Hello from Day 41 in Little Rock, Arkansas where, honestly, it’s hot as HADES! It’s about 39 degrees centigrade so after a sweltering walk around this cool little city, I am sheltering in the AC back at camp, and thought I’d catch up on our last few escapades since my last blog which left off with Canyonlands on Day 28.

On Day 29, we left beautiful Moab, Utah and travelled about 130 miles, first on 191 South (actually paralleling Canyonlands to the west) and then, at Monticello, picking up 491 East into Colorado.  The drive was gorgeous and a special highlight was seeing Wilson Arch from the truck, as if the Arches were bidding us farewell as we turned the corner of our route’s  southwestern most point and started moving eastward.

We arrived in Mesa Verde National Park and set up camp in Morefield, right in the park. It’s interesting how this spot marks a transition from taking in almost purely “Mother Nature’s Beauty” to more “man created” in our trip routing.  Especially as Mesa Verde really does combine those 2 author’s work beautifully.

Founded in 1906, the park was created to preserve to archeological heritage of the Ancestral Puebla people, who lived both atop the mesa and in the cliff dwellings below.  The dwellings were discovered in the 1880’s by local ranchers who camped and picnicked (and plundered)  them until they were protected.  The park has over 4,500 archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, and a bit of a mystery about it as no one really knows why these beautiful dwellings were abandoned by the people who built them, though there are theories.

About 550 AD, some of the peoples of today’s “Four Corners” region (where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona meet) moved onto the Mesa Verde and for over 700 years, made their home here.  After building and living in “pit houses” atop the mesa for hundreds of years, around 1200 AD, they moved into villages built into natural sandstone alcoves in the canyon walls.  

The basic construction materials were sandstone blocks, hand shaped without the benefit of metal tools, and mortar mixed from dirt and water.  It’s mind boggling to think that they created these sophisticated buildings with such primitive tools by today’s standards, leveraging the shelter and springs that Mother Nature provided in the natural alcoves.

In addition to multi-story towers and storage areas tucked into the “roof” of the alcove, the cliff dwellings include perfectly round underground Kivas with sophisticated roof supports and ventilation shafts for fires.  Each Kiva also features a sipapu, a small round hole in the floor by the fire, to remind them of their origin in the Earth as the Ancestral Pueblo believed they were descended from people who were born of the depths of the Grand Canyon. 

I think one of the curses of modern life is how little we know about our ancestors and how little connections many of us have to the earth – for example, I know some some stories about my grandparents (whom I never even met) and almost nothing about my great-grandparents on either side.  As a society, we seem to value the new with very little regard or respect for the old.  Maybe that’s why we keep repeating the dumb mistakes of prior generations!

Anyhoo, back to Mesa Verde… These were once thriving communities of farmers who grew corn, beans, and squash on the mesa tops and kept turkeys and dogs.  They were hunters, basket makers, potters and traders.  It was a harsh climate to survive though, with scorching summer temperatures and frigid winters.

By 1300 AD, or the span of a few generations, they left these homes and moved away. Why did they leave these elaborate and well constructed villages and migrate south? The archeological record shows that that last quarter of the 1200’s saw wide-spread droughts and crop failures.  Had they exhausted their farm land and depleted the surrounding resources? Was there social upheaval or political problems with neighbouring peoples?  Or were they like so many other pioneers who left all that is known in the hopes of finding a better life in a distant land and had the courage to set out into the unknown?  

On our first day here, we did a driving / walking tour so we could bring Cassie – different from other parks, Mesa Verde actually allows dogs on all paved trails so it was great she was able to be with us!  We saw Spruce Tree House, and the Chapin Mesa Museum and then explored the Mesa Top Loop with short hikes to see Pit Houses, Square Tower House, Sun Point View overlooking the Cliff Palace, Fire House, Sunset House and The Sun Temple.  We marvelled at these ancient buildings that have withstood hundreds of years.

On Day 30 in the morning before it got too hot, we hiked up Point Lookout, an elevation of 8,427 feet – it was 2.4 miles and a gain of 400 feet in elevation but, man, did we feel it on those switchbacks as the air really is thin here for us sea-level dwellers.

At the top, our pay off was sweeping views of the San Juan and La Plata Mountains and Mancos Valley.  And of course, a “Small World” connection, too.  We met a lovely German couple and realized that they were camped right next to us at Morefield but we had to climb to the top of a hill to make their acquaintance.

