Taking a pass through Colorado

From time to time on this trip, I've found myself thinking, "how would I fly here when the RV-7A is done?" The trip back home began today in Williams, Arizona this morning and we've circled the wagons and are making camp in Alamosa, Colorado for the night. About an hour or so ago, I found myself thinking "find another route for the RV-7A" when we got to the Wolf Creek Pass between here and Durango.



By the way, that's another part of the trip that's been intriguing. There's wide-open sky everywhere, and I've seen one small plane in it on the entire trip.

Anyway, we wound our way up through the pass about 10,000 feet over 8 miles, and then back down again over 8 miles. This winds us through the San Juan Mountains, where the Rio Grande River comes out into the open for the first time on its journey.

As with the rest of the trip, it has been remarkable to see the difference in geography and geology over a relatively short distance.

Over our 500 miles today, we started by driving across the desert of the Navajo and Hopi lands.



We passed several high schools on the reservations and were shocked -- to the say the least -- that several of them had nicknames -- including Redskins -- that we would consider racially insensitive.

A little farther along we'd pass some mesa, with snow-covered mountains off in the distance...










I never did put the odometer on these to see exactly how far away they were but 100 miles is not out of the question. And eventually, we'd get to them, go over them, and go down to the desert floor again on the other side.



Unfortunately, the Four Corners Monument was closed for construction. That's where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet. We had no choice but to push on for lunch at an out-of-the-way lunch spot in Cortez, Colorado which featured old video of America concerts from the '70s. I don't really understand Colorado.

A few miles ago we passed a grain elevator with Bush/Cheney '14 painted on one side and McCain/Palin on the other. Mostly, though, the very diverse politics of the southwest has been hidden. For example, I've seen almost no bumper stickers on the entire 3,000 mile trip, at least not since I left Minnesota.

What does this mean? I think the southwest is quicker to "let it go" than Minnesota is.