jimk
Active member
My wife and I just completed a 9-day road trip in mid-May 2024 from Utah to Virginia. We traveled about 3000 miles and wandered around scenic sections of UT, NM and CO before crossing the Great Plains and the Mid-West. There was one hiccup, but it was mostly a great trip with beautiful weather and light to moderate crowds at points of interest every where we went. I took a bunch of photos, so naturally, I have to share some 
May 13, Monday: drove four hours from Salt Lake City area to Arches National Park in UT. About 30 miles from Arches a warning light went on in my 2014 Subaru Outback, AT Oil Temp. By the time I got to Arches the Check Engine and Brake lights were also on. My dashboard looked like a blinking video game!
Undeterred, we enjoyed a couple hours at Arches National Park near Moab, UT.
Kathy, North Windows Arch
Jim, Turret Arch
This is called Double Arch. Vocal sounds here echoed like a cathedral, also reminded me of the Pantheon in Rome.
It's nearly impossible to take an uninteresting photo at Arches NP, La Sal Mtns in background.
Choo choo near Moab, UT
Before we left Arches I notified Kathy of the warning lights situation and I consulted the Outback Owner's Manual. This was a major travel hiccup! Based on the blinking lights and a stern cautionary statement in the manual we jettisoned our planned route (towards Monument Valley) and drove two hours straight to the nearest Subaru dealer in Grand Junction, CO. The dealer was closed by then, but we scheduled a service appointment online for the next morning and stayed in a motel one block away.
May 14, Tuesday, In the morning they diagnosed the problem(s), the primary issue was the need for a new automatic transmission valve body. We also needed to fix a rear wheel bearing and some other stuff. This was a fairly significant amount of work. They said the repairs could be made in one day and gave us a free loaner car, a loaded 2024 Subaru Crosstrek. We used the Crosstrek to visit a lively Main Street area in downtown Grand Junction and drive up to the nearby Colorado National Monument. This "Monument" features the Rim Rock scenic drive. It's 23 miles long and is kind of like a red rocks version of Virginia's Skyline Drive (a scenic drive I'm more familiar with). Rim Rock Drive climbs 2000 vertical feet from a valley floor of about elevation 4700' to it's highest point about 6700'.
Crosstrek and Colorado National Monument drive
Rim Rock Drive is on the ledge between upper and lower rock face in this section of roadway!
Scenic and a bit sketchy. See what I mean?!?
One more from an overlook at Colorado National Monument/Rim Rock Drive.
At 4PM on the 14th we picked up our Outback. Repair bill $2800. Ouch, but the car has 160k miles and has generally been reliable (especially in winter time) and fairly economical to keep.
Meanwhile, we hatched a new route for the next 24 hours. We drove 100 miles to Ouray, CO and spent the night in historic Hotel Ouray. The old Outback ran well, and good thing, because the next day we had big plans!
Warm welcome at historic Hotel Ouray (circa 1896).
Evening in Ouray, CO.
Hotel Ouray interior. May is a great time to travel the USA. Crowds are low and weather is mild. There was one other couple in the hotel on the night of our stay. The desk clerk upgraded us to a bigger room.
May 15, Wednesday, the serendipity of an unexpected car repair detour set us up for a fantastic drive on US Route 550, the Million Dollar Highway, on May 15th. The weather was great and the road mostly empty. Boom, within two or three miles of leaving south from Ouray we came to a scenic pullover that featured not one, but two spectacular waterfalls, one across the valley, one directly under our feet!
Cascade Falls outside Ouray, CO, ~270' tall.
Same spot, but pivoting slightly and under our feet, the very high volume, 200' Bear Creek Falls. This photo greatly diminishes the extreme depth of this plunge!
Typical scenic view driving along the Million Dollar Highway. Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel! Lots of snow still in the high Rockies on May 15th.
Molas Lake, elevation ~10,500', approx 25 miles south of Ouray.
Passing by Purgatory ski area, closed for the summer.
There was an interesting surprise around every bend of this drive. This is the bizarre Pinkerton hot spring, bubbling away just off the roadway.
