June 24, 1993: Mesa Verde, Lake Powell, and Capitol Reef
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The National Parks we wanted to visit were only as close as southwestern Colorado and, sadly, that is a full day's drive from here. We have begun the practice of leaving as soon as Fred is off work and driving as far as we can that first night. For this trip, we decided that I would drive up to Fred's farm in Van Alstyne and we would leave from there, since that would cut some time and mileage off the trip. Fred had been keeping my kittens for me while I was in New Jersey and North Carolina, so they were already settled in at his house.

We loaded up the Honda with all the camping gear; the biggest item is always the bag that holds the tent, the air mattress and the two-man sleeping bag, but we also bring cooking stuff and the food we'll need, lanterns and all our hiking clothes and stuff. This was the first time we'd put this stuff in anything but Fred's truck, but surprisingly it all fit. (And it was nice to know that it was all inside a vehicle, rather than in the open bed of a truck.

We set out about six o'clock, first taking US 75 North to Sherman, and then heading West on US 82 towards Wichita Falls, arriving there about nine o'clock. We stopped at the El Chico there for dinner. Normally El Chico is pretty good, but this particular meal (we both had the same thing) turned out not to be, and that night both of us were feeling a bit rocky, although Fred more so than me. I think the chimichanga was just too oily.

At Wichita Falls we picked up US 287 northwest towards Amarillo, and we got there about one in the morning. We had some difficulty finding a place to stay, but finally located a room.

We started out the next morning on I-40 for Tucumcari and Albuquerque, where we would angle up to Durango, Colorado, and Mesa Verde.

After driving about three hundred miles, we came to a rest stop east of Santa Rosa, and decided it was time for lunch. After we'd unloaded the stuff we usually need for our lunches on the road, I stepped back to get a picture of Fred at our picnic table, getting ready to open up the sandwiches and chips and sodas- our typical picnic lunch.

This part of the drive out west (actually, most of it once you pass Wichita Falls and before you reach the mountains east of Albuquerque) is, to tell the truth, very, very boring. We've been on other boring stretches of road, certainly, like the 300 miles between Pensacola and Jacksonville, Florida, but here there is neither forest nor much civilization to break up the monotony.

When we finished lunch, we got back on I-40 and continued west another 150 miles to Albuquerque.

There, we hopped on I-25 north for a short ways before angling off northwest on US Highway 550 towards Farmington, New Mexico, in the northwest corner of the state.

This highway passes on the other side of the Valle Grande caldera that we visited when we were with Greg in Santa Fe in July, 1992.

We went through a number of small, interesting towns, although the scenery was not spectacular until we started climbing up into the San Juan Mountains.

It was nice when got higher into the mountains and the forests returned, giving us greenery and the occasional stream to watch as we drove along.

We passed east of Farmington and drove up through the town of Aztec. Just on the north side of town, we passed this restaurant.

So why the picture?

Greg has been doing some work for an organization called Boston Chicken, which is opening franchises across the country selling very upscale chicken and side dishes. He has taken us to one of the ones that has opened in Dallas.

It just struck me as funny that there was this restaurant with this name way out here in the middle of nowhere, in a town way to small to support. When we got back, we showed the picture to Greg and asked him whether this was Boston Chicken's newest, low-end concept restaurant. He got a few chuckles out of the photo.

We drove on through Aztec and headed further north into Colorado.

We continued along US 550, finally intersecting with the highway we had traveled the year before, US 160, which had taken us through Wolf Creek Pass and across the continental divide. We intersected with it just East of Durango, Colorado, and we turned west towards Durango.

We stopped in Durango to pick up a few items I had forgot, and then finished our drive from Dallas to Mesa Verde, reaching the Park about five in the afternoon.

We knew that Mesa Verde was a popular National Park, but we thought that since it was not a weekend, we would be able to get a space without much trouble.

We were proved right shortly after we entered Mesa Verde, as we found out that the campground (which was smaller in 1993 than it is now, and so smaller than you will see on the park map and in the aerial views) did indeed have quite a few empty spaces.

Above, left, you see Fred at our Mesa Verde campsite. At the entrance we were told that the campsites were indeed not at all full, so we drove over to the campground and picked out a great spot. We were on the back side of the campground, away from most of the traffic, down about five steps from the roadway where the car was parked. We put the tent up while it was still light, and then fixed some sandwiches for supper.

After we had cleaned up stuff from supper, we went over to the amphitheatre for one of the ranger talks that occur each evening during the summer. We learned later that we might have walked, but the campground map wasn't very informative on how far it was. No problem, though, we just parked in the large lot and walked down the wide path to the amphitheatre itself.

This evening, the talk was on raptors, or birds of prey. I learned a lot about these predators, and was surprised to find that Larry's favorite bird, the owl, was in this category. By the time the talk (with slides) was over, it was dark, and we went back to the campsite to bed down for the night.

The campsite was so good, and the weather so nice, that we sat up for some time out at the picnic table talking about what we planned to see tomorrow. About midnight we zipped up the tent and turned out the lights.

You can use the links below to continue to another page for our Western trip or to return to the trip index so you can continue though the photo album.

	June 24, 1993: Mesa Verde, Lake Powell, and Capitol Reef
	Return to the Western Trip Index