Towing

I have been a good driver all my life with the exception of having a penchant to drive over the speed limit, whatever was posted. Not really anything to be proud of. The Vilia experience has changed that. Completely. I’ve changed the Eagles song to be “Life in the Right Lane” I pass no one save the occasional farm tractor.

Yesterday, en route to New Mexico, I was on a downgrade heading east towards Durango to connect to route 550 to bring us to Bloomfield NM.    BAM!    What the heck was that?  I look behind me and glimpse a line of a dozen cars as I try to hold at 45 MPH on downgrades and this was a 65 zone. We are 16,000 pounds and that weight loves to pick up speed downhill which I find uncomfortable so I pull in the reins. Cathy says pull over and I agree. We were fortunate to be in a wide section of road yet the shoulder was minimal and I had a few impatient souls sound their horn as they went by. A walk around quickly showed why the BAM! We had blown a tire on Vilia. Trailer tires are notorious for blow outs and we had our first. With two axles and four tires the ride was stable after the blowout, in fact I could tell no difference in the tow. But there it was, a faulty tire, with only about 4,000 miles on it, blown out through a thin sidewall. Gratefully, we were 8 miles from Durango, a sizable enough town that it had six tire shops. Four phone calls later, I had learned that there are no trailer tires made in the US anymore. All come from China. We waited about 45 minutes for our Triple A savior to arrive and put our spare on then went to the excellent Big O tire shop. The franchise owner helped us and was very knowledgeable about trailer tires. I already knew that I needed to buy four new ones. When one goes, you replace all four…$500  later we were back on the road. Our Big O man told me of an option. I could upgrade to a same size tire that is designed for over the road trucking. Many miles of tough weight bearing work. But, they are $380 each! And… I may consider them if we have another blowout with our new, designed for trailer, cheap Chinese tires.

Rockies!

I am somewhat at a loss for words about this drive we took over the “Million Dollar Highway”, October 8, 2015.

  The little I can offer is it is so named for the wealth of silver, gold and other metals taken from these mountains back in the wild west mining days of the mid to late 1800’s.   It is a million dollar sightseeing experience also. We had a magical day as well as a majestic one. The day was magic for weather, clarity and beauty of the day itself and majestic for the views of the fantastic white peaks from the recent snow that was holding solid up on the high country presiding above our path of pavement. We were fortunate enough to see this alone, but…a plus, we hit it at the brief color season for autumn in Colorado. This is when the aspen tree groves that live around 9,000 to 11,000 feet above sea level in this country turn autumn color. Oh the yellow, orange and gold. Aaahhh…

Our drive took us on a loop from Mancos, Colorado to Durango then up and over to Silverton, then on to Ouray, then to Telluride, then over and down to Dolores. From there, a loop back to Mancos and back home to our campsite and Vilia, home, as our Vilia has now so solidly become,  home.

Cathy will post photos of this tour. As I opened, it is hard to describe with words. Cathy’s photos will tell a much better tale than my narrative.

I was reminded by a roadside info sign at a viewing turnout that aspen groves, or stands all grow from the same root system. In essence a stand of aspen that can cover many acres is all one plant! The root system, being underground, survives forest fire. Some of these root systems are 10’s of thousands of years old! There is one in Utah that is 80,000 years old. Imagine what it has been through in its life…

Snow

We have seen our first snow. Some miles north of our campground just outside of Mesa Verde National Park is a compact mountain range with a few of the  Colorado “14’ers”. Our recent rains and cool temps were certainly cold enough at 14,000 feet to make snow. So now we have this view of snow capped peaks as the clouds begin to dissipate. So pretty.

Tomorrow we are driving the Million Dollar Highway to Telluride and back. We have done a slice of it years ago and are really looking forward to it. Many claim it is the finest high country mountain drive in Colorado. With fresh snow and still some yellow and gold color of the Fall aspen groves, we should have a nice day.

Meanwhile, I took our truck to our closest neighbor “big town”, Cortez CO, to have a needed oil change done at the Ford dealership there for "The Beast", our Ford diesel F-250. I passed this liquor store on the way and had to stop for a picture. Gee Willikers that’s a clever name for a store!

Loved boating so much we did it again in a 19 foot motorboat....Loved jumping and swimming in water...and just being with my hubby.....

