Made it to Cortez, Colorado

We packed up yesterday and moved the RV to the check in area at Hon Dah to hook up the car to the back end (tow it). This was after we had run into town to visit the RV shop one more time to pick up some more parts we learned we needed after searching the internet as to why some Class As are parked a certain way and some others differently.  This is definitely a learning trip!  Back to the RV park and moved to the entrance by 9am and that's when we found out that Buddy had done some not-so good things when he crawled up into the dash area.  Seems he had disconnected the towing wiring that sends signals to the car to stop/brake/go/signals.  Wonderful.  Only option was to each drive separately to our next spot.  Frustrating - 10am and things are not going good.  Rats. Hopefully rest of day would be okay.

Our original intent was for me to drive the RV with the car attached and drive the first 150 miles to Gallop, New Mexico.  Tank up and then Dave take over the driving from there to Cortez, Colorado.  So, I drove the RV while Dave drove the car, following me.  Onward and northward we trekked.

Through the north eastern part of Arizona (beautiful country!), into the far south western part of New Mexico, picking up Interstate 40 east bound into Gallup.  Filled up and Dave asked if I was comfortable driving the beast, yes, so I continued to drive on while he followed.  The route we took was one we followed 2 years ago coming down from Montana, Dave said that he recognized the landscape. Pretty country, dry barren, in the distance you could see Shiprock, the remains of a volcano hundreds of thousands of years ago, that looks like a 19th century sailing ship.  Through the Navajo Nation, very impressive and yet sad to see the poverty. We were supposed to stop and switch driving vehicles in Shiprock.  But, I decided that I knew where we were going and just continued to drive right to the camp ground.

Long day.  312 miles later, we are sitting in a premier campsite in Cortez, Colorado, one half mile from the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park.  As I look out the window I can see the Rocky Mountains about 20 miles from here.  Mesa Verde is directly north of us - a tree is blocking the view. We are not sure how long we will stay, want to get the tow package fixed, and there are so many things to see and do.

Sitting At Mesa Verde RV Resort

And Buddy and Grace? The drive here was uneventful, thank goodness, but at one point Buddy came rushing up to me and yelled and I yelled at him, and threw the contents of my water bottle at him to scare him to get into the back.  Which he did.  Poor thing.  But, no accidents.  And Buddy came out right away - he is getting used to the drive.