The end of this story

Monday, we did just as I mentioned in the previous post.  We had a nice breakfast in the small restaurant that's on site at the KOA, and followed that with an easy drive home.  We followed I-40 to I-540 and soon we were in familiar territory, passing all the places we shop in Rogers and Bentonville.  We got the trailer pretty much unloaded, the truck in the garage, water turned on in the house, A/C dialed down to get some dry clean air circulating, and ice being made in the fridge.  Tuesday, Ginnie will do a huge laundry load, I'll wash the camper in and out and we will shop for groceries, pick up our mail and settle back into our Arkansas routine.

The trees here look amazing.  Lots of spring rain has helped enormously.  The dogwood that I was sure we had lost is fully leafed out.  The view behind our house has the appearance of a tropical jungle with mist rising in the early morning.   My two patches of grass need attention badly, but they will have to wait a couple of days.   With my push lawnmower being all I have to mow with, I'll have to use the string trimmer first to get the grass cut down to size.

Ginnie tells me that we will be in Salina for Adrian's birthday.  He needs to get familiar with his grandparents.  His crying reaction to our presence might just be his way of getting attention.  We'll see how a two year old reacts to a birthday celebration.

I'm getting used to blogging and how blogger works.  I need to proof my writing and check my grammar.  I think I will keep this up.  Ginnie has kept a much more extensive daily journal throughout our trip.  None of it has appeared here.  My apologies to any and all who have followed us along on this trip, as the actual trip was a lot more fun for us than reading about it was for you.

Another no pic day.

I-40

Early Saturday we hitched up and headed East.  From Santa Fe we headed south to Clines Corners where we picked up I-40 and by early afternoon we were in Amarillo, TX at a KOA on the east side of town.  We were far from the interstate but nearby trains and Amarillo's airport made up for it.  Military jets, probably part of an Air Guard unit took off, making noise as only military jets can.  We went to Mass at the local Cathedral, and followed that up with dinner at a Cracker Barrel.   I gassed up at a Samsclub and then back to the campground where we read until bed time.

Sunday found us hitched up and headed for points east.  We were not sure how the tornadoes would affect campgrounds in the Oklahoma City area, and whether we wanted to stop there or go further.  As it turned out,  the weather was really nice, so we kept going past Oklahoma City to a KOA situated close to the town of Checotah, OK.  They advertised a "quiet country atmosphere"  No mention that they are about 100 yards from I-40 and constant traffic noise.  The lousy WIFI, which is always part of the KOA experience was blamed on the tornadoes.  Hah.

We have a nice shady campsite, with no one close by and they have a small restaurant in the office.  We are out of cereal for breakfast, so will go to the restaurant for our morning meal.

Following that, it's 155 miles to the house, and the end of this story.

Thoughts of home

Not too surprising, as we've been co-habiting in 72 square feet for a month now, but a trip to the central plaza in Santa Fe seemed to satisfy our urge for sight seeing in Santa Fe.  After all, we've been here before.  Ginnie got some earrings and a new hat, plus we had a tasty lunch from a food stand on the plaza.   We returned to the campground, where at least one of us took a nap, and then after consulting the local "plan your trip" info, and finding nothing that piqued our curiosity,made a joint decision to pull up stakes in the morning and head home.

We should be in Amarillo tomorrow night, then spend Sunday night somewhere in Oklahoma, completing the trip home on Monday.

We've had a great time, and I think we have worked through all the kinks and quirks of our little mobile home.  We can't think of anything we need to add.  We've learned that we really are in our 70's and have to work much harder at staying in good health and physical condition.  Being in shape doesn't come easy any more.  It's a lot more like work than fun.

Most of the camera work today was in and around the Loretta chapel, home of the "miraculous staircase" ($3 admission, and a huge gift shop) as well as the Cathedral Basilica, which has new pews since our last visit.  A side chapel holds a number of reliquaries, two of St. Francis of Assisi, and a splinter from the true cross,  were the most notable/memorable.

Dinner was at La Plancha, a Mexican/Central American restaurant.  Ginnie played it safe with chicken fajitas, while I ventured a bit for a pork chop.  Ginnie's wasn't particularly memorable, but I feel I was rewarded for being just a bit adventurous.

Hook up tomorrow, and head for Amarillo where I've already made reservations at a KOA.  We lose an hour, so 5 o'clock church probably wont happen.  I hope we can make Church Saturday so that we can get fairly far down the road on Sunday without having to attend a service.  I want a short drive home on Monday.

