The motorhome tour is over.  We left the Grand Canyon Camper Village RV park this morning after an 8-9 am breakfast outside the wagonmaster's motorhome.  We had blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls, Greek yogurt, oranges/tangerines, juice, and coffee.  Many passed out business cards and we gave our blog/web site card in return.  There were some warm displays of affection and hugs exchanged.  After getting our hookups disconnected and hitching up our Jeep, we reentered the Grand Canyon National Park northward, then turned east to drive Rt 64 eastward back to Cameron where we ate lunch.  After lunch we made the return trip to Monument Valley and set up in the Goulding Campground.  We have a full hookup 50 amp pull-through slot with an amazing background of rock formations.  We then drove to the visitor center to attempt a good sunset photo, but the sun sets on the opposite side of the mittens, so we shot the last light on them.  It would be quite a trip to get to the other side of the mittens to see the sun set behind them.  Tomorrow we plan to attend church in Kayenta, then after lunch visit the Valley of the Gods (part of Bears Ears National Monument) and perhaps also Navajo National Monument.  On Monday we hope to see more of Monument Valley and perhaps also Canyon de Chelly.  Sounds like a lot, and hopefully we can fit it all in.

Our site at Goulding Campground 

On Sunday the 24th, we drove from north of Durango to the Cottonwood RV Park in Bluff, UT.  Along the way we stopped off at the Four Corners.  This is where the corners of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico intersect.  I saw this 11 years ago as a concrete slab with medallions embedded, a few flags, etc and little more.  Now the Navajo Nation has exercised its authority to surround it with a perimeter of stone booths for selling native American artifacts to a captive audience.  They also charge an entry fee, since the area is now fenced off from the public.  Betty bought some things, and I took some photos.  Getting there, as with all things in the Navajo Nation, is on a long bumpy and dusty road.  The roads are not maintained; they simply put up a sign saying "ROUGH ROAD."  The parking area was a large rough and rocky area not well suited for parking a motorhome pulling a car behind it.  Getting in and out was interesting.

Wide view of Four Corner grounds

Betty standing at intersection of four states

Sand paintings exhibit

Closeup of sand paintings

Arriving in Bluff was easy enough, with a simple but adequate RV park.  Our tour filled the park.  The area is very isolated, with few stores other than what caters to tourists.  And there are very many tourists.  At a trading post the man there told us that two filming crews were in town to shoot commercials.  One was a German company filming a car commercial.  The other was a Japanese company filming a cigarette commercial.  This demonstrates that you do not have to go to Monument Valley or Moab to film dramatic cliffs and other large rock formations.  The high country of the Southwest pretty much looks like that when you get to the cliff areas.  We also got a tour of Bluff Fort, a Mormon outpost established by determined pioneers who were willing to face the seemingly impossible task of crossing the territory full of extreme cliff ridges.  We watched a reenactment film showing horse-drawn wagons with ropes tied behind being eased down steep declines to form a rocky road through the ridges, often blasting through large rock faces using black powder.  As a non-Mormon, I cannot fathom what motivated them to have such a faithful missionary spirit under such dire conditions.  They have a museum maintained by direct descendants, with cabins built by these ancestors maintained by relatives here today.  It is almost a nationality here to be Mormon, much as being an Irish or Italian Catholic gives many a sense of identity.  By the way, it was NOT Ft Bluff; only military bases have the prefix "fort."

The next morning, Monday, at 7:30 am we boarded a bus for the trip to Monument Valley.  There we were in an area of the Navajo Nation (not a national park) where we could take photos of the much-photographed monuments of stone.  To see a quick overview video of Monument Valley, click here:  Quick Overview of Monument Valley.  It was a very dusty area.  How on earth did Hollywood film crews keep their 1930s equipment in working order with all that wind and dust?  For that matter, how do you do it now?  We then were loaded up into the backs of four trucks equipped with seats for a ride through the valley.  Again, driven by a Navajo driver who loves fast, dusty, and bouncy rides.  Try taking photos under those conditions.  I decided to use only a small video camera, which managed to produce surprisingly good movies of the experience.  We were let off a few times for photos, when we all made as much use as we could of existing light once the dust settled.  A video of the truck tour can be seen here:  Navajo Monument Valley Truck Tour.  It is only a few minutes long.

