August 26th…….7 am on a crisp, cool morning in Gunnison, Colorado. This is the last
of my thoughts put to paper before we bring this traveling lifestyle to a close and head back to Florida, arriving home on
or around the 21st Sept. I greet this with a mixture of sadness, for I have enjoyed our 7 month sojourn in Mandy,
however I also am ready to pick up some old and familiar pieces while also moving onto the promise of yet more new things…such
as the trip to Chile and Antarctica for a month come this January.
We have found campsites along the way more readily
available now which I believe is attributable to the exodus of the travelling, retired population who move north out of the
heat of the southern summers. With the days getting shorter and cooler here, the hint of approaching winter is on everyone’s
minds. Thus heralds the time for the extraordinarily large selection of the American populace to pack up their trailers, motor
homes, fifth wheels, and campers and head south for warmer pastures….and yes, we are also following a similar trail.
Richard and I have come to the firm conclusion that the northwest is a wonderful place to live…..in summer. I doubt
we could handle the winters and I have great admiration for those that do.
I had bade you farewell in the last ramblings
when we were in Salt Lake City, Utah. While there, I was most put out when I learned that a particularly strong solar flare
had significantly set the Aurora Borealus ablaze which was visible as far south as Salt Lake City. I had been out on a late
evening stroll with Walker that night and missed the entire show (which I was unaware of at the time) for the camp site was
heavily shrouded under a dense canopy of trees….bummer!
While in Salt Lake City, Richard took the opportunity
to explore the Mormon Temple Square. About 40% of the population of SLC are Mormon. He was highly amused to be officially
escorted through the Temple Square complex by some very earnest, young ladies of the Mormon faith. His only comment was that
the entire structure was most impressive.
From SLC we headed to the small town of Spanish Fork, Utah, to spend the weekend
with a girlfriend. I have to take my hat off to this Kiwi lady (New Zealander) who between running her own therapeutic massage
practice and training her 4 horses, she single handedly puts in great effort in bringing her not so recently purchased "fix
me upper" horse property back to life. We awoke one morning to find she, and friend, had been up at sunrise and had purchased
and loaded 90 bales of hay into her horse trailer. They arrived home just as we started into our 2nd cup of coffee
for the morning. Of course we could not sit and watch the hard work that lay ahead, so put on some gloves and the 4 of us
proceeded to unload and stack the 90 bales in her hay shed. Well, I thought mistakenly, that this constituted our exercise
for the day, but not so. After lunch Denise said "okay let me take you hiking in the mountains". So off we went,
leaving the truck at Robert Redford’s resort, Sundance, we headed off, with Denise setting a brisk pace along and over
ridges and into and out of valleys. Three hours later, while it was great scenery, I was grateful to see the car park looming
through the trees. They obviously breed them tough in New Zealand, for Denise is an ex Olympic white water kayaker and for
awhile, had also earned her living shearing sheep. She is one fit lady.
We said adios to Denise and headed for Rock
Springs, Utah. As we had missed seeing the wild mustangs in Wyoming, this area of Utah I was keen to visit as it also had
wild horses living free upon the thousands of acres atop the mesa surrounding this small town. Our first attempt to find the
horses resulted in us coming face to face with the corralling area where the horses are rounded up periodically, branded,
sorted and either returned to the wild, adopted by well meaning horse enthusiasts or head for slaughter. Not a place I had
intended to visit, but I was exceedingly surprised to find it, with many horses in residence, quite a peaceful scene with
the horses well fed on quality hay and ample room to move around. Richard sighed tolerantly as later, towards the cool of
evening of the next day, we headed up to the mesa in search of the "wild ones". Although we found vantage points
to spy across the treeless plains atop this vast mesa, again not a single horse was to be found, although there were copious
amounts of fresh droppings. We left disappointed once again. The Gods must have taken pity on us, however, for as we took
our departure from Rock Springs the next day, at 8000ft, we entered the area of what is the start of the vast canyonlands
which lead eventually into the Grand Canyon. While driving these windswept high priaries bordering the canyons, we came upon
a group of wild horses dozing in the mid day sun, far from the jurisdiction of the wild horse management program….yeah!
