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13 th Day (09/17/2004)

I saw the Sun rising, Stephan allowed me to stand on the Van for 2 minutes to have a better point of view for pictures. Thank you, Stephan!

We left early, by 7:30am . Linley wanted to meet an artist she met the day before in Santa Fe , so we went back in the city. When she found him and we stopped the car I discovered right there an WiFi Hotspot and was able to download some more of my e-Mail. Some other people of the bus, including my brother, went to Starbucks to get some coffee; this Starbucks in Santa Fe does not have an Hotspot. On our way towards Colorado the typical red sandstone became more and more part of the nature. At a certain point on the road there where a couple of beautiful huge rock formations of red sandstone and Stephan offered to stop for pictures. Pit, Camilla and me decided to climb all the way up for good pictures. That extended the break from 5 to 35 minutes, but it was well worth it. I got the highest and took a couple of nice shots over the valley. It was also a nice workout to get up and down there because it is a pretty deep edge, not to forget the snakes in that area. Lucky us we didn’t see any. We got back in the car and went to “Aztec” to see the ancient Aztec ruins, very interesting place. After that I asked Stephan to stop by one of the rivers, cutting the landscapes in half. He did twice. The first time we couldn’t get over a smaller river to the big one, but the second time we went in the Animas River of Colorado. It is a really nice area and my brother found a tiny snake.

We went to Durango , Colorado to the next campground with again really nice people there and a good location. I was able to connect to the internet via dial up (Juno) and downloaded finally all my e-Mails from the last 5 days. After that we went out to get a drink in Durango . Nice city, the “underage issue” was an issue again for Tabita and Camilla. We ended up in a Café, just chatting.

14 th day (09/18/2004)

A beautiful sunrise, we’re getting up in a warm day. We left the campground, destination is Mesa Verde. I’m curious about that because it’s one of the oldest unknown cultures of the US . On the road we stopped because of a beautiful old train, really nice to see.

We arrive in Mesa Verde with Sunshine and a beautiful view over the canyons ...

From this day every day was very packed with things to do and fun to have in the car, because the group knew each other very well at that time. I stopped writing the diary just because I didn't have any time to do it anymore. I was very happy when I got to put my pictures on the laptop and put them in an order. Later on the trip, by the end of the Sunshine Trail and the beginning of the second trip with Suntrek I even had trouble taking care of my pictures, because I didn't have time for it.

I want to say a last word about the laptop. It came in handy at all times, it wasn't a big deal to charge it in the car (we even charged 2 laptops at the same time), I had regular internet access and I was more than happy to have it. Everybody who didn't have a laptop had big trouble putting the pictures on CD's and empty the Memory Cards of their cameras. At this point I'd like to say "Thank you!" to John and Donna who gave me this great opportunity by giving this laptop to me. If anybody is wondering how to plan a trip like it or what you should take and would you should leave home, just write a mail and I'll give you some good advice. I can say I loved every single minute of the trip, I had great guides and the company "Suntrek" is very reliable. To everybody who was with me: You're great!