March 1-13, 2001

Thursday, March 1, 2001                                                    Albuquerque, NM

Christine’s parents began attending their conference today put on by the North American Deer and Elk Farmers Association, the primary reason for their trip to Albuquerque.  Christine’s aunt and uncle explored the Acoma Pueblo on their own, while Christine and I took the day off to catch up on some housekeeping.

I enjoyed lazing in bed finishing another book while Christine worked on some of her coursework. I was able to tidy up the rear of the RV and work on a couple other projects before we made plans to meet the family for dinner.  We enjoyed a good New Mexican restaurant and said our goodbyes to Christine’s parents.  They would be busy all day tomorrow with the conference and a banquet that evening.  We made plans to join Arlene and Don, her aunt and uncle for a trip up to Santa Fe tomorrow.

By Christine:  Today was a hard day for me.  It was the first day since the accident that I’ve had time to think.    It was also the first time I wished there was more room in the RV.  I really wanted to go in another room, by myself, for a good cry.  No such luck.  I have really enjoyed our time with my parents, aunt and uncle.  The distraction was a godsend for me this week, allowing me to stay active.

Friday, March 2, 2001                                                            Albuquerque, NM

It was a beautiful day for the trip to Santa Fe.  At about an hour north of Albuquerque, we were there by 10:00.  It was a little bit cooler but sunny and clear.  We visited the Institute of American Indian Arts and saw a very enlightening film addressing some of the issues and concerns facing today’s Native American peoples.  We visited St. Francis Cathedral, The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, and Loretto Chapel (home of the miraculous spiral staircase).  Not to mention all the shops and street vendors that occupied our time and attention between attractions.  It was really a very nice day in Santa Fe.

We returned to Albuquerque by the indirect route of The Turquoise Trail; a scenic drive that went south along the eastern side of the Sandia Crest.  We finished the afternoon with a little shopping and said goodbye to Don and Arlene before returning to the campground for a quiet home-cooked dinner and a rented video.

Saturday, March 3, 2001                                                    Albuquerque, NM

With Christine’s family on their way back to Wisconsin, we settled for a day of cleaning and catch-up.  We got the RV pretty clean and took care of the laundry, and caught up on some paperwork.  Mostly a pretty quiet day.

Sunday, March 4, 2001                                                    Albuquerque, NM

We enjoyed a peaceful Sunday with a late breakfast out.  We found a Home Depot and I built an extra shelf for dishes in one of the cabinets while we sat in the parking lot.  We then took in a matinee showing of “O Brother, Where Art Thou” before returning home for a healthy bowl of home-cooked beef/vegetable soup.

I have succumbed to a very bad cold that I must have picked up from Christine’s relations last week.  Both John, Christine’s father, and Don, her uncle were suffering through colds at the time.  It was inevitable that somebody would catch their cold after driving around in the mini-van all week.

Christine and I are both eager and anxious to get a clean checkup with the orthopedist tomorrow so that we can leave town.  We are itching to move on.

Monday, March 5, 2001                                                    Poncha Springs, CO

Christine’s check-up gave us mixed news.  Her broken radius had not moved out of position … good news.  Her wrist was so sore that we wondered if it too was broken.  X-rays came up negative and the diagnosis was a probable torn ligament at the wrist joint.  The torn ligament and the broken radius were working against each other in the healing process.  The doctor considered a light short cast on her forearm to help the wrist heal, but the weight of the cast would have aggravated the healing of the broken radial bone.  So they put her in a full arm cast bent ninety degrees at the elbow.  She’ll have to wear this for two weeks, and then we go back for another look.

The two-week cast almost became a welcome development.  We had to be so careful with her splint that it was a constant preoccupation.  The full arm cast gives her freedom to move around without fear of bumping her arm and causing pain.  After we scheduled our next appointment we hurried off to get a few errands run before heading out of town.  We hit a used bookstore for some more paperbacks.  I’ve been burning through my books.  It’s great to have the freedom to read as much as I want to. 

We went by the towing lot to determine how to dispose of the bike.  The towing and storage charges had accumulated to over $300, outrageous!  We agreed to sign over the title to waive the charges.  Only, I didn’t have the title.  We had to get the bikes re-titled in South Dakota, which meant sending in the old North Carolina titles.  The SD titles are on their way in the mail.  We agreed to return there in two weeks with the title.  I was permitted to remove a couple more items from the bike that will be of value if Christine decides to get another Kawasaki Concours. 

