Monday, September 29, 2008

Durango To Silverton via Railroad

Ahhh, this train ride had to be one of the MOST scenic trains we have road on. Leaving Durango around 9:30 am it started slow as we chugged our way out of Durango. After leaving Durango behind the scenery began to get much better. Especially after we went under Hwy 550 and started our route along the Animas River. We rode in the Parlor car which was a good choice as it was enclosed and was certainly a lot warmer than the open air cars. The morning temps were in the high 50's.

Our train was a very long one with around 20 cars. Because of this and the big climb we had to make, we picked up a second engine right before starting the climb. I forget just how high we did climb, but I believe it was somewhere around 2,000 feet between Durango and Silverton.

At one point we were 400 feet above the Animas River. From the cliffs along the railroad is where the famous jump was made in the move "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Do you remember the line? "I can't jump, I don't know how to swim. Not a problem, the jump will kill you anyway" or something close to that! There was a good bit of the movie filmed in this area.

The closer to Silverton we got, the more fall color we saw. It was absolutely beautiful! Because of the time of day and the angles used when taking pictures, they don't do the color justice. I wish that they had turned out better.

The weather was perfect until we arrived in Silverton. Just a mile or so out, the clouds really started piling up and by the time we arrived at the station, it was totally overcast and threatening rain which about 30 minutes later came down upon us.

We had lunch at the Shady Lady Restaurant. This building was built in the late 1880's and was the location of the last brothel in Silverton. Yes, Silverton had a wild side, gambling, shoot-outs, brothels, and lots of saloons. Interesting though is the fact that there was a imaginary line drawn down the middle of Greene St. dividing the town between the law-abiding, church going citizens and the others.

Because of the rain, we didn't get but a few pictures from Silverton and didn't get to walk around town like we wanted to do. We had just over a hour after lunch before the bus left to bring us back to Durango and spent most of that time in just two stores to stay out of the cold rain - the temperatures were in the high 40's!

The bus ride back was nice even though it rained for the first 30 minutes, then remained overcast until we were about 30 miles from Durango. There was no chance for picture taking on the bus.

Because the weather in Silverton wasn't the best, we have decided to drive back in the Jeep. It will be a 2 1/2 hour drive one way, but hey, we're retired! I'm not looking forward to the drive between Durango and Silverton. There is only one way in, Hwy 550, and there are two passes to go over, a lot of road without any shoulder with straight drop offs. But, I figure that if we made it up and back from Pikes Peak, this probably won't be as bad - at least it's paved! We have friends that drive their motorhome to Silverton every year but as much as I'd like to take the motorhome to Silverton, I don't think it will happen. Anyway, I hope to get more fall color pictures on the day we drive. We can stop at the pull-off's and several of them were very scenic.

Enjoy the pictures from the Durango/Silverton Train at http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

Come on back as we still have the Four Corners and now Silverton to visit. See ya!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Driving The Mountains Around Durango, CO.


This coming Sunday we are going to ride the Durango & Silverton Railroad so yesterday we thought we would drive to Durango so that we would know how long it takes to drive there and where we will need to park, board etc.

The drive to Durango took us through a lot of high desert area including the towns of Bloomfield and Aztec. Now, mind you, there is nothing wrong with high desert, but I'm really getting tired of brown again. It reminds me of our winter in 2006 that we spent in Arizona. I'm just ready for some real trees, green grass - you get the picture.

We arrived in Durango and found the train station without any problem. We figured it took a good hour to get here and that was going through two road construction areas, which we hope will not be "worked" on Sunday. We went to the ticket counter to see if we could get our tickets in advance - no problem. Just one thing we won't have to do on Sunday. The lady gave us a map showing where we are to park and said that we would begin boarding at 8:30 am. For Dean, that's get up time! He will just have to get up with the roosters on Sunday.

