Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado

Ambling along two-lane U.S. Route 50 in the middle of Colorado, lost in a reverie, I suddenly saw a sign announcing Black Canyon of the Gunnison just ahead. That's something I should see, I thought. I stopped at a small store at the intersection and learned that the Black Canyon lay at the end of a six-mile, twisty and steep road up the mountain, and that there is a fifteen dollar charge to get into the national park. I was back in the parking lot, essentially deciding to just move on down Route 50 when a woman, unloading a bicycle from a van, noticed my Maryland licence plate. "What part of Maryland are you from?" she asked. When I told her, she explained that she was originally from Annapolis but that she and her husband now live in Colorado. She wanted to know if I was planning to see the Black Canyon. I told her that I wasn't sure. Hearing this, she launched into a glowing and adamant spiel about the attributes of the Black Canyon that would have made the National Park Service PR department proud. After that I really had no choice. Up the six-mile road I went, and was rewarded with utter amazement at the natural wonder that lay before, or rather beneath, me.





Once you've driven up onto a plateau you suddenly encounter a great gash in the earth. In many places it is relatively narrow and it's very deep -- 2,722 feet at its lowest point. It was carved over many millions of years by the raging Gunnison River which can be seen snaking along at the bottom of the canyon. The walls are mostly sheer, plunging virtually straight down as you stand at the various lookout points along an 8-mile scenic drive along the south rim. The narrowness of the canyon and its great depth prevent sunlight from reaching very far down into the canyon, leaving much of the walls in shadow. Thus the name "Black" Canyon.

The canyon has an interesting geological past. You can read about it here if you wish.

As with so many places in the west, you are confronted at Black Canyon with an inability to grapple with the sense of scale. The thing you are looking at is so huge and distances are so vast, there's no real frame of reference. You are looking at something in front of you -- a rock formation, a mountain, the depths of a canyon -- and you know it's big, but how big? It seems almost as if you can reach out and touch it. But how far away is it? Five hundred feet? A mile? Fifty miles? Photographs really can't convey this phenomenon of not being able to grasp size. But here are some pictures anyway:







This photographer just had to get the perfect angle ...



The joy of flight ...



As I was nearing the last of the string of overlooks enthralled by all that I was seeing, I heard a cheerful voice call out, "Well, how do you like it?" It was the exuberant bicyclist who had encouraged my journey up the mountain. She had pedalled all the way up the steep and winding road. "It's fantastic," I replied. She just smiled and nodded and sped on in her own reverie.

A Western Town - Westcliffe, Colorado

I had heard about this small, out of the way town lying between two mountain ranges in a wide valley of large ranches. It's setting gives it spectacular views of the Sangre de Christo range to the west and the Wet Mountains to the east. They seem so close you can touch them, probably because a number of the peaks are over 14,000 feet. I spent a day and night here, walked the main street, talked to some locals, and had a great Mexican meal sitting on an outdoor patio.

Westcliffe was founded in the mid-1880s by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad near the already-existing Silver Cliff, a booming silver mining town just to the east. With the arrival of the railroad, most of the business moved from Silver Cliff to Westcliffe. It became the county seat of Custer County in 1928.

Today the town has around 500 residents and a decidedly serene feeling about it.

I'll let Westcliffe tell you about itself:

Royal Gorge Bridge, Canon City, Colorado

I can remember seeing on TV some daffy Englismen in tuxedos toasting each other with champagne prior to leaping off an incredibly high bridge attached by bungee cords. I later learned that the bridge was the Royal Gorge Bridge in the Colorado Rockies. At the time, the Royal Gorge was the highest bridge in the world as measured from the deck of the bridge to the Arkansas River 955 feet below. It has since been supplanted by a bridge in China that's a bit higher. Some sources still list the Royal Gorge as the highest at more than 1,000 feet above the river, but at this height, who's counting.

