10/01/2011, Duchesne, Ut
It is now time to head south for the winter, just like the birds. Indian Canyon is beautiful this time of year with all it's fall colors. Our destinationis Columbus, NM.
We left right between weather fronts and had a clear trip down. From Utah we went through southern Colorado and made a few hour stop at Mesa Verde. Drove through the morefield campground and then the rest of the park. On our way out we stopped at the Village store just to see what was going on.
We spoke to Carolyn and asked how does one become a camp host here? Carolyn gave us all the information and the phone number to speak to the manager Susan. We called Susan and she was excited that we wanted to work there. Susan said to enjoy the holiday's and she would call us after the New Year.
So we left Mesa Verde and made our way to Columbus, NM. Arrival date was October 4th and we started volunteering the next day. Our days to work are Monday - Wednesday leaving the other four days to explore.
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09/25/2011, Utah
Today we left Liz & Bert's house to hit the trail. We started on a paved road that turned into a dirt road and then a dirt trail and up a steep rocky river wash. When we turned the corner and saw this Russ and I looked at each other and said "Oh S___ what a maden voyage this will be". Here we go. Russ is at the helm. We were in low gear and crawled our way up. There were a few times I thought we would have to get out and lift one end over a rock. Luckly we did not have to do that. This little gocart was amazing. When we got to the top there was Liz & Bert waiting and wondering if we would make it, (they have a Polaris RZR). The "Thing" did great.
We took a break to let things cool off before hitting the trail. Only Liz and Bert know what lies ahead.
On the trail we head through the trees that lead to magnificant views. We stop by the side of the road to have a snack and marvel in our trip so far. Liz and Bert are alot faster than we are so they get there first, good thing since they are the cruise directors on this trip.
The next thing we know is we are at the top of a 10,000 foot high mountain where you could the back side of a mountain hill with snow still on it. There were two places we could see this. That's pretty amazing since it is late summer.
So far we are pretty impressed with the "Thing (hammerhead". We then head back down the way we came. At one point we had to stop to let the breaks cool. Going down, lets you know how steep going up was and we did not even notice it.
The most interesting ride negotiation was the steep rocky wash. All in all the Thing did great and did not skip a beat. Now we think it is broken in.
Back to the house to have Margarita's and dinner and discuss the good times.
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09/24/2011, Columbus New mexico
Since our last blog a lot has happened. In October 2010 Russ had hip replacement and one week after his surgery I had emergency Gallbladder removeal. After recouping from that we left Duchesne Ut and headed south. Our time was spent in Sierra Vista Arizona and surrounding area. The only thing it is missing is the color green.
We headed back home in June and spent the summer following up with health. All is good in the health area.
As you know "Smoke - N - Blues" has been up for sale. While we were waiting for a buyer we were busy with starting the next chapter in our life.
First the toyota camery wagon needed work and the cost was more than the cars was worth. So we decided that we would trade the car for a truck. We purchased a Chevy Silverado 2500 HD. Then we went out to look for a bumper pull trailer. We found the trailer and sold the Motorhome to purchase the 29' 2009 Keystone Mountaineer trailer. It had been used three times. What a find. Nice little appartment. We also purchased a gocart "Hammerhead" toy.
Now it is time to head south. We ended up in Columbus, NM volunteering for the Columbus Historical Society. We have been here since Oct. 4th.
We headed south to leave the cold and snow in Utah. What a joke. We have learned that its not how far south you go, it's the elevation that maters. Columbus, NM is at 4000 feet. We are 3 miles from the mexico border. We have had freezing temperatures and even snow twice. Next year we will head to lower elevation.
We have friends that have Rzr side-by-side OHV (off highway vechiles). We got bit when we meet them at Coral Pink Sand Dunes last year. Since we could not afford the Rzr we purchased the Hammerhead. The first short trip was with our good friends Liz & Bert up in Providence Utah. We drove out their driveway and down the street to the trail. Up the trail a short ways and took a break. Then it did not start. Bert and Russ figured it out and to work they went. They bypassed the celinoid and then it started and back to the house we went. Russ went and purchased a new fuse housing and we are back in business.
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12/01/2010, Sierra Vista AZ
December 1st finds us on the road to Sierra Vista. We arrived at Bill and Linda's house where we got the motor home settled. They have a beautiful place. The fur butts (Taco & Lucy) really enjoy the back yard. They can run until they drop.
Today is December 7th; we have been here for 7 days and have seen havalinas (wild pigs), road runner, and many birds. The neighbor said there was a sighting of a couple cats. Now we are not talking the household domestic kind. No we are talking about the wild mountain cats. So I guess we will not let the dogs out at night unsupervised. We have been learning the household stuff that will need to be done while Bill and Linda are gone. We have also been exploring Sierra Vista to find out where what is available.
We have been staying in Sierra Vista house sitting. Since we have been here we have seen a couple of deer run across the back of the backyard fence, bunnies hop across the front yard and on the way back from the Tucson Airport at about 2:00 am and ten miles from Sierra Vista we saw laying in the center of the right lane what looked like a misplaced lane marker. As we approached Russ changed lanes to the left lane and the lane marker got up and ran off the road. It turned out to be a cougar. This morning (Dec 28) I got up early to use the bathroom. On the way to the head I let the furbutts out to go potty and continued to the bathroom. While sitting on the head the furbutts started barking nonstop. I got off the head and looked out the door to find a deer smack dab in the middle of the back yard feeding on grass. The deer did not seem to afraid of the dogs because he just leisurely walked over to the fence and jumped over it and took a couple more steps and stopped and looked back before deciding to graze other pastures. That is pretty much the excitement here.
January 1, 2011, Happy New Year. Here in Sierra Vista, 2010 decided to go out like a lion. We knew a bad storm was coming so we took down the hanging chairs, moved things that we thought might get damaged. The wind blew so hard that night it woke us up. When we woke up in the morning it was snowing and we could see the damage left behind from the wind. One of the wrought iron chairs was tipped over; a plant was blown off its stand and broke the pot, the rug out side our bedroom had been blown over to the Barbeque, the rug by the kitchen sliding doors was half blown over and the hot tub fabric cover that was snapped down, was blown off and carried about five feet. There were weeds in the Koi pond that blew in from the outside of the fence. A Fry's plastic bag decided it liked the Mesquite Tree so much that it anchored itself to it. The temperature had dropped so low and we were cold even in the house. It was a bone chilling cold that took a while to warm up.
I found another pot for the plant and Russ scooped all the weeds out of the koi pond, Phil helped and the yard was put back together in short order with the exception of the Fry's bag. Phil tried to get it out but the bag had other ideas. Last night was the coldest, down in the teens. The fish pond had ice in it. He took care of the koi filter and turned the pump to high for a while to get the water circulating. Today's high is a whopping 41 degrees.
Well, so much for heading south to the warmer weather. We shall see what the future brings.
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11/19/2010, Arizona
We drove to the Roper Lake State Park and the price for dry camping was $15.00 a night so we opted for a free BLM spot. We ended up at Gila Reptilian day site where we spent the night. The next morning the volunteer ranger came by and asked us to leave. Before we did that we took a drive to try and find the camp ground. Now that was a story in it self. The road was all gravel and wide enough to fit one car. Our SUV barley fit is some places. We only found the day site. One place it was a 15% grade. Thank goodness we did not take the motor home down that, not sure she would make it back up. After getting back to the motor home we moved down to the airport to stay. We had to get permission from the city manager to do this. We stayed there for three days. Mom and dad went over to the Roper State Park for the three days. They have a rock hot tub that is feed by a natural hot spring; although small it was pretty nice. The showers were nice there also. We had thanksgiving over at moms' trailer. I fixed the turkey, stuffing and bean bake and mom made the rest. A great thanksgiving was had by all.
We ended up at the Double Adobe RV Park for a couple of days. We go RV'ing like we go boating. We anchor out 99% of the time and go to a marina to wash the boat, take on water and do laundry. With the RV it is the same. Pull into the RV park to take on water and dump the black, gray water and do laundry. Then move to a primitive site to enjoy what it has to offer ie... wildlife, wilderness, rivers etc...
While here at the RV Park the temperatures are in the teens at night. The elevation is about 5,500 feet. I guess we need to move to lower elevation for warmer temps. Double Adobe is about 15-20 miles from the border of Mexico. The heater has been pretty temperamental and has a mind of its own. It works great for a few nights and then decides to not work in the middle of the night around 3:00 am. We know it has a sense of humor because it quit on the coldest night which was 11 degrees, thank goodness mom showed me how to make hats on the round loom. I had just finished two hats when this happened. So for a couple of night we put the hats on for sleeping. That worked great.
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11/13/2010, Utah
Well tomorrow is today November 13th, 2010 and we are up early to pull into the spot to get the tire changed. As we are starting the motor we notice that there is a truck pulling out of the spot we are to pull into. We get the levelers set so that the tire turns freely. Russ goes into the garage and nobody is around. We now play the waiting game. A couple of semi trucks pulled in and Russ talked to one and he said that the guy that was here got called out to help someone on the road and that the other guy will be in at 11:00 am. We are now sitting and hoping that someone comes in before then and that they have our special socket.
At about 10:00 am the guy shows up and he has the socket and starts working on our tire straight away. $267.00 dollars later and at 11:30 am we drive away heading for moab. We arrive in Moab and start looking for the campground. We finally found the street that leads to Sand Flats campground. You have to make a few turns in town before finding Sand Flats Road. This road winds up a steep incline and it costs $10.00 per night and the facilities consist of a pit toilet (shack out house) and a place to park. What a rip off. We chose this site because of the amount of spaces that they had and the amount of campers and RV's that we saw. We spent two days here while we check out the surrounding areas. We went for a little walk around the campground and there are a lot of fresh Cat tracks. This is our first night at Sand Flats.
Today is November 14th and we hop into mom and dad's car for a day drive. We drove the La Sal Mountain Loop road. This scenic byway took us through desert on up into the mountains to the snow line. We stopped and to let Taco and Lucy play in the snow. They have never played in the snow before. Lucy kept burying her nose as deep in the snow as if to find what was underneath. Taco just kept smelling it and wondering what that white stuff that he was walking on. As we were driving on the other side of the mountain we were on a road covered with snow, this is where we saw two mother deer with their little babies cross over the road. They saw Lucy through the window and made haste. Lucy on the other hand thought it was great fun to see them. While we were up in the snow line we could look across and down into the valley and see the red desert rock bluffs. This truly one of the best drives we have taken. One can only imagine what it would look like in September or early October with all the season changing colors. We will have to come back this way one day in autumn to see this. On our way back from the drive we stopped by the Goose Island Campground which only has something like 18 camp sites. There were only three RV's and a motorcycle camper. The camp host told us the fee was $6.00 per night and they had a bathroom not a pit toilet. From what I heard it was real clean, stocked with toilet paper and did not smell. That is a big plus. There were nice trees. So the plan was made to move to Goose Island tomorrow.
November 18, 2010 which is Monday we move the motor home over to Goose Island. We just get the motor home backed in and the wind started to blow. Mom and dad stopped in town before coming over. As they arrived the rain started and while I was directing them the rain started to pour, this lasted for about a half hour and then the sun came out and we took another drive this time we took the potash scenic byway. Since we got a late start we headed to Wendy's for an inexpensive lunch first. This drive was magnificent. Can you say Vertical??? These rock walls were straight up from the ground up to about 1000 foot or more. There were numerous rock climber's climbing. The road had these rock walls on one side and the Colorado River on the other side. The Colorado River is quite low this time of year but still neat to see. We decided to stay another night at Goose Island and go to the Arches National Park tomorrow.
This drive is an all day event especially if you like to take pictures and if you are a hiker it will take you a couple of days. There are fourteen arches in the park and uncountable majestic rock formations. It goes on forever and you never get tired of looking. It went like this. Oh wow stop, take a photo and drive real slow and then you would see another oh wow and have to stop. And then you would stop at an arch and get out and walk to it and take another 100 photo's. Around every turn and straight way you would see a rock shape that looked like an animal or person or body part or what ever you imagination comes up with. Then you pick a nice scenic place to have lunch and then continue. This park has twenty five miles from start to finish and it took us about 7 hours. A must see.
Wednesday November 17th. The heater decided not to work at about 3:00 am. It was freezing cold anyway it felt that way. The ground had frost on it when I went to the trash. Not sure how cold it was. Dad and Russ took a look at the built in heater to see if Russ could work on it. At this time we do not know what is wrong except that when turned on it blows cold air, which tells Russ that the pilot light is not lighting or it is not getting propane. Now I know what you are thinking and yes we have propane in the tank. Russ and dad pulled off the front cover and looked in side. Dad ran his finger over the over temperature censer and Russ had sprayed the thermostat with corrosion block. Not sure what fixed it but we now have heat. The rest of the day finds us touring the Canyonlands National Park.
This park had some nice vistas and of course Dead Horse Point. The rest was like the country side from Duchesne Utah to Vernal Utah. We enjoyed the other drives the best.
November 18th we move on down the road. The destination was to be Blanding but the camp sites are $10.00 and the RV parks are like $30.00 or more so we decided to go to Bluff, Utah. This camp site is also $10.00 up until Oct. 1st than it is free the rest of the year. We may stay here two nights. Everyone needs a down day and our site is next to the San Juan River. Pretty nice!
You need to go to the photo gallery on our blog page or face book to really appreciate what I have written about the scenic drives.
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