Build your house upon a rock

 

We headed to Mesa Verde, Co and needed to fill with water and dump our tanks.  We pulled into one of the only places in the area to accomplish this; it was late, we were tired and we were very hungry.  Instead of sleeping at Wal Mart as we had planned, we were greeted by some very happy and lovely folks at the RV park and were quickly convinced to stay for a night.  We pulled in, made dinner and began cleaning up the RV after being at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon dry camping for the last 5 days.  We showered and quickly turned in for the night.  The next morning, after meeting and chatting with a few of the neighbors, we decided that we would return to the same RV park after heading into the mountains and dry camping again for a few days.  We made some reservations and headed to the forest where we would stay while we visited Mesa Verde National Park.  We drove about 35 miles into the mountains and found our spot in the San Juan National Forest.  It was beautiful up there.  We got set up and began our fun!  We found a partially built firepit that proved to be of great use out there.  We found some game trails that later allowed us to see deer and other animals.  We pulled the guns out and did some more training/shooting (we wanted to make some noise for the bears and mountain lions!).  We also cooked many meals over the fire, hiked, did a little trail driving, and saw an amazing sunset over the mountains.   

This was our firepit that we used for everything from meal-making to a seat to a dinner table.

Loving the "eating out" night.

We found our way to Mesa Verde National Park and it took a long while to get there.  Once you enter the park, you have about 21 miles to drive to get to the actual sites.  We stopped at the Visitor Center to get the kid's Jr Ranger books and started driving.  We joined our tour into the "Balcony House" cliff dwellings.  We were in awe at this place!  It is so amazing what the Pueblo people did with what God gave them.  We learned so much about the people that lived here and how they lived.  We also met a family that was from St Louis and found out that the Ranger was a Cardinals fan! Additionally, we started talking with a lady and her daughter that were from Victoria, British Columbia and we reminisced about the places that we all knew about on the island.  We ended up beginning the tour and the Ranger took us in the "back  door" of the cliff dwelling.  This included a VERY steep stairwell and walkway to reach the 32 feet ladder (the first of 3 ladders and the side of a cliff) that we had to go up.  There were rules that everyone had to climb by themselves with no help and that once you started the ladder, you had to keep going up.  We knew this the day before when we bought the tickets and knew that our children could handle it.  We all climbed the ladder with great courage and without event and through a skinny hallway, entered the living space of the cliff dwelling.  It was amazing!  We instantly began to take it all in and notice how it was built, the soot marks from fire, the sleeping areas, the kivas (equivalent to a modern day living room) and the view.  We could also see another cliff dwelling across the canyon who would've been neighbors until a second drought, then they might have been enemies.  We went through and enjoyed the tour and the challenge it took to get in it and out of it. 

Our view as we went down the hill towards the dwelling.

Steep steps and a walkway!

32 feet of ladder and my girl has got this!  She (and the boys) went all the way up! 

After we came off of the ladder, we entered the dwelling.  We were in awe.

Do you see the 1000 year old hand print towards the middle?  It was high on a wall and would have been used as decoration for that area. 

This is how we got out.  This was their main way to enter and leave the dwelling...without the chain and fencing!

Another ladder!

The front porch and the entryway! 

A well deserved lunch after the tour.  We met an older couple and talked for a long while.  We exchanged stories and how God us on this trip and even we even gained some tips and tricks. 

Mesa Verde's newest Jr Rangers!

Another of the cliff dwellings.  This was a self tour and just as amazing. 

We were able to enter a kiva.  The science and engineering behind this blew our minds. 

We are happy!

Learning to grind corn. 

We found an unmarked trail and took a hike.  We found some really neat things like an irrigation channel they made that was used for the dwellings.  We also found this view. 

We left the cliff dwellings with many stories to tell and headed back into the woods to go home.  We had a great dinner over the fire, shot some more, made s'mores, and played some games.  We were tired that night and slept very well.  The last night we found out it was supposed to rain that next morning so we packed stuff up so it wouldn't get wet and we would be ready to head out that next morning.  BUT...it rained HARD all night.  Apparently, unlike it never does here.  Well, what I didn't tell you was that our homestead was off of the gravel road (no problem) down a dirt road (this is where you can feel my concern).  I woke up that next morning and began praying as I walked in mud over my boot toes.  I tried to go out and find the "hard" spots in the road and prayed some more.  Then, after praying some more, I hooked up and got ready to go.  We knew it was going to be messy and had a great chance to sink our 11,000 rear end in the road but we had to head out to be back in Cortez.  We dropped it in 4 wd and slid side to side all the way down the road.  Thankfully, we made it to the end and I stopped to check on everything. It was quite a mess but we made it. 

