Monday, May 19, 2008

We left Clayton New Mexico at 9:10 am (GA Time) We saw a cottontail rabbit in the park on our way out.


We got gas in Raton New Mexico for $4.59 a gallon.


We stretched our legs at a rest area near Trinidad Colorado. They even had a corral for a horse to rest :-)


We were going to stay in a campground at Blanca Colorado, but it just looked to bad to even consider staying at. It was junky,,, with railroad boxcars turned on there side. There were sheep wandering about.


Then we saw a sign for Great Dunes National Park ,,,, 16 miles.


Arrived at Great Dunes National Park Colorado at about 2:30 (GA Time). It was very difficult to find a site that the trailer and truck would fit in... the campground was built for tent camping. We found a site, but we couldn't slide the slide-out out. There was no water or electricity hookup. We had enough water in the holding tank to take showers and wash dishes. While we were setting up camp I saw an Ord Kangaroo Mouse run and bound just in front of the truck.


We walked back up to the Kiosk to pay. The hill back up was a bit of a strain on my breathing. After lunch we walked back down there to call and make reservations near Moab Utah. With Memorial Day weekend coming up most campgrounds are full.. but we found a site!


We cornered a ranger after making our calls to ask him some questions and I asked for a brief explanation of how the dunes came about... we weren't able to unhook the truck from the trailer to go down to the visitors center (the center was probably a little bit more than a mile from our site, but no way I or Frank could climb down and back up the hill) . The ranger's brief description was about 15 minutes long... and me expecting only about 2 minutes :-) I can't remember half of what he said, but will look it up on the internet later. They are beautiful dunes.


Frank read and I worked on word puzzles when we got back to camp... of course we climbed that hill again to get here. When it cooled down we went for a little walk. A hummingbird buzzed Frank... I guess the hummer didn't like getting video taped. We took pictures of the dunes and mountains.


We managed to stay awake until 9 pm mountain time. The time change is a bit rough at times. It is hard to tell when you are suppose to eat or sleep.


We traveled 224 miles today.