WELL!! Here is what I did after spending the good part of this weekend agonizing over it. I first cancelled my AA reservations completely. Boy- I had to go on line after calling and being on hold for 20 minutes and put in a REQUEST for a refund! They do not take the refund requests over the phone, just the cancellation! AND- it will take up to 10 days to get the refund once approved! Another thing making me nervous! Then I cancelled my car rental and hotel reservations.
I then decided to book a nonstop flight to Denver through United Airlines. Booked at the Quality Inn Hotel in Estes Park and went on Auto Slash for the car rental- which was disappointingly almost $100 higher than the one in Durango. I didn;t have to pay for either of these now and can cancel anytime pretty much. I then, via email, contacted our car service we are using to and from Newark airport about the changes, who by now probably thinks I am a nutcase.
It was either this or we were doing a road trip to Portsmouth. New Hampshire. I decided that if we didn't at least go to Colorado now we probably never would considering how I feel about flying and yet another bad experience with airlines and the way things are these days. I really wanted to see Mesa Verde, but maybe one day we can get that in with a Utah National parks vacation, being it's location is so southwest in Colorado. I was really never crazy about going to Rocky Mountain National Park for some reason but I am sure we will enjoy it. Hope the weather is good. Our dates are 6/17/ to 6/24.
Thank you everyone for all your help. I am still a bit full of anxiety, but I feel much better not having to worry about connecting flights. I am now hoping for the best with my new flights/itinerary.