We then drove around town and I have to say that I was disappointed. I guess I was expecting more of a "old west" town, but Durango is more cosmopolitan - the downtown area does have so old buildings, but not much for shopping unless you are into art or jewelry (the expensive kind). We had spotted a Denny's on the highway and decided to have lunch, breakfast for me, there.
After lunch, we drove out in the country to find Lemon Dam and Vallecito Resevoir. We found Lemon Dam and lake without any problem. When we arrived at the dam, the road turned to gravel and according to the map we had, this was still the way to Vallecito. As we were driving along the lake, a vehicle came toward us. Well I flagged them down and asked it we were on the right road. The answer - NO! OK, so I got directions and turned around. It seems that there are few road signs on this particular county road and we missed the turn. We had our Garmin turned on, but it didn't even know we were on a road! Some help it is.

Anyway, we made it to Vallecito Dam and Resevoir and where not disappointed. The drive took us through some beautiful valleys full of farms and livestock. The trees are beginning to change in this area and there were some beautiful scenes. Yes, I took pictures and will be posting them shortly. For my readers that like to camp in the National Forest, there is a Natl. Forest Campground right on the lake. We drove down in the park and it was really pretty. There is a road marked for "big rigs" to get down to the campsites. The sign said it was down 2,000 feet but in reality it was closer to 200!

We circled around to Bayfield which is on Hwy 160 then on back to Farmington the way we came. It was a really nice day. One that if we were not fulltiming, would not have taken place! Life is good.

Today - Friday, A Could Have Been A Bad Day!

Today we left mid-morning to do laundry. When we returned we smelled what to us smelled like rotten potato's. Well, I got into the cabinets looking for the smell and didn't find anything. We emptied the trash can, thinking it might be coming from there. It wasn't.

At this point, I need to tell you what was happening here at the campground. The owner hired two young men to do some weeding and watering of trees. A couple of days ago we returned from a trip to town to find that they had added a "y" fitting to our "y" fitting on the water facet. No problem except that we found our water pressure inside very low. Dean went out and turned their water down and that gave us more pressure. We stopped by the office and told them what we did and the manager said he would have them move the connection to another site. Today while we were gone, they removed their "y" fitting and hose, and then turned our water back on, but they also opened the backwash hose that Dean had connected. I'm sure that these young men didn't know what they were doing, otherwise they wouldn't have turned the water on the backwash hose.

Back to the odor - I went into the bathroom and noticed that the toilet water was kinda tinted looking. Fortunately, I put the lid down first and then proceeded to flush - mistake! Black water spewed out the sides (remember the lid was down) and onto the rug and floor - yuck!

Needless to say, we had a mess to clean up. Dean dumped the black tank and while he was doing that, one of the young men came over to say that he had turned our water off because he saw water running off our roof. Well, it wasn't clean water he saw, but black water coming out the vent! So now we don't just have a bathroom to clean up, but a motorhome to wash as well.

Dean just came in from beginning to wash off the area of the motorhome where the black water had run off saying his brush that hooks onto the hose just broke! Will it ever end?

I still can smell a odor inside. Hopefully it will soon go away. Everything has been cleaned and the rugs are outside in a bag to be laundered tomorrow. My concern is that the smell is now coming through the vent pipe. If so, I'm not sure how we will get rid of it.

In spite of everything - I wouldn't change anything, well, maybe educate those young men on RV plumbing!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Mesa Verde - A Trip To The Past - Part 2

Continuing on our drive on the Mesa Top Loop road, we finally came to what we had come for. Cliff dwellings!

We stopped at Sun Point View and there they were, at least five ruins in the canyon wall. As you will see in the pictures, some were well preserved and others have deteriorated. After taking in the view here we drove on to Sun Temple and that's where we got our first view of the Cliff Palace - Wow! Cliff Palace is the "prize" of all the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde. I believe it is also the largest, but don't quote me on that. I read somewhere in the park that there are many, many cliff dwellings that the public don't have access to, I'm sure because of accessibility. Anyway, after taking pictures of Cliff Palace and just admiring the views, we decided we were hungry and drove to Spruce Tree House where there was a snack bar.