Kamryn woke up the next morning ready for play.  This is her Spiderbatpirateprincess outfit. 

This was our yard for 5 days.  Allot to be thankful for plenty of room to walk and pray. 

At the shootin' range in the back yard. 

We ended up back in Cortez at the RV park.  We were greeted by the happy folks we met before and got settled in.  We have had allot of chats with the folks that camp host here and they are all wonderful.  The next day, we took a drive and ended up at the Anasazi Heritage Center.  This place was as amazing as the cliff dwellings.  We spoke with a few of the folks there and again, learned so much about the culture and the lives of the people that once lived here.  We took full advantage of every minute there and had a great time.  Additionally, the kids earned another BLM badge (like the Jr Ranger badges for the NPS but for the Bureau of Land Management) and we headed out for lunch in the truck. 

Testing their skills at grinding more corn.  The young ladies of this culture had to grind corn for 3 days as a part of their "coming of age" celebration.  The photos on the walls in this place were amazing. 

Learning how the men (yes, primarily the men) made clothes and rugs. 

We spent allot time examining this area.  It was a previously whole dwelling that was brought here and reconstructed. 

 

 

While we have been here in Cortez, we have met allot of great folks.  The scenery here is beautiful and there is such a small town feel.  A few days ago, we contacted a local church who does AWANA.  We told them our situation about traveling and asked if we could obtain the kid's AWANA books from them.  The spoke with the Pastor and let us know that we could come by or show up at AWANA the next night.  We decided to go to AWANA and hope that they had room for the kids to join in.  We were welcomed before we ever got in the front door and they knew who we were before we showed up.  The kids got signed in and we took them to their areas.  We had a chance to talk with their Pastor for a while and he gave us a tour and we talked about everything under the sun.  We also met some other folks and exchanged some great stories.  The kids had blast there and were very excited to have their books once again.  They all woke up this morning and dug right in!  We also met a lady this week who is from near where Kelly is from.  She noticed that we were doing school while waiting for the truck to get looked at.  We had a wonderful conversation and Caleb made new friend while learning about how school "used to be".

 

We took a fishing trip today and ended up in the mountains on the Delores River.  We fished for hours as a family and didn't catch a thing.  The greatest thing was the scenery of being in a canyon and seeing and hearing the beautiful water that has such an amazing history.  We ended up meeting an 83 year old man at our first spot and we talked for a bit.  We told him bye, after getting some fishing tips, and went on our way.  He was gone when we passed by the spot that we met and we kept driving.  We tried to follow a map that someone gave us last night and ended up about 25 miles from where we started fishing for the day.  Guess who we saw...the same 83 year old man.  We exchanged some stories and he shared that he had been in this area his whole life.  he gave us some of his bait and came and talked with us.  On our way out, we all met at his truck and he invited us to his "special" fishing spot at 13,000 ft about 40 minutes away.  We shared our appreciation and a few more stories but had to decline.  We said our good-byes and he said that hoped we would meet again. 

 

We are here for a couple more days and are praying about where we are headed to next.  We are waiting on word back from another YWAM campus near here to see when we can go there for a bit to serve.  One last story for now...Kelly and I went for a walk around the RV park tonight and saw a license plate in the window of a 40 diesel pusher that said "Servants of Our Savior - SOS - Rv ministries".  We were quite intrigued and after doing the third lap, decided to stop and knock.  We met a wonderful retired couple who does what the Lord laid on our hearts early in this trip.  They travel and help individual churches, camps, local communities, etc. and have been doing this for 20 years!  This is a great and exciting way to serve but it is a bit difficult to just walk up to any church or camp and ask to help.  Well, God may be showing us the "in".  We had a very long conversation, asked many questions, and shared some great stories about both of our lives.  In addition to YWAM, we will be praying about this possible new opportunity.