That night, after some quality camp hang time with Cassie, we did a ranger led tour of the Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America, at twilight.  What an incredible experience!  We were a small group of about 20 and were the only people in the dwelling.  It was a privilege to walk through these ancient ruins as the sun was setting behind the canyon rim, hauntingly beautiful and sacred-feeling.

Joe, our enthusiastic Ranger, told a great story about the excavation of the site in the 1970’s – they celebrated finishing the project by lighting hundreds of luminaries at dusk as a special treat to all the workers – and he gave us insight into what life would have been like when the builders inhabited the palace.  

As an interesting side note, Joe is well into his 70’s (Rangering is his “retirement job”) and just 10 weeks before he lead our tour, he broke his hip while cycling and had to have a hip replacement.  Now that’s how I want to roll when I’m in my 70’s!  We had to climb down and out again using ladders, just as the original inhabitants would have, and Joe navigated it all just 10 weeks post surgery!

Cliff Palace has about 150 rooms, 75 open areas and 21 kivas. It was constructed over a span of about 20 years – a Herculean effort when you think that it was built by hand using sandstone blocks, timbers, and dirt and water mortar! Archeologists estimate that about 120 people lived here.  And then they left.  A mystery that will never be fully solved…

On Day 31, we had to bid adieu to Mesa Verde but before we left, had an awesome pancake breakfast at the camp cafe – the staff there are clearly dog lovers as they came out and presented Cassie with a take out container FULL of milk bones.  Such treasure – she’s a very lucky girl!

We drove on 160 East through Durango – again, such stunning views of the from the road! – and in Pagosa Springs, took Route 84 to Chama, New Mexico for a one night stop over.

On Day 32, we travelled south on Route 84 to Santa Fe, New Mexico and did some urban camping 10 minutes outside the historic town center.  We set up camp and headed downtown to the Plaza 1610 where a mariachi band was playing.  Santa Fe has a great artsy vibe – lots of galleries and art museums – and beautiful churches.

Day 33 was our day to really explore the city as we boarded Cassie at a local doggie day care.  We started with Meow Wolf – and what a place to start!  “The House of Eternal Return” is a 20,000 square foot interactive art space where the ordinary quickly turns into the extraordinary.  Each room of the house has hidden portals that took us mere mortals into parallel universes and brought us back again.  For example, in the ordinary laundry room, there is an extraordinary dryer which slides anyone who enters it’s blue tunnel into the place where all of our socks have disappeared into all these years.  

There’s a fluorescent forest, glowing dinosaur bones that make music, a pump room where toilet flushes mix with tubular bell pipes in a symphony of swishing sounds, a recreated Hong Kong Street, and a laser harp we could play with our bodies.  It was feast for all senses and a triumph of human creativity!  Can you tell I kinda liked it??

After our Meow Wolf immersion, we were pretty hungry so migrated to the Railroad Depot area for Mexican food at Tomasita’s and that was a feast of our bellies!

From there, we visited a few of the beautiful churches and our favourite was the Loretto Chapel and it’s marvelous spiral “stairway to heaven” with the most interesting story behind it.  When the church was populated by priests, they accessed the choir loft by ladders as there were no stairs to it.  An order of nuns took over and immodest ladder climbing wasn’t pious or practical any more.  

The problem was, due to the small space of the sanctuary, there simply wasn’t room to build a traditional staircase so the sisters prayed for a solution.  They prayed novenas for nine days straight and, on the ninth day, a mysterious carpenter appeared and answered their call.  The sisters hired him and over a number of months, out of wood with just a few tools, he constructed a marvelous free-standing spiral stairway.  When it was finished, he disappeared again – without presenting the nuns with a bill for his work, not even an invoice for materials.

It’s a beautiful sanctuary and a testament to the power of prayer!

After the Loretto Chapel, I had a bit of religious experience myself – leaving Mick to explore the city for a bit on his own, I visited the Georgia  O’Keefe Museum.  Long a fan of her work, wandering through her lush and sensual canvases was a great way to end our day of experiential art.

This was a day that kept on giving – on our way home, we stumbled across the Santa Fe School Of Cooking and although there were no classes that day, the kind staff member let me into their kitchen for a photo op.  Another work of art!