Arriving at the parking lot for Spruce Tree House, I grabbed the first empty parking spot I could find and we went to the museum and watched a film on the park and it's past inhabitants. Then we walked to see Spruce Tree House, took more pictures and went off in search for food! We finally found. We finally found the snack bar and were walking up the steps to go in and out the door comes our friend, Jan, whom we had been camping with last week. Then we spotted Wes, sitting on the patio with their friends. Nice surprise! We got a snack and sat with them and visited for awhile. I knew that they were in the park, but because of no cell phone service, couldn't get in touch with them. After bidding them farewell again, we took off to drive Cliff Palace Loop.

This loop takes you to Cliff Palace and if you have a tour ticket you get to walk down about 100 steep steps to the cliff dwelling. We opted not to tour, but there is a outcropping where you can see Cliff Palace from above. Remember, the first place we saw it was across the canyon on Mesa Top Loop. You can see the Cliff Palace really well from there and you also get great views of the canyon. It also gives you a better sense of just how steep the walls of the canyon are and how hard it must of been for them to get to the top to do their farming.

I guess because of the lifestyle we live today, it's so hard to imagine living back then. All their crops were grown on the top of the mesa and believe me, it's a long climb up. They reached their fields on the top of the mesa by a hand-and-toe-hold trail pecked into the canyon walls, but I have to wonder how many lost footing and fell to their death?

We also passed a area that had been burned in a 2000 fire - acres and acres of burnt trees, so sad to see. I don't know if the fire was due to nature or man, but it sure drives home the fact that it does take many years before things return to normal, if ever! I have a picture of this area posted as well.

We began our 20 mile + drive back to the entrance to begin our drive back to Farmington. The only wild life we saw today where some wild horses and I did get a picture of one of them.

It was a beautiful drive coming back home since it was later in the day and the sun was beginning to set about the time we got to Shiprock, NM. We had a long but great day and returned home very tired. It was really great running into our friends, Wes & Jan again.

Life is good!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Mesa Verde - A Trip To The Past

Yesterday was supposed to be a nice clear day - never trust the weatherman! We began our two hour drive to Mesa Verde in partly overcast skies. At least it wasn't raining and really didn't look like it was going to either. At least the weatherman had that part correct.

Our drive took us through Shiprock, NM., north to Cortez, CO., and then east to Mesa Verde Natl. Park. There is a big rock that reaches 7000 feet into the sky in Shiprock and it is call, of course, Shiprock. I attempted to get a picture, but our highway turned away from it, and then there was a morning haze, but it is kind of interesting anyway. On our drive north toward Cortez, CO., we passed Chimney Rock. I again attempted to get pictures, but why, oh why do they always put the telephone and electric wires on the side of the road that is scenic? Anyway, on our return from Mesa Verde, I did get pictures of Chimney Rock and Shiprock at sunset. As always, pictures are at http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

We arrived at Mesa Verde late morning after a very pleasant, scenic drive. We passed through the entrance gate and discovered that we would be climbing close to 3000 feet to get to the ruins - wow, we thought we were done with this uphill, zig-zag road thing - not!

The drive to Far View where the visitors center is was really a pretty drive even though it was full of curves. Again, like the drive to the top of Pikes Peak, the road, in many places, clung to the side of mountains. In one or two of my pictures you can see how they shored up the road to keep it from sliding down the mountain. At Far View, we stopped to check out the museum and small gift shop. I was able to get some pictures of jewelry displays inside the museum. They are labeled which tribe created them. Far View visitor center is where you purchase any tickets you may want for the ranger lead tours to specific ruins. We opted not to take any of these tours as they involve a good bit of hiking. Instead we decided on the driving tour.