Lake Ppowell

We spent 12 days at LOVELY Lake Powell....So summery at 95 degrees during the day and 75 at night.....Sat at beach, went in water, and went on water (in many different) ....Had a relaxing sunset dinner cruise...the blood moon...Day raft trip down the Colorado River to the almost the start of the Grand Canyon (much less intense than my Grand Canyon Raft trip which was 9 days and 243 miles)...Great Bob dinners watching the ever changing light on the lake and rock formations....We will be back to this place!!! Cathy

COLORADO!

Cathy and I lived in this state for the first 12 years of our marriage. Our kids were born here. We both started what would be our working careers here. A plenitude of fond memories reside within this straight bordered rectangle. We approached the four corners area in our drive from Lake Powell and both of us commented that it was starting to look like Colorado. As we approached state line we drove right by and so stopped at the Four Corners National Monument. It is quite hokey but it exists and being who we are and what we are doing, how could we not resist the ten buck entry fee and a chance to be in four states at once? Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. All at once! I’m overwhelmed all over again just writing about it. However, do not go out of your way to experience this. If you happen to be driving by, well…

But Colorado. So dear to us. So nice to be here. Today we went for a morning drive into Mesa Verde National Park. Clouds have been gathering and we had a light prelude sprinkle to what is forecast for the next couple of days, 60% chance of showers, but the vistas were grand and the cliff dwelling remains from the 1200’s are mankind sentimental. I’ll attempt to explain that. You stand and gaze at and around this gathering of sandstone and mud “apartment” complexes and cannot help but envision the peoples walking around, socializing, preparing food…living. The one we visited today, called The Spruce House, was home to a tribal clan of about 90.

You see it on the faces of visitors and in comments heard, the sentimentality for our human ancestors and the lifestyle they created here. It is enjoyable to be part of this group visit of the moment and to imagine for yourself the activity at the time of occupancy within these cave and cliff built apartment complexes.

We are in Colorado! The aspens are turning autumn gold in the high country, our coming rain may dapple the 14’ers, the Colorado mountains that top 14,000 feet elevation, in the temporary snow of this time of year, when the last of the temperate days hold on as the diminishing daylight time meets the altitude and the inevitable cool down approaches.

We remember well, living in suburban Denver, how October started out gentle but by our daughter’s birthday on the 27^th, I was out blowing the water from our irrigation lines in frigid weather to get the water out before the winter freeze. We are here at Mesa Verde until the 10^th, then heading south! Hopefully to follow the milder temps.

Two Flats

I was the recipient of a flat bike tire after riding around a gravelly area by our campsite. I had heard a good pop as a large pebble zinged off sideways as I ran over it, inadvertently. Low and behold, the next day my rear tire was ploof. That same day, I noticed a good sized screw wedged into our driver side front tire on the truck. Gratefully, we were in town in Page, AZ when I noticed it and not out towing Vilia somewhere! Page has a Big O Tire shop and the folks there were terrific. I was in and out in 20 minutes. Patched and good to go. Not so with bike tire tubes in Page. Amazon to the rescue! My new tube arrived quickly.  I fought nobly against rubber and titanium, it is a battle with my bike to separate tire from rim, but it worked. Bike and truck are whole again. Life on the road.

We leave Lake Powell tomorrow to head to the four corners area of SW Colorado, SE Utah, NE Arizona and NW New Mexico and Mesa Verde National Park. It is hard to leave this place. We were on the water twice in boat rentals. To be able to saddle up to sheer walls that descend as much as 600 feet straight down beneath the water is remarkable. We have seen walls such as these from the bottom up at Zion, Capitol Reef and other places along this trip.  To swim beside in the mild waters of Lake Powell and consider what lay below you was quite humbling. Plus, we were the welcoming recipients of wonderful late summer weather of days in the 90’s and nights in the 60’s while here. Could not be more perfect.

Today has been a get ready for travel day and we have a local severe weather alert for high winds and extreme low humidity. Fire danger. It is blowing crazy at our campsite. Glad that here we have limited underbrush so fire is not a worry. The weather is quite the opposite on the East Coast as our Carolinas are hunkering down to what is being forecast as a rain event of historic proportions. We have family in those parts! Best wishes to them all for safe weathering of the onslaught. Our earth and its weather anomalies.