July 4 , 2020 /

ON THE ROAD – JULY 4

We are actually off the road this July 4, taking a day of R&R at the foot of Ute Mountain near Towaoc, Colorado, about 10 miles south of Cortez, along Route 160.  The history of the Ute Indians is an interesting one along with the histories of other Native American tribes and pueblos and the current Reservations. How appropriate to reflect on all of that and the beginning of a country that did not treat its indigenous people all that well. https://www.southernute-nsn.gov/history/

And here we are, 244 years later debating the issues of slavery, racism, the separation and divisions of human beings because of differences and figuring out ways to improve our cultural humanity.  Little did I know that we would put down here on this day on land owned by the Ute Indian Reservation, sacred land in their tradition and that of their brother and sister tribes in other parts of these Disunited States of America.   I will leave that there for now, perhaps come back to that discussion later in another, different kind of blog.

ON THE ROAD was intended to be a bit of a travel log/blog of our wanderings for these 6 weeks, having left home Jun 8.  We’ve now covered about 2/3 of our itinerary and since that last posting about the Columbia River, we spent another night in Boardman, Oregon, then made tracks across the rest of eastern Oregon high desert and mountains, into Idaho, more mountains, and on to Boise.  A quick overnight there and another in Draper, Utah, burb of Salt Lake City.  And yesterday, more mountain scenery with which we are familiar on Route 6, then on to Moab for a lunch stop, looking at the line of traffic to get into The Arches, across the Colorado River and onward to our current location and two night layover here at our current location. 37 degrees 12′ 22″ N and 108 degrees 41′ 12″ W.  5720 ft altitude, dry, windy, warm and comfortable.

The variety of this trip is impressive, at least to me.  Deserts, mountains, forests, ocean, rivers, fields, farms, ranches, wildlife, highways and towns, small villages, large cities, different stories from many people, ribbons of roads up and down and around and no hotels, few restaurants and no crowds by design.  Several places we wanted to visit to learn more were closed due to the Covid 19 crisis but we adapt, adjust and move on.  So far, 14 different camping stops, about 3375 miles and 26 days ON THE ROAD.  Next time, perhaps some info and details on cooking and camping with amenities and meeting a few interesting people along the way.  Let me know what interests you most and I will try and respond accordingly.

 

 

 

Comments (2)

  1. Love following your adventures. I’ve never camped cross country or on a long adventure. When we drove the Great Ocean Road here in Australia, we moved from stop to stop every couple of days but always had a apartment/hotel/motel waiting for us. Although, one hotel we booked we went up to the room and immediately checked out and found somewhere else to stay a few towns over instead. It’s amazing that when things you’ve planned don’t work out, and you keep focused on the adventure and not the headache, things work out even better than you’d anticipated. Some of our most memorable moments on our travels come from when what we originally wanted to do was closed or just didn’t work out. Look forward to more from you, Gary. I’m curious about the RV life. Do you pitch a tent or sleep in an RV?

    Alli

  2. Thanks! Always glad to see your response, shared thoughts, observations, & questions. Yes to the unexpected turns in the road and making something good of those. As for the RV life which has exploded here in the U.S. in the past ten years, and now with the Covid crisis even more as it’s easy to distance, we have enjoyed this life-style for the past 20+ years starting out with the tent, sleeping bags and basic equipment. We moved quickly to an RV, had six different motorhomes of every size before settling on our current 24′ travel trailer. There are tons of information available online in different RV forums about everything from equipment to travel. We like the independence, being on our own schedules, the flexibility, and the ability to go just about anywhere on this continent when the borders were open. And, we’ve met some folx on the road who have become good friends during this time.

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