the grand tour day3

so we drive forever towards the dunes, and finally after 45 minutes we arrive at the gate and pay our fee, following the inordinate speed limit to finally arrive at the parking lot. the sun was brutal, cooking my cracker ass. after seeing a group of 20 something's who had gotten cooked the day before at the hot springs, i opted not to hike across and climb the dunes. i found a nice cool tree to hide under while jeff took pics. jeff had been here before and had been pounded by blowing sand, but i had heard from a local that the wind really didn't pick up til afternoon, this was why we got an early start over the desert to the park. sure enough, around noon the wind kicked up like it was ordered by someone with more clout than i, so we left. was weird, one minute it was calm and the next a steady buildup of wind had begun. it was literally buffeting the van by the time we reach the gate of the park.

after freezing the last 2 nights and considering it was jeff's b-day(and the fact that i couldn't face my turn sleeping in the top of the camper again), i was determined not to stay in the van another night. we hightailed it up and over the mountains to the front-range side and headed north, eventually finding a koa outside of pueblo and i got us a kozy kabin. met a cool old cat from tennessee who had been out west since the 60's and bullshitted with him for awhile, quaffed a few cocktails & we went for dinner. then after a few more drinks back at the camp, and some more long exposure shots later, we tumbled into the "kabin" for some warmth, finally.