22:00 known.builds.since
Well that certainly was a day of contrasts. From desert to snow and back
The buttes, monoliths and mesas, even just loose boulders we have seen aplenty so far are a fascination because where I grew up, there aren’t any. One of the local’s sucker bets is to challenge visitors that they can’t throw a rock across the Murray River. Now the Murray is a moderate stream of water most times and shouldn’t represent much of a challenge, but the visitor always loses because they can’t find a rock or stone to throw.
First stop for the day was the scheduled Four Corners monument where a circle of 24 vendor stalls for selling authentic trinkets surrounds the surveyed intersecting border points of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. I doubt most of the SDMB would be surprised at the proportion of merkins who chose to have their photo taken with their butt cheeks spread across four states.
Given it was only 8am on a Monday, there wasn’t much activity so I repointed my GPS and headed into Colorado on US160 then US145 towards Delores, CO as per @Sage_Rat‘s suggestion.
Steadily gaining height, vegetation and available water as we travelled, by the time we got to Cortez the locals were baling alfalfa hay. Of course, in Australia we make the distinction that the trendsetters eat alfalfa sprouts, but we feed lucerne hay to horses and cattle.
Continuing beside the Delores River which seemed to be running pretty well we would our way up until the snow on the peaks around Mount Wilson came into view.
Got to the chalet town of Telluride about 11:00am. Very pretty. Thought a stop there for a coffee and lunch might be a good idea. Yeah … Nah. Kangaroo hopped the length of the main drag and returned on a side street taking about half an hour, but a parking spot wasn’t available for love, money or charity. So headed back down before stopping at Rico. Ordered a light snack and got a large lunch. The bagel was good, the latte was bloody awful.
From Rico next to Durango back on US160. On leaving Durango Kate told me to stay on the US550 for 3 hours and 20 minutes. And in about that time arrived at Albuquerque for another lesson in US freeway driving. Generally, I have found the road etiquette learning process to have been a gentle one and my fellow motorists have been without exception tolerant. Of course, in the regions I have trafficked there is so much space available there isn’t point in road rage.
With only the occasional instruction from Kate as support, frankly I was bricking it back in the city. The natives of Alburquerque apply much more speed and intent in afternoon peak, but we got through town and out to the eastside without being honked so all ends well. Even managed to make several left turns in Alburquerque, making me more spatially aware than Bugs Bunny
Tomorrow is another reasonably long haul to Abilene, where hopefully I can get my comms issues fixed.