We left Kayente at either 8:45 am or 9:45 am, depending on whose time we were on at that moment. We got a cup of coffee at McDonald's, filled up the gas tank paying the Navajo Nation imposed taxes and stayed on highway 160 driving through magnificent countryside for nearly 100 miles before turning North to Cortez, CO where we did a drive-by of the airport dad was so familiar with 50-60 years ago. Just before the turn though, we reached the Four Corners Monument where we had to stop to see the exact spot where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona come together at one point. I've heard of this spot all my life, but never been. Nor did I realize the controversy over the last 100 years about exactly where the spot should be and how this spot has moved a half dozen times as someone realizes the longitude and latitude require a change. The most recent change was in 2010. The monument is on the northern edge of the massive, expansive Navajo reservation before entering into Ute country.
In Cortez, we headed east again for Durango. I haven't been to Durango since my brother Steve was in college at Fort Lewis, where he met his wife Connie. Dad hasn't been there for about 45 years. However, when he traveled for Frontier Airlines, he spent quite a bit of time in Durango. But it holds a very special place in his heart as it's where he and mom spent their honeymoon. The hotel they stayed at is still there, The Strater Hotel.
In Durango, we got on Highway 550 and pretty much started driving straight uphill for what seemed like forever! I'd never been on this two lane road. It has no guardrails and it's very curvy with one switchback after another and average speed is 20-30mph. As we approached the summit of Coal Bank Pass at an elevation of 10,640 feet, I felt this drive was not only a test of my driving abilities, but a scary test of dad's oxygen saturation. His portable O2 machine was set on the highest level and he had the pulse oximiter on his finger for the duration. I was so relieved when we reached the summit! That was short-lived though as a few miles down, and down the road, we were going up again; this time to Molas Summit at 10,910 feet. Once again, I felt relief, albeit a little light headed from my imagined (real) oxygen deprivation. I asked dad if that was all of the passes and he looked at the map and said, "No, there's one more." I about died. This one was even higher than the previous two, but the most beautiful of all as much of the drive was cut out of the rock mountain, leaving a rainbow of colorful Rocky Mountains jetting into the sky. Of course, we were 'in the sky', at the tree line, going over Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet! If you read my blog a couple days ago, you'll remember that we were at the Salton Sea...below sea level. What a contrast and what a drive. I saw a sign just outside of Silverton that said 55 MPH and I told dad that I was never so happy to go 55 as I was in that moment! Dad said this was called the Million Dollar Highway as when it was built back in the 1940s or 1950s, it cost a million dollars a mile. I'll tell you that it takes cajones to work on this road!
Silverton is a cute mountain town, but another 25 or so miles on 550 is the town of Ouray. It looked like the perfect place to live...today. Very quaint, still, clean and colorful, Ouray is gorgeous with the aspen trees just beginning their bloom. Of course in the dead of winter, I'd want no part of it!
We drove on to Montrose and are here for our last night on this amazing journey. We were both so tired when we arrived, we bought dinner from a Thai food truck that came highly recommended by the hotel staff and another hotel patron and ate from the styrofoam containers in the room. It's 8:30 and dad's been asleep for 30 minutes already. I'm not far behind him.
In the event I don't write anything tomorrow night, a big THANK YOU to those of you who have followed our journey through this blog. This trip with my dad has been one of the greatest joys of my life! I'm so happy I've recorded this trip in this manner and had the discipline to keep up with it every night.
Good Night.
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