First off, today is the one-year anniversary of the death of my dear friend, Susan. It was a quiet day of driving through the beautiful Colorado Rockies, so I had lots of time to think of her and the other Coffee Girls who are missing her so much. Interestingly, yesterday, David took a picture of something that LOOKED like a Brown-eyed Susan at Mesa Verde, and I include it here:
We headed east today through the cold and a changing landscape. In La Plata (of course), huge, flat cattle ranches appeared in the midst of the mountains and mesas. But the snow-topped mountains around us still surprise me, they're so like picture postcards.
Twice through the mountains we had Wildlife Detection Zone Ahead signs (motion-detection I think for elk, etc.).
Twice through the mountains we had Wildlife Detection Zone Ahead signs (motion-detection I think for elk, etc.).
Saw our first oil rig since Wyoming outside Durango.
The colours are amazing. There are the rusts and reds of the low bushes and the brilliant yellows of the Aspens.
On our way over the Rockies via Wolf Creek Pass (at the summit, 10,600 feet), we saw mountain tops, snow (in the air and on the ground) and a bicycler, hikers, fishermen, cross country skiers, snowmobilers, downhill skiers and tobogganers. Here are some photos of the journey:
At a Rest Stop, we had two new birds: a Clark's Nutcracker:
and the Rocky Mountain Race of the Yellow-eyed Junco:
In Monte Vista, we saw The Feed Store Church, just across the road from, well, the Feed store.
Occasionally, in the small towns we passed, we saw adobe houses and lots of 1930's vintage old downtowns.
It snowed again outside Blanca and we saw more beautiful mountains, including The West Spanish Peak, elevation 13,626.
We stopped at Walsenburg at the Dakota RV Park ($23) to prepare for tomorrow's journey along the Santa Fe Trail!
Here's the “view” from my chair (there IS a mountain!):
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