I think that's about it for the "adventure"

Miraculous staircase

Reliquaries

Santa Fe Plaza

Santa Fe Plaza

More Colorado

On our way to New Mexico, we diverted to spend a few more days in green, cool Colorado.  We found a National Forest Campground, West Fork, located a few miles east of Pagosa Springs.   The Campground was not at all crowded, very quiet, with large campsites.  There are not showers or electric, but we managed quite well for three days.  We did no hiking, just walks in the campground, and did do some windshield touring, driving up over Wolf Creek Pass.   The trip over Wolf Creek made the third day we saw riders from the Bike Colorado annual bike across Colorado venture.   If we were smart enough to have our cameras in the car rather than the camper we could have shown you some remarkable pictures, as we passed what we thought were more than 1,000 bikers streaming over the mountains between Mancos and Durango.  As it turns out there are more than 2,000 riders in the event.  This year they started in Telluride and will end up in Colorado Springs.  I gotta hand it to them.  Twenty or Thirty years ago, I could see myself doing this, but no longer.  Eight mile long hill climbs just are beyond my imagination.

I'm typing this up on Thursday, the day we left West Fork for Santa Fe.  We are now checked in to a KOA about 10 miles out of Santa Fe.  Typical KOA, near a busy highway, but decent showers.  I'm using the hotspot feature on our phone to compose this.  Also typical KOA, the wifi sucks.

The pictures are of what I think are the most scenic of our trip.  No excuse for not getting pictures of the thousands of bikers streaming over the mountains.  You will have to use your imagination, I'm afraid.

Tonight, I asked the campground managers for recommendations, inexpensive Mexican, were my paramaters.  We were told to try Harry's Roadhouse.  Hmmph, doesn't sound Mexican to me, but also suggested were the blue corn enchiladas.  We also had margaritas.  Pretty good, and not far from the campground.  Tomorrow, we explore Santa Fe, and also look for more good eats.

Three nights here is what the program calls for, then we head for home, breaking the trip up in to stops in Amarillo, Tx and some place in Oklahoma before arriving home, probably next Tuesday night.

Our Campsite at West Fork

West Fork River behind our campsite

Another shot of the river behind our campsite

Treasure Falls seen from just outside the campground

Another shot of our campsite

Two of the thousands of bikers, here seen at a rest stop at the peak of Wolf Creek Passs.  Note the girl, one of many

A fisherman trying his luck against some very smart and elusive trout

One more picture of the river

Mesa Verde

We decided to take in Mesa Verde today.  The park is huge, and we went to what we thought would be a less visited part, very remote on the Wetherill Mesa.  We did the self guided tour of the Step House.  The path is a loop tour and we went halfway, looked down and decided we had gone the wrong way.  We retraced our steps and continued walking in the other direction.  That's when we discovered that the trail looped, as after spending some time at the actual cliff dwelling, we continued on and came to the spot where we turned around well before we got back to the beginning.  Oh, well, we can always use the exercise.  The sun is really strong at these altitudes, 7,000 feet, so we took a long lunch break in the shade before we got back in the truck for the long twisty drive back.  Views from the road are really spectacular.  No highway engineer in his right mind would propose building roads like these unless they lead to such special destinations.

A nap followed for both of us, then 4 o'clock church in Dolores.  I like services in small community churches and Dolores is no exception, such a friendly congregation.   This makes about our third time to Church there.

After we drove to Cortez and used Yelp to find a Mexican restaurant.  The most reviews were for a place named El Burro Pancho.  I was a bit leery because of the name until they brought my dinner, shrimp, Camerones Poblano.  Wow, I have a new favorite Mexican place.  The sauce was really good. Ginnie like her dinner too.  Oversized margaritas didn't hurt.  All the place needs is a new name, in my opinion.

The Step House

A Scouting Trip

Our time at the Mesa Verde RV Resort is getting short.  We leave Monday.  Looking ahead, to our next destination, we haven't quite got enough of Colorado, so we scouted north of Dolores for camping spots.  We first checked in with the Forestry Office in Dolores and got tips on a campground with electric sites plus disbursed camping locations.  Cayton Campground was the recommendation for sites with electric, and the furthest north.  When we got there, it was pretty much full, or reservations made.  Plus, it was at 11,000 feet and in a dark pine forest.  There were two first come first served sites open, and one looked nice, but who knows if it would still be free come Monday.  We were already inside the four day booking window for making reservations, so with the altitude and darkness, plus a lack of hiking trails from the campground, we decided no to that.  We got cold feet checking out the disbursed campsites, as first one has to drive up out of the Dolores river valley on extremely narrow gravel mountain roads.  I would drive the roads, but not pulling the trailer, as there absolutely is no way to turn around.  Meeting a vehicle driving the opposite direction would be a nightmare.

