'High Forest.....'

7:50 am - Sunday - May 17th - Durango, CO - 48° F, 57% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear, blue skies this morning with a forecast high of 79° F today......the view........↴

 Originally we had planned to drive to Cortez, CO Saturday hoping Mesa Verde National Park would open, but when it became apparent this was not going to happen we jiggled the Jello and headed for Durango, CO making for a 126 mile driving day.  

TLE and I were rolling just before 9 am, while Glenn and Laureen had a more leisurely morning, departing around 10:20 am.  This travel style is working well for us as we are usually ready to leave earlier most days.  Knowing we don't have to sit around waiting removes a lot of stress for us, and for Glenn and Laureen, too, as they have their own routine....everyone ends up happy in the end.

We we left the Bluff town limits, and Utah 163 for the first time in a week turning right on Utah 162 which would take us to US 160, then Colorado 41, and eventually US 491......

.....we hit the Colorado border and Colorado 41 about 9 miles before US 160, and the terrain changed dramatically....it was as if someone had flipped a scenery switch.  The land went from high desert to green meadows, eventually forests, and then snow capped mountains in short order.....

 

.....as we drove slowly through Cortez, CO we could see the local population out protesting the Governor's stay at home orders.  Cortez is in Montezum County which has had just 3 deaths, and 27 confirmed cases.....certainly not like Denver, and yet the Governor is still locking down the whole state as if it were NYC.  In La Plata County, where Durango is located, there has been 1 death and around 60 confirmed cases.  I'm sure you can understand why the natives are getting restless.

We arrived in Durango around 12 pm, and were pulling into the Alpen Rose RV Park 6 miles north of Durango 15 minutes later.  Glenn and Laureen arrived just before 2 pm while we were in town shopping.  The very kind folks at Alpen Rose put us in opposing spots so our patio area is common.......

....after setting up, and before Glenn and Laureen arrived we drove back into Durango to do some shopping at City Market (Kroger).  We had checked the Wuhan Virus stats for Durango before we arrived, and due to the very low incidence of infection, and deaths decided we are not wearing face masks here......

No more face masks

.....of course, if a store has a requirement that we wear a face mask to enter we will, out of respect, but that was not the case at City Market, or the local liquor store we visited.  In Durango I would say about 80% of the people we saw were wearing face masks, which seemed really odd to us considering the previous stats I cited, whereas in Cortez you saw NO face masks at all.....both counties have similar stats, but one is behaving quite differently from the other.  As a side note Cortez is a much more Conservative town, and Durango is a more Liberal town politically.  You can draw your own conclusions........

.....it is good to be back at altitude....it is where I feel the most at home.  For those who may not know our last name, Hockwald, is German, and means 'High Forest', so it is no wonder being over a mile high is where our happy place is.

We'll be in Durango for at least 2 days, and maybe a little more.....we'll see....thanks for stopping by!

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