Priceless.

Entry for two at Four Corners National Monument: $6.00

Towing from Four Corners to Durango: Free (thanks to AAA)

A bed, shower, and internet at the Super 8 in Durango: $90.86

The inspection and replacement of Timing Belt pulleys: $580.77

Being married to a Man who values financial wisdom, remains calm in emergency situations, makes the phone calls that bring frustration, and takes beautiful pictures through it all:

PRICELESS

Going Back in Time

Day 5: July 1, 2009 - Durango, CO to Durango, CO

Just call us Mr. and Mrs. Adventurous

Today could easily be considered the most adventurous day of our trip, our year, maybe our lives - but probably not. Nonetheless, it's been a wild ride.

Now, you may be wondering, why did Mike and Melissa start in Durango and end in Durango? Well, most of that is part of another blog, the one entitled Stuck in Four Corners with You, just note, that we did not awake this morning with thoughts of returning.

The day began with eggs and an apple with peanut butter. We slept well in the back room of Zach's place and were excited to make our way to the Grand Canyon with a few pit-stops along the way. Before leaving Durango, we decided to have our car's oiled changed and receive any other services necessary. While Mike waited for the car to be taken care of, Melissa took a walk and made a call home so mother wouldn't have to be worried. Upon her return walk to the Jiffy Lube, Melissa witnessed a small brown bear run across the street from the hotel to the campground - only 100 feet in front of her! She was so thankful to be on the phone with her mother so she could shout "Oh my gosh! That's a bear! I thought it was a dog, but it was a bear! Holy Cow! A bear just ran across the road in front of me!" Although seeing a bear first thing in the morning gave her a bit of a kick, she still prefers a hot cup of tea.

Soon as the car was properly cared for, we got in the vehicle and made our way to Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde was astounding! It is incredible to see the dwellings of people thousands of years before our time. However, do note that it is not necessary to purchase a ticket to go on a tour of the dwellings. Upon entering the park, we received the notion that the only way to see the cliff dwellings was to go on a tour. That being so, we headed straight to the visitor center to purchase our tickets. We then had a pic-nic where we saw the largest raven and squirrel known to man as well as had a close encounter with a cute little mohawked-gray bird. From lunch we walked to the outlook from which our tour would begin. It was here that we realized we could see the cliff dwelling perfectly and that we would have to listen to a ranger for an hour, when we'd rather wander the cliffs and trails on our own. We made the decision to forfeit the tour, gave the tickets away and made our way around the park viewing dwellings from a far and visiting the one self-guided dwelling known as Spruce Tree House. The tour is, therefore, an unnecessary investment.

After Mesa Verde, we hit the road and made our way to Four Corners, America. This is the place where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico touch. We took our touristy photo, browsed the booths of Native American jewelry and art, enjoyed a Navajo Taco and...got stuck. [Enter blog entitled Stuck in Four Corners with You]. Day 5: Not so successful.

Stuck in Four Corners With You

In a move reminiscent of the time Mike bought new tires only to have them last less then 200 miles, he once again has proved his unfortunate luck with cars.

While visiting the Four Corners National Monument along the Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah borders, Mike once again found himself in a similar predicament. After taking photos at the monument, getting a supremely overpriced Navajo taco and coke, and buying a postcard and a sticker for our car topper, Mike jumped in the car to start it up and wait for Melissa while she went to the bathroom. Instead of being greeted by the hum of a perfectly tuned motor, Mike was greeted by what sounded like the engine trying to tear itself from it's engine brackets and crash to the ground. Not exactly music to the driver's ears...especially after having just had it tuned the week before, and serviced THAT morning!

All was not lost. While the car was being tuned the previous week, Mike also had the strength of mind to become a premium AAA member. With this membership, all he had to do was call AAA and they would call a towing company to tow him and his unhappy car to a repair shop--within a 100 mile radius. Not too bad--except his cell phone didn't have any service. Can you hear me now? NOPE.

Fortunately, a pair of biker grandparents had a phone that had service, that they were willing to lend us. Thanks AT&T. However, while AT&T doesn't need to do much work in this region, the AAA phone service needs a lot. One of the first questions they ask you is if you're in a safe location--great, we were. We were in the parking lot of the national monument. The next question they as is where you are--how much more specific can you get than "The Four Corners National Monument where the borders of Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico meet."? Then follows the maze of questions to figure out more precisely where you are. Questions such as "What state are you in", and "What city are you in". When a person is at a place where he could be in one to four of any four states, out in the middle of a dessert, it becomes extremely difficult to answer questions like these. Especially when he's already told the operator as specifically as possible without giving them actual coordinates, where he is.