Onward
to Dinosaur Monument. This is a somewhat remote National Park which protects the vast number of bones which still remain of
these giant extinct creatures that once roamed the area. I have attached a great photo of a dinosaur’s humerus (forearm)
which has been exposed by the erosion of the uplifted riverbed. We spent two enjoyable days in this rock desert before heading
south to The Arches and The Canyonlands near Moab, still in Utah. Spectacular sculptures created by the wind and water
which have eroded into the sandstone cliffs rising from the desert floors. By now, however, we find we are on overload with
all these amazing natural wonders, so we gazed upon their majesty with glazed eyes and toddled on our way after a drive through
the area and a couple of short excursions on foot.
As we were packing up to leave Moab, the awning motor burnt out again,
so between the two of us we manhandled the beast back into its retracked position and headed for Mesa Verde, Colorado and
the cliff dwellings. We found a secluded camp site in the National Park in Mesa Verde and hung out for 4 days, exploring the
remarkable dwellings which were vacated some 800 years ago by the Peublo Indians. The ultra dry climate has ensured the preservation
of the dwellings which we clambered up ladders and through tight tunnels on hands and knees to access.
Our holdings
tanks were full to overflowing, so we moved on to Pagosa Springs in Co.to "off load cargo" then ventured up into
the wilderness of the Rockies for another 3 days of total peace and solitude. Totally enthralled ourselves by taking a long
hike at 9400ft and pulling up well from the effort and even messed around in the river doing a little gold panning…alas,
no gold! We were hounded on our way however when Walker developed a very bad case of "explosive bowels". Thinking
we may need a vet we headed back to civilization. His bowels made a slow but steady recovery and we continued on our way over
the 11,200ft pass into the old gold mining town of Ouray and onto Gunnison, Co. where this rambling began. I’ve just
delighted in driving the high country of the pine covered mountains of the western slopes of the Rockies….something
I had been looking forward to since before the trip began.
Found haven at the home of girlfriend, Barbara, in Salida,
Colorado where we hung out for several enjoyable days and even managed an afternoon of zip lining, which was fun. Moved on
to Monument to hang out at the home of still more good friends, Laurel and Brad, and fix myself with a visual of their new
indoor riding arena and offices…very, very nice. Laurel then joined us for 3 days of camping in the Rocky Mountains
National Park, which was very cozy, as along with her awning failure, Mandy’s slide out now was jammed (fortunately
in the "in" position) which made for tight living quarters for the 3 of us. It was not a huge problem, however,
for Laurel and I had the pleasure of attending a 3 day Aikdo (martial arts) workshop in nearby Estes Park, so we were only
in camp of an evening. Richard elected to pass on attending the workshop with us, (I think my body was secretly wishing I
had too)!!!
We said farewell to Laurel, the Rocky Mountains and hello to the plains of Kansas and rising temperatures.
Made arrangements to have Mandy’ awning motor and slide out restored to their former glory while in Wichita, which was
all under warranty fortunately, and even managed to have the truck’s brake pads replaced, all of which only took an
afternoon and we were underway again. Independence, Kansas saw Richard touring the Cessna light plane factory (we had to detour
for this bit of enlightenment), then on through the Ozarks of Arkansas which is nice countryside. We are now in St. Louis,
Missouri with yet more friends, from our yachty days. Next week we will wander home via Lexington and the Kentucky Horse Park,
followed by the Smokey Mountains National Park in Tennessee. If the flooding has receded in the area, we plan to meet up with
Trav, Kate and their respective partners for a few days of family camping before heading directly to Florida and home…..and
the end of our little adventure. Thanks for traveling along with us, it’s been a great ride.
Adios
Diane
