We're Off Again - Thursday, June 2, 2011

We're Off Again - Thursday, June 2, 2011
Today is day 25 of our 51-day tour of parts of the USA. It doesn't feel like it is half over; it feels like this is a way of life. We'll see what the next 26 days bring. ;o)
Tom was up early and I finally rolled out of bed about 6:15. We had lots to do to get ready but had a leisurely breakfast and then continued to work at stowing things and getting hitched. At 8:52am we were ready to roll out of the RV Park. A good portion of the overnight guests had already left and most of the rest of them were still making final arrangements to do so. It was already 75 degrees in Holbrook, AZ.

We traveled east into New Mexico and then north cutting the northwestern corner as we traveled into Colorado. US Routes 491 and 160 took us very close to the Four Corners Monument but we didn't go there. This is the first day since our trip started that we ran into construction that really held us up. We managed to be stopped for significant amounts of time twice in New Mexico on the same road. US Route 491 was being widened at two places with Stimulus Funds.

As we came into Colorado the environment changed. It wasn't long until there were mountain ranges. Then the snow covered peaks could be seen all across the horizon. We came through Cortez, the nearest town to the RV Park where we will be staying the next three nights, we could still see the snow covered peaks. We were hoping that we would be able to see them from our site in the RV Park.

Cortez, Colorado, is a reasonable sized town that seems to have grown up along the main road through it. There are many fast food places with some hole-in-the-wall restaurants which we couldn't decide whether they were open or not. We found a Sears Store, a Dollar Tree Store and a Wal-Mart. Must be some reason why Wal-Mart opened here. Maybe to serve the tourists that come to see Mesa Verde.:o) We also found a Safeway Grocery Store. We've been shopping at Safeway since Tucson AZ so we felt like we were with an old friend.

We continued on to find our "spot" for the next three nights. A and A RV Park is right across from Mesa Verde National Park. We can see one of the mesas from our campground. As a matter of fact we take the same exit to get there. When we arrived at our assigned site we were dismayed that we couldn't see the mountain because of the trailer parked next to us. But all we had to do was to walk to the front of the van and there it was. What a marvelous view! I only took 147 pictures today!

Tom unhitched and set up the trailer. He stowed the parts of the hitch and safety gear. I opened the windows of the trailer and took all of the things that we pack in the bedding and got the bed ready so that we could crash on it. We did as little as possible to get to that point. I set up the clock with what I thought was the correct time and then crawled onto the bed to wait for Tom. He finally came in and we were asleep in no time.

When I awoke the clock said 5:00. I made some quick calculations and thought that I had been asleep for 3 hours! Then Tom told me that I had set the time change in the wrong direction. So I had only been asleep for an hour. I felt much better.

Tom decided that we would go into town and find a place to have dinner and then go shopping. We drove all the way through Cortez reading names of eateries. At the other end of town we found a place called "Dry Dock Restaurant & Pub." We decided to do seafood for tonight. The food was good but not exceptional. We enjoyed the sign over the kitchen door which read: "Unattended children will be used for soup base." I enjoyed that and I thought you would too, Michael.

We found the post office to drop a card in the mail and then off to Safeway to stock up for the next half of the trip. With any luck we won't have to do this kind of major shopping again.

Internal time is 9:30pm but real time is 10:30pm. We will be in this time zone (Mountain Daylight Saving Time) for quite a while. So in order to get our bodies into some kind of schedule we are going to bed. Sleep tight.