Traveling to historic places is obviously good for the mind. Nothing enhances one’s understanding of history like viewing what’s left of it.
But it’s also good for the soul. There’s something both sobering and magical about being amongst sites that were occupied by humans long ago. It provides perspective. It’s not just a matter of sociology and high-falutin’ book-learnin’; there’s a spiritual element, too. One can almost sense the presence of those who came before…
In Europe, people live their daily lives in the presence of history.
A few years ago, a friend gave me a walking tour of Stockholm, Sweden. As we strolled the city’s ancient streets, he pointed out items of interest. “Do you see that block of flats?” he said, gesturing to a nondescript structure. “That building is almost 1000 years old, and it’s still being used today.”
I was intrigued. “What is it today?” I asked.
“It’s still a block of flats,” he replied. “And people are still living there.”
A 1000-year old apartment building? Now that’s what I call “built to last.”
Here in America, we tend to worship the new. We like new cars, new houses, new clothes. When something begins to show a little age, we tear it down and build something new.
Want to visit some of the classic Las Vegas casinos? The places where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. made their legend? Alas, most of them have already been destroyed and replaced.
Sure, there are a few United States cities with roots stretching back more than a couple hundred years. But even Boston and Charleston are spring chickens by Old World standards. In most cities, even the “historic district” is filled with structures less than a century old.
But just when you think the entire country is one big shopping center, you come across a place like Mesa Verde National Park.
Travel to Mesa Verde, and you can step back in time. Here are Native American ruins some 600 years old. Built beneath towering cliffs, the design and surrounding landscape is spectacular.
Yes, they were originally apartment buildings.
No, they aren’t still be used for that purpose (although they’d be quite spacious by New York standards).
There’s also an element of spiritual mystery about Mesa Verde. We know why these places were built, since the cliffs offered excellent fortified protection.
But why were they abandoned? We have theories (climate change led to a shrinking water supply) but hard evidence is in short supply.
We’ve traveled some 30,000 miles so far on our long, long RV honeymoon. Of all the places we have visited, Mesa Verde is unique. Given its location, in a somewhat remote area of Colorado, it’s the type of place best explored by RV.
We left Mesa Verde with a better understanding of Native American history and culture. It whetted our appetite for more. In the words of another time traveler from the future… I’ll be back.
Very cool, best part of the video was the short blooper at the end!!
Hey Sean & Kristy,
If you liked Mesa Verde you would love Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. It is not far from Mesa Verde in the Four Corners area. Just south a ways from Farmington New Mexico off US 550. If you decide to go there, be warned that it’s some 16 or so miles off the main road and a good part of that 16 miles is washboard dirt road. Speed limit says 35 but you will beat yourself up at that speed. 50 mph has you skipping over the washboard but then it is like driving on ice. Your rig should make it just fine, make sure everything is stowed and tied down well first.
The architecture of Chaco is very similar to Mesa but it’s out in the open. It is also a World Heritage site and they have a very nice campground back in there. They also have an observatory for star gazing. Some of the shots taken at the observatory are spectacular. New Mexico is a low light pollution state and at Chaco you are really away from any light source. It’s much like being at sea during the night.
You guys have a great blog and we really enjoy it. My wife, Becky and I are RVer’s as well. We have a Cougar XLite that we pull with a King Ranch F-150. All for now, more later. Keep up the good work. We’ll be watching.
Laura, there are more bloopers where that one came from. Maybe I’ll start including them from time to time. Sometimes it seems I can’t string together two coherent sentences in a row! 😀
Bob & Becky, thanks for the tip about Chaco Canyon! I just Googled it and it looks fantastic. Perhaps the next time we venture into New Mexico we will go explore the area. Personally, I love those out-of-the-way camping destinations that require a little effort to reach. Sounds like visiting that one would be an adventure. We really enjoyed Mesa Verde, and would love to spend more time learning about the Pueblo history.
Sean & Kristy, I love your videos & am so glad to see ya’ll back out on the road again! However, I can’t view videos on Vimeo. I don’t know why, but they just go black & nothing..unless that’s how your videos are now? 😉
Will you be posting to youtube soon? Keep on truckin’!
Cyn in Texas
Cyn, I’m sorry to report that over the past few months, Vimeo has developed a drinking problem. It was once a brilliant service, reliably delivering videos in beautiful HD. But lately, it just seems to stagger home late at night, toss its cookies, and black out.
So, yes, we’ll start posting YouTube links too. Sorry for the hassle!
Sean,
How do you find the next camp site. Do you have it all mapped out ahead of time or do you just drive to the next area, drive around and find something.
Boomer, we don’t have it all mapped out, but we don’t wander aimlessly either. They key for us has been the TRAILER LIFE DIRECTORY. You can buy these huge yellow pages style campground guides at your local Wal-Mart, or Camping World, or just about any camping/RV shop worth its salt. Our typical travel style is to figure out where we want to stop for the day, then Kristy looks in the Directory for campgrounds. The Directory has reviews, etc. and most of the campgrounds are Good Sam Club parks — that’s kind of a nice seal of approval. We call ahead, book a site if necessary, and plug the address into our GPS. The GPS then leads us right to the site. Once we got the Directory and a GPS, our lives became a lot easier.