16 July 2012

Because we woke up early, we had an excellent start to our day.  The campground in Fruita was less than 5 minutes away from the entrance of Colorado National Monument Park.  Yesterday we had stopped at a Colorado visitor’s center and I was told to go through the Park from Fuita to Grand Junction.  Based on this advice, we picked our campground and last night selected the hikes we wanted to take today.  The route through the park is a 32 mile scenic drive, with lots of challenging turns and breathtaking views.  With a game plan in mind, we were strolling on Canyon Rim Trail to Window Rock Trail before 8 am.  This was a short hike, only 1.5 miles.  All in all we hiked less than 4 miles today.   There were some very interesting named monoliths that could be seen:  Praying Hands, Kissing Couple, Pipe Organ, Window, and Independence Monument.  On July 4 1911, John Otto climbed Independence Monument and placed a US flag.  The monument is over 400 high and he continued this annual practice until his death.  This tradition continues today, without a break in the tradition.  John Otto was the park’s caretaker.  He lived in a tent.  When he got married, his wife didn’t last very long because he refused to move out of his tent.  This trivia is posted on a sign overlooking Independence Monument.  Perhaps there’s a double meaning for Mr. Otto and the importance of his independence?

 

Roger mapped a route to get us to Pueblo Co today.  We took US 50 (the same 50 outside of Annapolis MD).   The road is mostly 2 lane.  The highpoint is coming across Monarch Pass, at a mere 11,321 feet.  Airplane pilots are required to use oxygen after 10,500 feet.  Our Era chugged over the pass, with only a little bit of huffing and puffing. 

 ’ve also included a picture of one of the many hay trucks we’ve seen, although it is missing its second trailer.  Writing of trailers reminds me that we’ve seen a couple of interesting private haulers: a heavy duty pickup truck with a 5^th wheeler, towing a jet ski; a pickup truck towing a dual axle camper, towing a boat; a pickup truck with a boat on its trailer on top of the truck’s passenger compartment also towing a dual axle trailer—just to mention a few.  Regrettably I didn’t get a picture of the last guy.

We’re spending the night in Colorado City CO, which is also listed as South Pueblo CO, on to New Mexico tomorrow.