On Day 34, we travelled from Santa Fe to Tucumcari, New Mexico, an old railroad and Route 66 boomtown, now pretty busted.  In search of Mother Road nostalgia, we visited the town’s volunteer run Route 66 Museum and met some pretty cool locals who are preserving the good times.  It’s sad to see the ruins of this once prosperous town – it was reminiscent of visiting the deserted cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde, you can’t help but think of the dreams that built it and what it must have felt like to walk away from them when fortunes changed.

Day 35 found us driving across the Panhandle to Shamrock, Texas, another formerly prime stop on Old Route 66 and home to the iconic U-Drop Inn and Tower Conaco Station.  

Built in 1936, it was the only eatery within 100 miles on Route 66 and Elvis once had lunch there – we were honoured to sit in the Elvis Booth for a photo op, knowing our tushes were in contact with vinyl that had once caressed the pelvis of Elvis!

A fun fact about the restaurant –   The original owner held a contest to name it and 8 year old Jerry Bergen was the winner with “U-Drop Inn”.  His prize?  $5, which was equivalent to a week’s pay for one of their waitresses at the time.

We also found the Magnolia, a 1929 gas station, and the Justice of the Peace, both throwbacks to the time when Shamrock, Texas really was rockin’.

The volunteer working in the Conaco Station museum tipped us off that the place is particularly pretty at night as it’s original neon has been restored.  At dark, we drove back from camp to check it out and she was right, it was spectacular!

On our way back to the trailer, we decided to pop by Shindigs, the little bar at our campground.   Our ‘fun detector’ was working well that night! Although the space is not officially open as it is still being renovated by Crystal and John, the owners of the camp who have been bringing this little gem back to life, they were in there having a Karaoke Party.  So of course we had to join them and spent a few hours happily belting out tunes.  Crystal and I sang a saucy duet  version of “These Boots Were Made for Walking”, John smashed “Winchester Cathedral”, I killed “Mr. Brightside”, Crystal nailed a “Black Sabbath” tune, and the four of us ended the night na-na-na-ing our hearts out to “Hey Jude”.  Much fun was had by all that night on Route 66, and we breathed new energy into the old Mother Road.

Day 36 was a hop over to Oklahoma City, the Buckle of the Bible Belt so enough said about that and Day 37 brought us to Tulsa, which is actually a very cool little city.  Our first Tulsa Time afternoon was spent at the Philbrook Museum where we took in the gorgeous mansion that now houses a wonderful art collection, with some great “wild women” pieces I could relate to.

As special as their art collection was, to us it was the gardens that made this place memorable.  Lush plantings, beautiful statues, and an intricate waterfall ending in a koi pond were highlights.  But all these were eclipsed by one of the coolest things I’ve seen this whole trip – The Slumgullion!

Imagine a 1800’s log cabin that ate your grandmother’s depression glass collection and your grandfather’s library and then raided the local garbage dump for every coloured bottle it could find.  Constructed entirely of found and donated materials, this gem shines with every colour of the rainbow.  What a magical place – and again, a monument to the incredible creativity of the human mind and spirit.

After the museum, we fetched Cassie and headed out to take in Tulsa’s Art Deco Downtown.  The collection of buildings are a treasure trove of the Art Deco style.  It was a bit surreal though as we were there on the Sunday of the Labor Day weekend – we felt like extras in a bad Zombie Apocalypse movie. It was hot as hell, we were walking through this deserted though beautiful urban landscape, and the only other beings out in the heat were a few homeless folks having a kip on the park benches.

After spending our previous couple of weeks in The High Desert, the humidity of Tulsa was a bit overwhelming but we persevered with the help of the AC in our trailer and the breeze off the Arkansas River.

We had one more day in Tulsa so on Day 38, we got out early and rented “This Machine” bikes on Riverview Drive near The Gathering Place.  Using an app on my phone, we were able to unlock 2 bikes and rent them for only $5 each.  Technology is a beautiful thing…

The bikes rode like mules – heavy, a bit hard to get up hills and not too fast coming down them either – but is was so fun to ride 10m miles up and down Tulsa’s scenic waterfront.

We ended our day by taking Cassie to Woodward Park – again, it was HOT and HUMID and after walking the park and it’s lovely gardens we were sweaty messes.  We solved that problem by going to Baums for the best hot fudge sundae ever.  Ice cream to the rescue!

We’ve come so far in 38 days – we’ve experienced both the majesty of Mother Nature and creative genius of mankind and found they are both soul-food.

Stay tuned for the next installment as we’re going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee (good line for a song, don’t you think?).