Day 7 -- Drive to Cortez

After packing up the car at the campgrounds I took a quick shower and did a load of laundry. I took a short detour along the Colorado River to check out the tiny campgrounds that I had read about. Very pretty, still close to town, but a little isolated feeling. I'm not sure I would want to camp alone there.

Pull out looking back at Moab.

After leaving the river I went back through Moab and headed south on 191. I debated with myself on taking a longer scenic route through the mountains but with thunderstorms predicted in the area I decided to stick to the better roads in case of bad weather.

I reached the Cortez area and stopped at the Anasazi Heritage Center. This museum has tons of information about the entire area. It also has two Pueblo ruins right there on the grounds. The bigger one is an easy 1/2 mile walk up a paved trail. Of course, as soon as I got to the top it started raining. Big drops but not a downpour so I was able to get back down without getting soaked. The thunder started when I was already down the hill.

When I pulled out of my parking spot I kept hearing a thunk, thunk, thunk, from my back wheel area. I stopped and looked to see a large chunk of black stuff hanging from my tire. It gave me an "OH CRAP" moment until I realized nothing was wrong with my tire but a big chunk of road tar that they use to patch up the cracks in the road was stuck to my tire.  I pulled it off and was on my way.

After checking in I went to dinner at a place called Pepperhead. Really yummy Mexican food, good and strong margaritas, and a unique dessert of chocolate chipote ice cream. The ice cream was served on a bed of vanilla ice cream with cherry syrup over it. There was a little kick to the ice cream that you felt afterwards.

I am heading to Mesa Verde for more camping and won't be able to check in for a few days.