Day 13 - Cortez, Colorado

Last night, the temperature went down to -4.5 degrees C. It's not getting any warmer, but at least there was glorious sunshine this morning and less wind.

We went back to Mesa Verde Visitor Center to register ($3 per person..) to visit another cliff dwelling, Balcony House. Before joining the tour, we explored the Mesa Top Loop Road, a 6-mile drive located on the top of the mesa with short paved trails to view 12 easily-accessible archeological sites, including surface dwellings and cliff dwelling overlooks. On our way out of the drive, we saw and were able to photograph a red-tail hawk who nicely paused on a branch as we were driving by.

We then joined the ranger-guide who took our group down to Balcony House. This is the most adventurous cliff dwelling tour. This one-hour plus tour involved climbing a 32-foot ladder to enter the dwelling. Our guide gave us a most interesting talk on its location, etc. At the exit, we had to crawl through a 12-foot long by 18-inch wide tunnel, followed by a 60-foot climb up the open cliff face using two 10-foot ladders (see photo) and a series of stone steps. It was a real thrilling experience however we are glad we live in Pointe-Claire!! These condos are rather cold and hard to reach!!!

On our way out of the Park, we continued to explore and stopped at lookouts and viewpoints as well as four other villages (see photo) and a dry reservoir. The highest viewpoint was at 8572 feet where a firewatch station is located. Unfortunately they had a forest fire back in 2006 and damages are still quite visible.

The weather stayed nice and sunny but it never really warmed up, not like yesterday. When we got back to our campground for our second night in Cortez, it was only 9 degrees. Tonight they are forecasting -6.5 degrees C. We will be bundled up to be sure...

Day 12 - Mesa Verde, Colorado

Tonight we are in Cortez which is 10 miles west of the Mesa Verde National Park, a World Heritage Site. It was created in 1906 to preserve the archeological heritage of the Ancestral Puebloans, both atop the mesas (plateaus) and in the cliff dwellings below. For more than 700 years they and their descendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of canyon walls. Then, in the late 1200s, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away.

After entering the park, we drove an incredible 15-mile up to the Far View Visitor Center which was located on top of the mesa, where we signed up for the Cliff Palace site guided visit (photo on the left) at 2 pm. We then drove on to the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum site, where we were able to visit the Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling (photo on the right) on our own. The best preserved of all the cliff dwellings.

This has been an incredible visit into the past and left us pretty humble. We were lucky to have great weather to appreciate it all. We will return tomorrow so we can see one more guided cliff dwelling site and also visit other sights on the mesa.

Tonight, when we came to our campground, there was a very strong wind blowing but now it has died down a little. Since they are forecasting temperatures below 0 tonight, we have been cut off from the campground water. We are OK however since we always carry water to be used in emergencies like these. It is now 4.5 degrees C down from approx. 21 C around 5 pm. The skies are clear with stars sparkling here and there. This has been another incredible day.

Day 11 - Durango, Colorado

Sunny again this morning. Yea!! It was down to 0 degree last night. Kinda cool. The heater did a so so job so Ross finally started the propane furnace for a little while and that did the job.

This morning, we boarded the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway for a 4-hr scenic tour into the Canyon Gorge of the San Juan Mountains along the Animas River. This is an historic coal-fired, steam-powered scenic railroad. It took us all the way to Cascade Canyon and back. In the summer, it goes as far as Silverton but only one way. This railway line has been running since 1882 and was originally constructed to haul silver and gold ore from the mountains.

We had a seat in the vintage coach with the option of going to an open-air gondola. It was cool but we came prepared. The views into the gorge were spectacular. When we arrived in Cascade, we ate our picnic lunch sitting by the turbulent Animas River, chatting to a couple from Montana who have done most of the sights we are heading for. It's always nice to get more recommendations.

When we got back, we visited the adjacent railway museum which was very well done and contained a lot of interesting memorabilia and a few restored locomotives and passenger cars.

