We leave the windy Wal Mart and headed west continuing through Kansas.  We stopped at a windy but pretty rest area in Florence KS to walk the dogs.  The wind is a constant theme.  We come across Spearville KS which is home to dozens of wind turbines.  Obviously they picked this place for a reason.  The drive trough a seemingly interminable Kansas landscape is quiet except for the wind.  The landscape is so unlike New England.  One can't help look around and wonder what people's lives are like in each of the small towns we pass through.

We spend Friday night at the Gunsmoke RV park in Dodge City KS.  It is quiet and tidy and sheltered from the wind.  We do laundry, and thoroughly clean the RV - after a full week of "dry" camping. We get up Saturday and drive through Dodge City and fuel up.

We continue heading West stopping to look at the old wheel ruts of the original Santa Fe trail.  We drive another couple of hundred miles before we begin to see the distant image of the Rockies.

We are very excited about this as our interest in plains and wind has waned.  After passing through Pueblo we start to get the feel of the mountains and remote area and find an gorgeous pull out parking area right on the Arkansas river.  We spend the night here.  This is the night of the peak Oronide meteor showers.  So we head out of the RV when darkness settles over the canyon we are in and watch.  I was no sooner out the door when I saw a meteor.  I think this was a fluke, a sentinel.  It was only 9 pm and we watched for a while, craning our necks and saw no others.

We were up and underway early Sunday to make good head way- a big day of climbing for the rig.  We continue West towards climbing into the mountains ultimately to Monarch Pass - crossing the Continental Divide.  The views are amazing and we marvel how with every turn of the road we are looking at different geology and trees and vistas.

We chug towards Gunnison and Black Canyon.  In a moment of decisiveness we decide to take the rig up to the park and plan to find a place to off load the Miata and make the drive around the rim in style.  We get close to the park and see a nice little turn out - with a deceptively deep trough between the hardback and the asphalt.  We commit and come to a scrapping and grinding halt.  Phil hopped out to survey the situation and returned somewhat pale but kept his cool and coaxed the beast into the  turn out:  RV 1 Asphalt 0.

We off load the car and spend the afternoon marveling at the wonder of the Canyon. We stop and walk to all the look outs and take a gazillion photos.  None of which do justice to the place.

We return to the rig, load up the car and exit the turn out with little effort. We drive the five miles back to US 50 and head into Montrose.  We are craving some good Mexican food.  We find the Wal Mart parking lot and Yelp for local eateries.  We find a place a couple of "blocks" up.  (new strip malls, no sidewalks) and head there.  Turns out it is take-out only and no beer....so we get burritos and stop at the liquor store for Dos Equis.  As we are walking back to the rig we see a Mexican Restaurant just behind the Wal Mart.  WE stash the meal in our hands and walk towards the Restaurant (the thought of Margaritas driving us on!) and have to run a gauntlet of irrigation sprinkler that are on full force.  We arrive at the restaurant soaking and looking very bedraggled.  That Margarita tasted mighty fine!