Wolf Creek Pass and Alamosa, Colorado

On Friday, September 27, day 13 of our western trip, we left Blanding, Utah and drove to Alamosa, Colorado, where we planned to stay for a couple of nights while visiting the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It had rained overnight in Blanding, and the morning was overcast.

Our route took us over Wolf Creek Pass, a high mountain pass (10,856 feet) where we encountered snow and a drop in temperature to the freezing mark of 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Between Pagosa Springs and Wolf Creek Pass, there is a parking area and a hiking trail to the base of Treasure Falls. Unwilling to hike in the cold and wet weather, we settled for taking photographs from the parking area.

Treasure Falls

The scenery in this area was stunning. Unfortunately, my photos aren't. Let's blame the weather.

At a rest stop, Doug was able, with the camcorder, to capture a photo of a magpie. I've never been able to get a decent shot of these colorful birds, but I thought Doug did a good job.

Black-Billed Magpie

Before we left home to begin this trip, Doug had taken our vehicle in to be serviced. He told the service manager about a noise we were hearing and suggested that it might be a wheel bearing. The service manager brushed off that idea. He even gave us a checklist of items that had been checked on the vehicle, and the wheel bearings were checked off as being fine.

 

Well, the noise had been continuing to get worse as we travelled, and it was peaking as we drove into Alamosa on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning, we took it to a local garage to get it checked out. The result...one bearing was completely shot and a second was nearly so.

 

Fred, the mechanic, had to order the parts from Denver, and they wound up not being delivered until Tuesday, October 1st, the start of our government's shut down and the closing of all national parks. So there went our visit to Great Sand Dunes National Park.

 

We tried to rent a car, but Hertz in Alamosa was closed until Monday; and the only other car rental place in town, Budget Rent-A-Car, had only pickups and sport utility vehicles available, which would have cost nearly $200 per day.

 

So we were stranded for four days without a vehicle.

Our room at the Best Western was to be our home for the next four days.

If we had to be stranded, Alamosa turned out to be a good place for it to happen. From the Best Western, restaurants and grocery stores were available within a half-mile walk. People were so friendly. And boy do they love their Denver Broncos! Of course, the Broncos' quarterback is none other than Peyton Manning who, until two years ago, was the quarterback for our Indianapolis Colts. Doug wore his Colts baseball cap everywhere, and it's surprising how many people struck up conversations with us because of that cap.

Sunset from the balcony outside our second-floor room at the Best Western

The lobby and breakfast room are in this building.

This little park is behind the building where the lobby is.

As it turned out, Fred wasn't able to finish the repairs to our vehicle until 4 PM on Tuesday. By then, we just wanted to be anywhere else. So we had packed up and checked out of our room, then spent the day in the little park pictured above, waiting for the call from Fred that the vehicle was ready. When the call came, we called a cab to take us to the garage, loaded our things into the van, and headed for home.

 

Thus ends the saga of our Trip West 2013.

Go Broncos in tomorrow's Super Bowl!!!