The train travels up along a deep gorge cut through the mountains by the roiling Animas River.  In some areas it’s shear rock.  In other places steep mountains covered with pine and aspen rise on each side of the tracks.  Definitely a beautiful trip.  In the deepest part of the gorge the tracks are on a narrow shelf just wide enough for the tracks and you look down into this abyss with the Animas River at the bottom.  We had a guy in period costume on the way up who was supposed to be General Palmer, the guy who built the railroad.  On the way back we had an Indian woman, Chipeta, who provided the narrative.  She was a Ute Indian who was married to Ouray.  We arrived in Silverton at around 1:00 and walked around for a while and then had lunch at Grumpy’s Saloon.  A girl there played a honky tonk piano for the lunch crowd.  She was excellent.  Bought one of her CDs.  Boarded the train at 2:50 and we left at 3:00 for the trip back.  We were all pretty tired.  On the outskirts of Boulder we encountered a deer who raced along with us for a while.  I’m sure she was pretty scared.  Up near Silverton there were a couple of autos that didn’t quite make the curve on one of those damn “shelf” roads up here in the mountains.  They went down a long way.  Doubt there were any survivors.  The train arrived back in Durango at about 7:00.  Back to our park and crashed.

 

Our ride.

 

 

The Animas River.

The honky tonk pianist at Grumpy's Saloon.

Our Indian narrator, Chapita.

 

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO:  Went down into the 40s overnight, so it was hard to get out of bed until the furnace warmed things up a bit.  After our morning ablutions we bought our tickets for the train tomorrow and then drove to old, historic Durango and walked around some after finally figuring out how to use the parking meter.  Had lunch at a little French restaurant.  Drove back, stopping to pick up some groceries.  Relaxed the rest of the day.

 

Elegant Strater Hotel

Sculpture of three foals on the streets of Durango.

Lunch at the quaint little Jean Pierre restaurant.

What a neat stone building!

 

Spanish Trail RV Park, Moab, UT, to Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO:  Said our good-byes to Rick and Andrea this morning and went our separate ways—us heading south and Rick and Andrea heading north back to Oregon.  We headed south on Rt. 191 and then east on Rt. 491.  Stopped just before Cortez, CO, and had some lunch, then continued on.  Took Rt. 160 in Cortez which we’ll be on most of the way across Colorado. We’re now out of the desert and in an area of lush pastures, recently tilled fields of loamy soil, pine forests, and sparkling mountain streams.  We arrived at our new park and were set up by 3:00.  Had a lot of cleaning to do—what with all the red sand in Moab.  It’s such a beautiful area though.  We’ve enjoyed mostly 90s while in Moab.  Temps dropped steadily after leaving there.  71 here in Durango.

 

Interesting rock formation south of Moab.

Wilson Arch--south of Moab.

 

Spanish Trail RV Park, Moab, UT:  We relaxed today and took care of some maintenance stuff since we leave tomorrow morning.  I did another load of laundry and then Rick and Andrea came over and we played Rummy Cube.  Had left-overs from our dinner last night at the Moab Brewery and then we continued playing Rummy Cube.  Rick and Andrea hooked up so they wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow.  In the morning we will go our separate ways.  We will miss them!

 

Retro Coke Machine--House in the Rock
Moab, UT

 

 

 

Retro Coke Bottles--House in the Rock
Moab, UT