Today we left the flat, boring, desert landscape of New Mexico to head for the much more exciting mountains of Colorado. It didn't take long as we made our way north on US-285N out of Santa Fe, for the first signs of mountains to appear. By the time we turned west on US-64/US-84 there were mountains everywhere! The further north we got, the greener the mountains became, and eventually there were even trees. In the far distance, you could see some of the really high peaks of the Rocky Mountains.
     We also went by the Chimney Rock National Monument, though in the picture we took it didn't look much like a chimney, more like something suggestive . We decided not to stop, because we wanted to get to Mesa Verde early as we were concerned about the availability of tomorrows tours. These couldn't be reserved online, and were first come, first served so they tend to sell out early.
     Somehow in our original plan we had overlooked Mesa Verde National Park. We were originally going to go to Durango and ride the Durango-Silverton Train, but in the course of validating the route in Mapquest, we noticed the Mesa Verde National Park. It's the Indian ruins park we had been looking for all along. There are several locations in the park with great examples of Pueblo Indian Ruins from as early as 500 AD to as late as 1200 AD. They are all located in alcoves on the side of the canyon walls, and some are remarkably well preserved.
     There are several self-guided tours where you can see the ruins, but the really good one are ranger guided where you actually get to walk among the ruins in the cliffside. I was a little nervous about the heights as some of the descriptions of the tours talked about climbing 100 ft ladders and I wasn't sure about that . When I checked at Hotels.com, I found that rooms were available right inside the park at the Far View Lodge and that they were only $121 per night. That clinched it, we booked for 2 nights. The idea was that we would travel today, and tour the park tomorrow.
     When we arrived at the Visitors Center at 3:00, we asked the ranger about tours and explained my fear of heights. She showed us 2 tours to avoid, and 2 tours we should take. By the way, these tours cost a whole $4 each - what a bargain! Then we started discussing times, and she said it was early enough in the day that we could take Cliff Palace Tour this afternoon at 4:30 and we could take the Long Room Tour tomorrow morning at 10:30 and have the rest of the day for self-guided tours. Perfect! Then she showed us on the map where we needed to go.
     First it was 15 miles up an awesome twisty, turny mountain road to the top of the mesa and the Far View Lodge where we checked in and made reservations for dinner at the restaurant next door . Then it was back on the bike for another 10 miles across the mesa to the location of the Cliff Palace Tour. It took about an hour to navigate all this, but we made it to the tour with 20 minutes to spare. As we hung out on the observation overlook, we could see the ruins in the side of the cliff below. They were really awesome, and comprised about 180 rooms. We could see the previous tour below, and could hardly wait our turn. In the meantime, we took pictures from observation overlook.
     The previous tour had a really funny ranger who knew how to work a crowd and to make everyone have fun. The ranger that led our tour was very nice, but not comfortable with a crowd. She also had an unbelievably high pitched voice, So high, that Jody thought we might be in a Saturday Night Live skit. But we didn't really come to be entertained by the ranger, we came to see the ruins. They were great!   Very well preserved, and our ranger did know a lot about the current theories of these ancient people . There is apparently no written history of these people, and the oral histories have been lost even to the Indians over the years.
     Luckily, my fear of heights didn't bother me on this tour, there was a long steep steel staircase down and a bunch of sandstone stairs and a wooden ladder up into the ruins, and a really steep sandstone staircase and a series of 3 wooden ladders up to the mesa to exit. It was all very strenuous, but it hid the height very well. The tour lasted an hour, and it was a great experience.
    When we left, it was about a 30 minute ride back to the hotel, but the road to the Cliff Palace was actually part of a 2 mile loop that ran along the mesa edge. We stopped at a couple of overlooks to take pictures. As we were riding down this narrow, one lane, one way loop on the edge, observing the 15 mph speed limit, a group of Italian tourists in an SUV came up behind me. Evidently they were thinking we were on the streets of Rome, and rode right up to the back of the motorcycle forcing me to the side of the road so they could pass . I just went to the inside of the lane and stopped as they zoomed past. I was in no hurry, I don't know why they were.
     We made it back to he hotel about 6:15, and our dinner reservations were for 7:35, so like the tourists we are, we headed directly to the restaurant and asked if we could be seated right away. Of course it was no problem, and dinner was actually very good. Jody had salmon and I had a chicken pasta dish, both were very good! The restaurant evidently had a strange acoustic problem. In the same building, above the restaurant is the lounge. Every time someone moves a chair across the floor in the lounge, it sounds like a very loud lion growling through the ceiling into the restaurant. All the customers couldn't help but notice it, but after a while it blended into the background noise.
     Tomorrow we get to sleep in a little as the tour isn't until 10:30, but it is a 45 minute drive through a different part of the park to get to the tour. So we have until 9:30 to get up, get breakfast, and get going. It should be another great day!

291.3 miles today
16,673.1 miles total

8.018 gallons today
396.858 gallons total