Our first stop was at Far View Sites. From A.D. 900 to 1300, it was one of the most densely populated parts of the mesa. Nearly 50 villages have been identified within a half square mile area, home to hundreds of people. Here we viewed Far View House which had 40 rooms on the ground floor and a unknown number on the second floor. There are five kivas here, four in the structure and one outside. Kiva is a Hopi word for ceremonial room - here underground chambers that may be comparable to later churches. Ancestral Puebloans may have used kivas for healing rites or to pray for rain, luck in hunting or a good crop. They were also gathering places and sometimes used for weaving. A Kiva consisted of six main items - a ventilator, bench, air deflector, fire-pit, sipapu and pilaster. Entry was by ladder.

Next door to Far View House was Pipe Shrine House, so named due to the dozen decorated clay pipes found on the floor of the large kiva. There are 20 rooms on the ground floor and there may have been a second floor here also.

We did a short hike to Far View Tower. This consisted of three kivas, 16 small one-story rooms and the tower. Nearly 60 round towers have been found at Mesa Verde, but their function has yet to be discovered.

From Far View Sites we drove on to Mesa Top Loop, a 6 mile loop that gives you great views of Cliff Canyon. First we stopped at the Pithouse. These where occupied by the first Ancestral Puebloans know as Basketmakers for their skill at the craft. They lived in pithouses from about 550 to 750. The pithouse featured a living room sunk a few feet in the ground. Four corner timbers supported the roof. The firepit had a air deflector. An antechamber most likely contained storage bins or pits. The sipapu was a hole for passage to the underworld, from which the people had come. Pithouses later evolved into kivas.

Next stop on the loop was at Navajo Canyon View. A beautiful deep canyon that makes me wonder how these people got around. I sure couldn't picture me climbing these walls!

From here we drove to points where we finally got to view some of the cliff dwellings. I'm going to do Mesa Verde in two parts since there was so much to this National Park. I'll be posting more later today about our adventure in Mesa Verde so check back.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Farmington, NM

We made the drive from Fox Creek, CO. to Farmington, NM without incident except for delays due to road construction. We had reservations at Mom & Pop's RV Park, not knowing anything about it except what I've read on RV Park Reviews web site. It indeed has paved roads and gravel sites. We got a back-in site along side truck route 64. The site was almost to short and the front end of the motorhome was in the drive by a couple of feet. All the back-in sites are short and the pull-through sites are for those staying overnight only. We had originally thought we would stay three weeks and that is why we were put into a back-in site. After getting set up and going to Sonja's, a really good restaurant, we came home and decided to relax the rest of the day. That was a laugh. The road noise is so bad, not just cars, but motorcycles without mufflers, trucks with jake brakes working and teens with their boomboxes booming. This was almost all night long! There was a time between mid-night and 5 am that it finally quited down some and I was able to sleep. I figured that there was no way I could take three weeks of this so after breakfast on Thursday morning, we went to find Lee Acres RV Park. I had tried to call them before we left Fox Creek but couldn't get through, seems I had a wrong number. The only thing that Lee Acres has going for it, is that it is located well off route 64, and has 50 amp sites, but at least it would be a lot quieter. We found a corner site that was empty, where we could use the King Dome and the dish for internet and procured it for a Saturday morning move.



On Friday morning, after two sleepless nights, we moved to Lee Acres. It is mostly dirt roads with little gravel, but a large RV Park. Most of the people parked here are gas/oil field workers and so far it's been quiet. There is some traffic on the local road, but nothing like on truck route 64.



I'm getting used to the dirt and dust since being in NM & CO, yea, right! What's three more weeks. It will take me a month to get NM & CO out of the motorhome when we return east this fall.



OK, so I'm writing this for all my RV readers. Mom & Pop's is great for overnight, you'll get a pull-through site that is a little more removed from the highway, not much though. Only 30 amp service. Unfortunately, RV Park reviews didn't mention the highway noise.



Lee Acres is OK, no amenities, not even a bath house. But it does have fairly large sites and good 50 amp service. Oh yes, the view is much better here - open country vs. being in the city.



