Durango to Walsenburg, CO

 

June 22-23, 2007:  The Black Diamond Jubilee is underway in Walsenburg!  I made it to the Coal Car Races and the Parade.  I was going to the pie eating contest but it started raining and I went back to the trailer to kill some time and when next my eyes opened the pie eating was over!  Just like me to miss dessert.  Tomorrow it is off to Dodge City, Kansas.  I'll be staying at the "Gunslinger RV Park", hmmm.

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Black Diamond Parade

It almost reminds me of a town in Utah, only the street is paved?

June 21, 2007:  This morning I took a ride to Trinidad about 36 miles south of here and the nearest modest sized city.  On the way there I saw a turnoff for the 'Legacy Highway' which goes around the back side of 'Spanish Peaks'.  I had read about this being a scenic drive through the local mountains so on the way back I took the turnoff and began to explore.  About 3 miles off of I-25 was a small town.  Through the town and on to the scenic drive.  About 5 miles later the pavement ends and I am on a gravel road that gets narrower the farther I go but, the country is worth the slow going, 15 mph in spots.  About 20 miles and an hour later I come to a sign saying that the back side of at the pass over the top is closed!  There was another road so I told the GPS to take me back to Walsenburg and it took me on the other road.  About 10 miles later it joined back up with the road I had taken up and I made it back home.

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Legacy Highway

June 18-19, 2007: 

It just gets better!  I went to the laundry in town yesterday and once again my hat (USS Coral Sea) led to a new friend.  There was a retired Marine Colonel there and we talked for the whole time that the washers and driers were going.  He retired in December from Special Forces, Marine Recon, and had been in Afghanistan and Iraq since two day after 9/11!  He saw his 5 year old daughter for the first time in December!
 
As a Battalion Commander he had some real insights on how the war was going, and how it is being fought.  I told him about the Patriot Guard and he wants to know if he can show up for a mission in uniform!  I think I found another convert.

He has a small ranch near here and leases cattle to rodeo shows.  We will try to get together for dinner this week.

 
I spent most of last night kicking my computer around the trailer.  I seems to have picked up a priority task that I wasn't aware of!  It was real busy but not using the internet (I unplugged the wireless card) and would only respond to my input very slowly, it was unusable.  How do you pull the plug on a laptop?  This morning I managed to boot up in safe mode and restore to a four day old point and now it works again!  I was about to call Roberta for help.

 

I found my breakfast place.  Don't know why I picked this one (Welcome Bikers!).

June 17, 2007:  I started early this morning, 7:00 am, as I was pulling the trailer through Pagosa Springs and over 'Wolf Creek Pass', 10,750 feet!  The truck did good, 45 mph all the way up the hill.  The way down on the other side was at 35 mph in 2nd and 3rd gear.  The transmission got a little warm but nowhere near the red line and I only had to use the breaks just a little, love this truck!

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Continental Divide

 

 

 

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