Apparently, when AAA was called, Mike was automatically connected to the Arizona dispatch. After some conversation with this person, he decided that Mike's best option would be to go to Cortez, CO, something that Mike had said from the beginning, and transferred him to an operator in Oregon. Yes, OREGON. This operator quickly realized the previous operators mistake and transferred him to New Mexico, who then transferred him to Colorado. Unfortunately, the Colorado operating system isn't in the same region as New Mexico and Arizona, so Mike was put on hold for close to 15 minutes while his call was transferred to the Colorado operator--all the while using a large biker's phone and minutes. Finally, it was decided by Mike and the Colorado operator that it would be best for a Tow truck from Durango, CO to come and tow his vehicle back to a Subaru dealership in Durango--the town that the Harrington's had just left that morning. However, the phone lost service while the operator was trying to establish how long it would take for the tow truck to get to our vehicle. Thankfully, the biker grandparents weren't outwardly angry, and when they were offered the gift of tea, nonchalantly turned it down and casually told the Harringtons to "Pay it Forward."

All of this was completed around 6:30, and it was thought that the tow truck would be there around 8:30. Being as the monument closed at 8, it meant that the vehicle had to be moved outside the soon to be locked gate. This included, but was not limited to, pushing the sick car close to a half mile down a slightly inclined road. With the help of some Indiana teens with large calf's, which are now larger, the task was quickly completed, and we were left to wait for the tow truck.

Waiting wasn't so bad. We had the opportunity to meet people from Japan, Norway, Finland, North Carolina and Minnesota - all of whom had wanted to view the monument but came after the 8:00 closing time. As they realized we were stuck; all offered rides, phone use, water, food, etc. - people aren't so bad it seems. As 9:00 rolled around we began to worry about the whereabouts of our promised tow truck, thus, Mike ran across the road and up a mound of rocks to make a second call to AAA. Again, they were thoroughly confused as to our whereabouts and struggled to understand that all we needed to know was whether or not a tow truck had been sent for us. Unable to communicate with Colorado which is not only another state but also another AAA region, the New Mexico branch decided to send us a tow truck from Farmington. It was at this moment that Mike saw from the hill what appeared to be a tow truck, the first tow truck that we had called for at 6:30. Unfortunately, this realization came in just shy of having service to cancel the New Mexico truck.

The unhappy car was rigged up and we hoped in the truck with a man named Curt. Mike related our story of tow truck disaster to the kind driver and he coolly made the call to AAA to cancel our tow truck. As frustrating as the evening was, AAA is a wise investment. We made it into Durango around 12:30 am, pulled up to the Super 8 hotel, practically begged for a discount and received a 15% discount for a queen bed in a smoking room, leaving us at $90. Rule #6 was sacrificed. Fortunately, we have received free internet, breakfast, fancy tea (for a hotel), Breath Right strips, Pantene for Red Hair, and Emergen-C samples.

To conclude, some DO's and DON'Ts of breaking down:

DO make the most of the situation and re-organize the car.

DO take amazing photos of the sunset.

DO mingle with the late comers and offer to take their pictures.

DO have AAA, so you're guaranteed free towing.

DO offer tea as a gift to all who offer their help.

DON'T use the statement "Wherever you are, you're in a city" when talking to some one who's stuck in the desert.

DON'T break down at Four Corners or on any border of states for that matter.

DON'T expect cheap hotel rates during the summer in Durango.

Driving on the Edge

Day 4: June 30, 2009 - Taylor Park, CO to Durango, CO

Superstar-dom for Melissa

Waking up in Taylor Park was just as enjoyable as entering Taylor Park, such stunning views! We prepared ourselves for the road, making sure to leave a thank you and some tea for our couchsurfing host. Mike began his day with a 2 mile bike ride up hill while Melissa purchased a couple postcards and hopped in behind the drivers wheel to pick up her beloved.