We then strolled down Main Street and visited a Photography Gallery (black & white large format, framed, cost between $800-$1600) and an Art Gallery (very nice jewelery, wood turning and bronze sculptures). We then stopped in at the Diamond Belle Saloon at the Strater Hotel circa 1881 for a couple of local brews and pretzels. We really felt like we were back in the Old West especially since there was an older cowboy-type character sitting at the bar chatting up the ladies.

It's been a very special day, one that Ross has been forward to for a very long time!!!

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Day 10 - Durango, Colorado

We had snow on the bumper this morning but it didn't keep it from being a gloriously blue day. We left Colorado City with me behind the wheel. The road was perfect, traffic very light. We went up to 9000 feet and temperature of 0.5C before reaching Alamosa. We crossed the Rio Grande. This is quite a large and busy city. Peaks on the horizon are 14,000 feet +. Drove thru Monte Vista. A pretty town where we had lunch at their municipal park across from City Hall.

Ross is back driving just as we are getting into more mountainous terrain. Now there is more snow in the trees, streams alongside the road, beautiful drive. We reached 10,856 feet !!! and there was snow and more snow. Wolf Creek Pass. We drove by an area marked !! We had a great turn off lookout area so we took advantage of it and parked to take photos and just enjoy the site. We drove by a couple of ski areas.

The valley below is green with no snow!! We are leaving the San Juan National Forest. Saw a coyote crossing the road ahead. Pagosa Springs, a very touristy town, must be very busy in the summertime. We are entering the Southern Ute Indian Reservation area. On the horizon was Chimney Rock. Lots of ranches with fancy gates made out of large timber logs or artistic wrought iron with profiles of different western themes.

3h30 pm arriving in Durango, incorporated in 1881. We found an excellent RV park nestled in the Animas River Valley. The day has been just perfect. Time for showers and bed. It is 6.3 degrees outside.

Day 9 - Colorado City

It It was beautiful and sunny this morning so we enjoyed it to the max. The morning paper was delivered at our door. This is quite the campground. It was 9h30 before we got on the road.

We headed for Pueblo and then on to the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park. Built in 1929, the bridge spans the scenic Royal Gorge 1,053 ft above the Arkansas River. At 21$ a person, it is a bargain. We got to take an aerial tram across the Gorge, walk by a wildlife nature park which had buffaloes, mule deer and bighorn sheep. We walked thru a replica of a small western town, walked across the bridge, and took an incline railway which gave us a chance to go down to the bottom of the Gorge and watch rafters go by. Being early in the season, we enjoyed the sites without any crowds at all. A real pleasure. Ross drove the Roadtrek across the bridge to find the gate closed on the far side and crossed back again with the rumble of the wooden planked floor.

By 3 pm we were off again driving along Bighorn Sheep Canyon alongside the Arkansas River .. "this would be a fun drive in the Corvette" Ross said. Then around the bend, we started to see snow-capped mountains and pretty soon there were a whole series of them, just beautiful. I took loads of photos. Drove thru the town of Silver Cliff. A very beautiful area with lots of chalet-style homes. We saw a ski area on one of the mountains.

We reached over 9,311 feet in the San Isabel National Forest and then it started to snow and the temperature went down to 1.5 degrees C. It must have snowed quite a bit earlier in the day as the ground was quite white and there was more snow by the roadside. Luckily the road was good and we made it to our campground at Colorado City just before 6 pm.

It was another one of these great days of discovery. More to come....

Day 8 - Pueblo, Colorado

Monday morning and what a morning!!! After skyping with Miche and family, we took off to Colorado Springs hoping to get on the Cog Railway for a trip up to Pike's Peak, and we did it, with 3 minutes to spare. Unfortunately, we didn't get up to the summit as there was too much wind but we did get as high as Windy Point at 12,129 feet. You can see from the photos all the snow they had. We had a stop midway down and people got to walk around a bit. There were even chickadees in the trees. It was glorious and sunny. How lucky.

