Cortez, CO

So, off from Meeker, we headed South, not really intending to go all the way to Cortez, planning to spend the night in Gateway on highway 141. Well, we got to Gateway, and there isn't much there, and we sure didn't see any camp ground. So we continued. We had the most gorgeous drive over the mountains, the fall colors were absolutely breathtaking. I have seen some pretty fall colors in the black hills, but nothing to compare to this. A lot of shrubs and aspens. The shrubs turned orange and red and of course the aspens were bright yellow and gold. It was magnificent. Some more pretty rugged climbs but the pickup did wonderful. It sighed with relief with its new oil and fuel filter and performed superbly. I really can't say enough about the fall colors. The best we had ever seen. We cruised into Cortez about 7 PM, later than we usually drive, but we had a campground in mind, so we put the address into Fatsy Montana, our navagation system and she brought us right to it. Oh, to back track a little bit, when we came through Grand Junction there just happened to be a vineyard that called out to us, so indeed, we had to stop. We had to park on the shoulder of the road as the lane going into the tasting room was a little tight for a big rig. It was very nice. We tasted away, with the Bman being careful not to over indulge since he was driving. (I helped out and drank his share :) :). What a gal huh? We picked up a really nice Port for some of these evenings, so we are happy campers....literally.
South of Gateway we were driving parallel to the Dolores River, a really muddy uninviting piece of water. For a while it was right next to the road, then all of a sudden we climbed into the mountains and it was 200 ft below us! In the 1890s when they were in hot pursuit of gold in them thar hills, a guy build a flume along the face of one of the cliffs to carry water from another river to where they needed it for their placer mines. Well, he went broke and left, but there are still the remains of the flume, wooden structures tacked up to the face of some of the sheer cliffs. Amazing how they did that back then without the technology we have today. Actually I think we would struggle doing it even now. The remaining structure for the flume resembled a long wooded shelf along the cliffs, probably 50 feet down from the top and 150 feet up from the river and floor of the canyon. We stopped, ohhed and awed, had a Mike's Hard lemonade and a cigar and proceeded on.
So we got up our first morning in Cortez, had a bite to eat and headed for the Mesa Verde National Park. Now that is truly remarkable. It is where the Anasazis built their cliff dwellings for 700 years, around AD 1200. The cliff dwellings weren't discovered until 1888 when some ranchers happened upon them in the rugged country. Those little Indians were quite the builders, I tell you. They found spots under the overhanging cliff and built pueblos there. Some were underground, ( the early ones ) and later, others above ground under the overhangs. They had doors, ventilation systems and all sorts of cool stuff. Some of the round rooms are believed to be cerimonial rooms with about 100 people living in some of these dwellings, kind of like a whole bunch of little houses all built together where families must have lived, like a little community. The one we visited was 90% original, even the wooden poles used in contruction are still in tact. The dry climate and the ingenuity of those people to build them in such protected spots from the weather has helped preserve them. It is believed that these people left the area in the 13th or 14th century due to a draught and deminishing game, and their farm lands depleted of nutrients for growing. They headed south and their decendents, the Pueblos and the Zunis now live in AZ and NM. Well, there you have it boys and girls, your history lesson for the day. Oh I forgot one of the good parts, the women were about 5' tall and the men about 5'6". And the women only lived to about 28 yrs, and the men to about 35. Worked their little hineys off I'm betting. And I figure the women had no teeth from chewing the hides and stuff with all that sand in it. Had to have ground their teeth off to nubs. Such rugged country to live in, and they were here before there were horses, so they hoofed everywhere they went. Perhaps they just said, "screw this", and curled up and died young, I don't know. But anyway it was really really wonderful. The Mesa Verde National Park is listed as one of National Geographic's 5 top places to see in a life time. I see why. We also took a 3 mile hike to see some petroglyphs, which were very cool. It is all sand stone so it was pretty easy carving I would think. Barry wasn't all that excited about the 3 mile hike, but he did it cause he knew I really wanted to. He is simply the best, didn't grumble once. Stubble yes, grumble, no. I didn't take any food with me, and he did make some snide remark about, "well, after you have had diabetes for a while, maybe you will remember to prepare." He is sooo funny. I've only had it 12 years, for God's sake, what does he expect! But all was well, I turned my insulin pump off and came out of there right where I needed to be, and we were both starving so our first stop was lunch!! OK, I think I got pretty carried away on this one, so I will stop.