After only 30 miles on the road, we reached Gunnison, CO a place of childhood memories for Melissa and home to a great coffee shop known as The Bean. One of Melissa's fondest memories from the town was playing mini-golf there while her grandfather worked on the telephone lines. To attend to the child inside, we made a pit-stop at a mini-golf course and boy was Melissa glad! June 30, 2009 marked the first ever mini-golf win for Melissa Harrington against the husband Mike Harrington. The win was highlighted by two holes-in-one!

Shortly after playing the most amazing round of mini-golf, we headed toward the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The canyon was incredible and we enjoyed the cool breeze and beautiful sights, which left us speechless and shutter happy...
On the road again, we enjoyed the sights and Mike often thought aloud "Why do so many Coloradans come to Wyoming mountains?" This thought was interrupted upon entering the town of Montrose, CO where we purchased the most delicious Mt. Ranier Cherries and were referred to an authentic Mexican restaurant "none of that Tex-Mex stuff" named Taco Riendo. It was here that we enjoyed homemade salsas, homemade tortillas, pineapple water, chicken, beef, and beef tongue. That's correct: Mike enjoyed two beef tongue tacos in Montrose, CO!

The entire days drive was spent in the mountains, winding and snaking up and down the passes that rode dangerously close to the edge. Regardless of the "seeming" danger, the views were breath-taking. We had a great photo session at the head of a powerful waterfall - one of Melissa's favorite stops thus far.


By nightfall, we arrived in Durango, CO. We made our first stop at a Natural Foods CO-OP, purchased a few ingredients and made our way to our couchsurfers home to prepare him and others an evening meal and enjoy some great conversation. Zach, our host, has a great passion for Food CO-OPs, shopping local, free trad, Oxfam America, gardening and of course couchsurfing. He introduced us to a few local micro-brews, a dog who had travelled 75 miles with a previous couchsurfer, and a handful of Durangonians. Day 4: Successful!

Now THIS is Colorado!

Day 3: June 29, 2009 – Ft. Collins, CO to Taylor Park, CO
From Highways to Dirt Road Switchbacks

Much to Mike’s distaste, this day started a little late. Melissa was making tea, blogging, facebooking, and ultimately wasting time, for this reason, we did not make it on the road until around 12:30. However, this wasn’t “on-the-road-for Taylor Park”, this was on the road to see baby Easton and drop by Luella’s work, then leave for Taylor Park…

After catching up on some email and blogging, we headed to Shannon and Joey Hoeffler’s place in Ft. Collins to meet the newest addition to the family, 7 week old Easton.
We then made our way to Luella’s place of employment to return a key and offer our heartfelt gratitude for her hospitality and overall wonderful-ness. It was then time to hit the road! We managed to navigate our way through Loveland, Longmont, Boulder and some other Front-range cities before making our way to Highway 285, from which we enjoyed smooth sailing and beautiful scenery.

After about six hours on the road, we arrived at our CouchSurfing destination of the evening: Joey’s place in Taylor Park, CO. Little did we know the crazy experience we would be in for! Joey welcomed us heartily into his home which is located above the local cafe of Taylor Park. This home was shared with 7 other men and some women who lived nearby and were frequent guests: these other occupants hailed from as close as Kansas, and as far as Russia and Polland – needless to say, we enjoyed the company in Taylor Park, CO. It was a night filled with movies, PB&J, Pabst Blue Ribbon, admiring the “Beer”amid, and listening to never before preformed songs by our host himself, Joey.

As we drifted off to sleep we were again thankful for the experiences that are possible only through CouchSurfing. Here we were, sleeping for free in Taylor Park, CO whereas others had paid who knows how much to sleep in cozy cabins with people they had known for years.

And so it Begins...

Note: The Harrington Times will be receiving a direct feed from Mike and Melissa Harrington throughout their summer travels. We at the Times have chosen to publish the entries as is with no newspaper tweaking, therefore, the following articles will be written from the first person as opposed to the third person. We apologize for any confusion this may cause, but hope that you will enjoy the entries just as much, if not more.

Day 1: June 27, 2009 - Laramie to Denver to Ft. Collins

The End of One Adventure the Beginning of Another

Today marked the finale of our UW Summer High School Institute experience. It has been a wild ride! The kids, are of course wonderful, however, they required our attention and supervision, to say the least, we had to maintain responsibility not only for ourselves but for many others. The road trip will be a nice way to "let-go" of some of that responsibility. The last day of HSI brought many tears, laughter, the uncontrolled use of cell phones and unabashed flirting. As we said good-bye to the High Schoolers we had come to love and respect as well as the co-workers who we'd come love, respect, and laugh at uncontrollably - we said hello to our little teal Subaru and an Adventure to surpass all others!

