UNKNOWN BIRD

When we arrived at Dead Horse Ranch State Park and got set up at our campsite, this lovely little bird paid us a visit. In fact it keeps trying to get inside the Airstream. We have been here for a few days and every morning it comes to the trailer and tries to get in. I have been through both of my bird books and have not been able to identify. Can anyone tell me what this bird is. Even the park ranger didn't know. It is an extremely small bird!

MY CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM BAYLEE

When we got to Sedona and were settled in for the night we decided to barbecue. I pulled out my lovely gift that Baylee made for me for Christmas. She gave it to me before we left on our trip and it really came in handy that evening. Thanks Bee, I love you!

BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT

We pulled into Santa Fe, kicked back and visited with some old friends for a few days. The day before we left they took us up to Los Alamos. This is where the first atomic bomb was formulated and constructed. This is a pretty incredible town. Obviously it is a government town. Lots of money, beautiful buildings and tons of research facilities. But just down the road from there, one can walk back into time. Here lived the ancient people of this area. Extremely tall cliffs of sandstone is where they made their homes and villages. They would carve holes in the sandstone for their timbers for their roofs and build buildings that were 3 stories tall. They would also carve whole rooms into the soft sandstone. This is a pretty incredible place and somewhat ironic that it is so close to Los Alamos. After we left Santa Fe, we headed for Sedona Arizona. I now wish I was back in Chaco Canyon to enjoy the peace and quiet and where we don't have to fight the traffic and traffic jams of Sedona. Somehow, Sedona has lost it's charm for me. The red rocks and scenery is majestic and breathtaking but everyone on the planet it seems has moved here. Reminds me of the traffic jams on Maui..... and they call this progress?

BIKE TOURING

Just a photo of us by our bikes at Chaco Canyon. This place is spiritual!

CHACO CANYON, NEW MEXICO

After leaving Hovenweep and hiking from Utah to the Holly site in Colorado we decided to was time for us to make the time to go to Chaco Canyon. We had been close to the site in numerous years, but had never veered off the beaten path to go to Chaco. And it is off the beaten path! We traveled 21 miles on a dirt road off the main paved road. Sometimes the road was so much like a washboard, we could barely do 3 miles per hour. But we finally arrived in the afternoon and headed to the visitors center. I was astounded by the amount and beauty of the pottery, tools, and sandals that have been recovered from all of the sites of this once thriving culture. Their architecture is monumental!!!! In all of the sites that we have previously visited, I have never seen anything quite like this. The masons and engineers of these sites were incredible individuals as you will see in these photos. Steve and I left early in the morning on our bikes and traveled a 9 miles loop around all of the villages. It was only about 25 degrees, but the sun was shining on us as it had on the early Chacoans, and warmed our bodies and hearts! What an amazing day we spent touring all of the pueblos. It was so quiet that you could hear the raven's wings flapping overhead.

LOWRY GREAT KIVA

We drove on a dirt back road to find this place. It was an extremely large kiva that was 47ft in diameter. I never get tired of seeing these sites and wondering about the people that lived here and how their lives must have been. Kiva's were often used a meeting places, dancing or storing of their foodstuff's.

BACK INTO CELL SERVICE RANGE

We have been out of the modem loop for quite a few days but have been having an incredible time. We went to Hovenweep National Monument, set up camp and stayed for a couple of days. We camped right on the canyon were there were numerous tall towers and multi-roomed pueblo's. These people lived here from 700 AD to around the late 1200's. One day we left early and hiked 8 miles through numerous canyons, canyon walls and up and down mesa's to a site called Holley. It was fascinating to see how these people built their home(towers) on the tops of rocks. It was an incredible hike and saw wild horses on the way back to camp. Needless to say we slept quite well that night!

DINOSAUR TRACKS

We left Sego Canyon and headed south back towards Moab. We would have to stay here for a couple of months to see everything this area has to offer. There are many dinosaur tracks in the area but we will only see one area of them as we will be leaving Moab this morning. These photos were taken especially for Baylee (our granddaughter). They were a little difficult to see because it has rained in the prints. But use your imagination and think back to 45 million years ago. These prints are of an Allosaurus which is a bird like being.

ARCHAIC OR ALIENS...YOU DECIDE!

We were absolutely amazed by the next panels we found. I really am at a loss for words on these pictograph figures. The Archaic peoples lived between 5,500 B.C. to A.D.1. It is hard to imagine what may have been going on in that period for these people to paint this type of figure on the rocks. Later that day we ran into a man who we were talking with. We told him we had gone up to Sego Canyon. He asked us if we saw the aliens! He had been up there 40 years ago and was also totally amazed by what he saw. You decide!!!

FREMONT INDIANS IN SEGO CANYON

This next photo is of the Fremont. Similar to those we found in Nine Mile Canyon.

