We were already planning to leave Durango, when the luck helped us: we lost the bus to our next destination, so we were obliged to stay here one more day… It has been an amazing day, warmed by a shining sun and full of sport activities. To begin, a strong but unforgettable bike trip on the Trails 2000. It is to be noticed the aggressive spirit of Cicci! Well, we admit that we lost the way at least twice. Not satisfied, after lunching with rice and beans, we went to the swimming pool for some hours. Tomorrow we will try to loose our bus another time, destination New Mexico…
Adventure in Durango
Yesterday we traveled along an amazing road, which led us to Durango, at the extreme south-western corner of Colorado… after crossing the Rocky Mountains, we came to Grand Junction by night. The following day we discovered a nice and unexpected landscape, a semi-desertic valley surrounded by red soil mountains and interrupted by sudden canyons. We were thinking of coming to the desert yet, when we found us in the middle of green meadows and woods. The road began to rise, climbing through amazing canyons covered by conifers: we crossed small towns of gold miners and we reached the snowed peaks. Finally a long descent took us to Durango, where our travel knows a break, for the moment…
Back to Denver
We will remember the week spent on the Rocky Mountains near Breckenridge for a long time. Not only because it was a beautiful place, but also because we met a lot of nice people there… and we were so lucky to know a young couple from Denver, who offered us a passage to the city by car. We travelled along a scenic road, climbing the mountains through the Continental Divide. There, we reached the highest altitude in our travel along the Americas (11990 feet).
The day before yesterday, it was the Independence Day, one of the most important celebrations in the United States: even if it was raining, we saw some fireworks and some people on the road. Probably, we were the happiest ones, because Italy (the soccer team) gained the final in the World Cup!
Breckenridge, Colorado
Finally we are on the mountains, and it is like being at home. From Denver the road rises strongly, climbing on a red soil… suddenly the landscape colors of a green unknown by our mountains in the Alps: the meadows and the trees appear almost silvery colored. Soon we have overcome the 3000 meters of altitude and we could even see some snow. Here the valleys are so large that the mountains peaks (up to 4000 meters), seem just hills. Our trip ended in Breckenridge, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains: our accommodation is a picturesque hostel, owned by a nice and funny couple from England and their dog Gaspode (Fireside Inn). Here we have come in contact with one more face of America: we could define it the “other America”, but we prefer to think about it as another piece of a complex puzzle… this is the America which loves and respects its land and environment, the America of the endless natural parks and the free public transportation, powered by renewable energy (bio-diesel and hybrid electric). It is the America which tries to find out and remember the road traced by the native peoples, so much neglected in the past.
The days are so amazing here: we are exploring the beautiful woods both by walking and cycling, the sun is always shining, even if there are frequent and short thundershowers. Today is our first month of nomadic travel, it could not begin better!
Denver, Colorado
This time our nomadic travel followed a long and quick trajectory in the heart of the United States. In fact, we left the hot South and we traveled through the amazing and wild forests of Arkansas, following the riverside of the Mississippi, by the usual and colorful bus. After a short brake in the city of St. Louis, placed where the Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet themselves, our travel took the direction towards the West, through endless hills and cultivations of corn and grain, broken off by woods and small villages… finally we discovered the beautifulness of the prairies: on the border between Kansas and Colorado, the road begins to rise gently, until it comes to the valley where Denver is situated, under the Rocky Mountains. These are the places of the “on the road” travels of Jack Kerouac and many other nomads before and after him… the places where the buffaloes were freely grazing, where the proud tribes of the native peoples, Anasazi, Ute and Comanche established their territories and where the pioneers came from the East looking for gold. These are the places of the wild West and the Route 66.
Denver seems to us a young and dynamic city, modern but in a different way in comparison to other cities we visited before: it appears a community where the social affairs are at least as important as business activities. Maybe we are wrong, but we believe it is a true feeling…