My Maxwell Minute A Blog by Max Peterson

Senior Trip: Road Trip Through Colorado – Day 6

Woke up today in Mesa Verde.  Dylan, T, and David had already gone to try to get into the self-directed walk through tour, but it wasn't open yet.  Instead they went to the Museum.  Meanwhile, Robbie, Andrew, and I went to an All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast in the park.  The others joined later.  The pancakes were very filling and prepared us for a full day of adventure in Durango, CO.

Durango is yet another town which thrives on a tourist economy, with a large and busy Main Street.  We spend a good portion of the morning exploring the various shops and looking into possibly White Water Rafting down the Animas River which flows through the town.  After seeing what the town had to offer, we decided to go tubing down the Animas.  We stopped at Big 5 Sporting Goods after a tip of cheap tubes there.  At $10 each, buying the tubes was a lot cheaper than White Water Rafting.  T chose to sit out this time and pick us up at a large park located down stream.  The river was much more energetic than the portion of the Colorado we were on a few days ago, so it was good we had tubes this time.  The tube ride was a lot of fun with the fast rapids and very warm sun.  After drying off we headed to Francisco's, an authentic Mexican restaurant located on Main Street.  The nice food and service was a welcome change after fending for ourselves on camping food for a while.

The Great Sand Dunes National Park was next on the agenda, so we started the long drive and said goodbye to Durango.  We didn't arrive at the sand dunes until around 10:00 PM, and the "Campsite is Full" sign was out.  Not a good sign.  We backtracked about 3 miles to a privately owned campsite, which appeared to be creepy, and closed for the night.  The group had an overwhelming "no" vote for trying to stay there.  On a last ditch effort to avoid sleeping in the car on the side of the road, I decided to drive up to the Sand Dunes Campground and talk to the Campground Host.  Fortunately the woman was very nice and offered us to stay in the only spot left, the Handicapped spot.

After setting up the tent we were finally ready to get some good quality sleep... until I felt some pressure down below.  It was a good thing we got the handicapped spot instead of having to stay in the car on the side of the road, because the spot was close to the restrooms and I had to run there about three times thanks to some diarrhea.

And that ended day 6.