Having gone to bed at a normal hour, I had expected that we would get up at a normal hour. Wrooooong! Oddly enough, we got up only about 15 minutes earlier than the day before. That turned out to be about a 12 hour "night". As usual, Jeff was the first one up and about. I followed him out shortly. Again, I made a VERY quick run over to the outhouse. (I haven't figured out why the need is so great while out camping, but not when I get up at home...) It was chilly again this morning, but looked to be another fine day - long-sleeved shirts to protect us from the sun, but no need for jackets. We had breakfast (cold cereal again).

After another run over to the outhouse, we left Mancos State Park and headed towards Mesa Verde. Along the way, we pulled into a gas station/country store and filled up with gas. We then proceeded to Mesa Verde and pulled up to the entrance gate.

Our entrance fee the day before is good for seven days. All we had to do was show our dated receipt. The ranger asked if we still had our papers from the day before, and we confirmed that we did. Off we went up to the mesa top. We drove on past the visitor center, having no need to stop there this time. We took care of the two turnoffs the day before, so we proceeded directly down towards the three loops.