May | 2018 | CasaRodante - Our House on Wheels

It has been a long time since we were in Colorado and then it was only a swing through the corner to get to Dinosaur National Monument. This time we were headed to Durango to ride the Narrow Gauge Railroad. I have done this train trip at least 3 times as a child. My father was a huge railroad fan and we would ride a train or chase a train whenever we were vacationing. Roxie had never ridden it and has wanted to. Now was her chance as we had reservations.

There were a few RV parks to choose from and we selected Lightner Creek Campground. We wanted a spot on their creek and there was only one available:

It was a pull-in spot. Technically designed for motorhomes so they could head into the spot and the hookups would be on their streetside as normal. However, for a trailer, we had to back in and run the hookups to the curbside of the trailer (as you can see). It was a small price to pay for the spot.

The campground is nice currently but the owners are gradually getting things fixed up. One negative item was the WiFi was not working and the location is in a canyon. Therefore we only got minimal 3G if we were in the right spot. But who needs tech while they are camping?

Early the next day we got to the train:

We opted for the closed (you can open the windows) car with narration. An actor was on board playing the early owner of the rail line. I would recommend it for a new visitor as they pointed out all the highlights of the trip. The trip is slow, bumpy and dirty from the smoke from the engine but it is very enjoyable.

We had about 2 hours in the town of Silverton. We ran into workers in the restaurant (which was not very good) and a local gift shop that were not greatly friendly and almost surly. Not good. Also, the gift shops had the normal kitschy stuff that all gift stores do. We were glad to get back on the train.

The trip was fun but exhausting. We decided to get something in town before heading back to the trailer but that was difficult also. We still had 2-3 nights left in Durango and had done the big ticket item so what was next?

We left Albuquerque with a specific destination and time in mind. We had reservations to do something, but we still had one night before we could arrive. We headed north and a bit east and were going to stay somewhere around Farmington NM. I had heard of Farmington before but had no reason why. One thought was just a Walmart for overnight but Roxie found another option. A small campground in Aztec NM, east of Farmington. The Ruins Road RV park.

The park was relatively cheap. We took a walk around it and they said they had spots by the river. We didn’t opt for one but found out where they were on our walk. It appears at one time there were spots down by the Animas River and they are trying to bring the campground back. There were, as always, many ‘permanent’ residents and it was right next to a mobile home park, with the requisite barky dogs!

But the real find to this location was just down the road. The name of the RV park gives a hint. Ruins. Specifically the Aztec Ruins National Monument! We did not know it was there until we parked. I had never heard of it before. It was a very nice stop when we took off the next morning. We hooked up the trailer and parked it in their parking lot to tour the ruins. We didn’t have too far to travel today anyway.

The name Aztec Ruins is a bit deceiving. Aztecs were never this far north but the Spanish didn’t know that and called all Natives, Aztecs. The name stuck. This was one of the best ruins that we had seen. The ceremonial location, a Kiva, at this site was excavated and recreated. You can go inside it also: