Durango and Beyond

We have now migrated to Durango, CO. We haven't been here in 20-30 years and it sure has grown up. Our first day here was a bummer, rain, fog etc. Went for a drive but the temps started dropping to the freezing point to we turned around, We didn't want to be caught in any snow which was falling at the higher altitudes. Tomorrow is another day.

We are in a beautiful campground, relatively new at a casino about 15 miles from Durango. Haven't been in one this nice for quite a while but then we tend to go into the lower priced campgrounds. We belong to several clubs/organizations that allow us to keep our campground costs in check. The best is the US Government, but unless we want to camp without hookups they are far and few between right now. Oklahoma had many Federal campgrounds with electricity(preferred) but not so many in New Mexico and Colorado.

We woke up this morning to 34 degrees, brr. We planned to take the Million Dollar Highway to Readway, CO and possible further if we felt like it. As we drove down the road toward Durango we knew our plans were going to change. The Mountains had snow the night before and were beautiful.

As we drove up into the mountains the snow was magnificent. Beautiful. Then we saw the sign, some pass ahead of us was still closed and being plowed. We did make it to Silverton, the end of the line for the train ride. Silverton was interesting, the main road was paved, every other road in town was dirt(or mud). Most places were closed, end of season. We saw our first wildlife: a fox on the road!

There is a trade off when traveling in the fall between crowds and places not being open. We prefer places not being open. Sometimes we are disappointed, most of the time not. 

Pictures from the Million Dollar Highway:

 

Starting back to Durango we encountered sleet. Took that as our signal to get out of the mountains. Next stop Page, AZ.

We are seeing an end to our wanderings in a few weeks so we need to be a bit more careful as to our plans. North Rim of the Grand Canyon has not had snow yet so that is still the end goal. Durango area should be the last of our serious concerns about snow and we are here for one more day.

After Durango, we travel toward Page via Mexican Hat and Monument Valley. No plans to stop this year. A night or 2 in Page to pick up mail, packages, laundry, and food shopping. Then on to the North Rim, Flagstaff and then into Phoenix.

After that into Phoenix with the first stop is getting our solar fixed. Somehow we lost power to one bank of panels(installed in February) and we don't have the tools or correct caulk to repair it ourselves so a quick stop at the repair shop to have it fixed. 

Travel to Farmington NM Day 2

Today was one of our easiest driving days in a long time. Only 100 miles to cover until we stop in Farmington, NM at an Elks Lodge. This is a planned stop to get gas, supermarket etc before we leave for Page. The trip to Page, only 250 miles or so but will take 2-4 days as we plan to stop at Durango and do some touring. As usual, depends on the weather. We appear to be out of the ups and downs of the mountains for now and just enjoying a relatively flat drive.

Travel to Farmington NM Day 1

The  blog might be a little out of sequence. Due to poor internet I couldn't do updates each day as I normally do. 

Today we bagan our wander toward the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, several stops are planned at Durango  and the Navajo National Monument. We will stop at Page, AZ and take a little break, stock up, laundry before heading toward the Grand Canyon.

We are taking US 64  across norther NM and AZ. So far in our trip we crossed 2 passes at 8700' and 9700'. Today we crossed 3 more at 8700', 9800',  and 11000'. We had great weather for a while but as we climbed into the mountains, heavy rain, heavy fog etc. Visibility was very poor, luckily no one drives this road. We creeped down the mountain and finally had good visibility around 8500'.

When driving the mountains we always have Plan A, B and more. Today, after that delightful drive and seeing black clouds all around us we decided to stop. We travelled all of 120 miles. This has been a good decision, been raining on and  off all afternoon. Giving me a chance to catch up on the blog and hopefully the pictures.

I wish there was a way to describe the Aspen and how beautiful it is, I just don't have the words and the pictures don't do the scenery justice.

Today we drove up to Rio Grande de Norte National Monument. Mostly a wilderness area with the Rio Grand River Gorge on one side. Beautiful views. We were very surprised at the number of campers up there. Mostly tenters and a few RVs.

We then drove over to the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge, the seond hghest bridge in the US and the middle span is over 300' long. This was a bust. The bridge was closed for some work. We had no idea how long it would be closed the traffic line was fairly long and the truck had a  boom over the side of the bridge blocking all traffic. We have to go this way tomorrow so we will have another try.

Taos Area

We drove toward Taos today. Scenic drive the entire way. We had tested the MH in the mountains, mostly just fro Flagstaff to Phoenix. Today was a real test, 2 passes to navigate, one at 9700' and the other at 8700'. The MH was great! Engine kept the speed in check and then some. Very curvy with many tight curves and 25 MPH. Everything worked great. We will be having additional tests of our mountain skills for the rest of the trip.

Once in the mountains the scenery was phenomenal. The Aspen tress are bright yellow set against the dark green of the pines. Awesome!

We will be staying here a few days to be tourists. Do the Enchanted Drive Scenic Byway and 1 or 2 others we know about. Visit the Taos Ski Area and ride the ski lift to the top(need a good day for that) and visit the Taos Pueblo, the oldest continuosly occupied Pueblo in the US.

We had a minor problem today after we set up camp we went out to eat and our one tire was reading very low. Took it to the local tire shop and we had a nail in it. Hour later back on the road again. Always something.

This afternoon we had rain and thunderstorms. Strange thunder. We thought someone was shaking a big piece of metal, maybe a roof piece but it was the thunder. Must be the moutains echoing in some way.

Heading Toward New Mexico and Taos

Today we began our drive toward the mountains, just a day of back road driving, mostly good roads. We are heading toward Taos and will spend a few days there. Lots to see and do. We think we picked a campground with views, we shall see.

The drive was uneventful, all  good road and nothing interesting to see along the way. Had a time change to Mountain Time so need to reset all the clocks. I am always surprised as to how many clocks we have in the MH. Everything seems to have a clock on it. I counted 12 clocks that need to be reset. Such a pesty thing.

End of Oklahoma, on to Texas

The last 2 days have been interesting. Yesterday(Thursday) we went off to visit 2 additional state parks. No real reason but saw them on the map. Both names intregued us: Roman Nose and Red Rock Canyon. Pretty much the only thing going for them were the names.

Red Rock Canyon had on 30' Red Rock and lots of campsites. Roman Nose was named after and American Indian warrior and had a golf course, lake and lots of camping.

One thing we noticed was that a majority of the campsites were reserved for the weekend. Since we were planning to move on Friday this raised a red flag. We are close to Oklahoma City so there is a much larger population base. I called the ranger at the park where we were planning to go to and was told if we weren't in by 10-11AM there probably wouldn't be a site. No way we could make that time.

We decided to skip that stop and go on to Amarillo, TX. As usual, many trucks on the back roads but once we found I40 all was good. Both OK and TX have major windmill farms, we saw one that went to the horizon and beyond. Each windmill generates for the landowner about $8000 pere year. With these large windmill farms the money is probably a much-needed bonus.

I40 should have been a good drive, except for the 20-25mph headwind and the 50 miles of quasi-washerboard road(and this was an interstate). Exhausted when we finally pulled into the campground. We will do some touring and restock before heading into the mountains of NM and AZ.