You've seen one arch, you've seen them all!

A little out of order but fresh in my mind.  Pulled into campground in Durango, CO.  Very much a man's man type of campground.  The people are really nice but I believe everyone is having beef jerky for dinner (real beef jerky) and probably going hunting tomorrow.  All the pick ups are jacked up and the only saving grace I have is the Jeep, which looks cool.  Bottom line, wearing closed toe shoes to the shower.  

I think a status symbol out here is how much shit you have on your front yard.  I am assuming the more shit, the higher on the status pool you are, but not sure.  On the east coast, we try to keep our assets and belongings in sheds, garages, and in our house storage (basements, attics, etc.).  Here they seem to store stuff on their front lawn as a way of showing it off.

Some people do the jeep wave and some do not.  I can't figure out what the protocol is, but it is a nice break not to have to wave to every jeep because there are a lot of them.  Moab is awesome if you like off roading.  You can rent 4x4's, side by sides, and there are countless awesome trails.  I want to plan a trip out here with the quadding boys.

GOT OUR NATIONAL YEARLY PARK PASS and to boot, got a $10 refund.  Thank you Janet!

Woke up and skipped breakfast to go on a quick hike at Arches.  We ended up doing the same one we did yesterday but added a few stops.  6 miles and really cool.  We have seen 9 out of 2000 arches.  You are not allowed to walk off path or have dogs but still we find dog shit on the trail.  We keep saying, "NOO DOOGS ALLLOWED" from the snoopy cartoon (I hope people get that reference-If you don't, google it and watch it on you tube.  It was when Snoopy was not allowed in a place and they said, NO DOGS ALLOWED).  Every couple also has matching hiking gear (backpacks, hiking boots, poles, etc.)  What the fuck are they carrying with them?  I have warm clothes, water, and snacks and all in a small pack.  They all get ready and look like they are going on a ski mountain where Jen and I just get out and start walking.  They also all hold hands like it is a romantic experience.  We walk at our 14 min mile pace (thanks Brooke).  Anyway, there is a pack out all garbage policy but it seems someone did not do this (see seltzer pic)and it is evident who it was (we wanted Jessee to come with us on this trail anyway).  See pictures below.   We also don't stare at the arches like everyone else does.  We stop, look, and then move on.  We also added the hike to the Dark Angel which was great.

Back to campground and onto Durango.  John, WHERE IS THE LIGHTER?  Why do you not put it away?  Oh, Jen, I am sorry I put the lighter 4" from where it belongs (my bad).  If I hear another Ed Sheeran Song, I am going to take the knife in my backpack (the one to cut my arm off it is gets caught in a rock-96 hours) and stab myself in the neck.  Give it a break, its too much.

Seems like the fighting has come to an end and we are getting along great now.  We cannot figure out what the root cause of it was and it was weird; it seemed to last exactly 7 days and then goes away but comes back on a revolving 28 day time frame.  Oh, well, maybe we can figure out soon.

Saw 2 cowboys today!  Full blown hats, boots, spurs, red bandana's.  I could never be a cowboy, even here.  My hands are not rough enough (Gary, you could be a cowboy!).  Plus, I forgot my cowboy hat and boots.    We bushed our tooth and off to dinner in Durango.  

Happy Birthday to my nephew, Ryan.

By the way, Jen is taking notes in my blog book as I ask her to so I can remember what to write.  Sometimes (a lot) Jen is the butt of the joke so I think she is adding things to the blog notebook, thinking I may be drunk when I write my blog and add them accidentally.

Hats off to Louie CK, not for what he did but for standing up and saying he was wrong and apologizing.   We need more people to stand up when they fuck up (alex, please trade mark that for me).  We also decided we are going to add Independence I to the side of out bus, as it is her name (tucker, get some proofs for us).

Rest of the night.  Headed to Durango, the old wild west city, to go to dinner.  First stop, Rocky Mountain High, a weed dispensary to discuss Jackie's issues and hopefully get a solution.  Great name  at bare minimum.  Then onto the hotel Straightner, which is the oldest building in Durango for a wild west dinner.   Then onto my pick, the Bookcase and the Barber.  This is an old speakeasy bar that used to be fronted by a rare bookstore with a shelf that opened to a bar but they added a mens barber shop in addition.  Yes, I got my hair cut and had a beer and then Jen joined me and we went into the speak easy.  We were on the list.  The guy that cut my hair was a senior at the local college and the guys in front of me were the football coaches (who also just graduated the college) and were looking for their win tomorrow.  It was their good luck charm to get their hair cut the night before a big game.  They were twins.  I hope they win tomorrow and we had a really good time.  Cool little town.

I almost got my ass kicked today

Woke up to Peet's Coffee.  Out of my other coffee so I bought Peet's.  Peet's is a CA grown local coffee and my cousin Pam told me the story about them.  When the fires were going on in Napa and Sonoma, the owners of Peet's Coffee were delivering coffee to the fire fighters.  They were not trying to get anything or even tell people they were doing it but just a good gesture.  Anyway, one of the firemen found out it was the owners of Peet's coffee and spread the word.  Those firefighters parked a truck in front the the owners house to make sure it did not burn down.  It was smoke damaged but they saved the house.  That is a company I will do business with.  Peet's Coffee!!!

Now Jen is asking me to make sure I put the sheet all the way under her side of the bed, not even pretending that I am making both sides of the bed everyday.  Unbelievable.    It took us a bit to get out today because we had do some work and Jen met a friend (not really but she referred to her friends all day.  If I asked her her friends name, she would not know).  Saw a guy with an RV, pulling a jeep, with bikes and a freakin motorcycle hydraulic lift between.  That is awesome and I will have next tine I go out.  Guess what, fog lights are operational.  The only issue is that they only work when the brights are off.  We will test tonight.    Off to Arches National park.

Got to the gate and ready to pay our $30-same as all parks are -and the lady told us we could get a year pass to all parks for $80.   We already paid for 5 parks and she said we could bring back the receipts and she would credit us and she let us in for free.  That never happens to us!  We went into the visitors center and applied for a hiking permit to hike the Fiery Forest.  We had to watch a 20 min program, listen to the ranger and sign off on the rules.  It is basically a forest of rocks that people get lost in all the time and usually take a guided tour.  Basically, the information was for the new generation of people, and I would call it common sense.  Anyway,  went to our 7 mile hike and saw 7 arches.  Look at the pictures but they do not do it justice.  Then we went to the Fiery furnace (Jen originally did not want to do but after the first hike was all aboard).  We met a ranger on the way in and he said, its really late for you to head into the forest, please be careful.  Most people take 3-5 hours to get in and out successfully.  Ok, we went in, got lost a few times, and back out 2. 5 miles in 48 minutes.  We are hard core hikers and pass many people on the trail.  Jessee, you would love it here(but would def hold us up taking too many pics)!  

Home to RV park and this is where it gets crazy.  We walked dogs (Jen), pulled our receipts out to get our annual permit tomorrow and then off the the showers.  Walked in with my flip flops and my gear but had to wait for a bit because all the showers were taken.  There was a father and son in side by side showers while I was waiting.  When the father came out, I took his shower and got a look like, "...I am going to kick your ass, boy..."   If you have not been following my blog, Emma did my toe nails in Sept and they still look great (a nice shade of torquoise).   I am so used to it, I forgot, but apparently the father did not see or understand the humor of a grown man taking a shower next to him and his son in a public bathroom with painted toe nails.  I dodged the punch but got the look and into the shower I went.  Luckily, he did not follow me home to the Flag and see the rainbow flag on the back.  Fight avoided (Not in CA anymore).