The line was officially opened for paying passengers on August 16, 1890. One year later, it was making it all the way to the summit. This is the highest cog railway in the world. Most of them are in Europe, specifically Switzerland, but there is one in New Hampshire which reaches the top of Mount Washington, where we have had the pleasure of visiting.

Back in the parking lot and after we had our delayed brunch, we were on our way to Pueblo via a mountain route and reached an elevation of over 9000 feet but unfortunately had to turn back as it started snowing quite heavily. Mountain weather is certainly unpredictable. We headed back to Colorado Springs and took the main highway to Pueblo which was only 40 miles away. We did encounter some very heavy rain with lightning and were glad that we had not risked staying on the mountain route.

We are now set up at a very friendly KOA Kampground (the owners are formerly from Vermont). Got our laundry done, and for dinner indulged in a vegetarian pizza produced and delivered by the owners. Another great day.

Day 7 - Colorado Springs

When we woke up this morning, we found out that it had snowed!!!....(see photo above). Easter Sunday ... We knew we should have brought our skis!! Ross actually got up in the night as the temperature went down to .4 degrees, to plug in the light he had set up under the Roadtrek, at the inlet for the water. Nothing froze.

So we took it easy. Had a nice leisurely breakfast of homemade baked beans, eggs, ham and toast with coffee. Not bad I would say. Then we got on Skype and tried calling Michèle but they were not home. Soon we had a call from Veronica. She and Matteos are in Florida with the family. We are very jealous .. their weather is 85 degrees F. It was nice to give her some news and hear how they were doing...Skype is so great. Then we phoned Miche back. They were about to have a barbecue supper on the patio...their weather is also very nice. We agreed to call back tomorrow morning.

We did have a very nice skype phone conversation with Andréa and Mickey last night. The communication was perfect ... again, amazing. They had gone to the house on Friday and borrowed our bikes for a nice ride to Old Pointe-Claire where they met a friend at a coffee shop. We are so glad that they will be doing this once in a while. The house won't feel so lonely.

After lunch, we decided to drive back to Colorado Springs and visit the Cave of the Winds. The steep, winding drive up to the entrance was quite something. By the time we got to the parking lot, we reached 7045 ft. The caves have been a tourist venue since 1881. We actually walked through half a mile of corridors (out of 2.5 miles total), each of us holding our own little flashlight. We were a little disappointed as the stalagtites are barely there. Most of them have been snapped off over the years. Some of the passageways were very narrow and some very low so you watched for your head. It made for an interesting visit on a gray day.

From there we drove down and Ross headed for the Miramont Castle. Unfortunately, it closed at 4 pm ...we were too late. Too bad as its architecture sounded very interesting. We continued on to find The Broadmoor Inn which was built around the turn of the century (the 20th). It is located in an area which was filled with very expensive homes. Each one larger than the next one. Some looked like English castles complete with ivy on the walls. Beautiful to see. We came upon some deer grazing on a grassy median located between two streets. Very strange sight. They didn't look real. Up above was a zoo but again we were too late to stop but we enjoyed the drive very much.

Back for dinner and some computer stuff. We are hoping for sunshine tomorrow ... maybe.

Day 6 - Colorado Springs

This was another gray, rainy and cold day to start with, which we are getting used to unfortunately. The sun had gone done nice and red last night but no such luck for this morning.

Our drive took us across the plains with fields on each side extending as far away as the eyes could see. Lots of agriculture. Farms forming their own little oasis of trees and buildings. We crossed into Colorado around 9 am at an elevation of 4012 feet. It was interesting to find out that Colorado means the colour red in Spanish ... of course because of the sandstones.

We drove on, the road feeling like we were in the middle of a dry pale yellow moonscape. From the time we turned off on US 24 at Limon until we arrived in Colorado Springs, we had risen in elevation more than 1000 feet. This road had little western towns, not doing too well. Others, better. Ranches. Horses and cattle in the fields. We even saw llamas. And, a real live cowboy, riding along the shoulder with his bedroll on the back of his saddle. He really made our day.