We swung by our insurance agent’s office to let her know the results of the doctors visit, and to tell her we were leaving town for a couple weeks.  We’ve been treated very warmly by all the professionals involved in the accident.  It helps take the edge off of the misfortune of being in an accident.  After all of that, we grabbed some lunch and headed north back the way we came into Colorado.  We got all the way to a campground just below Monarch ski area.  I hope to feel well enough to use one of our Monarch ski passes tomorrow before heading into Gunnison.

Tuesday, March 6, 2001                                                    Gunnison, CO

I awoke feeling pretty lousy, so we decided to put-off skiing at Monarch today.  We lazed about the RV before heading over Monarch pass into Gunnison.  Gunnison was quite familiar to us now.  We picked up some coffee and a video for this evening; I then dropped off Christine at the library while I headed to the hardware store to tackle another project.  We pulled into the same spot in the same campground that we had used weeks earlier.  The warming weather had created a muddy road through the campground … signs of spring approaching.

The campground owner helped me dig the snow away from the sewer line at our site.  It only took an exhausting twenty minutes.  The effort later proved futile when the frozen sewer line rejected my draining waste, making a bit of a mess.  Winter camping continues to have its challenges.

We kicked back for a while as Christine made a yummy casserole for dinner, and I completed the little project I had begun earlier in the day.

Wednesday, March 7, 2001                                                                Gunnison, CO

I got to ski Crested Butte today.  We drove the thirty miles up from Gunnison and I dropped Christine at the library and then headed up to the mountain.  It snowed pretty well all day, which helped wear me out sooner.  I only got a few hours in, choosing to save something for tomorrow.

I met an interesting guy on a chair lift, and we got to talking about the Appalachian Trail.  He and his wife plan to retire in two years and hike it.  They will both be just over forty years old.  He is military, and was stationed in Bosnia for a while.  He said he kept himself occupied over there by reading every AT book that his family could send him.  He even worked up mock itineraries in his head and on paper; planning supplies and provisions; choosing tent and shelter sites; scheduling mail drops and town visits.  With all that anticipation, I sure hope the real thing lives up to his expectation.

As anyone who knows me can say, I love to talk about my AT hike whenever I get an interested audience.  So I bent his ear for a good while as he eagerly took in the tidbits and advice that came from my experience.

I picked Christine up and we headed back to Gunnison to keep a scheduled appointment with the Ford dealership to get my oil changed.  I had the mechanic check out an oil leak that I had recently noticed.  It turns out that my hydraulic leveling system is leaking.  So I’ve scheduled an appointment to have the leveling system serviced under warranty at an RV service center in Albuquerque while we’re there getting Christine’s cast removed. 

Thursday, March 8, 2001                                                                Gunnison, CO

It was a much nicer day today for skiing Crested Butte.  I neglected to put sunscreen on, and I got a little burned in the face.  My cold is still holding on to me. I got nearly no sleep last night, so my energy level was far below its norm.  The skiing was pretty easy though, as I worked on my form by running the same runs over and over.

I had again left Christine at the library in Crested Butte while I was on the mountain.  As we returned to Gunnison, I finally got to see the famed White Buffalo. I even stopped to take some pictures, but the effect was lost … white buffalo standing in a snow-covered field.

We returned to Gunnison with a few errands to run.  We picked up half our mail at the post office (apparently the other half was separated and will arrive tomorrow), and then I again dropped Christine off at the campus library this time, of Western State University.  Are you detecting a theme here?  Whenever we need space, I either drop Christine off at the library or the grocery store.  I then went to tackle the laundry, being fully functional with two working arms, and all.

Friday, March 9, 2001                                                                   Poncha Springs, CO

We both had a full nights sleep last night.  Mine was fitful, but I at least got some badly needed sleep.  We got moving pretty well as we wanted to get a few things done before leaving Gunnison.  I dropped Christine off at the grocery store while I hit the hardware store, picked up the rest of our mail and scheduled the RV service in Albuquerque.

We got out of town a little after ten and headed up to the Monarch ski area.  We were there in time for an early lunch in the RV, and then I went out and got three hours of skiing in.  Monarch is a much less visited ski area, lacking the resort cachet of the better-known names.  However, it’s a nice medium sized mountain with outstanding views and good runs.  The snow was a bit heavy and cruddy from the heavy sunshine of recent days, but I really enjoyed myself.  Monarch seems to attract more people from the fringes of the skiing public. I saw a lot more people in older ski equipment, as well as a lot of beginners.  The skiing apparel was mostly 1980’s style, including a lot of people in blue jeans.  From the ski lifts, I could see a constant array of falling dominos as the beginners struggled to master the green runs.  There were also a healthy number of senior citizens pushing their limits.  My only real complaint was that all the lifts were slow, and void of footrests.  I’ve become so accustomed to the modern hi-speed detachable quad lifts, that anything less ends up being a disappointment.

I left Christine in the RV going through mail while I skied.  I positioned the RV in the parking lot so that she could have a good view of the ski area.  She was very productive in the three hours I was out swooshing.  There wasn’t a library nearby to leave her at this time.

We returned to the campground we used Monday night for another dinner in the RV.  And oh what a dinner it was.  Christine prepared the best RV-cooked meal yet. She picked up a great piece of Salmon in Gunnison this morning that she encrusted with cracked peppercorn and sesame seeds; and grilled it in apricot nectar with red bell peppers and coriander.  It was awesome.  The only neglect was not having a bottle of sauvignon blanc with which to wash it down.

Saturday, March 10, 2001                                                    Durango, CO

We got an early start today so that I could use our final ski pass at Monarch.  There were a couple fresh inches on the ground when we left the campground, and it was still coming down.  Up at the ski area, the fresh snow amounted to at least four inches with plenty more coming down.  The parking area was much more packed than yesterday, but the areas I skied were not very crowded.  I was very pleased with my skiing as I kept repeating the same black diamond bump run trying to get it right.  I finally called it quits just before 1:00 when I tore my jacket on a branch while skiing through a pretty tight steep of trees.

Christine had a yummy hot lunch of tuna-melt quesadillas waiting for me when I got back to the RV.  We enjoyed an exciting ride down to Durango as the weather stayed pretty nasty.  The trip over Wolf Creek Pass was a little harrowing as we hit rush hour (lifts closing at Wolf Creek ski area).  The only real disappointment was not having better visibility of the mountain views on this section of road.

We got into Durango in time for Christine to make a yummy chowder and settle in for the evening.

Sunday, March 11, 2001                                                    Mesa Verde, CO

The weather wasn’t much better today as the snow continued, but it didn’t slow us down much.  I finally caved into a little of Christine’s nagging and tackled our taxes this morning.  I had been the picture of procrastination on the subject.  I rewarded myself with a nice walk through Durango and a yummy lunch of a generous tavern burger.  Christine and I enjoyed our meandering through Durango.

We headed west to the entrance of Mesa Verde National Park where we are camped for the night, the sole visitors in a nice little RV park.  We put some finishing touches on our website and look forward to finally getting it published.

By Christine:  Today at lunch we had our first beer since Albuquerque.  It was the best thing about lunch.  I really enjoyed Durango.  A very nice little town and surrounded by nice ranches and houses, NOT mobile homes scattered about.

Monday, March 12, 2001                                                    Bluff, CO

Efforts at getting the website published this morning were truly frustrating.  We finally gave up after sitting on hold with our website host for over an hour, eating up valuable wireless minutes.  We’ll just have to wait until we get to a town where we can have a local Internet hook-up, and use of a regular telephone.  Flagstaff may be our best bet.

There were a couple fresh inches of snow on the ground as we unhooked and headed up onto the mesa to visit Mesa Verde National Park.  The roads were slick and icy as we drove the twenty-mile access road into the park.  The scenery was right out of some fairytale fantasyland.  Last year’s fires had left much of the land scorched and charred.  The short wiry trees and shrubs were burnt down to a twisted tangle of branches and limbs that appeared to reach out and grab at whatever it could snag as we drove by through the fog and clouds of the blowing snow.  The ebony fire remnants were that much more dramatic juxtaposed to the clean pure white of the snow covering all the ground; an eerie eye-pleasing drive that we took very slowly.

The Park had very few visitors this weathered day, making our experience much more intimate.  We parked at the Museum Center and walked down to the Spruce Tree cliff dwelling, one of the few open during winter months.  The clouds were already breaking and the sun’s warmth was a welcome visitor.  We ventured out along the Cliffside for a demanding three-mile hike that took us to a wall of petroglyphs before finally rising back onto the mesa for the return leg of the hike.  The views of the canyons were excellent as we sloshed through snow and mud the entire way.

1) Spruce Tree House  2)The Petroglyphs  3 and 4) Views on our hike.

We enjoyed a hot bowl of Christine’s spicy chowder reheated in the RV before leaving the Park.  By now the Park access road was clear and beautiful.  We paused to tease a flock of turkeys along the road.  They were clearly too comfortable with human interaction … to often feeding from man’s hand.  Heading west from the park we briefly stopped in Cortez for groceries and then continued on into Utah.  The terrain west of the mesas had changed dramatically into the high desert of the four-corners area.  We cruised on by the Hovenweep Monument and stopped for the night in the small town of Bluff, Utah.  I quiet night before a big day tomorrow.

  Wild? Turkeys

By Christine:  Today I was looking forward to leaving CO for a couple of reasons:  One, we’ve spent a lot of time in CO and I’ve never been in Utah or Arizona.  Two, I was ready to get somewhere I could buy beer in the grocery store.  You can only buy 3.2 beer in the grocery stores of CO.  Later I found out Utah laws were the same.  I think 3.2 beer is just a ploy by those against drinking to give people headaches and therefore turn them off of good beer. As you can see I have nothing against a good beer.  But…

On another alcohol thread, as we headed West from Mesa Verda, we drove through the Ute Indian Reservation.  The scenery was dramatic if you could get past the amount of garbage (mostly bottles), glistening on the side of the road.  The ditches were solid garbage and I found this very disturbing.  Joe commented on how straight the road was at this point and I supposed that with all the drinking, rolling down the windows and throwing bottles, we could hardly expect them to maneuver curves.  It is possible I am especially sensitive due to my accident two weeks ago caused by a drunk Indian.  I am saddened at how noticeable this problem is on our countries Indian Reservations and the seeming acceptance of it in these areas.  

To view more pictures of Mesa Verda, click here.

 Tuesday, March 13, 2001                                                    Grand Canyon, AZ

After another great night of sleep (my cold has almost passed) we hit the road into some of my favorite country.  Just before we passed through Mexican Hat we stopped at Goose Necks State Park at the edge of Valley of the Gods.  Goose Necks is a perfect example of a rivers natural tendency to snake.  The erosion of the San Juan River created a snaking gorge 1000 feet deep that turns back on itself several times.

   Gooseneck State Park

Not much further south we entered into Monument Valley.  From my motorcycle trip through here in 1993, I have ever since remembered this area with a deep sense of respect and appreciation.  I chose to put in the Miles Davis CD: “Kind of Blue” to provide an enhancing chromatic contrast to the vivid red rock of the spires and buttes making up the monuments.  The weather cooperated with mostly clear skies, bringing out the brilliant spectrum of reds that define this vivid landscape.

    Monument Valley

We moved on into Arizona and made our way west to The Grand Canyon.  The day continued to be beautiful throughout our pleasing drive.  We entered the National Park mid-afternoon and took special pleasure in having the $20 park admission fee waived in our case, by flashing our National Parks Pass.  From there it was another twenty-five miles to the main park facilities with spectacular views along the way. 

Our first stop along the South Rim was at Desert View.  I was surprised by the crowds there at this time of year.  The parking area was nearly full.  Nobody seemed very annoyed, all busy taking in the grandeur that is The Grand Canyon.  We moved along now concerned that camping space may be an issue.  We checked into the Trailer Village and got one of the last remaining available sites.  Granted, only half of the campground was open at this time, but it still seemed unusually busy for so early in the season. 

The park had just gotten a foot of snow over the previous few days, but the roads were all clear due to the generous amounts of sunshine and warming temperatures.  We pulled into a nice spot, hooked up and enjoyed a sustaining appetizer before heading back out on foot to catch the sunset.  We caught a ride on the free park shuttle service over to Mather Point where we drank in the beautiful reflections of the setting sun off of the canyon walls.  Skipping the return shuttle ride, we briskly walked back to the campground eager for the dinner awaiting us.  Such a splendid day.  We are so fortunate.

    Enjoying our rim hike at the Grand Canyon.

Onto March 14, 2001....