Road to Shangri-La ? or Alamosa

This was the view out our windshield as we headed to Alamosa from Chama. It reminded me of those Shangri-La movies about the lost Tibetain utopia. All you could see was the snow covered mountain top floating above the low clouds. The mountains didn't even seem to be attached to earth. We drove on through Alamosa and headed toward the La Veta pass. Climbing toward the summit put us into the clouds. The fog was such on the winding mountain roads that all you could do was follow the center line and hope that there wasn't a speed demon on your tail. The sheer drop-offs weren't visible, the mountainsides weren't visible nor were the cars in front of you--all you could see was white. Chuck didn't seem to like driving through it at all. It seemed a long time before we emerged from the white blanket. After we passed Walsenburg, we started across the plains again. It was the straightest road stretching on for miles and miles and miles with no curves whatsoever. It looked like it would go on forever. It even had the roads in west Texas beat. You could even see it further than roads between Midland and El Paso.

We did make one stop at Ft. Garland to see the adobe fort there. We had been there many years before and it had been restored to a very nice site since then. The docent was very kind to let the dogs come on to the parade ground sans leashes and they had a ball chasing each other. After nearly two weeks of continuously being on a leash, they provided the rangers with quite a show that they got a big kick out of. This was an important post in the area before and after the Civil War. Kit Carson was the commander of the fort for a while. We were very impressed with the displays that they had. We all really enjoy this stop.

We arrived at La Junta early afternoon and were ready to take it easy. On Thursday, Chuck begins his engineer encampment at Bent's Old Fort. I will babysit the dogs...the cable...and the wifi... while he sleeps in a tent and learns to be an topographical engineer. It'll be tough but I'm up to it. Just hope Chuck is.