We are planning on visiting Durango, CO. and taking the train from there to Silverton, CO. next week. We also want to visit Mesa Verde and the Four Corners. There is much to do in this area and it really surprises me that there are not some nicer campgrounds here. Maybe I missed them? Anyway, check back as I know I'll have lots of pictures

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Sands of Time




Sunday morning the six of us took off for Great Sand Dunes Natl. Park. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and a bright sun - it promised to warm up from the night's low of 37 degrees.

The dunes are really awesome - nothing that you would expect to see nestled up to 14,000 foot mountains in the middle of Colorado, that's for sure. The highest dune is 750 feet high. It really amazed me how many people where climbing these dunes - some even made it to the top. I was told that for every step forward you slide back about a half step - whew - makes my legs hurt thinking about it. We did walk out on the "floor" area of the dunes and I found a interesting green rock. I'm really curious as to what kind of stone it is. I was told that there are rocks called Colorado emeralds - maybe this is one of them. I found it in the creek bed that runs around the dunes (it was dry at this time of year). For more info on the dunes do a google search - some really interesting stuff!

We then drove to South Fork, CO. and had lunch at the Hungry Logger - not bad but still not real good. I'm wondering if there are any good restaurants in Colorado. We sure haven't found many.

On our return back to the campground, we stopped at Wally World in Alamosa and also stopped to get some KFC for dinner.

This was a all day trip and we returned home hungry, tired and ready to rest.

Monday we decided was a down day. Works for me! Dean rinsed the motorhome off, I drove to town to pick up our mail and then spent the rest of the day having fun. We cooked out and Jan made dutch oven peach cobbler which was very good.

Today (Tuesday) is another down day. We are grilling chicken this afternoon. This is the last day for this campground, so we will also start getting ready to move tomorrow.

We've had a change of plans. We could not get in a campground near Albuquerque for the next three weeks so we have decided to go west to Farmington and spend about three weeks there. In a way, I'm glad as now we can visit the four corners, Mesa Verde and Durango. This is a area I wanted to get to but had figured another time.

It will probably be several days before another post, but don't forget to check back sometime - see ya!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

Friday morning we left the campground early - 7:37 am was the departure time assigned to us by Jan! Six still sleepy people climbed into Jan & Wes's truck and we began our adventure for the day. By the time we arrived in Antonito, about 15 minutes later, we were awake and excited to get on with our train adventure.

The first part of our trip was by bus from Antonito, CO to Chama, NM departing at 8:30 am. The drive was very scenic, especially going up and over the pass (I forgot the name) that was over 10,000 feet. The only drawback to the ride was that the mountains where shrouded in clouds, so that meant that part of the time we rode in foggy conditions. Some deer were spotted on the other side of the bus, of course. The only "wild" animals we saw on our side were cows and horses.

We arrived in Chama just shortly before 10 am - just enough time for potty calls and a couple of pictures. We boarded the train for what was to become a very exciting, 64 mile long train ride on a historic narrow gauge railroad line that was built in the late 1800's.

NOTE: The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is America's longest and highest narrow gauge railroad.

We started out from Chama on a 4% grade that would eventually take us to 10,015 feet in elevation at Cumbres Pass. The steam (coal fired) engine huffed and puffed it's way along the tracks and we were doing really good until we had to stop for cows on the track! Well, let me tell you, getting started again was fun. Because of the moisture in the morning air, the tracks were wet and the engineer had a very difficult time getting traction on the rails. This caused the train to go backward several times as he tried to get us going forward. There was a work car ahead of us, and they workers on it came back and spread sand on the tracks to enable the train to finally get traction and we were off again. During this time, I was outside on the open car and the historian was telling us that up to a couple of years ago, it was not unusual for the train to have up to six derailments per trip! Now that was a scary thought. Especially in the areas where the tracks where just barely hanging along side a cliff! He explained how the work crew would get the derailed car back on track - sure glad that didn't happen to us.

