We flew into Dallas at 2:30 p.m. The weather was a sweltering 107 degrees without a cloud to be seen in the blue sky. 1) Great-tailed Grackles greeted us at the La Quinta hotel.
August 6
Slept late and the hotel staff was cleaning up the free breakfast as Emma and I raced ahead of the clean-up crew to score breakfast. Arriving at the RV storage we saw that the tarp covering the RV was in shreds on the ground due to the gale force winds common in Texas. It took an hour to unwrap the debris, tune up the RV and head west on the open road. Well, the road does open up once you get out of the gridlock of the Dallas freeways. We headed for Witchita Falls under cloudy skies and 105 degree temperatures.
2) Turkey Vultures 3)Rock Doves
West Texas Prairie
We stopped for the night near Childness Texas and noticed that two of our sun roofs had disappeared. Over the previous months, the hot Texas sun had weakened the plastic and the sun roofs had blown away as we drove along the highway. We also had a water flood under our bed and the air conditioner shut down. It was too late and dark to do anything so we went to bed in the 100 plus heat.August 7
No problem. Next morning after an industrious hour most of the problems were fixed. It's amazing what you can do with a little duct tape. Hopefully, it won't rain too much on this trip. At a rest stop near Childness Texas, I saw my first Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. This long-tailed bird is a Texas specialty and is rarely found anywhere else in the USA. Western Flycatchers and Mississippi Kites were also flying about and feeding on the grasshoppers that were present in large numbers.
4) Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
5) Mississippi Kite
Other birds includes 6) Eurasian Collared Dove; 7) American Robin, 8) Barn Swallow
9) Northern Mockingbird 10) Lark Sparrow 11) House Sparrow
12) Western Kingbird
As the sun was setting we arrived in New Mexico.
The oak trees of the Dallas area gave way to open prairie as we moved west of Amarillo. It was still in the high nineties and our air conditioner was down for the count. We drove till midnight and arrived in the higher and cooler region east of Albuqueque.
August 8
With no functioning air conditioner, getting into the mountains was a priority. We put the pedal down and cruised across the high desert of western New Mexico crossing the continental divide at 7,200 feet. You don't realize you have climbed that high as western New Mexico seems to be relatively flat. 13) American Crow [1 Desert Cottontail
High New Mexico Desert
Continental Divide in New Mexico
At Gallup New Mexico, we turned north and traveled through Aboriginal land. The terrain was starkly beautiful with sparse desert vegetation and dry majestic mesas rising up from the plain. At dusk, we arrived at Ute Mountain and camped beside the Ute Mountain Casino in their excellent RV Park.
August 9
Compared to Dallas we were at a much higher altitude and the temperature was a warm 85 degrees. Moving onward, the terrain rose gently as we approached the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park.
Mesa Verde
The sculptures at the Visitor Centre depict the earlier life of the the local cliff dwelling inhabitants.
At the visitor centre, you can book tours of the cliff dwellings. As the Cliff Balcony was the most strenuous of the tours we chose that one.
Any passing dog is an opportunity for Emma to share the love.
Emma meets a new friend.
Cliff Dwellings at Mesa Verde
View from the Cliff Balcony
Emma on the Cliff Balcony Trail
Ascending one of the Cliff Balcony ladders
Made It!
Peering out from the Cliff Balcony
Cliff Balcony Dwellings
View from Cliff Balcony
We thoroughly enjoyed the Cliff Balcony tour and reflected on what life must have been like living on the edge of a cliff. There were no railings or safety nets. One wrong step and you would be sailing through empty space to the valley below.
Cliff Palace
Our next stop was at the nearby Cliff Palace. This site is the location of the largest cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde.
Cliff Palace
Cliff Palace
After viewing the Cliff Palace we retraced our route back to the Spruce Tree House site. These cliff dwellings are the third largest in Mesa Verde National Park and the first discovered by European ranchers. To get from the top of the Mesa to the cliff dwellings the ranchers climbed down a large Douglas Spruce Tree, thus the name.
Spruce Tree House
Spruce Tree House Trail
There was a very interesting museum at the Spruce Tree House location. It gave a good account of the history of Mesa Verde over the past 2,000 years.
The Mesa Verde site was occupied from A.D. 550 to 1,300. It appears that an extended 20 year drought was the primary cause that resulted in the site being abandoned.
Spruce Tree House Cliff Dwellings
Toward dusk we drove back down from the mesa and camped for the night at the Mesa Verde Campground.
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