It's A Beautiful Day

This morning started out pretty cool.  We turned on the heat for a bit to take off the chill.  I checked out churches in the area last night but found none that are reachable with the trolley.  There was an Assembly of God up on the side of the mountain but it wasn't a place to take the MH.  I tried the TV, no luck.  I tried the internet.  It was too slow for video.  So we settled for David Jeremiah radio broadcast.  We will spend time together reading the word and take time to pray.  The most difficult thing about this trip is not having easy access to a church.  A car would make all the difference.  If we do this again we will have some other mode of transportation with us.

We checked the laundry.  It was empty so we decided to get that deed done.  It turned out to be a very pleasant experience.  A nice young lady named Jennifer came in to do her wash.  She was a chatterbox.
She has been traveling with her husband and 3 and 6 year olds for 11 months.  They are in a 21 foot class c MH.  She apologized for talking so much.  She said she takes every advantage to talk to adults she can get. We could relate having had 5 of our own.

She said they took a leave from work for one year.  They wanted to see the country before they were too old to enjoy it.  They live in Seattle.  Their trip has taken them all the way to the keys, New England and everywhere in between.  They will work their way home through Utah and Idaho.  She said the first few weeks she wondered if she could do a year in such small quarters.  She has come to love the freedom they have to just wander where they want.  She gave us some great tips and meeting her was a joy.

Several couples who are traveling together in RVs came in next.  They shared a wealth of RVing knowledge with us.  One took a trip like we are and went home and sold everything.  They have been full time for 4 years.

Being they were from California, I decided to get some travel advice from them as we plan to head there at sometime.  I told them how I love state parks.  They said state park rates in California have increased from $15 per night to $63 per night in the last year.  They had threatened to close them down all together.   I asked about traveling Rt 1 up along the coast.  Everyone of them said, "Don't do it!"  Jennifer said they did it in their RV but it is only 21'' feet long.  They said at 30 or more feet it will be a white knuckle drive.  The turns are very sharp and maximum speed would have to be less than 25 mph.
They said what we should do is to go over and take a look and then had back to safer Rt 101.

Having driven a little bit on some tight turns, I understand what they are saying.  On a tight turn the rear end crosses over into the other lane.  You could cause an accident if someone came around the corner just as your back end swings over the line.  I have bored you enough with these details.

After the wash, we got on the trolley and went into town.  This is a free service offered by the city of Durango http://www.durangotransit.com .  It comes by every 20 minutes to pick you up or drop you off at any of the many stops along the way.

We went over to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to make reservations for tomorrow's trip.  http://www.durangotrain.com
Darlie wanted seats in the open air gondola car.  It is supposed to be near freezing in the morning with a high only in the 50s.  She insisted.  I will pack a backpack full of warm clothing and blankets for the trip.  The trip is 8 hours long total with a 2 hour stop in Silverton.  We will catch the trolley at 7:40 AM to be there ahead of time for boarding at 8:30 AM.

We stopped at a mexican restaurant for lunch then walked the downtown area for awhile.  It is the usual tourist type shops: t-shirts, antiques, crafts, art, and other dust collectors.  Our rule is going to be, if we can't wear it we won't buy it.  All that junk you bring home from a trip doesn't fit in your house when you get it home.  We always were out the souvenir clothing though.

We walked down to the place where the Animas River passes under the highway.  Rafting is a big summer time attraction here.  We paused for awhile to watch the rafters and wave to them as they passed under the bridge.  After rafting the mighty Nenana River in Alaska, this was child's play in comparison but it still looked like fun.

We took the trolley back to the campground late in the afternoon.  We both are windburned and have chapped lips from the dry air.  We have been sneezing since we got here.  There is a lot of dust in the air due to the high winds they are having right now.  We reserved our site for another night so we can go on the train ride tomorrow.  We will be able to get a good night's rest before heading on over to Mesa Verde on tuesday.  Can you see the bread truck in the photo above?

The train passes right through our park.  I ran out to get a couple of photos as it passed by.