...heading East in the am (:-/)

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Well if our stay in Durango was anything- it was HOT! The kind of hot you just can't escape unless your indoors in AC, and we have no indoors!! We have found it hard to find our energy to do anything! The sun and heat drain you for sure. Today we hit the trails early to explore some of Durango's famous single tracks! Maybe its the skier in me but I find it really fun to have all the trials labeled with green circles, blue squares and black diamonds! I also was pretty proud to have accomplished two black diamonds, one climb and one decent - with only a handful of 'dabs' (that means stopping or putting your foot down) I think I'll miss these trails a lot when I hit New England's rocky territory.

But after biking, it was FIND SOME shade (and a swimming hole for the kiddo.) She is crazy about the water, crazy as in- full out body shakes, whines, and pacing the back bed in the van kind of excitement. It's a little tense to handle at times but rewarding to bring her just the same. She also draws a lot of attention when the sprinklers are on at the campground and she has to just stand over them while I'm trying to dodge the spray coming my way!! She's a nut. (we'll be home on the 23rd Greg, she'll be looking for yours to be on!)

Tomorrow with mix emotions (after a early morning-beat the heat/check out time bike session) we start our big drive east. We will officially cross the continental divide sometime in the afternoon driving through Kansas and have our sights set on sleeping somewhere around Dodge City, Kansas. We have a few straight days of driving ahead and then should hit the southern point of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. We have about a week + set aside to make our way north from there....touring the parkway, the southern points of the Appalachian Trail, and the Shenandoah Mountains.

We have a kept a good journal of our route so far in the atlas which I included a picture of. We are going to pay close attention to weather and news as we drive the mid west- I know some are a little anxious for us to get out of tornado alley- and so are we! I'll try to get a quick update on here via phone at night and/or on Facebook but I can't if we are somewhere without service.

.....here we come Hampton Beach, the countdown is getting smaller :-( *SP XOXO

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