The bridge was built in 1929 at a cost of $140,000. Interestingly, it wasn't built primarily to move traffic across the gorge but rather to be a tourist attraction providing revenue for Canon City which owns it. That's still it's primary function, so you have to pay to see it. It is cleverly positioned so that you can't see it until after you've paid. But it was worth it. I walked back and forth over the wooden deck and stopped to stare down at the tiny-looking river snaking through the canyon far below. After a while, however, my imagination got the better of me and I slowly walked my last way back across staying safely right in the middle of the roadway, moving somewhat shakily not looking left or right. There was never a chance that I'd jump off attached to a bungee cord or anything else.



















For those inclined to dangle over the precipice, there is an aerial tramway:

Life on the Road

So what's it like traveling and living in an RV? It may come as no surprise to learn that we love it. Tracey and I have found that this size RV - 27 feet - works very well for two people. Not exactly big enough to live in on a permanent basis, but certainly just fine for extended journeys. And it's a veritable palace for one person on the road as I'm doing on this trip

There is a little learning curve when it comes to driving a vehicle this size. But after a day or so, it's not that much different from driving a car or minivan. You do have to be aware of your size and you are much more dependent on your mirrors to keep track of everything around and behind you.

It's really a lot of fun to live in a little cabin that you are driving around. You can cook, eat, sleep, read, watch TV (I haven't had mine on since I left), or anything else you'd do in a house. It's just done in a smaller space. On the other hand, you don't have everything you own with you. Just the things you need and no more. Makes for a much more simplified life. Clean-up is done in a matter of minutes.

Here's the layout of our RV:



This particular RV has two small rooms. There is the kitchen which also includes the dining booth. The kitchen is small, but has everything you need including 3-burner stove, double sink, refrigerator, and microwave.



As for cooking, I make pretty much anything I make at home. My repertoire of recipes is not that extensive anyway. But I have all the ingredients in either the refrigerator or the overhead cabinets or the small pantry. Pots and pans are tucked away under the sink and the dishes are in their own overhead cabinet.











On the way to the back room, you pass through a small hallway. On the right is the bathroom and on the left is a sizable closet which has four drawers underneath like a built-in chest of drawers. It's nice to have, say, your socks neatly in a drawer instead of in a suitcase.








In the back is the "lounge." This room has two comfortable sofas that face each other. They can fold out and slide together to make a larger-than-king-size bed. There is a panoramic view out the back provided by three large windows on the right, left, and rear. Overhead are large compartments for clothes or other items.


Life on the road is made much more comfortable by all the technological gadgets we have these days. I couldn't make a trip like this without access to the internet. I research the places I want to visit, use email, and work on this blog using my laptop and a Verizon aircard. This small device fits in a USB port on the computer and acts much as a cell phone. Wherever there is cell reception, I can be online. Only rarely have I not been able to sign on. Also, it's fairly standard for RV parks to have free WiFi available. Many other businesses, restaurants, etc., have free WiFi as well.

And where do I stay? I prefer staying in national or state parks because they allow you to be in natural settings. There's a feeling of being in the midst of it all. Then come the RV parks, which can be very nice with their amenities such as swimming pools, laundry rooms and the like. RV parks as well as many of the state and national park campgrounds generally provide electricity, water, and a place to dump your tanks. Dumping your sewer and "gray water" (water from the shower and sink) tanks is a reality of RVing.

I should mention that I try to offset the costs of staying in RV parks by staying for free some nights in places such as Walmart. Walmart and RVers have a cozy win-win agreement. Unless there is a local ordinance against it, Walmart allows RVers to stay in the far fringes of their parking lots overnight - those parts of the lots that are rarely used by others anyway. And we RVers generally do our shopping in the store. For most of us, this is a convenience. It's nice to travel the country and always be able to go into a grocery store where everthing is where you expect it to be. Prices are good, too. I know that Walmart is not on everyone's list of favorite places, but for the RVer, it's a good place to stop. Cracker Barrel, Flying J, and some other national chains allow overnight parking as well. Many western states let RVers camp for free in their highway rest areas. And then there are the driveways of family and friends. But of course there's no electricity, water, or dumping in these places.