After driving about 75 miles from Ouray to Durango, CO on dramatic US 550 we headed east on US 160 towards Pagosa Springs. This was slightly mellower geography, beautiful pine-covered hills with the high Rockies in the background. On the way we came upon Chimney Rock National Monument (not to be confused with Chimney Rock, NC). It was just a couple miles off the highway. It's a beautiful rock formation that was considered sacred ground 1000 years ago by the Pueblo Indians. By now I'd learned national monuments rank just slightly below national parks as points of high interest. So we made a spontaneous detour to Chimney Rock and its three year old visitor center. Very coincidentally, this was the first day Chimney Rock was open for the 2024 season.
Chimney Rock includes two large rock pinnacles reaching an elevation of about 7,800'. We drove to the Upper Mesa parking lot in beautiful 72 degree weather and enjoyed one of many picnics we had on the trip. From the Upper Mesa lot I climbed the 1/3rd mile Great House Trail.
At the top of the trail there are views of the stunning Companion (left) and Chimney (right) Rocks.
From the same spot, looking in the other direction, like a mini Machu Picchu, there was the Pueblo Indian ruins of the 35-room Great House. The Great House is at 7,600 feet elevation.
Apparently, every 18 years the moon aligns and rises between the two rocks from the site of the Great House. A thousand years ago the Indians thought this was significant enough to go to extreme lengths to construct a large gathering structure at a remote and high elevation location for observing the phenomenon.
Still May 15, we completed our approx 250 mile day when we arrived at the remote Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert in northern NM around 6pm. It's 75 miles north of Santa Fe and down 13 miles of dirt road off US 84.
The beautiful chapel.
May 16, Thursday, a visit to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert was the only preplanned part of our trip. We reserved a basic room for two nights about two weeks before our travel. We were glad our car problem was resolved in time to make our dates. We had visited this spot for a few hours last year and resolved to come back for a longer stay of rest and contemplation. The dozen or so Monks that live in this remote spot supplement their income by hosting visiting retreatants and offering about a dozen guest rooms. They also fed us three simple meals per day, including one in silence with the Monks.
It's pretty stressful each time we gear up for our winter migration, to or from UT. There's a lot of preparation, cleaning, and tying up loose ends. We knew a stay at the Monastery would be good for us. The setting of the Monastery is almost painfully beautiful, beside the Chama River and beneath rugged, red cliffs. It's a peaceful place to enjoy nature and recover your sanity.
Our room was on the second story of this guest building.
Chama River view.
Chapel interior. We joined the Monks here numerous times during our visit. It's the one place we heard all of them sing and pray out loud. The prayer intentions they vocalize reflect a deep concern about the outside world.
Monastery grounds.
to be continued...
May 13, Monday: drove four hours from Salt Lake City area to Arches National Park in UT. About 30 miles from Arches a warning light went on in my 2014 Subaru Outback, AT Oil Temp. By the time I got to Arches the Check Engine and Brake lights were also on. My dashboard looked like a blinking video game!
Undeterred, we enjoyed a couple hours at Arches National Park near Moab, UT.
Kathy, North Windows Arch
Jim, Turret Arch
This is called Double Arch. Vocal sounds here echoed like a cathedral, also reminded me of the Pantheon in Rome.
It's nearly impossible to take an uninteresting photo at Arches NP, La Sal Mtns in background.
Choo choo near Moab, UT
Before we left Arches I notified Kathy of the warning lights situation and I consulted the Outback Owner's Manual. This was a major travel hiccup! Based on the blinking lights and a stern cautionary statement in the manual we jettisoned our planned route (towards Monument Valley) and drove two hours straight to the nearest Subaru dealer in Grand Junction, CO. The dealer was closed by then, but we scheduled a service appointment online for the next morning and stayed in a motel one block away.
May 14, Tuesday, In the morning they diagnosed the problem(s), the primary issue was the need for a new automatic transmission valve body. We also needed to fix a rear wheel bearing and some other stuff. This was a fairly significant amount of work. They said the repairs could be made in one day and gave us a free loaner car, a loaded 2024 Subaru Crosstrek. We used the Crosstrek to visit a lively Main Street area in downtown Grand Junction and drive up to the nearby Colorado National Monument. This "Monument" features the Rim Rock scenic drive. It's 23 miles long and is kind of like a red rocks version of Virginia's Skyline Drive (a scenic drive I'm more familiar with). Rim Rock Drive climbs 2000 vertical feet from a valley floor of about elevation 4700' to it's highest point about 6700'.
Crosstrek and Colorado National Monument drive
Rim Rock Drive is on the ledge between upper and lower rock face in this section of roadway!
Scenic and a bit sketchy. See what I mean?!?
