<– Day 4 – Mar. 23rd: Hurray for Ouray | OVERVIEW | Day 6 – Mar. 25th: TinkerTown and the Turquoise Trail –>

Rusty and me with his FC-170. This seemed like an appropriate photo to start the post since the FC Roundup is only a few days away.

We woke up a little lazily on Monday morning. We knew we had a long drive ahead of us from Durango to Santa Fe, but we wanted to peruse a little of Durango before we left, so we hunted down some breakfast using an iPhone App called Ness (that won’t be around much longer), which calculates the time of day to suggest nearby restaurants (for mornings it will find breakfast places for example) and provide ratings. That’s how we found the Durango Diner in downtown Durango.

The Durango Diner had a wide selection of breakfast items that looked good, including two eggs & a chile relleno, which was my choice. I expected to just get the eggs and the relleno, but instead there was a heap of hash browns with green chile sauce (love that New Mexican Green Chile sauce, even in Colorado). It was a lot of food and if there’s one thing I’ve learned on these trips, eating light saves money and bathroom stops. So, I ate a good portion then pushed it away, reluctantly.

I liked the sauce enough to get a “to-go bottle” of it.

We left Durango and quickly found ourselves wandering through northern Idaho, or what looked like northern Idaho to us. Southern Colorado felt remote and looked beautiful as we drove through endless forested valleys with the occasional ranch.

Today’s trip from Durango to Santa Fe

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<– Day 3 – Mar. 22nd: Old Bones and Old Jeeps | OVERVIEW | Day 5 – Mar. 24th: Talking Jeeps w/ Worn Rusty Hubbs –>

Here’s our selfie at an overlook just south of Ouray, Colorado. Ann is putting on a brave face for the camera, but she’s very scared in that photo. This overlook hangs over the edge of a steep cliff.

With beautiful blue skies overhead, we started the day in Grand Junction with our sights set on the mysterious Colorado National Monument. Having done no research on it, and trusting Dean’s advice from yesterday, we started at the western entrance of the park near Fruita.

Today we drove from Fruita to Durango.

After the ranger station, the road climbs quickly, switching back and forth, tunneling through rock, and teasing the driver (who should really keep his eyes on the road according to Ann) with beautiful views of the Grand Junction Valley. Those travelers familiar with Southern Utah will instantly recognize the red sandstone walls, the juniper trees, and narrow canyons.

After four miles of driving, we arrived at the visitors center, a complex perched near a canyon wall with a view toward some of the amazing pinnacles that dot the landscape. Inside the visitors center we learned about John Otto, the man that made the Monument happen. His early vision included an amazing road full of switchbacks that would allow cars to traverse the park from one end to the other. Hi dream might not have become a reality had the Depression not happened, for it provided all the cheap labor ($1/day/per person) he need to carve a twenty-three mile road through the park.

After driving the road, it’s my opinion that it is one of the truly unique features of the park. There aren’t many places along the drive that don’t feature beautiful views. It is one continuous bit of eye candy from start to finish.

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