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My Wandering Voluntaryist Videos

I’ve been in Delores, Colorado for the past 8 nights staying with my friend Julia, who I met recently.  Having now lived in Delores for three years, the reason she choose to live here is her love of being outdoors, hiking, trail biking, kayaking, fascination with geology and love of rivers, especially the Delores River that runs right through town.  The Delores River formed one of the most impressive natural wonders of the area, the Delores Canyon.

I was able to view the opposing high 1200 foot vertical cliffs from viewpoint that can be reached by taking a right on County Road 15, to the very end,  from Colorado State Highway 491 going north from the city of Cortez.  Cortez, 10 miles south of Delores, being the gateway to Mesa Verde National Park,  has all the services one could require when visiting the Four Corners.  Later we found a road that allows vehicles to travel in the canyon along side the Delores River. 

Click below to view map.

Canyon Road

This road can be found by taking, County Road J, the first right when leaving the overlook and then taking a right on County Road 10 and following it into the canyon and driving it as far as the road allows depending on the type of vehicle one is using.  This time of year it’s best to have an SUV or a vehicle with a 4-wheel drive, as the road is very rugged, muddy and snow covered in some places and very narrow with thick shrubs on both sides not allowing vehicles going both directions to pass easily. Generally the more rugged the road the more I love it.

I’ve been here now for 8 nights.  Now that I’ve been here for a few days I’ll give you some impressions about the area.  First off the there hasn’t been even a threat of rain once, the sky is mostly blue and the humidity is very low.  My lips were chapped the first few days, but now it seems at least for now my lips have adjusted and gladly since all of my life I’ve been resistant to using lip balm.   Here is an article I found interesting about whether one’s lips can become addicted to skin moisturizer.

Lip balm addiction.

Second I love how many outdoor choices one has living in Delores.  Boondocking choices seem unlimitless.   One could explore  a different secluded backroad each day and find a different free camping spot easily for months and maybe years.  Of course at higher elevations the ability to drive on these backroads can be quite challenging especially during the winter months. Desert options at lower elevations would be a better choice for the colder snowy months and I may in the future see for myself what winters are like in the Four Corners region.

I’m here to discuss life and possibly help you reflect and become more self-aware on your own journey.  Remember it’s the journey that is most important, not the destination.

2014, my 57th tour around the Sun, has been a life-changing year for me.  Starting December 1st of last year, my goal was to rid myself of almost all of my material possessions by selling them via E Bay, sidewalk sales and Craig’s List.  Then on January 1st I quit, what some people might consider my career,  what eventually became my job of 33 years.  I’ll explain why in future blogs, but to sum it up, I wanted to taste, see, feel, touch, hear and smell freedom again.   Although freedom is a state of mind,  I’m not sure when that was ever realized in my life.   I’m assuming it was when I was a child, wandering the pastures around my boyhood home.  I spent much time alone, growing up in the country with my friends miles away, seeing them usually only at school, so much time was spent reflecting and thinking about the world around me.  New ideas were learned more slowly back in the 60s, with no internet and only four channels on the black and white TV.  My father let me have a shortwave radio he bought from an insert ad that came with his Texaco credit card bill.  Here I discovered more of the world around me by listening to propaganda radio during the Vietnam War and the Cold War with the Soviet Union.  Not much has changed on the propaganda front, as now we are fed it through our own government and a culture that gladly accepts it.

My plan, travel the world, starting with the area with artificial boundaries known as the United States of America, to be a journey with no end, until of course I am no longer physically capable.

I made a 16 day test trip in March with Beau my companion dog of 11 1/2 years.   More to come later.