Another beautiful day and a pleasant drive first to Four Corners, then to Mesa Verde, then to Pagosa Springs where we’re spending the night before the long trek East and home.
We’ve pretty much seen all we came to see. There are dozens of other sights along the way back home but we’re now anxious to get across the Great Plains (going through Kansas), to Asheville, NC to visit my parents (possibly for the last time) who retired and are interred there so .
Today was special in checking off two of the last boxes of the sights we wanted to see. First, under a beautiful sky, we stopped at the Four Corners Monument. On the way there, about 70 miles from our route, Shiprock in New Mexico stood out on the horizon.
Four Corners, like Monument Valley, is on an Indian Reservation. We had the place to ourselves…it was early morning, and without a drone it’s hard to take in the whole marker, but it’s there, with all four states represented. Of note was a sign that the Navaho Nation considers the spreading of cremation ashes on tribal lands a desecration and that the practice was not permitted. Apparently, a significant number of people wanted to be buried “in all four states” at once?
From Four Corners we journeyed to Mesa Verde. The place was empty and only one sight (fortunately, the best one) was open. Just as you’ve seen in the pictures, the cliff dwellers’ location was astonishing, and haunting, and inspiring.
And this evening we’re camped by the San Juan River. Here’s the view from our RV.
I continued to be amazed at the beauty, no, the MAJESTY of our country – its spectacular landscapes, its rich and deep history, its variety, its vastness. I’ve said over and over again to passersby: “If you have claustrophobia, all you have to do is come out here!”
Long drives from here on in. Tomorrow we’ll be in La Junta, Colorado.
