August Road Trip Day 5 Monticello to Durango

Well the day started out really early for me this morning. I woke up at about 0230 and just couldn't get back to sleep. SO I proceeded to complete the Blog for yesterday (August 4th) and get my "Surface Pro" back up and running. Argh!!!!

After finally deciding to get moving this morning, I got up, showered and dressed and proceeded to leave the little town of Monticello, UT and begin today's adventure.

Once I topped off the fuel tank and obtained some drinks, I headed East on Route 491 towards Colorado.. The drive out of town was pretty much what you would expect, a lot of farms and farm land. It is a pretty big difference to what you get to see in Southern California. The land was green with all different types of crops but you saw mostly hay bails...

After about 15 minutes of driving, I finally came upon the State line for Colorado and Utah, PHOTO OP!!!!! Yes I took the picture, with a cigar in my mouth and smiling as I finally made it to this beautiful state.

Once I took the picture, I continued East and passed through more rolling hills and farm land. Eventually I came upon a sign that called out a place called "Hovenweep National Monument". It is about 26 miles off the beaten path, and you go down a couple of farm type roads, (some hardball, but mainly unimproved roads) but it is really a neat place to see.

When I arrived at the "Hovenweep National Monument" there was only one other vehicle there as the the Visitor Center and the Camp Ground is currently closed to some stupid Covid19 thing that is happening right now. Once you park you must walk back through the visitor center to the path that allows you to get to the ruins. The path all the way around is supposed to be about 2 miles all told, but you don't have to do that loop and you can just go out and check out the ruins, which is what I did.

There are several old buildings located next to a canyon and surprisingly are still very much intact and are jouust interesting to see, I covered all of the bases while I was there and hiked to a number of the ruins including one that was occupied by a "Black Crow". Pictures are obviously the way to see it if you are reading this Blog, but again to see it in person is something else. I know it's a little out of the way, but I think it is worth the visit, even if you just spend about an hour there.

Driving out of the "Hovenweep National Monument" back to route 491 is pretty uneventful and you obviously pass back over the same terrain that you just went over. After making a right hand turn down one of the many country roads I eventually ended up back on the route I was supposed to be on. The drive down these roads really opens your eyes up to how people live in this country and makes me kind of jealous in some respects as I could live out there and not complain (my wife wouldn't agree with that as she needs to be close to a major city, sorry baby). It is just a different way of living.

Once back on Route 491 East, the drive continues to take you through various farm type towns, you can't miss this as you look around you see many stores and other business establishments that are geared towards those that live out there and ply their different trades to support their families, communities and ultimately the country.

Eventually you will come into the town or Cortez, Colorado. The town of Cortez isn't exactly small, it has a "Super Wal-Mart" which puts it on the map, but it does have that middle sized town feel, but still caters to the local farming community.

At this point I now turned East onto Route 160 which would eventually take me to the Mesa Verde National Park. The drive from Cortez to Mesa Verde all in all is just about 10 miles, and takes no time at all to get you there.

When you exit to get to Mesa Verde National Park (if you are headed East) you will exit off to your right and then turn right at the intersection and just follow the road up to the main gates of the park. Keep in mind that this is a "National Park" so you will have to pay your fee to get in unless you are one of those people that have paid for or qualified for one of those really cool passes you get for being "Special". Today however (Wednesday) was a "No Fee" day for the park, so you were able to get in for free (recommend that you check all of the National Parks websites to see if they do this, as I have no freaking clue!!!) So I didn't have to show them my pass to get into the park, and the Park Ranger (not Ranger Smith from Yogi Bear) gave me a map and stuff and told me to carry on.

The scenic drive through the park is roughly 20 miles one way and you will be driving up hill for most of it, I don't think you will be disappointed at all with the many different views that you can see on this drive. I had every intention of driving the whole length but decided against it as I was getting tired. I stopped at the following view points on the way up:

1. Mancos Valley Overlook - Nothing really exciting to be honest, it would have been better if there wasn't a lot of haze in the sky.
2. Montezuma Valley Overlook - This is pretty neat spot as you will look west back toward Cortez and Utah, today the sky had a lot of haze, but there was also a threat of rain too. There is a small path next to the overlook you can walk down and get a different view, and you can also look up at the mountain area that is next to the spot too.
3. Park Point Overlook - This is billed as the highest point in the park and it doesn't lie, once you drive up to the parking lot you get to hump (hike) up towards the top and you have three locations to see everything the park has to offer including the Fire Watch Station (it wasn't manned, that goes against everything I learned in the Marine Corps) that keeps track of any potential fires. The sky cleared a little up there and again you could see the entire park as well as the areas that surround it. While I was up there I could hear a lot of Crickets (aka: Grass Hoppers) and see a lot of birds flying around, the birds that were flying around seemed to be going at high speed.
4. Far View Terrace - This was the last stop I made before heading back down and out of the park. There is a Lodge here that you can stay at, and a restaurant and other things that you can check out. I didn't stop to look at anything, but would recommend that you do check it out.

The drive does go back to other view points and I had every intention of checking them out, but my body and mind said no... I was getting tired.

Driving back down the hill is really neat and you obviously get to see the same stuff that you already saw on your way up. Once out of the park it was back on to East bound route 491.

Back on Route 491 I called my wife and my Marine/ Corpsman Brothers to let them know that I was getting tired and was going to find a place to crash out for the afternoon and the rest of the night. I decided to go ahead and stop in the town of Durango, Colorado.

I arrived in the town a little after 230pm and after navigating the streets to where I was staying for night, I shut everything down and went to sleep. Only to wake myself up in time to get a beer, pizza, some fruit and smoke a cigar to just try and relax.

The town of Durango is really a nice little town/ ski resort area and requires some checking out, but that is for tomorrow morning, and then pressing on towards the Denver area.

Thanks again to my wife, daughters, mother, cousin, Marine/ Corpsmen Brothers and my co-workers for putting up with me, this trip has been really great and relaxing for me.

Tomorrow is another day.

See you all then.

Semper Fi,
Frank
1/9 Everywhere