One more from an overlook at Colorado National Monument/Rim Rock Drive.
At 4PM on the 14th we picked up our Outback. Repair bill $2800. Ouch, but the car has 160k miles and has generally been reliable (especially in winter time) and fairly economical to keep.
Meanwhile, we hatched a new route for the next 24 hours. We drove 100 miles to Ouray, CO and spent the night in historic Hotel Ouray. The old Outback ran well, and good thing, because the next day we had big plans!
Warm welcome at historic Hotel Ouray (circa 1896).
Evening in Ouray, CO.
Hotel Ouray interior. May is a great time to travel the USA. Crowds are low and weather is mild. There was one other couple in the hotel on the night of our stay. The desk clerk upgraded us to a bigger room.
May 15, Wednesday, the serendipity of an unexpected car repair detour set us up for a fantastic drive on US Route 550, the Million Dollar Highway, on May 15th. The weather was great and the road mostly empty. Boom, within two or three miles of leaving south from Ouray we came to a scenic pullover that featured not one, but two spectacular waterfalls, one across the valley, one directly under our feet!
Cascade Falls outside Ouray, CO, ~270' tall.
Same spot, but pivoting slightly and under our feet, the very high volume, 200' Bear Creek Falls. This photo greatly diminishes the extreme depth of this plunge!
Typical scenic view driving along the Million Dollar Highway. Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel! Lots of snow still in the high Rockies on May 15th.
Molas Lake, elevation ~10,500', approx 25 miles south of Ouray.
Passing by Purgatory ski area, closed for the summer.
There was an interesting surprise around every bend of this drive. This is the bizarre Pinkerton hot spring, bubbling away just off the roadway.
After driving about 75 miles from Ouray to Durango, CO on dramatic US 550 we headed east on US 160 towards Pagosa Springs. This was slightly mellower geography, beautiful pine-covered hills with the high Rockies in the background. On the way we came upon Chimney Rock National Monument (not to be confused with Chimney Rock, NC). It was just a couple miles off the highway. It's a beautiful rock formation that was considered sacred ground 1000 years ago by the Pueblo Indians. By now I'd learned national monuments rank just slightly below national parks as points of high interest. So we made a spontaneous detour to Chimney Rock and its three year old visitor center. Very coincidentally, this was the first day Chimney Rock was open for the 2024 season.
Chimney Rock includes two large rock pinnacles reaching an elevation of about 7,800'. We drove to the Upper Mesa parking lot in beautiful 72 degree weather and enjoyed one of many picnics we had on the trip. From the Upper Mesa lot I climbed the 1/3rd mile Great House Trail.
At the top of the trail there are views of the stunning Companion (left) and Chimney (right) Rocks.
From the same spot, looking in the other direction, like a mini Machu Picchu, there was the Pueblo Indian ruins of the 35-room Great House. The Great House is at 7,600 feet elevation.
Apparently, every 18 years the moon aligns and rises between the two rocks from the site of the Great House. A thousand years ago the Indians thought this was significant enough to go to extreme lengths to construct a large gathering structure at a remote and high elevation location for observing the phenomenon.
Still May 15, we completed our approx 250 mile day when we arrived at the remote Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert in northern NM around 6pm. It's 75 miles north of Santa Fe and down 13 miles of dirt road off US 84.
The beautiful chapel.
May 16, Thursday, a visit to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert was the only preplanned part of our trip. We reserved a basic room for two nights about two weeks before our travel. We were glad our car problem was resolved in time to make our dates. We had visited this spot for a few hours last year and resolved to come back for a longer stay of rest and contemplation. The dozen or so Monks that live in this remote spot supplement their income by hosting visiting retreatants and offering about a dozen guest rooms. They also fed us three simple meals per day, including one in silence with the Monks.
It's pretty stressful each time we gear up for our winter migration, to or from UT. There's a lot of preparation, cleaning, and tying up loose ends. We knew a stay at the Monastery would be good for us. The setting of the Monastery is almost painfully beautiful, beside the Chama River and beneath rugged, red cliffs. It's a peaceful place to enjoy nature and recover your sanity.
Our room was on the second story of this guest building.
Chama River view.
Chapel interior. We joined the Monks here numerous times during our visit. It's the one place we heard all of them sing and pray out loud. The prayer intentions they vocalize reflect a deep concern about the outside world.
Monastery grounds.
to be continued...
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