"Standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona..."

We made it to Winslow tonight just as it was getting dark...good planning and a long day of 300 miles in the RV and another 50 or so in the car visiting the "Canyon de Chelly (rhymes with 'play')National Monument" in Chinle, AZ.  Not sure why we had skipped visiting there in the past, but it is a beautiful place!  The canyon was inhabited by Indians thousands of years ago and there are still some that live, work and farm there now...holding on to their ancient culture.  We had to park the RV in a campground and then take the car on the canyon rim drive.  Seeing the natives farming at the bottom really put the whole view into perspective.  After visiting the canyon we made our way to Winslow and put $276 worth of fuel in the tank and are being hosted by WallyWorld tonight.  On to Palm Creek tomorrow.

GOLD in them there hills!

We left Montrose and the Centennial RV park around 10am on Wednesday and headed to Ridgeway and then towards Telluride on the San Juan Skyway.  The aspens are in their glorious fall best colors.  There were all shades of green and gold splashed across the mountainsides as we wound our way along the highway.  Some of the mountains were topped with snowcaps, but we enjoyed temperatures in the 80s along with brilliant sunshine.  We stopped for the night at the Ute Mountain Casino near Towaoc and will head into Arizona tomorrow.

Along the San Juan Skyway, Colorado

A stand of aspens along the San Juan Skyway

Gunsmoke!

Today's jaunt was to the nearby town of Ridgeway.  We had a great pizza lunch at a place called "Panny's" and then stopped at the "Dennis Weaver Memorial Park."  Apparently Dennis Weaver and family had moved to Ridgeway in the late 1980's and loved the area.  They donated 60 acres along the Uncompahgre River for a city park.  After Weaver's death, a beautiful memorial was built...a huge bronze eagle in flight.   The sculpture is in the center of a Ute Indian "Circle of Life." There is also a plaque with one of his poems on it.  All in all, an impressive place.

Eagle in flight at the Dennis Weaver Memorial

A view from the Dennis Weaver Memorial Park

Out and About

After several days of hangin' close to home - thanks to Mary's painful pulled muscle - we ventured out on a road trip today.  First stop was lunch at the "Stone House" in Montrose...quite tasty!  Then, with our friends Art and June as tour guides we drove a little bit east of town to the "Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park."  We had visited here eight years ago, but it was well worth a return trip.  It was sunny and 80+* outside and we enjoyed stopping at the various lookout points.  The canyon is 50 miles long and 2000 feet deep - much smaller than the Grand Canyon - but just as beautiful and majestic.

Tom and Art saw a bear while talking to the park ranger  :-)

That's the Gunnison River down below...a little smaller than the Colorado.

Mountain Rain

True to the weatherman's prediction we awoke this morning to heavy gray clouds hanging down over the mountaintops.  We could watch them move and swirl and float across the valley where our RV park is located....AND they brought us a steady heavy drizzle all day.  The sun did try to come out around 5:00 but it was shrouded once again very quickly.     To give our day a little interest we drove into town (about 8 miles) with our friends Art and June.  We made stops at Walmart, City Market Grocery, Walgreens (where Art and June got their flu shots) and at "Rib City" where we got a tasty lunch.  (We even had the leftovers for dinner tonight.)  Hopefully, tomorrow will bring some sunshine!

The "Million Dollar Highway"

Monday was a day to catch up on chores, laundry and restock the pantry on a drive into Montrose.  Tuesday we took a ride up the "Million Dollar Highway", Route 550, to Silverton.  We drove through the town of Ouray and over Red Mountain Pass.  We're not sure why it's named the Million Dollar Highway, but in the 1800's and early 1900's there were many mines in the area.  The aspen trees have turned to gold and the views along the drive were spectacular.  The quaint towns of Ouray and Silverton are full of shops, boutiques and restaurants along with many restored and abandoned homes.  In Silverton we watched the arrival of the steam train coming from Durango and raced the huge crowd of passengers to get a place for lunch.  It was a great day!

At Red Mountain Pass along the Million Dollar Highway

Tennis Anyone???

We climbed the Rockies on Wed. Sept. 15 and made our way through the Eisenhower Tunnel and on to Frisco and Breckenridge.  We spent a nostalgic evening driving arouind and seeing where Reid used to live, work and play.  It's such a neat area!  Tiger Run RV Resort was as scenic as we remembered it as well.  Then it was on to Grand Junction and a three night visit with our friends Helen and Glenn Arnold.  We parked in the street in front of their home and had a fantastic visit.  We played tennis each morning on the court at their daughter's home and in the afternoons we had a guided tour of the Grand Valley area to include the downtown as well as the fertile Palisade orchards and vineyards.  Most spectacular was our drive through the Coloroado National Monument.  Every turn in the road gave us another spectacular view...and we could also see it from Arnold's home.  What a great place to live!                                  We're now in Montrose, CO, parked next to friends Art and June Nelson and will spend a week or so visiting with them and exploring some more of "Colorful Colorado."

tennis on the court facing the Colorado National Monument

The "Coke Ovens" at the Colorado National Monument

Colorado National Monument

             

Pretty Corny!

We've spent the last several days driving west across the central plains...Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and now eastern Colorado....on interstate highways.  The scenery the whole way seems to have been cornfields and more cornfields dotted here and there with a barn and a grain silo.  Finally when we got close to the Kansas/Colorado state border we saw a field of sunflowers.  We thought Kansas was the "sunflower state" and we hadn't seen any at all.  We also found summer weather again and were happy tonight to have electricity and therefore the air-conditioning to deal with 90* temperatures.  Wednesday we plan to pass through Denver and climb into the gorgeous Rockies...remembering how much Reid enjoyed living here...and spend a night at the Tiger Run Resort in Breckenridge...our favorite scenic RV park.