At approximately 5:19 pm, we hit the road. We took highway 287 to Ft. Collins, hit I-25 and made our way to the infamous Grizzly Rose. At the Grizzly Rose we enjoyed an excellent cover band, good company, and the headliners: Cross Canadian Ragweed. Some co-workers of Melissa's, Chelsea and Alison along with fiance and a friend, Jeremy and Jake honored us with their presence at the venue and concert. Some danced, some sang, some drank a brew-ski, one even caught a frog- all had a fabulous time!

Day 2: June 28, 2009 - Ft. Collins

Of Movies and Soccer

After staying the night on the most comfortable bed in Colorado, located at sister Luella's house, we woke up to some tasty breakfast cooked by the aforementioned sister. Mike then took off to go watch the USA play Brazil in the finals match of the Confederations Cup at the SportsCasters Bar and Grill, a match that took a couple miracles for the USA to get to. After much excitement and the USA going up 2-0 at half time, the match turned sour, and the USA ended up losing 3-2 in the second half. All is well though, and the USA has much to look forward to after beating the number one team in the world (Spain) and nearly beating Brazil. Keep the momentum going til' 2010 USA!

While Mike was at the bar watching soccer, Melissa met up with some good friends from HR camp and elsewhere. Hannah, Erin, Annalise, Luella and Liz all got together to eat some lunch and then went to watch the movie My Sister's Keeper. They had all read the book more or less together, and the weeping and sobbing through the movie quickly turned to bitterness at the movies' split from the books plot in the last five minutes. However, that's to be expected.

After the soccer match, Mike and his friend Dave (the jynx of the soccer match who showed up after the first half and "caused" Brazil to score 3 goals in 40 minutes) went to Longmont to shop for a cartop carrier. We quickly found out that our little Subaru has unusually wide cross bars on it's roof, and were unable to buy the carrier that was #1 on Mike's list. However, carrier #2 both fit and was cheaper so it gets two stars for the day. We are very excited about the carrier, as it allows the following:

• A place to put stickers from all the places we will be visiting this summer.
• A place to put the our overabundace of stuff that we hope we will use at least once on this trip.
• Space in the car to pick up hitchhikers, friends, or those in need.
• To look hip and with it, because we now have a sleek cartop carrier like everyone else in Colorado.
• Keep our stuff relatively safe and out of view from potential "take advantage of the situation"'- ers

We were unable to attend the Brewfest here in Fort Collins this weekend because we realized on Sunday that it closed that evening at 6, and we had other plans most of the day. However, it looked like a good time, and we may have to attend in the future. As a result of our lack of attendance at the Brewfest, we decided to go to a drive in movie theatre. Neither Mike nor Melissa had ever been to one before, so we all piled in Dave's pickup truck and headed over and watched Up and most of The Proposal before falling asleep. Great experience, and look forward to attending again someday.
On the way over to the drive in theatre, we stopped by a grocery store to get something to drink and a few snacks, and Mike ran into his cousin or cousin-in-law, Joey...we'll just say cousin, because that's basically what he is. This is the third time in a little over a week that Mike has ran into cousins unexpectedly. He saw his Cousin Ryan with Jenny, Peyton and Braedon at the McDonald's in West Laramie after touring the Territorial Prison with some HSI'ers while they were on their way to Yellowstone National Park. Shortly after, he ran into his cousin Jeff on the University of Wyoming campus who was there at a wresting camp. And then Joey, who knows who else he'll unexpectedly run into!?

This Just In:

Tenative Schedule for the Harrington's West Coast Tour

The Harrington's are now making available for family and friends a tenative itinerary for friends and family. By clicking on the link below readers will be able to "track" the Harrington's on their Road Trip adventure and offer any more tips and advice for specific locations.


http://www.tripwiser.com/trip_plannerNational_Parks_R_Us_2009_Sturgis_South_Dakota_USA?TripId=8a8c80fd1fd5ba5501204a5b44913d68

Other web sources used by the Harrington's to plan their summer road trip:

www.couchsurfing.org
www.roadsideamerica.com
www.whatsonwhen.com