Betty poses with horse while on Navajo truck tour

After that we had lunch and visited the film museum, focusing mostly on John Wayne.  We saw the cabin that appeared in the film, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.  I had my photo taken sitting inside and in the driver seat of a stagecoach.  We then went to Goosenecks State Park and got good photos.  This was another example where many state parks are about as impressive as their famous national park counterparts.  I have mentioned goosenecks earlier, since these rock shapes appear in several areas, but this is a state park named for them.

Door of cabin John Wayne used in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

John Wayne Cabin, used in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Inside the John Wayne Museum

Inside the John Wayne Cabin

Steven seated in stagecoach outside John Wayne Museum

Interior of old stagecoach.  Not much room.

Goosenecks State Park

The next morning, Tuesday, at 7:30 am we again boarded a bus, this time for Natural Bridges National Monument.  We took a long hike into this area for some good photo opps.  Then we returned to the RV park to get lunch.  We then went to nearby Bluff Fort (this is when we saw the film and got a tour of the fort site).

Example of one Natural Bridges National Monument formation

Wednesday morning early we departed for the Grand Canyon Camper Village, south of the South Entrance Station of the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  It was a typical drive through the Navajo Nation, with  many rock formations that make you wonder if you should stop for yet another photo session.  The weather was windy with threatening rain.  We stopped for lunch in the town of Cameron, east of the park on Rt 64.  It was nice to find a place in the middle of nowhere that had gas stations and places to eat.  We re-fueled and ate at a Burger King.  We then continued on our way west on Rt 64 to the south rim.  As we entered the park, we saw a sign reading "First View of the Grand Canyon."  There was no place to pull over, so all you could do was glance to the right as the trees opened to see a fabulous sight.  The sun was out at that point and the visibility was good.

As we struggled to get set up in the tiny and primitive RV park south of the national park entrance, the wind picked up and the rain began.  We were dressed in layers of clothes to keep warm and dry, with the top layer being a yellow rain slicker with hood.  As we drove back into the national park that afternoon to see as much as we could before supper, the sun came out beautifully, and we wished we had brought more than just our phones for taking photos.  As we were driving down Desert View Drive, a herd of female elk crossed the road in front of the car in front of us.  A short video of it can be seen here:  Herd of female elk crossing Desert View Drive.  The sun in this part of the country continues to be very warm and blindingly bright.  We took a few photos with our phone near the east rim, then hurried on back to the RV Park for a group pizza dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Thursday morning early we boarded a bus (sound familiar?) for the east rim and Desert View (including the Watchtower).  The Watchtower was sealed off at the top for construction work, so we could only go to the patio area over the second floor level.  The views were still very good since the weather cooperated. Once again most of the people there spoke foreign languages, but they behave as though this is their park, not ours.  We are the foreigners to them, and we are in their way.  Very many Italians were there.  Also Germans and French.  And everywhere Asians of several nationalities.  The bus guide joked that it is a requirement to graduate from high school in Japan that you visit the Grand Canyon.  He also said that about 5 years ago a young Asian girl was posing for a photo at the edge of the rim when one of the sporadic wind gusts blew her over the edge to her death.  Seeing how they carelessly dance around the edge taking selfies, and the unpredictability of the strong winds here, I am surprised that there are not more fatalities.  After that we went to the IMAX theater to watch the film on the Grand Canyon.  We had seen it 7 years ago, but this time it appeared fuzzy and there was a large object on the lens that spoiled the view.  The man who took our tickets said that he had complained to the projectionist over and over but nothing is done.

South Rim of Grand Canyon

Sunlight on opening that mule rides pass through

Today, Friday, we are resting.  We plan to drive into Williams to get some groceries, since nothing closer has much to buy except tourist souvenirs.  They truly have a captive audience and monopolistic control of everything around here.  Williams is a town on the old Route 66.  Most of that route was replaced by I-40, but whatever remains of it that goes through towns is trumpeted as being on Route 66.  Those old remnants for decades nearly went out of sight (and bankrupt) until they were bought fairly recently and re-labeled largely as being on Route 66.  Now they are mobbed; mobbed by foreigners mostly.  Americans have a passing fancy for the old route, but foreigner flock to it as if it were a shrine.  Go figure.

