On The Way To Alabama

Tuesday, May 1 - Dark skies and rain in the forecast made our decision easy. We packed up and headed east. A 1.25-hour drive all the way to Exit 2 in Colorado. We parked in a BLM area that Ed Daniels told us about. There is green grass!  Will do a little exploring in the morning before we go to Grand Junction and head south into the Colorado backwoods.

Grand Junction is the headquarters for City Market and they also have a Sprouts which always has great produce. We leave Whole Wallets and the like to others.

Wednesday, May 2 - Cooler and overcast with rain in the forecast for today and tomorrow. We got out early to drive the canyon south of us. Not bad scenery and we wound up overlooking the Colorado.

We decided to move 30 minutes east to the Colorado National Monument. This will put us conveniently close to Rattlesnake Canyon. We are going to try to hike some of it. It has the second largest concentration of arches in the world.

Thursday, May 3 - Fog, overcast and chilly this morning. The weather this trip has been as unsettled as the DOW. We wanted to do something, so we went into town and lucked into a great dining experience. It was a Chinese buffet. Yeah, I know but it looked good, perhaps the best buffet of our lives. I needed veggies! The sky changed to blue for a few hours, then back to overcast.

Friday, May 4 - Great weather. We headed to Rattlesnake Canyon to see some arches. Route finding is problematic. Many roads, few signs. We made it and started our first serious, for us, hike of the trip. We hoped to go two miles round turn. We only made it one mile, but had some nice views of the canyon and of one arch across the canyon. I might have made it in cooler weather, but there were too many obstacles for Dorothy. It's an easy hike for anyone in reasonable shape. There is a Jeep trail all the way into the canyon. It has not been closed too many years.

 The Arch We Saw

 The Arch We Did Not See

Saturday, May 5 - Down the mountain to dump at the rest stop. Water problems, site closed. Grumble! Found a Maverick with a dump.

We headed south on CO141 through a green canyon at 7,000 feet then descends through red rock to Gateway at 5,000. We stopped at the fire station to ask about camping options. They directed us to three canyons and we picked a spot under some Cottonwoods. From there we drove west into Utah. The ascent from the canyon was scenic, but once we topped the mesa it was not much too look at endless mesquite. We did have a view of the east side of the La Sal's. 

Worthless Information: Abandoned Uranium mines cover this area. The material for the first four nuclear bombs was extracted from the tailings of Vanadium mines. The government wanted "tons" of it, so this area, like Moab, this area is dotted with former mines. Cleanup continues.

More Worthless Information: The John Brown Road was smooth hardpan. There were several unofficial signs that pointed to Moab. I checked the map and there are four ways to get to Moab. The shortest/fastest route would be to intersect La Sal Loop Road (Castle Valley) which is blacktop. The others are Onion Creek, La Sal Pass, and Geyser Pass. Garmin routes back you back to I70 for 128 miles in three hours. I think I would take the dirt road the 31 air miles.

Yet More Worthless Information: Many cities in Utah name their streets 400 East NE, 800 South SW. Which seems helpful, but it confuses me. Colorado has their own scheme. Streets named B, C, and D are common. They really like streets named for the mileage from some common point. For instance, 4 2/10, four and two-tenths miles from some point. They are referred to 4.2, but the street signs and maps have them 4 2/10 or get this one 15/100.  

Sunday, May 6 - We continued south on CO 141 through what must be the worlds longest red rock canyon. Wingate formation I think. It changes to Entrada/Navado as you get close to Gateway. South of there it becomes part of the Great Gravel Pit that starts in West Texas and extends to the Pacific. Nothing to see here, move along.

In need of water to work it's Dolores Canyon gold claims the Montrose Placer Mining Company built a 13-mile canal and flume to deliver water from the Delores River.  The last 5 miles of the flume clung to the wall of the canyon itself running along the cliff face. It was constructed between 1888 in 1891 The 4-foot deep 5-foot wide hanging flume that carried 24,000,000 gallons of water a day - enough for three teenage girls to shower. It's construction dazzled mining pros with this sheer ingenuity.  The placer claim, unfortunately, dazzled no one and after three years the company folded and abandoned to the flume to the ravages of weather and time. It is now listed in the national register of historic places. This engineering marvel symbolizes the twist of fate for all in the pursuit of Rocky Mountain gold.

A short day turned into a long day. I had guessed we would be staying at one of the numerous campsites along the Delores River. I had not read the fine print, they are all boat in. We wound up at McPhee Reservoir just north of Cortez. 

We stopped for lunch at a pull out in Dove Creek. Dorothy was making sandwiches and the door was open for a breeze. 1PM on Sunday is when they test the air raid siren. It was right outside our door. We both had heart attacks.

Dove Creek must the bean capital of the world. The fields literally go to the horizon for a dozen or so miles along 481.

 The Back Side (eastern) of The La Sal's

 What You See When You Arrive In the Unincorporated Berg of Gateway

 See It Closer - It Would Look Great In Our Backyard

 A 5-star Resort Was Built

 The Back Side (eastern) of The La Sal's (Again)

 The Butte Seen From A Distant Butte

 The Delores River

Can You See What's Left of the Flume? - on the wall

Monday, May 7 - Made it all the way to Bloomfield, NM. This section of Crossing America is never scenic and is problematic finding a place to park. We settled into a private park and enjoyed sitting on their patio listening to Youtube tunes with their super high-speed wi-fi.

Tuesday, May 8 - Stayed at our usual Albuquerque place, Enchanted Trails. A decent park for $19. Albuquerque almost set a record yesterday, 93 degrees. Finally a Costco, so we could get some Angus hamburgers and 87 octane for $2.63, 50 cents less than in Moab. Got the Jeep tires rotated.

Wednesday, May 7 - Three hours east brought us to Tucumcari. Never stayed here before. An old park dating to the 1930's for a discounted price made us stop. We parked in the shade of a cottonwood tree.

 Our Home For A Night - Tucumcari, NM

The Old Cabins

Thursday, May 9 - A long day for us. 4.5 hours from Tucumcari to Elk City, OK. From the desert to green. I can always tell when we cross the magic 100th parallel to green pastures. By staying on the northern route, I40, trying for cooler temps, we missed good BBQ and still have 95 plus temps. We overnighted at a city park on a lake. Last year there was a goose that honked like a pig. Did not see any water foul this year. Blown away I suppose.

Friday, May 10 - East 3.5 hours to a COE park on Lake Eufaula. The trees are now tall and glow brightly in spring green.

Having abundant water and no reason to conserve it, after a week, I washed the cow shit off the Jeep.

Saturday, May 11 - A shorter driving day, about 2.5 hours to Lake Dardanelle near Russellville, AR. Another COE facility with hookups for $10. The wind was much lower today. The three days in OK it BLEW.

Sunday, May 12 - Got four hours more toward home. Parked at another COE cg, This one is south of Memphis. Almost full on Sunday. Long Mother's Day weekend? Nice lake, great breeze.


Monday, May 13 - Our last night on the road. And our most expensive. We wanted to stop in Birmingham and stock up on pita bread from a great baker. Birmingham is not camper friendly. There is only one private campground and it costs $40. The city of Hoover has a parking lot that charges $50. Regrettably, none of our friends have 20amp service. We will get to the bread store in the morning and then head home.