Southwest Conference 2008

Southwest Conference - Santa Fe

June 11-14, 2008

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Our stop at the Four Corners.

The point where New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah meet..

From Four Corners we headed NE to Mesa Verde National Park which is between Cortez and Mancos CO off Hwy 160. Mesa Verde offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. The park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. From the park entrance off the highway, it takes a good half hour or better to ride to the visitor's center and another 15-20 minutes to get to the cliff dwellings. You're riding up on a really curvy road through some awesome scenery.

The highlight of the visit is seeing the cliff dwellings. When you take an overview of the canyon walls where these dwellings exist, it's amazing to think how these people must have lived. On the ride in we stopped at the Mancos valley overlook and took some photos. We left there and a ways up the road we came to a tunnel through a mountain. On the far side of the tunnel we pulled over and Clint noticed his Blue Knights riding jacket was missing. He had placed it over his trunk at the overlook stop. I waited around while he rode back to look for it. He was gone quite awhile and when he returned he hadn't found the jacket. We were somewhat suspicious of some people who had left the overlook just ahead of us wondering if they might have swiped it.

We rode to the Far View Visitor Center and checked with a ranger to see if it might have been turned in or dropped off at the front gate. No luck with that. Then we spotted the truck that had left the overlook before us so we went over and talked to those people. It was a cowboy family that seemed like decent folks. Determined not to let this ruin our day, we ventured on to visit the cliff dwellings. We took a good look at one called the Cliff Palace and then rode around to see the Balcony House. You couldn't see it from the road but there was a hiking trail that went back about a mile for the view. We hiked back and took a look.

When we got back to the bikes Clint found his jacket with a note from a guy who said he had found it on the road and saw we were Blue Knights so maybe we could find the owner. Clint was one happy guy after that and the day became much more pleasant. We stopped at the area where the museum and ranger station were located so Clint could let them know he got his jacket back. After looking around there for awhile we headed out of the park and into Mancos where we were staying for the night.

After checking in at our motel and cleaning up we went next door to the Millwood Junction Restaurant which turned out to be a pretty nice place. We had a good dinner and a couple beers and all was well with the world.

View from Mesa Verde overlooking the Mancos valley.