Tonight at 6 pm we have our farewell dinner for the Fantasy RV Tour.  It has been like taking your neighborhood with you (for better or worse) to each stop.  There were always people there with whom you were acquainted.  Notice I did not say that you actually knew them very well.  It has been mostly a guarded relationship where people did not open up very much.  As with other tours, bus tours instead of RV tours, we have found the people to be there to be alone, not with others.  There were exceptions here, even some who knew each other before coming, but mostly the people were there to impress others rather than to get to know them.  Very competitive.  With some, it was a matter of dominating others with their very large and powerful RV machines.  I gave many our card with the address of our web site and our blog site; they have never looked at either, and I even saw one appear to toss the card away.  Tomorrow morning will be our farewell breakfast.  Seems repetitive following the farewell dinner.  Maybe they will soon add a farewell lunch ...  Perhaps a bag lunch to go?

P.S.:  We have returned from the surprisingly good farewell dinner.  The food was good and in huge servings.  There was also great camaraderie among nearly all who attended.  Each one was given a humorous award (we got the "Let's Get It Right" award due to our insistence that the daily driving instructions be accurate).  It was illuminating to see how the group (for the most part) had warmed up to one another over the course of the trip.  Though there were still virtual partitions into subgroups, the evening was a sort of unified celebration of what had been achieved over the course of 34 days together.

Our farewell breakfast tomorrow will be a cold "continental" breakfast served outdoors on a cold morning outside the wagonmaster's motorhome.  Not what I had expected, but I suppose it is the best one could do, given that everyone will be using that time also to unhook their rigs from the RV park, then hook up their dinghies, and depart for their new adventures.

Today, Saturday, was a windy and raining day here north of Durango.  That is one of the surprises about the Southwest; it has strong winds very often.  It affects driving, and it affects your travel plans.  So, today we slept in (much needed) and tended to indoor chores.  I got the chance to work on photos, which I have added to this blog in prior days' posts.  Betty worked on rearranging things, laundry, some cleaning, and general preparation for tomorrow's departure for Bluff, UT.

Today, Friday, we drove into Durango to take the tour of the railroad yard and roundhouse at 10:30 am.  An excellent tour guide spent an hour with us showing us the turntable outside used to position all incoming trains for riding rails into the roundhouse where they are sheltered and where all repair work is done.  The work is unique in that no one else makes these parts or the tools to use to maintain this old equipment.  We also got to see the inside where the parts are made and stored, as well as where the maintenance is done.

Turntable with Roundhouse in Background

Closeup of Roundhouse

Bays in Roundhouse

Empty Bay in Roundhouse

Wheel Assemblies Under Repair

After that we were able to walk around inside the free railroad museum.  As with many places in this part of the country, when someone has a business or other establishment, he fills it with stuffed animals or other wild west items alongside the necessary and normal subjects of his trade.  We saw this at the restaurant yesterday in Silverton, where stuffed animals and mannequins of various kinds were crowded into every available space.  This museum was no exception.   Included along with excellent railroad items were many stuffed animals, then old airplanes and cars that made history.  Then there were old six guns and mannequins in uniform of soldiers from past wars along with photos of related events.  There were also several working model railroads and full sized rail cars.

This is what greets you as you enter the railroad museum

More of what greets you

Finally . . . 19th Century Steam Locomotive

Betty Inside Caboose

Betty Inspects Living Quarters Inside Caboose

Upper Level Inside Caboose

 After we spent about another hour in the museum, we went to the Strater Hotel's restaurant, the Diamond Belle Saloon, for lunch with two fellow travelers.  The Strater Hotel is where I spent a couple nights on my tour in 2006, an excellent historic restoration of a 19th century Victorian hotel, replete with period furnishings.  I was expecting something similar in the restaurant, but instead found a representation of an old West saloon, replete with saloon girls as waitresses and a 19th century painting of a naked woman over the door.  There were even a few bullet holes in the wall behind the bar.  The food and service were good enough to be worth a visit if you are interested.

Our Waitress

19th century waitresses had tattoos on their backs?

