Saturday August 8, Durango CO

Today has been one to remember. The weather is superb, blue skies and very warm, but with a nice breeze, and overnight the temps dropped to about 6 degrees, just perfect for sleeping. A quiet start to the day. Julie took Ian and I downtown to check out the historic district along with the farmers market…Opal came too in Julie’s front pack. She is the most wonderful little girl, soooo good. Durango with a population of 16,000 is a great size, big enough to have plenty of amenities, but small enough to have a community feeling. It is an outdoor enthusiasts playground, surrounded by mountain bike trails, skiing and a river for playing and kayaking in.

Then it was off to the “Derby”….arriving at midday in time for the first race. WOW, this was a real blast, could not believe what they did with the cars, and if that wasn’t enough, people watching was such fun….a slice of life! There must have been 60 cars entered, so there were are number of heats, and the final was something else. By this stage the cars were so battered with pieces of bodywork in all directions and wheels on angles that you couldn’t imagine them being able to operate. The drivers went all out to win and the crowd loved it.

One great day.