Delightful Durango

 Why are we travelling?  I have been pondering this question the past few days - we aren't exactly being 'productive' or 'life altering' during our time - i.e. we aren't saving the planet, we aren't helping anyone along the way, we aren't solving problems of humanity, we aren't exactly doing anything apart from satisfying selfish purposes - exploring new places, having fun, meeting new people, taking time off work & routine, taking our bikes to new trails and escaping the NZ winter. It's all about us and what we want to do.  I think we all have a sense of adventure, albeit at different levels - but to satisfy a craving to travel and explore truely is selfish.  I guess we should make the most of

it whilst we can.  I think that Brent and I are VERY fortunate indeed to have had this opportunity to get on a plane, let go of all responsibilities & see a whole new country.  Very lucky indeed.  And we are trying to make the most of it!

The past few days have been fabulous.  Durango is a lovely, historical (old mining) town that has plenty of places to explore.  We have enjoyed glorious blue skies and warm mornings, and then soaked up the thunderous atmospheres & storms in the late afternoons.  The volume of the thunder is louder than anything than we have heard before.

Went for our 1st mt bike ride here yesterday over on Horse Gulch trails near town.  It

started out ok but then got muddier & muddier - and then all of a sudden, our wheels stopped spinning.  The mud is clay based and super-sticky & tacky and turns bikes in to mud-fests. The mud clings on.  Everything gets clogged up and stops working eventually!  Anyway, finished the ride without any mishaps but the bikes were worse for wear :-)

Today, we explored a new area with our campground neighbours  - a DRY place!!  Awesome flowing, fast, non-technical single track over at 'Phil's World' near Cortez. About a 25-30 km spin. The 3 guys we rode with are from Texas.  And they were blindingly fast.  One chap was an A grade road cyclist and another chap came 4th in the World 24 hour solo MTB champs.  Great.  I had to put on my 'race pace' to try and keep up, and boy, was I huffing & puffing (still blaming altitude).  Brent loved riding with the fast boys - think it was probably nice for him to not have to go 'girlfriend' speed for once!!!  He had a blast.  Visited 'Mesa Verde National Park' on the way back.  A Pueblo settlement built in 550 AD, and then abondoned in 1300 (nobody knows why they left) - set in to the huge caves overlooking the valleys.  Pretty spectacular and very scenic (see above pic).

Going for another ride tomorrow up in the Durango hills with the 'speedy gonzalez' boys from next door.  PHEW, better rustle up some energy for that one... til next time...