Day 3 Electric Boogaloo

Heya everyone! Dustin here. Today was another exciting day. We woke up this morning at the Three Rivers Petroglyphs with aching backs and huge smiles. We were up and at em at 6:00 A.M., to the annoyance of our fellow campers. We packed up quickly and took off for Cortez, CO. We were originally going to Santa Fe, NM., but we swapped it up to avoid what seems to be the final snowstorm of the winter. 

After we rolled out of Three Rivers we happened upon a charming diner called Four Winds. We had some slammin juevos rancheros (if you don't know what that is, look it up) and our first cup of hot coffee since we departed. I recommend it if you pass by the Petroglyphs.

Along the our travels  we found an old abandoned car... duh. Hunter took a picture with it, but mine is waaaaaaay cooler. We then ran up the hill you see behind me. Afterwards we crawled back to the car exhausted. Such fun, much regret.

Beautiful scenery as usual. We didn't get pictures of all the hills we drove through in New Mexico because I was too busy being annoyed that literally every piece of land was fenced off for... drum roll please..... BEEF CATTLE! We drove for 7 hours and never saw a piece of land not being used for cattle. We have tied our planet with fences to raise animals destined to become our convenience food. So not only does eating beef harm the environment, but it stops us cool kids from going up hills.

Rant over.

After 6 hours of driving we made it to Colorado. So far this has been the most beautiful part of the journey. Yoshi was blown away by how nice the scenery was. Oh I forgot to mention, it was crazy windy all day. 

Later on we drove up into the Mesa Verde National park. 8000 feet above seas level, it was a breathtaking experience. It had snowed the day before we arrived, so it was much colder than normal, or so we were told. We were constantly awestruck by the majesty of God and the beauty of his creation. 

Life inside the tent. My beautiful wife was excited for our sencond night of camping. I have no idea what I would do without her... probably something involving a straight jacket. My only complaint is that she turned me into a huge nerd.

 We had a fun time setting up camp, but it turns out "saving money" by picking up wood left by other campers the night before is stupid. A can of kerosene and 6 fire starters later, we discovered slightly wet wood will not burn until you already have a fire going. The fire was a colossal failure. By the way,  blankets suck at insulating you from 25 degree weather. Shivered all through the night in the tent. Hunter was so cold that she cried icicles instead of tears down her frozen cheeks. 

The face you make when you know the fire is doomed to fail. Since I know my father is reading this and shaking his head, I will say this, "Yes daddy, I would love some free advice." It was illegal to collect firewood, so no kindling was not to be had. Next time I'm packing it into the park.

We traveled 447 Miles and ended the day 8000 feet above sea level.

That's all for now everyone. Lots of love from the steadily Further and further west side.