So, we've given up on our Colorado ambitions, as more and more families are coming out making the campgrounds harder to get in to.

Tonight is a prime example as a pop up from Utah is next to us.  There are at least three adults and two extremely active young boys.  The kids aren't a problem, but the adults were up and outside their camper having a conversation until after midnight.  They woke me up.  After about 45 minutes of this I used the remote for my truck to sound my horn.  Not the emergency blast, but the single toot that says "I'm locked"  Thee toots and they didn't get the hint.  This morning I notice that a second car is there.  I sure hope they leave today.

We've decided to head for northern New Mexico on Monday.  I've picked out a New Mexico State Park where depending on the setting we will stay a couple of days before moving on to Taos.  Then Santa Fe and following that, homeward bound.

We stopped at a tasting room and bought a couple of bottles of wine yesterday, plus picked up some more pork chops from the little "gourmet" grocery in Dolores.  We grilled those and opened a can of green beans with potatoes.  A glass of Pino Gris accompanied the chops.  Life is good.

Hiking in the San Juan's

Today we attempted what would be an arduous hike for us, should we be able to complete it.  We had to drive 20 plus miles of washboard forest roads to a trailhead which would then lead to a saddle between two prominent mountains.   Off we went and despite the roads we really enjoyed the drive as the scenery was really beautiful.  We drove upwards through pine and aspen forests.  As we climbed higher, the aspen were just beginning to set on leaves.  Snow banks were visible still.  We parked the car/truck at around 11,000 feet and began our hike before we reached the trail head.  The trail head was a mile further on jeep road.  Our truck was capable, but we were a long way out in a remote area and I was reluctant, as I had never driven that kind of road before.  So we walked.  We climbed a bit more and stopped for lunch.  I wanted to turn back at this point, but Ginnie could see level road ahead, so we continued on.  I denied us the moral victory of reaching the trail head, and Ginnie agreed that we should head back.  All in all, for two seniors to hike more than a couple of miles at 11,000 feet, I think we did pretty well, plus the day was beautiful as well as stunning mountain scenery.

We returned to camp and we both took naps.  I woke up and saw two aliners coming in to the campground.  Wow, in our two years camping we have only seen one other aliner, and now two?  Turns out that the aliners are owned by two couples, friends, from Austin Texas.  We visited and exchanged notes on our campers.  We exchanged common gripes, but it's pretty obvious we all think we made a good choice for going camping.

We fired up the Smokey Joe again and had brats with sauerkraut and baked beans.

 Our distant goal

 Closer, but not there yet

 Field of Dandelions

 The Jeep road

Day trip to Durango

We've been to Durango many times, drawn by the railroad, Durango to Silverton.  Lots of other tourists are drawn as well, so Durango is a happy place with lots of tee shirt shops, and places to eat.  Lots of art for sale as well.  We had the added incentive of checking out the zipline that our fellow camper told us of.

We got lucky with a parking space right by the train station, and a street hawker, pushing rafting, and jeep trips caught my elbow.  He told me he could arrange the train-zipline for us, for only $560!! Whoa... expensive? cough cough.  Well, I guess I wont be doing that.  So we walked up and down the full length of Main Street, checking restaurants, shoe stores, and art places.   Then we went to the depot and I thought I would ask there about the train-zipline, as after all, they do sell tickets for the train.  The nice lady told yes indeed they do, and the tickets are only $159.  If I had false teeth, they would have fallen out.  Man, did I get excited.  This is the premier zipline in the USA, with 27 ziplines a circuit, much like playing golf for 27 holes.  The train ride, lunch, beverages are all included.  Picking up literature, I said, just to confirm, that's $159, right?  Only to hear, "Oh, no that's $459."   No doubt I visibly slumped.

We followed that up with coffee at McDonalds, and then chose a restaurant, Carver's Brewery.  The Wednesday burger special included a free beer, so we both ordered monster burgers, half of which came home for dinner.

A quick shopping trip at Walmart and then back to the Campground, first stopping at the Mesa Verde Visitor's Center.  It's brand new and outside the park entry.  The old visitors center was located 15 miles in the park, a big improvement on planning.

The rest of the day was spent napping and reading.  The wifi here is really great, streaming videos, etc. Ginnie tried to catch up on her TV shows.  We turned in early,  no pics today.

First Day in Mesa Verde Country

Ginnie, the practical one, suggested that we had laundry to do, so that and shopping for groceries made the list.  Yesterday afternoon, after checking in at the Forestry Office, we had spent a short amount of time at the Anasazi Heritage Center.  We had less than an hour before closing, so it was a quick tour.  We saw documentation of human habitation in North and South America going back 13,000 years.  Whoa...

