Day Eighteen - Tuesday, 8 July - Part I

Bill’s Road Book
July 8, 204 miles, 5 hours, Note 6
US 50: 66 miles to Montrose, turn left onto Hwy 550

Hwy 550: 55 miles to Red Mountain Pass – south; 10 miles to Molas Divide (11,000 feet); 10 miles to Coal Bank Hill (11,000 feet); 30 miles to Pass (10,650 feet), 33 miles to Durango – turn right onto Hwy 160
Hwy 160: Mesa Verde

Note 6 Mesa Verde
There is a huge campsite at Mesa Verde and they say you don’t have to book as it never gets full. I don’t know how long it will take us to get there over the three 11000 ft high passes from Montrose. Hope to make it in time to have a look around one of the Pueblos before they close at 17:30. We might not get there or we may be able to get a bit further that day

Right, before we head to Mesa Verde, I need to show you around Gunnison. Well, actually around the Black Canyon, which is near Gunnison, the town. Even before that it has to be said that we were well impressed with the RV park and the cabin,


complete with fishing pond and fountain,


fireplace,


library and laundry.



To be fair most RV parks had good showers and laundry facilities, but this is the only place I washed clothes and read magazines! It was wonderfully relaxing, isn't that bizarre?

Now to the scenery.



The main thing I recall about this day was that we were up and at it looking around a bit sharpish as we needed to be in a car and Martin and Helen were anxious to get said car to Las Vegas, because they needed to get a wedding license and Martin needed a new shirt. We'd been carrying Helen's wedding dress around in one of the RV closets, so she was all set. This trip was supposed to have been about celebrating Bill's 60th year in the world, not about them getting married, but you know how youngsters are these days...


I'd been to Black Canyon years ago -- 1983, I believe, for a family reunion when I was married to first husband. I run across those pictures occasionally and if you're lucky I will share some one day just to prove I really was young once. Anyhow, I didn't really mind not spending ages looking around, though the views were just as stunning as they were *cough* 25 years ago.


And we can't leave without showing you some of Simon's wildlife shots:

And, I think a rather interesting photo of Simon himself, taken the day before.