On Tour in the USA

[diminished]

Nah folks,its all good now.We're in SW Colorado (Cortez) and have spent a couple of quality days at Mesa Verde,which is jaw-droppingly spectacular.When they eventually make me King over here,I shall make it a crime not to come to Mesa Verde.
We've had internet issues at the local Super8.We booked in for a couple of nights,but a couple of hours later,their net went toes-up
I went down to try and sort it out,but their desk staff on the first night were less than capable of flicking the power off and on on their wireless router,and on the second night the princess-embryo manning the desk rudely exclaimed that because her myspace page was working on the public lobby PC (which wasnt connected to their wireless network) then my machine must be at fault.Didnt I know how to work a computer?
Needless to say,we're now at a different Motel,and my machine connected to this network and the net,first time of asking.
I left the housekeeping staff at the Super8 a note, explaining that they wouldnt be getting the nice tip I leave everywhere (I dont,but hey,),due to their rude and incompetant desk staff.
I'd have complained to the management,but at no point did anyone seem to be in charge,despite a veritable library of 'Certificates of Excellence' behind the desk.I then thought about taking a c**p in the tip jars that were all over the Motel,and thrust into our lines of sight at every opportunity,but I didnt want to appear ignorant.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Glad to hear you're back in the groove.

[diminished]

Cheers Bruce,it took 3 days of tense negotiations,but we agreed that Persistence may have been wrong,but that I was suffering from a man-period

[xoxoxoBruce]

Hey whatever it takes to get to the kissing... and stuff.

[diminished]

Oh yeah,another pro-tip.

Be aware of atmospheric pressure differences when opening a bottle of mustard at 10000 feet.When crossing the continental divide,we stopped to make lunch.I thought my sandwich needed a bit of jazzing up with condiments.The only place the mustard didn't go was meatwards.My hair and the car interior were quite tasty tho.

[Griff]

I'm starting to feel very guilty about not seeing that much of my own country.

Cheers guys! Enjoy.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by diminished

Be aware of atmospheric pressure differences when opening a bottle of mustard at 10000 feet.

That's no joke. Last month, when my parents were traveling in Peru, my dad took an empty water bottle and screwed the cap on really tight as they went over a mountain pass. He's a retired physics professor, but will still do an experiment whenever he can. Over the rest of the day they descended down to the Pacific ocean, and he took this picture of the sealed empty bottle next to a full one. I had no idea the pressure difference would be that great.

[Queen of the Ryche]

If you're headed Denver way let me know! Case & Clan are in Fort Collins (even further North) too! HLJ is somewhere above 14,000 feet or something.

[monster]

yeah we had fun with inflated packets of chips in Santa Fe. they never actually exploded, though.....

[warch]

my ears are popping just looking at that.

[diminished]

We've found ourselves tonight in southern Utah,we've positioned ourselves for a dash to Monument Valley tomorrow,although we're taking the cheap option of the self-guided drive through tour,the guided stuff looks a bit pricey and doesnt look great value for money,unless anyone can add any info (before tomorrow morning.).
And seeing as we've unintentionally ended up in Utah,we're discussing taking a look around Canyonlands NP,with special emphasis on going to Horseshoe Canyon,to see the ancient pictograms there (7 mile hike,hope it wont be too hot.).Then we're breaking back east into NW Colorado,to resume the plans we made about 10 days back,which in turn were a departure about 3 times removed from what was originally planned so long ago now
The mileage count is now around 7500,the photo count is now around 3000.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I believe Monument Valley is a very rough road. Take it real slow to avoid vehicle damage. If it starts to rain, get the hell out because the road is impassable when wet.
Canyonlands is hot and dry, but cool.

[glatt]

There are so many awesome places in the south west. I love Capital Reef. There are all these tiny little twisty back canyons you can hike around in. Just don't do it in the rain. Bryce is spectacular, and Zion is pretty damn good too.

[diminished]

Monument Valley was astonishing.You can be very cheap,and view it from the Highway for free,but its so worth the $5 per person for the entry to do the 17-mile self-guided loop,and you'll see a lot more.I'd have happily paid 5x the entry price,and still have thought it was excellent value.
From what we saw,we think we were right about the guided tours.Many open-backed trucks bounced past us at speed with a lot of very uncomfortable-looking people in the back of them.We stopped to take a lot of photos over the 3 hours or so we took to get around,but at no point did we see any stopped tour trucks.The guided tours get to see more stuff,true,but I wouldnt fancy my chances at taking many good shots from the back of one of those vehicles going at speed over that road.
Having said all of that,I turned to Persistence and asked,'How on Earth are we meant to explain this place to people back home?'.It was an astounding day.

[classicman]

Thats awesome to hear! So glad you guys are having such a good trip.