Today we went back to the Center and took a short hike to excavated pueblo ruins.  The ruins are on the top of a hill with a commanding 360 degree view.   After shopping and laundry we spent the day relaxing and reading at our camp.

We visited with another camping couple who were going to zipline for his 65th.  He walked by this evening and described his adventure.  We are going to go to Durango tomorrow and check out the zipline.  It combines a ride on the train with the zipline.  It sounds like a thing to do, but he did say it was expensive and it would be his birthday present.  We'll check it out ourselves tomorrow.
 

 Escalante Pueblo ruins 

 Ute Mountain

 This sign describes a Ute Indian legend concerning Ute Mountain, how it resembles a reclining chief.  Bad light, sorry

 Relaxing at camp, grilling Pork Chops

 About 120 degrees of a 360 degree view

Leaving the dust behind

After Church Sunday, we hitched the trailer to the truck and headed north.  We are both super sneezy from consuming too much dust these past days.  Memories of south west Colorado are acting like a magnet, so off we went, leaving behind beautiful stands of ponderosa pine and Arizona mountains.  We drove to Gallup, NM, about 20 miles from the NM/AZ border and spent the night at a commercial campground.  This gave us the opportunity to take showers, the first in 10 days.  Gallup was dusty, but less so than we had been experiencing.  BNSF trains, more than 100 per day, gave us background sounds all through out the night.  Proximity to I40, and traffic sounds added to the ambiance.  Suffice to say, we pulled up anchor after breakfast and showering.

What a difference 150 miles can make.  That's the distance we drove today to arrive at Mesa Verde RV Resort.  We are parked in a spacious (for a commercial campground) site, with a view of mountains out our back window.  We actually have green grass under our picnic table, and we seem to have left the dust behind.  Hooray!!

I had a bit of anxiety, when several days ago, I checked the wheel nuts on our trailer tires.  For the first time, I realized I didn't have a lug wrench that would fit the wheel nuts!  We were contemplating driving on a highway that bisected the Navajo Nation Reservation, where I expected little or no cell service, so I wanted to be prepared to change a flat if I couldn't contact triple A.  The reason the lug wrench wouldn't fit is due to extra long lugs or maybe more properly called threaded studs.  I happened to have an old spark plug socket, which was deep enough and I thought it would hold, but I didn't have enough leverage to actually loosen a nut.

I called Danny Lange, our dealer, to share my problem, and Danny suggested the obvious, get a half inch deep socket and a breaker bar.  This we did do, so I was able to drive the road through the Reservation with no qualms about tire trouble.

Later this afternoon, we drove over to Dolores, Co to a Forest Service Headquarters and got some info on hiking trails.  I also bought a Forest Map, now $10, for what used to be free.

There appears to be lots to do here, and we are looking forward to having fun.

No photos today

Alpine, AZ

We got to Alpine Wednesday afternoon, and decided to stay for four nights.  Doing so would allow us to attend Church Services Sunday morning and then take off right after.  The Church, St. Helens, is small, probably could seat 100 or so, and their Priest has been on vacation.  We were told that he would be back to conduct services this Sunday.  When we got to the Church, Sunday morning, we learned that he was seriously ill, with a renal condition.  A deacon peformed a Eucharistic service that was very brief.  I think we've entertained larger groups at our home than attended the service.  They all know each other, and obviously works for them, as we were easily the first out of the parking lot, as all stood around and visited.

For four days, we did lots of reading, occasional walks, no real hikes, visited town and the library for internet access.  We did have phone at the campsite, but no internet and no real news either.  We ate lunch one day at a place called Firefox.  We had outstanding sandwiches, mine was a green chili cheeseburger and Ginnie had an Italian Sausage sub.  Hers was so big that we took half home and shared that for dinner.  All we added was some leftover three bean salad that we had in the fridge.

I think we found the altitude (8,000 ft) and the sun to be a real factor in our limited physical activity.  Stand in the shade and you were cold, move into the sun and you were immediately hot.  It's the hardest climate I've been in to figure out how to dress comfortably.  That part of Arizona is in the midst of a two year drought and it is dusty, dusty, dusty.  We both sneeze a lot and dust is every where.

After consulting maps and weather reports, we decided to make our way to southern Colorado.  I've booked an Rv Resort just outside the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park.   We plan to stay a full week.  I picked the resort as a regional Aliner group is holding a fall rally there, and recommend the facility highly.  We plan to use the resort as a base and explore the area. We've been there before, and know there is a lot to offer there.  After next week, I think we will meander back in to New Mexico, the northern parts, before setting our sights on Arkansas.

Below are pictures of and from our campsite at Lake Luna Campground outside Alpine, AZ.