Colorado National Monument

We arrived in Grand Junction, Colorado yesterday. We are parked at the Elks Lodge here where we have electrical power but are using "our" water and bathroom. No long showers but we do have all the amenities. It was hot, possibly 100, yesterday. Our air conditioner worked hard but by bedtime we were comfortable and slept well.

We drove out to Colorado National Monument. It is a spectacular place and we thoroughly enjoyed our 23 mile drive along the rim rock. The sandstone cliffs are incredible. We had a video presentation of the geologic history of the area and the immense forces and incredible time span that it took to create what we see today. It started in the Pre-Cambrian era and the last major force was glaciers about 10,000 years ago. It is hard to comprehend what changes will occur in the future to areas we now know. Man has been around such a short while in geologic terms, will we last 100,000 years? This area had oceans rising and falling for a period of 10,000,000 years and that was a short period in the area's development.

The road we took south through Colorado, CO13, has two towns, Craig and Rifle, about 100 miles apart. There was little else on that highway expect for oil exploration activities. The only homes we saw were close to the two towns. Traffic was light, a mixture of tourists and semis hauling pipe, pumps, and whatever else the drillers needed. There were a number of trailer camps along the route. It looks like the oil companies are providing housing for the workers since the area is so remote. We saw lots of deer in the morning hours but were fortunate to have them run off the road.