The scenery all along the roads was simply beautiful - the orange cliffs entertained the camera non stop and it was lovely to see different sculptures in the cliffs - from enormous stranded war ships to bent over older ladies - all changing as the sun moved around. We drove over the Colorado River and stopped to walk back over the foot bridge. The arch on this bridge is 616 feet high and the length of it is 834 feet - quite an amazing bridge. I don't like edges and heights too much(see why I am not sorry about that mule ride??) and gripped the rails with one hand turning the knuckles snow white in seconds! The water reflected the cliffs and was dotted with multiple rafters gentle drifting downstream. Of course I stood and waited till the rafters were right below us and took photos. When I later enlarged them on the computer, it showed that most of the occupants were lying down sleeping as they drifted downstream. Made for some really lovely photos though. And then this enormous Condor swooped past us, gently gliding into the side of the canyon and settling in, determined not to let me catch a pic of it in motion..... Their wingspans are up to 9 feet, tip to tip - simply enormous! It sat stubbornly on the side of that cliff and I am absolutely sure it took off again as soon as I got back into the RV - thats life :-)
We drove on the 160 east till sunset - the sky turned the same orange as the cliffs had been all day and the cliffs seemed to light up even more, creating absolutely stunning scenery. It was just getting dark when we found a wonderful pull off near the little town of Mexican Waters, just wide enough for us to turn around in and we settled in for a good nights sleep. The traffic was something else and as we were close to the road we could feel the wind from each passing car. It was beautifully quiet inbetween tho and the stars were awesome - we had stopped just about an hour earlier to make something to eat and when we found this pull off, we simply stopped and went to sleep! We were both very tired and were fast asleep way before full darkness hit. We did wake up many times during the night with the cars, but had a good long sleep and felt much more human the next day.
Pretty soon in the day we found ourselves near the Four Corners - this is where Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico meet. There is a monument there where you can stand with your feet in four states at once....... it was very crowded, the parking area littered with RV's and cars of all shapes - yes, we bypassed that photo op too and went happily tootling further up the road towards Mesa Verde to see what it was all about. We were not allowed to take the RV into the park and the bakkie still had its not-starting problem, it was too early for us to find a campground for the day and we simply decided that that too would wait for the proverbial 'next time'. At this point we had both decided that we wanted to definately head towards a beach - it was just a question of which one. We had seen so much beautiful scenery, so much awesome sandstone and rocks and cliffs that to miss out on Mesa Verde did not feel too bad a thing at this point. Now once I get back online and check it out, we will probably be very sorry we did not take the time - but, next time.
The scenery changed yet again as we headed towards Durango and then down into New Mexico. The lands were almost barren with the most awesome natural monuments towering over everything - it was simply amazing. The sunlight caught each one and changed them as we drove by and the ones in the far distance seemed to have an aura of mystery surrounding them - they never got closer and had a misty haze around each one. Definately different and very beautiful.
We found a Walmart at Cortez and did a much needed food shop and bought a new battery for the little Skilpad. It felt rather like towing a dead fish along with us not being able to start the bakkie without the emergency power supply doing the job. What a wondeful sound to hear her crank right up again! She blew a lot of dust out from under the hood when she started and it was as if she came alive again. We hope! We drove over the Continental Divide, again - this time at 7380 feet and north of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The roads were lined with beautiful, delicate purple flowers that created enormous puddles of color on the flat surrounds. The grasses were many different colors too and the tops seemed to be silvery and made a definate lining alonside the road for many many lovely miles. There were also enormous fields of yellow flowers that were so bright that they seemed to light up the air around them.
We passed over the Rio Grande River which was nothing spectacular up here at all and rather caught me by surprise, into the town of Bernalillo and then towards our first interstate in a few days - the 35 south through Albuquerque at rush hour! There we had a good few people waving and honking horns and giving us the thumbs up sign. It's really a good feeling to know that we are making some difference along the way. After getting sweaty palms and even feet while being a really good passenger through that big city rush hour traffic, we stopped at a campground again for the night.
We had a beautiful view out of the front of the RV of the city lights and they twinkled their different colors in the evening light as I sat quietly in the front seat and thought of Penny and her family who are going through such a difficult time right now. With a sad and heavy heart I sent her some gentle thoughts and headed south to the room where Frank was already gently snoring. I remembered when, as a very young child, we would drive around the mountain in South Africa and see the twinkling lights of Cape Town, glistening beautifully far below us on the way home from a late visit to my aunt. Us children were supposed to be asleep or at least lying down on the back seat - but I could never resist those multi-color, sparkly lights. Even then they were special and held a certain type of mystery and a definate beauty in my heart. They still push me to some thought provoking questions........
Love and twinkling lights to you all
Especially U3
Annie & Frank
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