OBSESSED WITH PETROGLYPHS

Yesterday morning we decided to take a trip up to Sego Canyon which is north of Thompson
Springs Utah. We researched this area before we left Oregon and knew this is one area we did not want to miss. When we arrived at our destination, we were totally blown away by the pictographs that we saw. I will break these down by cultures. The first being the latest culture of the Notah or Ute's since the 1200's.. The experts know this because of the horses in their pictographs. Whenever a horse and rider is depicted, they know the date to be after A.D. 1540 as that is when the Spaniards reintroduced the horse to the New World. Unfortunately, there have been some idiot's that felt the need to deface these wonderful pictures that represents this history of our country.

NINE MILE CANYON PETROGLYPHS

We took off from Moab and headed north to Wellington Utah. There you enter into the canyon called nine mile. However, it is actually 45 miles long. We spent the day searching for petroglyphs. To our amazement, they were everywhere. This area was inhabited by the Fremont Indians who were a prehistoric people. They were there until around the 1200's. Then the Shoshone and Ute moved into this area. As you drive the road, which was built in the 1880's by the black infantry of the Calvary, you look on the canyon walls for the petroglyphs. This was an incredible way to spend the day. I recommend this drive to everyone who can make it. It is out of the way but so worth it. We were lucky to have our 200X500 lens and were able to take some fabulous photos of the glyphs that were so high up! We ended up with over 200 photos!

LEAVING OUR PAL

We went to the town of Salina in search of an animal shelter in the hopes they could take our pal and find him a good home. If we were heading home we would have kept him. But we will be traveling to Mexico and it just wouldn't work. We are so sad this morning. I hope he will be ok. At least he will be warm tonight and will have food. Life just sucks sometimes!

FISHLAKE UTAH

We found a great campsite at the base of a huge rock mountain. After we settled in a beautiful border collie came to our trailer. It had burr's all over it and was quite skinny. No one else was in the campground. The dog crawled under our trailer and spent the night there. We fed him. However when we awoke this morning to a few inches of snow the dog crawled out from under the trailer and was covered with snow. We brought him in the trailer to warm him up and cut out the burrs that were in his fur. He was such a nice dog and we didn't quite know what to do with him. We decided to take him with us so he wouldn't freeze to death. Even the cows looked cold as we came off the mountain and headed for the highway.

WARD CHARCOAL OVENS STATE PARK

We spent a cozy evening in the trailer as the wind blew all around us. This morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and decided to head out early for a hike over to the charcoal ovens. As we came upon them, we were stunned by their beauty. The engineering of these seem to be quite a feat. They were built in the early 1870's by Italian masons. They are 35 ft tall and have a 27 ft diameter. They would hold 35 cords of wood each during the firing process. Necessity is the mother of invention! We hiked back to the trailer and head towards Utah. We found a great campsite at Fishlake campground. Again....we are the only ones here! Tomorrow we leave for Moab where we will set up camp for a few days so that we may go in search of dinosaur tracks and more petroglyphs.

WARD CHARCOAL OVENS STATE PARK

Out of Ely Nevada we were ready to find a camp for the night. A year ago we had been on this road and hadn't taken the time to find the Ward Ovens. The timing was perfect this afternoon. We traveled on another dirt road about 8 miles to the base of the mountains and found this awesome campground for the night. After setting up camp we looked across the basin and saw the sun setting on the mountains. Tomorrow we will take the bikes off the truck and bike to the Charcoal ovens. Stay tuned tomorrow for the photos of the ovens!

IN SEARCH OF PETROGLYPH'S

Out of Austin Nevada we cut off on a dirt back road and found some incredible petroglyph's of the curvilinear style.. We were in between two sandstone canyons and found this is where the aborginals worked with all of their families to herd the migratory deer between these canyons to catch them. The archeologists feel that some of the petroglyphs may just be doodles. However, they also feel that the horseshoe shaped glyph is a female symbol. The peoples of the Great Basin hunted here 10,000 years ago

GUARDS FOR THE EVENING

After a long day of driving and trying to get some miles under our belts, we stopped at a rest area out in the middle of Nevada just north of Austin and found these guys to watch over us for the evening.

I'VE SEEN FIRE AND I'VE SEEN SWANS!

We had been traveling in some pretty desolate country, being the only one's on the back roads of Oregon and Nevada. We crossed a bridge with a tiny bit of water below and spotted this beautiful swan with it's mate and pals. Further down the road we came upon a prescribed burn of sagebrush. We couldn't really ascertain why this was needed but it made for a great photo!

Camped for the First Night

After driving in the torrential rain all day, we finally came upon a wide spot in the road to pull over for the night. This is on Hwy 66 in Southern Oregon and is on the upper Klamath River. Just a mile above where we are camped was a river crossing for those that came out to Oregon by wagon train in 1854. It's good to be on the road again!

Leaving St. Helens

As we got up this morning to complete packing for our new winter adventure, we awoke to this incredible sunrise and wondered why we were leaving a view such as this. Off in the distance, we could hear Sandhill Cranes, Canada Geese and Eagles. Just as we finished packing the Airstream, it started raining again and we knew why we were making a quick escape!!!