 Louis L'Amour, the famed old West story writer, used to stay at the Strater often in the room over the saloon.  He liked the honky-tonk piano sounding through the floor of his room.  It helped inspire his writing, and most of his works were penned in that room over the saloon.  After lunch, we decided to walk around town some more, then remembered we needed to check the parking meters where we had parked.  Our fellow travelers got to their car just as it ran out of time.  I was ten minutes late.  A yellow envelope under the windshield wiper contained a $25 fine.  This town has a low regard for tourists.  We drove back to the RV park where strong winds were making us wonder what kind of weather was coming our way.  It  seems to have settled down now.  Tomorrow we may just take it easy in our motorhome and prepare for departure on Sunday morning.  Our next stop will be in Bluff, Utah, near Monument Valley.  That is an area loved by John Ford, and many John Wayne movies were filmed there, like How the West Was Won.

Today, Thursday, we drove to the train station to park our Jeep and board a bus to Silverton, CO.  It was a nice enough ride on mountain roads, stopping a couple times to shoot photos of the fall foliage, especially the Aspen trees that are turning color.  The color was mostly yellow, but there was some orange.  Supposedly they will turn red, but we saw no evidence of that.

Betty by Yellow-Leafed Aspen Tree

Once we got to Silverton, we went directly to the Handlebars Restaurant (as in handlebar mustaches).  This is a restaurant that is part museum and part restaurant.  There are many stuffed animals and comical signs everywhere.  The food was OK.

Interior of Handlebars Restaurant and Bar

One of the cynical signs behind the bar

After lunch we had only a little time before the train left, so we could only walk around town and look at gift shops.  Betty got a Silverton shirt.

I snapped a photo of this shirt in one of the gift shops

The train ride was a loud, rattling, swaying, bouncy, and smoky ride on a narrow gauge train pulled by a 19th century steam locomotive.  The engine's fuel is coal, so there was coal smoke everywhere and steam being released loudly.  The steam actually created a rainbow once and a fellow traveler caught a snapshot of it. The train ran along one cliff edge after another.  The narrow gauge allowed sharp turns around the curves.

Rainbow created by engine steam

Train rounded many tight curves

 I rode this train 11 years ago, hanging off the back of the caboose in a snow storm and loved it.  The smoke was diluted by the time it got back there, and the steam was dissipated.  I was also 11 years younger.  Today, as others also remarked, it was a very slow drawn-out jostling rocking back-and-forth experience that went on forever (it seemed).  This train had no caboose.  We got on the train around 1:30 pm and arrived in Durango at 5:45 pm.  That is 48 miles in over 4 hours.  If those trains were that slow, no wonder train robbers could ride horses up along side and jump aboard.  The trains here are actually used to film that kind of Western movie, and many films have been shot here and at other nearby locations.  They say the people in the 19th century loved these trains because they were so much better than riding on a stagecoach.  The trains were actually more comfortable and what took a stagecoach 3 days took the train 3 hours.  The faster time was mostly due to taking a more direct route through (rather than around) the mountains.  The weather was cool and clear all day.  The unusual thing here is that a very hot sun will coexist with cold air.   One does not find this in Florida. If in the shade, it is cold enough to wear a coat; if in the sun it is very hot, forcing you to pull off the coat and maybe even your shirt.  This was not so much true in Silverton at 9300+ feet high, but it was definitely true this morning in Durango at 6500+ feet high.

Today we drove the one-hour trip from Mesa Verde KOA RV Park to Alpen Rose RV Park in Durango, CO.  I was surprised to see a whole new section of town that has been added in the past 11 years since my last visit.  It now looks very modern and upscale compared to the old small town that I saw before, with only the old Strater Hotel and the narrow gauge railroad to draw attention to itself.  It now is a desirable place for retirees and young professionals to live.  After we parked, we drove the Jeep to the Walmart to get some supplies, then to CityMarket for groceries.  We also stopped off at the local Albertsons for large ziplok bags, since CityMarket does not have them.

 When we got back to the RV park, I heard what sounded like a toy train whistle.  I found out later that the small gauge railroad runs nearby.  I never heard the train itself but only the whistle.  That is the train that we shall ride tomorrow.  A bus will take us to Silverton at 9:30 am.  Then we shall have lunch in Silverton before taking the train back to Durango.  That is the opposite of what I did in 2006 when I rode the train from Durango to Silverton, had lunch in Silverton, then rode a bus out of Silverton to Grand Junction.  It snowed that year as we rode to Silverton, and I have photos of that ride on my web site.  Will it snow tomorrow?  Stay tuned . . .