It really is a lot of fun to drive your house around. There's a simple pleasure in pulling over at a scenic spot, opening up the refrigerator, and taking out the ingredients for a sandwich. As you sit in the dining booth and have your lunch, you can look out over an area of scenic splendor. Then you can clean up, maybe use the bathroom, and walk to the front and drive off. Same goes when it's time to stop for the evening. Especially if you're staying in a state or national park, you can pull your home into some woodsy or otherwise nice spot in nature and set up housekeeping for a day or a week or longer. Put out the awning, unfold the outdoor chairs, set up a little table. Man, that's living!

See you on the road!

The Bridges of Madison County

Those darned bridges. They had an impact on my life and those of my colleagues at National Geographic. When a certain book about the covered bridges of this western Iowa county appeared, we began getting calls and letters (this was before email!) about the photographer, Robert Kinkaid, who was portrayed in the book. It didn't take long for us to get hold of the book and realize that it was a work of fiction. But author Robert Waller framed his novel as if it were the true story of a National Geographic photographer and his amorous adventures while on assignment. Many readers assumed it was true, and were astounded to learn that there was no Robert Kinkaid. Some of them absolutely refused to believe it.

When the movie version came out, the calls and letters became an onslaught and led to my fifteen seconds of fame when I was interviewed on Entertainment Tonight, squeezed in with interview segments with stars Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.

I couldn't resist driving through Madison County and chasing down a couple of the bridges (unlike the book's characters, the bridges do exist). There are a number of them around Madison County and they are remarkably well kept. I saw two of them.

This is the Hogback Bridge. It was built in 1884 and measures 97 feet in length:





The Roseman Bridge. This 107-foot bridge was built in 1883 and played a prominent role in both the book and film versions of The Bridges of Madison County. Both the Roseman and the Hogback were built by a man named Benton Jones which is why they look very similar. Neither is used for vehicular traffic anymore:





The bridges rest in very peaceful, isolated settings and, like the Field of Dreams, there is no commericial aspect to them. I had some time alone with both bridges, savoring these relics of the past along with the beautiful day. The bridges also had a few other visitors while I was there. I wondered if any of them were looking for the elusive Robert Kinkaid.

John Wayne Birthplace - Winterset, Iowa

On May 26, 1907, Marion Morrison was born in this house in Winterset, Iowa. The Morrisons moved away when he was just a baby, and by the time he was seven, they had relocated to southern California. But the people of Winterset haven't forgotten that the child who later became famed actor John Wayne had his roots right here.

The small, four-room house, just off John Wayne Avenue on 2nd Street, is well preserved and filled with John Wayne memoribilia. The woman who gave our group a short tour ("No photos inside, please.") was filled with knowledge of Wayne's career and could seemingly answer any question about his professional and personal life.

Some of the questions: How tall was he? 6'4" (not 6'6" as is sometimes claimed.) How many times was he married? Three. Did he ever come back to Winterset after he became famous? No. His father worked here as a druggist and moved on to another job in another town. They had no family here.

Amana Colonies, Iowa

In the early 1700s, the Community of True Inspiration, a Christian group, began meeting in Germany. Persecution and an economic depression in Germany led their descendents to seek a new life in America in the 1840s. Pooling their resources, they bought 5,000 acres of land near Buffalo, New York, and started a communal village. In 1855, needing more land for their growing community, they relocated to 25,000 acres along the Iowa River in the state of Iowa. Here they eventually founded seven villages known as the Amana Colonies. The word "Amana" means "to remain true." The Amana Colonies would become one of America's largest and longest-lived communal religious societies. They abandoned the communal system in 1932, but the seven colonies continue to thrive.

Most of us probably first heard the name "Amana" in connection with refrigerators or microwaves. In fact, the Amana Corporation was founded in 1934 by a resident of the Amana Colonies and was initially owned by the Colonies. There have been several ownership changes, but you can still buy Amana appliances, many of them manufactured in the Amana Colonies.

I decided to stop at Amana to see what current life is like there. Here are some scenes along the main street of Amana, one of the still-existing seven colonies:










At a festival a couple of miles down the road in Middle Amama, local crafters showed their wares:

Hand-powered wood lathe:



Angora wool right off the bunny:




David and Carol. David is an excellent nature photographer:



Woodworker with lathe:



Members of a family band provided music:



The refreshment tent: