Sunday, October 10, 2021

Part Four -- end of the trip

We left Monument Vallewy and drove through the Four Corners area touching Arizona, Utah and finally our destination Colorado. Our travel "goal" was a vague idea that we wanted to get back to the Rocky Mountains. We figured out, with encouragement from a friend, that Durango in Southwestern Colorado would be a good destination. And we wanted to see new places. It was a good plan, but things did not quite turn out the way we expected. We were going to drive north through the Rockies from Durango and visit some of the area we had seen briefly decades ago just West of Denver. When we got to Durango we learned three things: 1. Durango was jammed with tourists, and even in paid RV parks we could only find space for one night. 2. The highway we had planned to travel was closed during the day for construction, leaving us with a choice of sitting and waiting for hours, or finding another route. There was no other route that would not add several days of highway travel. 3. We were getting tired after more than a week on the road, and beginning to think of home. So we fought the traffic in Durango long enough to get into a grocery store and replenish our supplies, and then found a commercial RV park just outside of town overlooking the Animas River and the famous Durango-to-Silverton Railroad. Here is the a picture from the RV park, as Pat is sitting and visiting with a very interesting neighbor.
He is a professional musician and teacher named Bud Preston, who travels almost fulltime, but does his classes by Zoom from wherever he parks his home-made trailer that looks like a caboose. His RV spot was ideal, overlooking the tracks so he could see the steam engines puff by twice a day, with the river off in the distance. Ours little van was wedged between two rather large RVs, with just enough room for a picnic table. We have always preferred campgrounds to RV Parks, with few exceptions. This was a nice place and well run but just too close for us to relax. So we made a new plan, took a different route back to the West through the Colorado plains and back into Utah. That took us through Mexican Hat, Bluff and Monticello. We rode along the banks of the Colorado River briefly, and spotted Sand Island Park, home to these petroglyphys.
No matter where you go traveling, you find plenty of signs that you are not the first to pass this way. Because of the dry climate in the West, you get a much better view.
We wanted to see new places, which is why we did not return to Bryce Canyon and other most-popular parks, but since we were driving right by Arches National Park again we thought it was time to stop and check it out. We had learned that it was a highly impacted park, sometimes with lines backing out from the single entry gate, so we started early and arrived at the entrance around 8 a.m., in time to notice that the "CHECK ENGINE LIGHT" was illuminated on the VW dash board.
On a 2002 Volkswagen that can mean an impending disaster, so I tried to find a reason, pulled out the manual and read that and in a stroke of wisdom called my son-in-law Brian who not only owns a VW-based camper (A Rialta) he is also a good mechanic. Brian sent me to the closest car parts store.
After an anxious minute or two the helpful young guy at the store in Moab plugged in his computer device paused, and then asked where my gas cap was located. He twisted it tight and the warning light instantly disappeared. Turns out the most common cause of the check engine light is a loose gas cap. Back to the park entrance, and only a short wait and we got in for the drive through another of America's wonders.
The Visitor Center was partially open, and we spent a few minutes admiring the sculptures. And a friendly tourist captured our photo.
And then we we off on the sometimes steep sometimes crowded road deep into the park. It is a one-way-in-and-out drive, and many of scenic overlooks were beginning to get crowded as were the hiking trails. We can vouch for the beauty of the park, and the fact that there are a potful of arches in every direction. Beauty was all around us.
Then we stopped for lunch on the "lonliest highway" at the Utah/Nevada border where, as you would expect, there is a cafe, motel and casino. You are back in Nevada.
On the way home we camped at Cold Springs in Nevada. This is in the middle of nowhere, on the lonliest road, somewhere east of Fallon. The place was near an old pony express station where a big fight took place in the 1800s. Nothing much has happened since then, but lots of people like the area for the wide-open BLM lands where you can drive your four-wheel cars and carts in every direction. We stayed in what they call the "dry camp" section, a polite way of saying we were up against the barbed wire fence with a view of cows, and the fence, and the desert. It was actually lovely, a billions stars at nights and very quiet. Plus good hot showers and a decent cafe. People in the cafe may look like desert rats, but they most likely work for the military on one of the bases scattered throughout the region. The military used to test nukes nearby.
Our last night on the road was in the Sierra Nevada, 7,000 feet up, in our favorite spot.
We were on the road two weeks, had no serious problems, and were reminded how much we love traveling in the West, or anywhere for that matter. The map gives you an idea, sloppily, of where we went. It doesn't look like much but it required 2,272 miles in a VW bus camper, technically a Eurovan. We were on wide open highways much of the time, able to travel at legal highway speeds. Despite running at 75 mph with the air conditioning on, it appears we averaged about 22 miles per gallon.
What would we do differently? Not much. The pace of travel was about right for us. We could spend more nights in one place but we were traveling to see the country and that required movement. And maybe pay more attention to finding good food, as we winged it in indifferent cafes and easy stuff to cook in camp. But the company was perfect, the scenery divine and we made it home safely. Send me ideas for our next trip!
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