Well almost. What an adventure today was! Our destination . . . Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Long story short last week we basically threw a dart at a map in our decision to come here. The GPS kept wanting us to go back through Durango. Tim and I knew if and landed back in that town again we might not leave. Taking the longer route by way of Shiprock, NM then into Farmington before heading south to Chaco. We continued.
As we approached Farmington we could see a bad storm ahead. We continued. With a quick glance at radar we saw a massive red cell had just passed over our designation. We continued because the storm was past us and heading east.
The storm looked bad and as we approached our turn off we knew we may have to go to Plan B. All of the side roads we had been passing were extremely muddy and looked impassible. We continued. What lied ahead of us at our turn off was another 23 miles, 15 of which are a dirt/gravel washboard. We continued.
The road definitely lived up to its word. The area had just received close to an inch of rain in a very short period of time. Average rainfall here is just 7 to 10 inches per year. As we inched our way along in the mud at 5 - 10 miles per hour we all of the sudden saw what looked like snow in the ditches and fields. Uh ... no ... with a closer inspection Tim and I realized that it was hail accumulation. Phewwww! Glad the Airstream missed that one. We continued.
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Up ahead we could see a car approaching us coming from the direction of the park. Two elderly little ladies flagged us down. They notified us of an arroyo ahead that had breached over the road. They had talked to an elder Native woman who told them the water would only rise, they turned around. We were great full for the heads up. As we continued another mile we came upon the flooded area. Of course there were big signs notifying one not to cross if flowing water is covering the road.
Our decision was to park, get out and assess the situation. Turn around if we have to. Just then a truck and travel trailer rig approached from the other side coming from the park. Without hesitation they crossed the water flow. Once clear they stopped to tell us what was still ahead for us if we were to continue. Otherwise we would need to back up about a half a mile uphill to where we might be able to turn around. I thought if Wally Byam (Airstream Founder) traveled with Caravans of Airstreams across Mexico and the continent of Africa from Cape Town to Ciro, way back in the day. If he could do that we could conquer Chaco. Decision made . . . we continued.
Tim put the truck in 4-wheel drive and off we took. Careful not to stop. Towing the Airstream through the flowing water. We made it! We continued.
Next Tim and I came across the 1/4 mile mud slick. At this point Tim put the truck in low gear. We made it through. No fish tailing, just massive amounts of mud. We continued.
Eventually we arrived back onto a paved road and the Chaco Culture National Historical Park World Heritage Site sign. Then shortly after that it was about one mile to the CAMPGROUND! All said and done the thee hour plus trip became five hours plus. It took just over two hours to travel the 23 miles out here to our destination from Hwy. 550. We were surprised about the condition of the interior of the Airstream. All cabinets are still in place, no drawers flung on floor and the frig was still closed. Only one ball cap was on the floor and the mattress had shifted.
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Tim and I are so thankful and great full to be an American and to have these resources for us to explore and for future generations to have as well.
ELEVATION: 6,228'
TEMPERATURE: 50*
God is good and you are Blessed!!!! Making great memories!!!!
ReplyDeleteJan