Hot Journey and Mountain Gathering

 

David’s heart doctor gives us good news on a Monday morning five days before the beginning of the Rocky Mountain fiberglass rally.  The last test indicates that his heart functioning is greatly improved over the test in May.  This means we can head to the big mountains….it also means we must go into overdrive to get packed and out the door!

Unfortunately a dome of heat is settling over the country….heat unlike any we have experienced on the road.

The first day on the road we only turn off the a/c when the Tundra is fueling.  It is around 98 degrees and and 90 percent humidity!  We stay in the comfort of the truck’s AC all day and manage to drive 500 miles, making it to the other side of Little Rock.  It is just as hot the next day but the humidity begins to drop as we get further west. Day two ends at Red Rock Canyon State Park in Oklahoma.  The thermometer says 98 but there is shade and a breeze! We sit outside and enjoy the rocks.

 

Hot breezes are blowing as we arrive at the Santa Rosa RV Park in New Mexico.  We pick the private park because it has a restaurant…who wants to cook when it’s 103 degrees?

It also has a pool, a very clean and cold pool.  I learn that my husband will still go swimming if the temperature is in the 100’s.

There’s even some shade in Santa Rosa!

The next day we manage to survive driving through Albuquerque and head north toward Colorado.  Aztec, NM is our next stop, just 40 miles south of Durango.

The Animas River flows next to the campground. I’m enchanted with the river.

 

 

The next morning I am playing with Google Maps and realize the Aztec Ruins National Monument is only 1/3 mile away.  It’s already hot at 8:30 AM but we want to see a piece of history.

 

 

 

Excerpts from one of the brochures: “the Aztecs never lived here.  Aztec ruins were built by the ancestors of the native Americans still living in the west.”  These Great Houses were a result of thousands of years of Pueblo history.  The Spanish explorers incorrectly named many places “Aztec”.

After a stop at the Durango Walmart, we start up a mountain toward Chris Park group camping area.  What a surprise!  We find a large parking lot full of eggs clustering around half a dozen electrical outlets.  And we join the circus.

 

 

 

And it has been pretty much non stop party since Sunday afternoon.  I was not sure I could handle all this intimate camping, but, overall, it is FUN!

We visit the Public Lands office in Durango obtaining maps for dispersed camping.  While David naps, I take to the back roads looking for campsites, feeling very much kin to RV Sue.

A few photos from my scouting trip:

 

 

 

It’s a great week in the mountains!

We are saying our goodbyes today and are off to search for the next perfect campsite!