As we approached Colorado Springs, new home developments started to encroach on the land. I couldn't believe how little land they had for their backyards when there was so much right outside. The mountains were there, not as high as our Rockies in BC but still a beautiful site. After we had checked in to our campsite and had lunch, we went exploring Colorado Springs.

We drove around a park called The Garden of Gods which has these red sandstone formations, pretty special. A gorgeous drive thru the park gave us some beautiful vistas and photos (yes, we will post some in the very near future). We went to the Visitor Center and took in a 12-min. film on how these red stones got there. It was very interesting...millions of years....

We then drove further into the tourist part of the town and saw a few stately mansions, lots of shops and a cog railway which can take you up 14,000 ft to the summit of Pike Peak. If the weather improves, we might just try it. Unfortunately, now it is snowing and raining and we are calling it a day. Until tomorrow...

Day 5 - Goodland, Kansas

Well it was quite the day today. First we got another thunderstorm, well mostly a lightning storm early in the morning and luckily by the time we got up it had all stopped. We were on the road by 8h38 am, very wet. As we were heading for Kansas City, Ross was driving and luckily so as the rain started as well. Early morning traffic, some construction, but all went well and no major delays. Interestingly one-third of Kansas City is in Missouri and the other two thirds in Kansas. Drove by this humungous stadium, quite impressive. We could see the city skyline on the horizon to our left. It rained and rained on.

As we left the city limit, we got into farmland. We have noticed on our trip so far that there is a lot of road construction everywhere. It certainly must help jobwise. I noticed looking at the map of the USA that we seem to be smack in the middle of it all. Kinda neat.

9h55, it has stopped raining. Great! Drove thru Topeka, which we believe is the capital of Kansas. Saw these grain elevators on the right which stretched on and on. Never seen so many at one time before. Rain again at 10h24. Drove by Rossville. Muffin break.

Driving thru treeless rolling road bordered by blackened fields. Ross believes they must have had brush fires this spring. It is quite extensive as we drive on.

Skies are getting brighter. Yea!! 10.7 degrees. Teasing weather as Ross called it. Orange brush fields now to the right. I took over the driving for a little while. Drove in to Abilene, home of Dwight Eisenhower. Met up with a very nice lady at the Tourist Info and were offered coffee and cookies. We had lunch then drove over to see where President Eisenhower had lived as a young boy. He had 3 brothers. How amazing that someone born in such an unpretentious place would become a General as well as the President of the United States. It was neat to come off the highway and find such a town with a lot of history. Wild Bill Hickock also was a lawmaker here.

1h22 pm back on the road. SUNSHINE!!! And then we had this yellow crop duster plane come sweeping by and I got a good photo of him, lucky me. Just a minute or two later, on our left was a large herd of buffaloes grazing. Ahead, a farm of wind turbines (Ross counted 22). Later on we saw many many more. Temperature is now up to 20.7 degrees, great.

Now I'm driving and Ross saw far away this with two tall towers which turned out to be the Cathedral of the Plains. We can't wait to Google it.

Just pass the city of Colby, much to our surprise, we see snow on the side of the road. We check the elevation .. 3250 feet .. and again more snow. Took a photo. It was explained to us when we finally checked in at our campsite that one week ago they had a two-day snow blizzard with winds of up to 50 miles an hour and roads were closed. Wow, we are glad we missed it....

There are mobile irrigation sprinklers all over the fields as we drive on, one was actually in operation. Everything seems very dry here. We finally arrive at destination to find out that we had gained one more hour ... that's OK. We had been on the road for 9 hours but what a day!

We went into Goodland so we could see for ourselves the famous 32 foot high replica of Vincent Van Gogh's painting of sunflowers (actually painted by a Canadian artist) which sits on an 80 foot easel. Seems like sunflowers are the State flowers of Kansas.

Well that's all for today.....

Day 4 - Oak Grove, Missouri

What a surprise this morning when we woke up, there was sunshine. It was so great to see it again. Mind you it was only 4 degrees but by the time we left it had warmed up to 8 degrees.

Since there was no rain, no wind, I took over the driving for the first time. Really nice road, rolling, really enjoyed it. The driving is not the problem, it's being surrounded by trucks, lots of big trucks. I was lucky as I had very few and they stayed behind me. Ross had fun playing with the GPS. It gave him a good break.

We bypassed St-Louis entering Missouri and driving over the Mississippi River. We then crossed the Missouri River further on. Beautiful rolling roads stretching straight ahead. I was looking at the map and found counties named Ste. Genevieve, St-François, which is pretty neat. Drove thru the city of Columbia and drove by exits for Emma, Concordia, to name a couple of interesting names.

We decided to stop at the present KOA around 4 pm and keep the busier downtown driving thru the city of Kansas for tomorrow morning. It has rained since we parked but we hope for another sunny day tomorrow. Oh yes, parked across from us is a Roadtrek-size motorhome, the first one since we left home. We have been surrounded by these huge motorhomes, well better them than us. The end of the day has come.

Day 3 - continued

My wifi dropped me and thought my post was saved. No such luck. Here I am again.

After we crossed into Pennsylvania, we had fog, would you believe and then rain .. not too nice. Acres and acres of vineyards stretched along the roadway as we were in the Niagara Region. After lunch, we realized we would reach our campground a little too early so we went exploring the coast of Lake Erie, a busy summer cottage area. By the time we got back on our route, it was pouring but we finally arrived at Hickory Lakes in Ashland, Ohio, not an easy location to find, right in the middle of nowhere, but a pretty site. No wifi ... We had a thunderstorm in the middle night but all was well by morning ... lots of birds.

Day 3 and we're off again on a gray and windy day but much warmer, 13 degrees C. Driving thru a quaint little town with gorgeous old wooden homes all painted up. Leaves are getting larger and trees are in bloom. Driving thru Columbus, clusters of these white blooming trees looked just like snow trees and of course daffodils everywhere. Actually saw a couple of magnolias as well. We drove thru Indiana then to Illinois, the land of Lincoln where we are now. We discovered we had gained an hour so we were able to take it pretty easy after setting up for the night.

I have really enjoyed using the GPS, with it I can check the traffic, Ross's speed, the State speed limit, the altitude, you name it ... what a great gadget!

Night is upon us and Ross is planning tomorrow's trip.

Casey, Illinois - Day 3

Didn't have wifi last night so will recap our Day 2. Left from Farmington NY around 8h30 am. and 3 degrees C. We were glad we had a heater in the motorhome as it was quite cool in the night. Drove by Buffalo..neat 1950s cottages by the roadside. We were into Pennsylvania ,

First day on the road

Well we've done it ... we're on the road ... we are all tucked in at Farmington NY, in a KOA campground, close to Rochester. We had great music along the way, a CD specially prepared by Michèle for our trip. Great music. The weather has cooled down even more since leaving home this morning. It's now 3 degrees outside. We got a small blizzard just after Watertown but luckily it didn't last too long and turned to rain. Ross has done all the driving today, getting used to be back behind the wheel. We stopped and had lunch just before Kingston, ON. Have seen some hawks, an owl and a few groundhogs along the road. No sign of leaves yet.... Our US Custom Officer lady at the Alexandria Bay Port of Entry was really nice and commented that it was 'nice to be retired' when she heard of our travel plans and ultimate destination. Well that's about it for tonight. Went for a walk around the campground after dinner and before dessert. Wet and cold ... can't wait to feel some heat ... We are so lucky to be so warm inside our little home away from home, our feet up and reading our New Yorker magazines, thanks to Andréa.

This is a test post

This is the first test post before the trip begins. Trying this out with Mom :)