50 States Day 10

Day 10, 56 miles Mesa Verde/ Cortez CO

"Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds."

~Albert Einstein

Frost on the pumpkin this morning! Fortunately Quiter Girl rescued us from frostbite with... you guessed it- a quilt. Soon Mr. Sun did his thing, and everthing warmed up. We took our time getting ready, as the temperatures plummet up on the Mesa. Soon we wound our way up the lovely, winding roadways to Mesa Verde Park.

  Being honest, I have never been interested in Indian history or really any kind of archaeology. Today turned me one eighty. The Pueblo settlements and ruins fascinated me. QG too. Surprise! As a bonus we sat with an archaeologist and her husband at a picnic table lunch and learned even more about unearthing remains.

In our safety obsessed society, what refreshment as we scaled a log ladder, squeezed through crevices and crawled in tunnels at the Balcony House. And the natives simply scaled the areas. Amazing. 

Also, being a contractor, I marvelled at the retaining nwalls that were built almost a thousand years ago with no permits, engineering, no inspectors or quality control. And what do you know? Still up. 

The bike draws people like a magnet,with the wrap. Quilter Girl said we should charge $2 for every picture to mitigate our costs. That's my capitalist wife!

Because we shuttled up and down the loops and outlooks, people repeatedly saw us and the bike. Soon their curiosity would overcome their shyness and we'd be talking about the trip. We lack credibility as we're only on week/state 2. Wait until we're on  33!

We stayed at the campground 2 days, and that works well. We satellite from there and then tomorrow we'll move on, to Durango for sure, but we're still unsure of a route to Denver. No worries.