Alpen Rose RV Park

On Friday, September 15, we joined several other couples from the RV tour on a rafting trip down the Colorado River.  It was not nearly as exciting as it sounds.  The snow melt is nearly gone at this time of year, so the white water is nearly nonexistent.  The dramatic rain storm the day before had added water volume, but it was not white water.  This was brown water, as in mud.  I suppose this is typical Colorado River water, since John Wesley Powell said of this river that it was "too thick to drink and too thin to plow."  It was a time when several of us on the tour got to know each other better as the raft very slowly floated down a short section of the river.  The raft helmsman did deliver a short lecture on the rock formations and history of the area, including movies made here.  He, like others, recommended the movie museum up the road which documents the very many movies made in the Moab area.

On Saturday we drove to Arches National Park, since this would be our last chance to see the main attraction here.  We missed the bus tour on our first day due to my having a doctor's appointment for my knee.   When we drove up to the rising-altitude entrance to the park, we first were reminded of our trip in 2011.  I had forgotten how far you have to climb to get to this park.  Then we were amazed by the enormity of the rocks in this park.  The rocks are not all that different from what we had seen before in this trip, but the sheer size of them is staggering.  As you drive along, you are dwarfed by the overwhelming perspective of your shrinking self next to these towering walls that loom over you.  The next surprise was the very long line of cars and even motorhomes waiting to get into the park entrance.  This was not the case back in 2011.  Once again, this shows how many foreigners are entering our national parks.  We met people from various countries who fly into a nearby airport and rent a small motorhome to use in touring our national parks.  After we got in, we drove through most of the attractions and took photos, even though this was not the time of day for good light.  Like other tourists, we shoot photos while we can whatever the light may be.  You need to live here to have the right opportunities for good photography.  The road to The Delicate Arch was closed due to being flooded from the rains.  The difference between these rock formations and others we have seen on this trip is how close you can get to them driving a car and the number of arches or natural bridges all in a relatively small area.   Other areas may have similar formations but are scattered far and wide, requiring a long drive and hike to see them up close.  In Arches National Park, it is all up close and in your face as you drive by.

This site is called The Garden of Eden.  Go figure.

The Double Arch.  Note how small the people are.

Betty at the Double Arch

Elephant Rock

Mule deer along Devils Garden trail

Flashback from the 60's at Devils Garden parking lot

After leaving Arches National Park, we drove to Red Cliff Lodge and Museum on Rt 128.  This is the road that the light trucks drove when performing the light show while we were on the "dinner cruise" on Wednesday.  The early owner of the ranch was a friend of John Wayne and encouraged him to have movies shot in this area.  The "lodge" (actually a collection of cabins) was built to house the actors, director, etc since nowhere else existed nearby to stay.  John Ford liked it nearly as much as he liked Monument Valley.  The current owner has added the museum and restaurant.  The museum documents the many movies made here and shows a video of the history of movie making in the Moab area.  The action hero actors love the area due to the dangerous pastimes afforded vistors, things like renting Jeeps, Hummers, ATVs, etc to use cruising along cliffs with thousand-foot drop-offs.  The early movies were Westerns; the more recent movies emphasize the dramatic (and very dangerous) topography here, with cars racing on the edge of mountains, helicopters racing after people on mountain roads, climbers dangling off thousand-foot cliffs by the fingers of one hand, etc.

Inside the Cowboy Museum, Moab, UT

One of the dummies used in the final scene of Thelma and Louise

Blooming cactus out side Red Cliff Museum

On Sunday we left Moab for Mesa Verde KOA in Cortez, CO.  It was a relatively short drive, but the winds again became a chore to drive through once we got near Rt 491 in southeast Utah headed toward Colorado.  The desert became farmland along this route, but the weather increasingly foretold rain, which materialized as we approached Cortez.  It turns out that Cortez is a more upscale town than we had passed through, with several nice stores and a generally clean and neat appearance.  Since the drive was rather short (arrived at 2 pm), and the storm passed through quickly, we decided to drive into Mesa Verde National Park to check out the hike to Cliff Palace, which others on our tour had said would be too hard for us to undertake.  The ranger at the visitors center said it was the easiest attraction in the park.  Then we drove to the overlook where it begins and took photos of the stairway leading in, the pathway from that point to the cliff dwellings, etc to show to the others.  Some believed us and others would not.  The drive to that part of the park was an adventure in itself.  At the visitors center one can look into the distance to see the prominence of a very large mesa looming over all surrounding land.  It turns out that that is the majority of the park and where all cliff dwellings are located.  To get there you drive 25 miles along switchback roads along sheer cliffs over and over in a tiresome pattern.  That is where Cliff Palace and other major cliff dwelling locations are located.  About halfway along the route is where Far View Lodge and Lounge are located.  We ate at the lounge Sunday night.  Another long mountain road launches out from Far View that leads to yet more cliff dwellings like Long House which we would visit after Cliff Palace.   To see a beautiful video of this tour, click here:  Cliff Palace Tour

