Travels with Tracy: November 2019

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September 21, Saturday -Dillon to Montrose, Colorado
Today we left Dillon and continued on our journey exploring the routes of Colorado. We traveled West on I-70 to highway 24 heading south connecting with 285 south to Poncha Springs and west on highway 50 to Montrose. Many of the highways overlap one another and this day's journey was very scenic as marked on our map. Montrose is a lovely town and bigger than we expected. Arriving about 3:15 we got the last room in the Country Lodge. Each room has a theme, beautiful gardens, and well-maintained, family owned lodge. We could tell they were proud of their establishment. Our first night we were in the John Wayne room and deciding to stay another night when we were moved to the Wildlife room. Both room themes backed up the pictures that hung on the wood walls. Today was sunny and we ended the day with dinner at the Ted Nelson Steakhouse. Excellent food and service!

September 22 - Sunday
We spent today relaxing, reading, playing scrabble over-looking the swimming pool and the hot tub. There were still a lot of blooming flowers and green grass making the area very inviting. A sunny day added to that enjoyment.

September 23- Monday - Montrose to Kayenta, Arizona
Leaving Montrose about 10:15 after picking up a quick breakfast at McDonald's, we headed south. We needed to get to Cortez to pick up more quilting goods before the store closed. Montrose Is spread out over 3 or 4 miles. We took 550 south to Durango enchanted by old buildings that had been built in a bygone era. Ouray is one of those towns and other than all the tourists milling around you can almost picture the miners bringing their gold and other found minerals into the assayer for payment. The road south of Ouray was a bit of a challenge. It was narrow and windy with a cliff drop-off so far down that one could not see the bottom. There were no guard rails so the driver needs to concentrate on driving while the passengers enjoy the view. We passed old ghost towns and shutdown mines. The Durango-Silverton train had been used in mining but now the narrow gauge rail line is a tourist attraction. We followed a stream that was yellow and assumed that it came from a shut down sulfer operation. Leaving Durango we traveled west on 160 to Cortez. As we left the greenery of the mountains the vistas opened up to orange/pinkish sand and geology that was a wonder to see.
After our stop in Cortez we hit the isolation of the desert. A 15 minute downpour drenched the earth and the miles of cactus plants with no motels caused a little panic in my mind. There were small communities and "Four Corners" had tourists. Four Corners is where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona meet. We finally arrived in Kayenta, Arizona in the Navaho Reservation. We stayed at the Monument Valley Inn. The room was overpriced but was comfortable but the dinner we had was very good with a delicious salad bar. The hotel and restaurant as well as every business has native employees all of whom were very accommodating. Our day had some rain but mainly overcast.

September 24 - Tuesday - Kayenta to Williams
We picked up coffee at the chevron station after checking out of the Monument Valley Inn and headed to the Grand Canyon on the south rim taking 160 to highway 89 south to highway 64 west into the south rim of the canyon. Needing to buy some fridge magnets we stopped in a souvenir shop as we took in a number of viewpoints along the route. The sun played on the canyon walls giving colours of yellow gold to violet purple hues. We took a number of pictures and drove into the village. This is probably like West Yellowstone: if you want to spend the night here book ahead. There were many people enjoying the national park and many animals: squirrels, chipmunks, and a lot of elk. The day was very warm but at the end of it we found the Canyon Inn and RV Park in Williams, Arizona. After settling into our cabin we learned that this is Route 66. This place is unique in the collection of old vehicles. A caboose from the ATSF rail era sat ready to be slept in all decked out as a motel room. We saw an old fire truck and other machinery from long ago. Unable to climb the caboose steps we had opted for a cabin with less steps.

September 25 - Wednesday - Williams, Arizona to Barstow, California
We left the Canyon Inn about 9:15 and drove through Williams along Route 66. I stopped and took a picture of a road sign of Route 66. Another realization occurred in Williams where we pulled in to a rail parking lot and took pictures of the Grand Canyon Rail Train which runs from Williams to the Grand Canyon. While we looked why there comes a train totally devoted to UPS parcels and it made me realize just how much internet shopping has taken over our life. We followed 66 until it hit US 40 westbound. We stopped in Kingman for fuel and brunch, and headed north on 93 to see Hoover Dam.
There was no charge at the dam but there is a security check. It was a very hot day but there was enough desire to take many pictures in the sweltering heat. Getting some magnets and cold drinks we left Hoover Dam, and missing a turn off, we ended up in the afternoon commute hour of Las Vegas with bumper to bumper freeway traffic. Despite the traffic we looked over the casino row of hotels. Once out of the city we made for Barstow, California via 15 where we got the last ground floor room in a Motel 6.

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