April 22, Montrose, Colorado
When I was sent out this morning to get the phony paper, I was surprised to see that the grass next to the rig had turned white overnight. It was also cold and wet. Don reminded me that it was something called Snow, and that lots of places are afflicted by it. Well, OK, but I don’t like the way it makes my paws cold. But it is kind of pretty.


Today was our first day of exploration and adventures in this area, and was it a doozy. (Don says that doozy refers to a particularly elegant automobile manufactured in the 1920’s and 30’s, the Duesenberg). To start with, he took me to a really nice park in Montrose that had superb grass and a walkway next to a lovely creek. We met a Scotch Terrier lady, who was let off her leash when her people saw what a nice guy I was, and we introduced ourselves properly. I knew that she would be interested in seeing my Crazy Dog routine, so I put on an excellent demonstration, with ninety-degree turns, feints right and left, and bursts of thunderous speed. She was slack-jawed with wonder for a while, but then decided to join in the fun by trying to chase me. I led her away from her folks, then did a sharp 180 and sped back to them to receive their adulation. Recognizing that I had sorta tricked her, she resorted to loud barking. Don tried to make up to her, but she wasn’t having any. They finally had to put her leash back on and lead her off, still barking. I did some more running and a lot of rolling, the grass was just so great! Super good walk it was.


We went back to the rig and collected Geri, who graciously fed me my lunch before we left. We headed out east on Highway 50, and soon turned north to head up the hill to the South Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. We soon arrived at the Visitors’ Center, and Geri got me out to look around. What a wild place! Lots of big black rocks covered with snow, and a deep, deep canyon with a river down at the bottom. We drove the length of the rim road, with many stops to trundle down trails to view points and take some photos. We got a boatload. Don took a pic of a cliff which is said to be the tallest in Colorado, so tall that if you placed the Empire State Building at the base of it (which we don’t recommend) that it wouldn’t even reach half way up it. Don says that one of the most interesting things about the canyon is that its walls are some of the oldest rocks on earth, and that it took some strange geologic happenings to create this gorge. But we all agreed that the end result was fantastic, and one of the most spectacular natural features we have ever seen. Don wants to come back in the Summer, when we can see more of it.


After a quick stop back at the rig so that they could have their lunch, we headed out again, this time toward the West, so that Don could check out a road that we might want to take when we left Montrose. It was looking pretty good, though we missed a few turns and had to backtrack to pick up the highway, which was actually more like a farm road. Geri decided to program Garmie to pick the route to a town which we knew was further down the road; Garmie immediately told us to turn around and go back. This was mystifying, so we turned Garmie off, told her to shut up. We kept trudging along the road, until we saw a sign that said “Pavement Ends”; sure enough, it did. Don then recognized the reason for Garmie’s reaction, ‘cause she had been programmed (by Don) to avoid unpaved roads, and she was just saying “No Way, Jose, this ain’t gonna do it for you!”


So, we went back into Montrose and went to the Visitor Center there to talk to someone about routes out of town. We met a lady named Jodie, who told us that Don’s original idea of heading down through Telluride was by far the best route down to Cortez, avoiding some passes that were over 11,000 feet high. He felt much better. So, back to the coach, where I got my dinner, and they went out again for theirs. They weren’t gone too long, I guess they knew exactly where they were going. Don was raving about the pan-fried walleye filet, which the restaurant has flown down daily from Canada. He said it was even better than the last one he had in Minnesota, more than ten years ago. Like he remembers.


Tomorrow the plan is to head south down to Ouray and Telluride; should be interesting! For now, G’nite!


PS: Geri’s sister Carol called her and said that I hadn’t offended anyone yet with any of my blog postings. I’ve got mixed feelings about that. I’ll try to do better.