True to it's name, the train ride is very scenic. Around every curve, and there are many, many curves, there is something different.

Here is a copy of the map of the train route - you can see just how many curves there are....

Page one....


Page two....


Page three....



Our stop for lunch was at Osier. This used to be a toll station on the road from Conejos to Chama. It was once a small community with a store and rooming house for travelers. Today it is a lunch stop for the Cumbres & Toltec RR passengers which is included in the price of the ticket. We had our choice between a turkey dinner, a meatloaf dinner or soup and salad. It was served cafeteria style, but was all you can eat. Dean and I chose the homemade meatloaf dinner (very good) and with it we got mashed potato's, mac n cheese, corn, peas, roll, drink and desert - some of the best coconut custard pie I've had in a long time.

After lunch we boarded a different train for the rest of the ride back to Antonito. This took us through Toltec Gorge where we were 600 feet above the Rio de Los Pinos River, through Rock Tunnel which was bored through 360 feet of solid rock, around Phantom Curve and through Mud Tunnel at 342 feet. During the ride from Chama, NM to Antonito, CO we crossed the Colorado/New Mexico 11 times - sure glad this is the USA and we didn't need a passport!

The only things that I will say I didn't like about this adventure is that it was just a bit to long and the seats on the second train were very uncomfortable, at least to me. There is also a lot of movement of the train cars - side to side and bumpy. Other than that, it has to be one of the best steam train rides we have taken and the scenery can't be found anyplace else. Would I do it again, probably in a couple of years, but I'd do the shorter trip.

We arrived back in Antonito, CO around 4:15 pm and I think all six of us were tired. I know it was a early night to bed for us.

I took over 150 pictures during our train ride and still need to sort through most of them. I should be able to get them posted sometime later today so check back at http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos for new pictures. UPDATE - POSTED

Canon City to Conejos River Campground & WAR EAGLE

Gosh, it seems like I'm always catching up and this post is no different. Guess we're having way to much fun and posting is taking a back seat!

Last Wednesday we left Canon City en route to Conejos River Campground in Fox Creek, Co. This drive took us back through the Big Horn Sheep Canyon on US Route 50, west of Canon City, again. I think I could drive through this canyon many times before tiring of it. This time, being in the motorhome, gave us a different perspective since we sit up much higher than in the Jeep. If you ever get near this area, I highly recommend driving through the canyon. I posted earlier about our previous drive through here, so won't bore you with repeats.

I was a little apprehensive about the pass we had to go over at Poncha Spring. The elevation was only just over 9,000 feet but it was still a good climb. Since I'm posting about it, you know we made it - LOL! Once we arrived at the summit the ride down was nothing - from the summit it opens into a very large valley which descends very slowly about 1000 feet in 50 - 60 miles. You don't even realize that you are coming back down in elevation. The drive through the valley was pretty - mostly high desert, but you have large mountain ranges on both sides. As we neared Alamosa we could see the Great Sand Dunes Natl Park off to the east. More about this in a later post.

We arrived a Conejos (pronounces co-no-hos) Campground around 1 pm, got set up and drove back to Antonito (about 13 miles east) for some lunch. We found a nice Mexican/American restaurant and had some pretty good food. I stopped back at the office when we returned and found out that Gary, the owner, is from Auburn, AL - WAR EAGLE!!! He even has a Auburn Flag flying in front of the office - yea!

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting our internet dish set up and waiting the arrival of Tom and Dianna. They arrived around 4 pm and it was really great seeing them - it's been a long while.

Tomorrow Wes and Jan are due to arrive and it will be great seeing them again as well.

Thursday ----

The campground is near the Conejos River - state park land separates us from the river. Thursday morning, Dianna and I took a walk to find the river and were very disappointed that once we crossed the state park land we found the river to be down a very steep embankment of 20 to 30 feet. Guess we won't be dipping our toes in that river!

Tom, Dianna, Dean and I went back to the Mexican restaurant for lunch and enjoyed it again.
After lunch it was relax and wait for Wes and Jan to arrive which they did mid-afternoon.

It is fun getting re-acquainted with old friends. We are going to be spending several days with them and I'm sure that there are good times ahead.

Tomorrow is the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Train Ride so be sure to check back.

I've posted a few pictures of the campground and river at our picasa web site.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Royal Gorge RR Trip



HAPPY 37th ANNIVERSARY TO US!


Sunday morning the skies were a beautiful blue with few clouds and a perfect day for our morning train ride into the Royal Gorge. We selected to ride in the dome car and it was a good choice. The seat were so comfortable and the dome windows allowed for great views. The only problem was they hadn't cleaned the windows for a long time so taking pictures through them was basically out of the question. The car we were in seats about 40 people and there were only 12 of us, so it was like having a private rail car - nice.

The train takes you from Canon City through the gorge to Parkdale, then comes back through the gorge to Canon City. On the return trip, it stops under the Royal Gorge Bridge for about 15 minutes for picture taking. There is a open air car where we could go to take pictures and I was there for a good bit of the return trip. The next problem was the sun. Now, I love sunshine, but not when I want to take pictures where the sun is in my direct vision! Some of the pictures I took have sunspots on them, but nothing I could do about it. They still aren't bad.

The train ride was really nice, probably one of the most enjoyable we've done.
After the ride, we went to Mr. Ed's in Canon City for lunch and it was not good! I don't recommend this restaurant. The food was not hot and the entree was brought before you could even begin eating your salad. The only good thing I had was the pie - it was OK.

After lunch we drove Oak Creek Grade Road which provided some spectacular views after we drove up the mountain about 2500 feet. You could see a long way into the valley - I didn't take any pictures, don't know why except I was driving and didn't stop. This ride ended up being about a 80 mile circle taking us through Westcliff and back to the campground. A nice Sunday afternoon drive.

We are going to Florence, CO today, but it is overcast and they are calling for rain. Not sure what we'll find there, but if there is anything interesting, I'll take picture and post here. Otherwise, we leave here on Wednesday - our 37th Anniversary - heading for Fox Creek and meeting up with some friends. We are really looking forward to that. From there I'm sure I'll have a lot to report so check back....

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Catching Up - Again!

Yesterday we drove from Woodland Park to Canon City (pronounced Canyon) and got settled in at Royal View Campground. We can see the Royal Gorge Bridge from here and I'll get some pictures today. One drawback of this campground which is located about 10 miles west of the city, is no cell service on Verizon - where are my people - you know the commercial. I guess I lost them back in the mountains somewhere!


We made another trip to Cripple Creek last week and visited the Heritage Museum which was very interesting. Told a lot of the history about the mining in that area.

This past Sunday, Diamond Campground celebrated Labor Day with a free picnic for their guests. We had smoked brisket, pulled pork, potato salad, fruit, and cake. It was delicious and who ever the cooks were, they did a great job. We also had entertainment - a couple of singers and the New, Not So Newly Wed Game. Our friends, Jack and Danielle where contestants and came in third - good job, at least you weren't last - LOL!

Jack and Danielle were the first full time rv'ing couple we met and introduced us to a great lifestyle. Their family member Poppy (their pet) is one of my favorite doggy friends. It was great seeing them again even though we didn't get to spend a lot of time with them. They work at Diamond Campground as workcampers, so between them working and us sightseeing we would wave at each other or chat for a few minutes every now and then. We will probably see them again in Summerdale this winter at Rainbow Plantation.

John, another workcamper that we were parked beside, sent me a picture of the bear that was in the campground a couple of mornings ago. Of course I missed it. Thanks John! Here is the picture - the dumpster was just across the road from the front of the bus and I always open the front curtains when I get up, but for some reason that morning I didn't, otherwise I would have seen it! Story of my life, day late and dollar short!