Today started out ok, we checked out a bit later than we have been at 9.30, grabbed a bag of ice from the local servo and we were on our way.
The first hour was more red rock scenery to rival any in the parks including a road side arch. After that it gave way to agriculture; beans and corn with a fair bit of cattle and horse properties too. Cowboys were evident in their big hats and western gear mostly in trucks or working the fence lines on properties etc.
The plan was to return to Mesa Verde and do the tour of the cliff palace which I'd wanted to do last year but we got to the park too late. We drove to Cortez and checked in at the welcome centre at midday to see when we could book a tour, nothing was available til 6pm. With no desire to spend more time in the park other than the cliff palace tour it seemed a waste of a day to hang around that long to do the tour so we made the tough decision to give it a miss.
Checking on the maps we found a back road which went through nowhere much to get us up to Rifle. It was a winding road, up and down steep hills seeing few other vehicles as we passed places like Disappointment Valley & Egnar (distant rellie of Ragnar?) lol
We spotted a few bits and pieces of wildlife, squirrels, a blue heron and a very chubby prairie dog. There were few places to pull off the road so we didn't manage any pics but it was still good to be seeing them.
Much of the road followed a small river. Compared to where we've been the last few days it's very green with lots of trees and lush grass. The Rockies appear now and then, looming large with just a trace of last years snow still visible on the mountain tops.
In a small town we passed a store with a sign out front offering marajuana; open til 8pm; ah yes, we sure are in Colorado.
Just out of Ridgeway we came to a lovely park on a lake where we had lunch & watched the whiter than white locals pinking up before our eyes. There's going to be some sore people tonight!
Shortly before we began following the Colorado River we went through an area with a lot of vineyards and peach orchards. From there it more resembled the semi desert areas again.
We got into Rifle, checked into our room and after a shower headed out for dinner. My plan was to surprise Pete, I'd read about a restaurant with hot waitresses who all carry a loaded 6 shooter side arm. Found the restaurant but the waitress was a young guy, no guns and if it wasn't for really good food I would've felt totally ripped off. Ah well, if nothing else it had great free wifi which was far better than the patchy wifi at the hotel.
There's a meteor shower due tonight but there's not much chance we will see it as the cloud is persistently thick and doesn't look like clearing. One more for todays disappointment tally.
It's been a long day and one with not much going our way but tomorrow's another day.