Day 13 Durango and Mesa Verde (trip route changes)
it’s our 13th day and early on i did an evaluation of the time we have left vs the amount of mile that need to be covered and we ammended our route.
unfortunatly we will not make it all the way to california, the trip’s beginning and end dates were from the 15th of july to the 14th of august and with only a few days left in july we would have to be putting down a grueling 350 miles a day just to stay slightly ahead of the schedule.
we are already in a great area for offroad trails, and great sights with all the mountians, so instead of making this trip a death march we decided it would be more fun to hit some of the areas around utah and colorado, and hook back toward the east coast early.
we still have some major sites to hit, moab, chicago, toldeo so stay posted!
today we got out to mesa verde, it was an epic drive to say the least. some of the grades were probably like 11%, and my jeep did great, didn’t overheat and was great on the downhills too. the gears totally control how fast you go, the brakes are practically unused. here are some videos/pictures.
Open road west of Durango
Mesa Verde
Cliff Palace
Durango
Mesa Verde
look at that lens flare! oh yeah.
Spruce Tree House
July 29, 2008 at 2:05 am
Sorry to hear that you guys will not be making it through Reno.
Enjoy your travels home.
July 30, 2008 at 11:38 am
You all should be proud of what you have accomplished. What great memories you will have for the rest of your lives. Good to do stuff like this now while young and not too many commitments.
I hope the remainder of the trip goes well where ever you travel to.
July 30, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Sounds like a good plan – better to keep a reasonable pace and enjoy the trip rather than spend it on the road nonstop and missing the fun stuff. Good luck with the rest of the trip.