Durango CO - unexpected day

September 26, 2016   Durango CO

We were a bit lazy getting up having decided last night we would not take the train back up the mountain to Silverton.  Jane is better but still not feeling great so we reviewed our options for the day and drove east about 40 miles to a new national monument that showed up on our new CO map.  Chimney Rock National Monument was only a couple years old – had been a state park before.  It is an archeological site and tours were only a couple times a day and quite extensive. 

  Jane knew she was not up to a 2 ½ hour tour and Ben chose not to go either.  We hung around the small visitor center talking to the volunteers for a while.  The site is one of the furthest north outliers of the Anasazi from Chaco Canyon which we have visited twice. All these Ancient Indian Sites are linked together. The history was interesting even if we did not get to see the ruins.

We drove back to Durango by a different route passing through Ignacio CO the head of one of the Southern Ute Indians.  They had a huge casino which they say draws lots of crowds.

Back at camp we had lunch and read a bit – I continued to be short of breath off and on with much activity and we decided to visit a “doc-in-the-box”  not too far away thinking maybe it was not all the elevation since we were now down to about 6,000 feet. Maybe bronchitis was our thinking.  After an initial exam, the doctor said “Have to send you on to the ER as we do not have the ability here to rule out a blood clot in the lungs”. Well, that was a bit of a scare – so we drove across town to the ER and got some of the quickest ER care seen by me in some time….arrived at 3:00 and by 3:45 had had EKG, Blood Work, and an Xray.  Then of course you do have to wait for results. Nice nurses and a doc who finally said no blood clot, was combination of sinus inflammation and altitude sickness – each aggravating the other.  Got a breathing treatment, prescriptions for a bronchodilator inhaler, a cortisone inhaler and advice to get down to a lower elevation soon.  Unbelievably they sent us on our way with a “we will send you a bill” and I am sure they will.  Do not think the hospitals at home would do that!  We drove back across town, stopped to fill the prescriptions, pick up some dinner, and drove into the campground just at 7:00 as the Presidential Debate was beginning….we had chosen this campground since it was 1 of 3 that had cable TV and we were planning to watch the debate. 

Two things to comment on – political signs and buying pot in Colorado

First the Pot – we were wondering where they sold it.  The folks here at the campground said to look for the green crosses on businesses.  You just walk in and show and ID and buy what you want.  We saw a clinic down the road from us not too far – then a sign for what looked like a small drug store, and then as we left Durango in a small town a huge flag on a hilltop with a green cross on it…so there are lots of choices for pot shopping.

Second we have now driven about 2,000 miles.  Some interstates, rural and city, and many small towns.   We can count on both hands the number of political signs – and we expected to see lots of both Trump and Hillary Clinton signs.  We have seen 3 Trump billboards (large signs) two were regular billboard type signs and one was a huge hand painted sign on a barn.  There have been 12 yard signs – 6 of them in rural Colorado.  Surprising – we thought maybe they were only spending $$ in battleground states but I thought Colorado was a battleground state.    We have not seen one Clinton sign – well there was one but it was an anti-Hillary sign and I don’t think I want to include what it said but it rhymed with witch.  

A good nights sleep by all after a rather hectic and unexpected day! Tomorrow we leave Durango and head for Moab at a little lower elevation!