Oct 1st, Mon: NM/Co to Alamosa

Oct 1st, Mon:  Left Cortez this morning for sights east.  And what a beautiful drive we had.  We are going to show you some georgous scenery.  We stopped for no historical or restaurants.  We went through Carson National Park, Navajo National Park, through Arizona, and through New Mexico, and then back into Colorado. Highest we were today was 10,320 feet.  Pop your ears!  We were on Cumbres and Toitec scenic parkway which was the 10,000+ passes.

We had a plan but it got confused on the back roads of New Mexico and Colorado.  That's okay because we saw some scenery that cannot be explained nor seen through our camera.  More hair pins turns, going up and down to over 10,000 feet altitude in Colorado.   We ended up in Alamosa, Colorado KOA for night with a campfire and using our gift from Laura to warm up steaks from last night.  Yum,  yum,  yum.  Thanks Laura!

The trip:

picture:  The navigation center:  Camp ground books on the left.  GPS in middle (soon to be passed to the driver),  map of Colorado and New Mexico, miscellaneous and refreshment in the Michigan mug.  Up front:  Visors, hats, and the Michigan bear who has been with us through the whole trip and doesn't complain nor does he help in navigating!
picture:  Acutally that hill is MUCH longer, higher than what this looks like.  Motorhome whining.
picture:  The lonely road ahead.
picture:  Navaho State Park with house boats.
picture:  driving OVER the dam.  Oh, damn!!!!
picture:  View from the top of the road over the dam.  Oh, damn, again!!!
picture:  a drunken curvy sign?  Another damn!!
picture:  Roger smiling while driving over the dam.  Oh, damn!!
picture:  Oil fields are about every 1/4 mile in New Mexico.  Many, many.  Is this government land where the government get the royalties or private land for the royalties?  As most minerals rights are owned by the government.  So how much revenue is the government getting off of oil royalties?  Questions as posed by Roger.
picture:  how do those rocks stay up there?
picture:  another drunken curve?
picture:  Look out for rocks falling.
picture:  next four pictures are trying to show the beauty of the Aspen turning colors against the pines.  In the sunset, these were just gorgeous.  Wish you were here to enjoy.
picture:  Blue and friend, 9-month old Maggie at the KOA doggie park.  Blue rules!
picture:  Roger using our gift from Laura to heat up some great steaks.  Yum, again.