Wow!  Thursday, what a day.  We left the Land of Enchantment.  We stayed 2 extra days and could have stayed more.  New Mexico is so beautiful  Crystal clear air, bright blue skies, beautiful scenery.  It is so unique.  Even the bridges and overpasses are pretty and unique.  I tried to take some pictures and I apologize for the poor quality.  Pops wouldn't stop the rig in the middle of traffic to let me take them.  I had to take these on the fly, through the truck window.


One of the things that amazes me about traveling in the US is how the landscape changes so dramatically in just a few miles.  The desert is not just the desert.  Depending on where you are there are beautiful rock formations, rolling hills, or flat scrub.  But even the scrubby flat places are a beautiful soft sage color with bright pops of color from wildflowers here and there.  The high bluffs range from sandy orange to to black or purple, depending on the sun and shadows.  As we kept driving, I kept thinking, "why does anyone need to leave the US to see amazing things"?

As we drove north we could see the mountains of Colorado in the distance.  We kept stopping to take pictures.  Finally we decided to detour to Great Sand Dunes National Park.  It was not on our itenerary but we could see it off in the distance and thought it wasn't very far.  Turns out it was 25 miles, but we have nothing but time.  What a strange place. Huge sand dunes on a sand sheet, at the base of the mountains.  They were formed because the whole area had been underwater at one time, thousands of years ago.  As the water dried up, the sand and silt were left and the winds of the area blew them into these huge dunes.  Besides the dunes, there were hiking trails up into the aspen groves and an apparently beautiful waterfall about 10 miles away (you had to hike 3 mi., wade across a stream, go thru a cave, hike another half mi. and there they are---sorry to say we diidn't do it---maybe next time).  We really wished we had planned to spend a couple of days there.  But if we keep detouring we may not reach Utah at all.

Don't get off the path! These prickly pear cacti are everywhere!







We were a little disappointed in southern Colorado.  Very flat and lots of farmland (looked like Kansas if you didn't notice the huge mountains in the distance).  Kept driving north and began to gain elevation.  We began to see more pines and aspens.  We gradually climbed to Poncha Pass (9700 ft) and then dropped 2000 ft down into Salida, Colarado.  Checked in at a cute little campground beside a river.  Lovely cool breezes and pretty trees with the sound of the river running by.  Ahhh, peace!

We thought we had settled in for the evening to watch some football and relax, but found out there is no cable and TV reception is bad.  However, while walking the dog we saw the game was on in the rec room.  We decided to go watch for a few minutes but ended up staying for the whole game.  Great game, even if it was the Broncos, not the Chiefs.  We watched the game with a very interesting couple who were on their  way to Santa Fe.  That is one of the best things about RVing.  You always meet interesting people.  Great evening!  Great day!  We were really tired, but happy.