Sun, Jun 5, 2011

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Need a great ending to a good day on the road?  Just add a vibrant sunset. – Donna Downey

Staying in a cabin brings a sense of home that a motel room can’t touch so it was good to wake up to the sound of birds singing and that early morning light streaming in thru the blinds.  After breakfast it was hard to leave our cabin.  Checking the weather for the day made it even harder since the highs were estimated to be about 75.  Checking the weather for the day at home in Meridian (100 degrees with would feel like 105) made it difficult to even think about heading home!

Before we would begin our drive kinda, sorta toward home we made a trip over to Mesa Verde National Park just east of Cortez, CO.  We arrived at the park about mid morning to very hazy conditions.  The huge wildfires in Arizona were producing a lot of, if not all of this problem.  After making the climb up to the top of Mesa Verde the temperature had climbed to almost ninety.  The higher temperatures meant we would not be able to leave the dogs in the car for any length of time and therefore would not be able to walk down to any of the cliff dwellings.  After listening to the ranger’s lecture to a tour group waiting to make the walk, I’m not sure I could have made it anyway.  The biggest part of the lecture was on all the dangers of the tour, the temperatures, the climbs, the effect of the very high altitudes… it didn’t sound good to us flatlanders! 

We did fine just walking out to the overlooks and reading the information available there.  Maybe on a return trip with cooler temperatures we’ll do the walk-downs.  The cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly called Anasazi by archeologists) built in sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls are amazing.  And it is equally amazing that they have been able to save so many of these elaborate ruins.  It was a very interesting day and the haze didn’t affect the views in the canyons. 

On the drive into and out of the cliff dwelling areas and along the top of the mesa we saw a nice buck in his velvet antlers.  Judging by the size of the base of the antlers he was going to have quite a rack by fall!  And we were lucky to see one of the small herds of wild horses that have moved into the park from the nearby Ute Indian Reservation.  There was one small foal, several mares and at least three studs in this group. 

Just before making the descent from the Mesa we stopped at an overlook of the huge valley below and had our late lunch picnic.  We were already beginning to talk about how we are going to miss these wonderful cool days perfect for naps in the car and picnics.  But all too soon it was time to hit the road and head south.

It was about 4:00 pm when we made it to the highway outside the park but the weather was so nice and perfect for riding so we drove all the way to Taos, NM with just a few stops for the pups to stretch their legs and to do a little hunting.  We were also privy to experience a really nice sunset just outside of Taos.

We have a very nice room here in Taos and have sort of mapped out our route for tomorrow.  If you are still trying to read my long-winded journals and view my endless photos you will perhaps be glad to know the journals will be shorter and surely fewer photos since we will be spending most of our time driving back toward Mississippi.  Try not to smile too big when you read this.  We don’t plan to drive straight back at a breakneck pace but will not have the luxury of the slow pace that we have been on for these many weeks. 

We are well tonight and hope that y’all are too.

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger