Friday March 20 (Trinidad, CO to Durango, CO)

OK, I've been slacking. Too much fun going on, coupled with too much driving. I'm in Cedar Hills, UT, just south of Salt Lake City. Will be here until Thursday, when I leave for SF - either roll in there Thursday night or camp somewhere and get there Friday. I'm at Tom's place in Utah. He has the unlucky job of running a fly fishing business out of Alaska during the summers, and spending his winters here.

Well, back to Durango. I woke up at the Holiday inn in Trinidad, CO on Friday morning. After 700 miles of OK, that was the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. Asked around, and ended up at C&H in downtown Trinidad, where I had the best huevos rancheros I've ever tasted.


I drove from Trinidad to Durango, through some amazing mountain scenery. The interesting thing is that while my truck can do 86.8 gps verified mph, it does not like hills. At all. Seriously, not even a little bit. I was going up Wolf Creek Pass in the rockies and I hit an incredible 27 mph in 2nd gear. The truck really, really does not like hills. I pulled over and cleaned the carb. Nothing. Pulled over again and bought a new air filter. Needed, but nothing. Finally adjusted the timing and my air/fuel mixture, and I was able to get a little more juice going. Not fast, but not 27 in 2nd anymore. Thanks Jose. I think Jose, my friend and mechanic, qualifies as a trip sponsor and likely as a psychologist by now, having dealt with my preparations for, and calls from the trip.

I got to Durango, where JT and his girlfriend Eve had organized a land cruiser get together at the Steamworks Brewery. There were about 8-10 of us, and I don't remember exact numbers or have pictures, because I was still loopy from OK and a tense drive up into the rockies. I sampled the Conductor Imperial Pale then switched over to the Third Eye Pale, had a little Jameson, and found myself in front of 42 lbs of cajun crab boil, which we managed to destroy in about 10 minutes. Damn, that was good. The welcome those guys gave me, coupled with that first, crisp taste of a delicious IPA, was just fantastic.

Through the course of the meal, I was offered a room at both Corbet and Marianne's and JT and Eve's. I stayed the first night at Corbet's place, up in the mountains above Durango. I there met Porter, a 95 lb alaskan Malamute with the sweetest disposition ever. Unless you happened to stop petting/playing with him, at which point he'd start nipping your crotch to get you back focused on the important things, aka him.

Passed out and slept really soundly.

Below is the drive from Trinidad to Durango. It's hard to describe the feeling of seeing the Rockies in the distance, and getting closer, and closer, and finally being in them climbing up through the various levels. The smell in the air changes, the temperature drops, and you start to feel the moisture from the snow and rivers.