Mesa Verde KOA RV Park

Huge green mesa looming over all surrounding land

Far View Lounge where we ate supper

On Monday morning we had to get up at 5 am to get ready to leave at 6:45 am to drive to Far View for leaving on a bus by 8 am.  We already knew it would not take that long, but we are on a tour and must follow the herd.  We arrived before 7:30 am and waited in the restaurant sipping coffee.  We loaded onto the bus that would eventually go to the Cliff Palace around 8 am and headed off for a few stops to hear lectures about things we had already heard about, but a little new information was received.  We saw exhibits of kivas, pithouses, pueblo foundations, etc.  We learned about the many uses of yucca plants and Utah juniper bark.  At about 10:20 am we arrived at the Cliff Palace lookout to get in line for the 10:30 am tour.  I had mounted my GoPro camera onto my hat to record for others what this tour involves.  After declining the metal starcase, one enters a narrow passage between large rocks walking on stone steps carved by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) in the 1930's.  After that it is one 8-foot ladder to the pathway into the dwellings. It turns out that the most complicated part of the hike is at the very end when one leaves for the exit route, which involves narrow passageways and sharp turns to embedded ladders.  No overweight people need apply.  It is tedious but not hard.  Parents herding small unruly children would have trouble.  The Cliff Palace is impressive to look at, but unlike many other such exhibits, you do not actually enter the dwellings to any significant degree.  You only look inside through windows or down into open kivas.

Pithouse and anteroom

Pithouse

Metal stairway leading to Cliff  Palace

View down to Cliff Palace

View inside window of only viewable dwelling

Once the tour was over, we joined another couple for lunch, then continued on to the Long House.  This required another long tedious drive on a second road from Far View.  We finally got to an outpost that was the remains of a typical exhibit.  It looked like a flea market but was what remained after a fire consumed much of the original.  Pretty dismal looking.  The ranger there led us with a group to the Long House dwellings.  It included a long hike on a paved road.  Shuttle buses used to take you there but now they make you walk.  The walk on this road is the most tiring part of the tour.  Once you are at the Long House trail head, you hike a trail much like the others, winding up and down on carved stone steps, etc.  The Long House allowed entry to some dwellings and was actually more interesting than the Cliff Palace.  The most strenuous exhibit in the park is the Balcony House, which we skipped.  Maybe next time.  I shot these photos with my DSLR rather than take the GoPro, so no video is available for this journey.

Stairway down to start of trail to Long House

Continuing down

... And the trail continues to wind its way

Until you reach the Long House dwellings

See ladders leading up to dwellings

View at top of last ladder

View from inside one dwelling

View from inside another dwelling

Natural source of water inside one dwelling

Some dwellings connected by tunnels

View from far side of Long House dwellings

Then it's time to return back to the trail head  

Today, Tuesday, while others are driving mountain roads up to Telluride to see the scenery, we are relaxing.  We need the rest.  Enough of mountain roads, no matter how scenic.  Betty is scheduled for a pedicure in Cortez this afternoon.  I am updating this blog and working on photos.  

The overall impression of Mesa Verde that one takes away is how far everything is to reach.  Tour buses are everywhere teetering along these mountain roads, but if you are not from a mountainous area, it is very tiring to drive these roads.  Yesterday afternoon the dashboard display in our Jeep said to have the transmission serviced due to being overworked on those roads.  After turning off the motor and letting it rest, the display cleared, but an engine symbol appeared.  The manual said that this symbol may go away after a few engine cycles (it did the next day).  This all occurred due to downshifting to save the brakes as we swirled down the mountain roads like water down a drain.  Then you have to climb like mad to continue on that same road only to decline once again long and deep.  This must wear out cars in short order.  I feel like I am worn out already just driving it.