Trip to Amado, AZ to pick up Maxine-April 2021

"🎼 Drivin' down the highway, looking for adventure!"🎼

We've been at Jason's for awhile now and Janet is doing so much better that we felt the need to hit the road!  Of course, in our hurry to get home (and it was still winter!), we left Maxine, wounded from the tire incident outside Deming, NM in Amado RV Storage.  Sooooo-we left on Sunday, the 18th and went to Albuquerque, staying in a "nice enough dog friendly" Hampton Inn.  We got there early enough to take a quick tour of (mostly closed, due to the Pandemic) Old Town and found a very nice restaurant that was still open (maybe the only one, except one that wouldn't serve us on the patio, let alone serve us with a dog on the patio) who even allowed Boo to join us in our booth.

OMG, CUTE!!

We were up the next morning early to hit the road and make it to Lordsburg, NM where we have stayed before-another Hampton Inn.  Take-out and an early start next morning, had us arriving in Amado where we greeted Maxine for the first time in months.  She was camped next to a pot farm with wonderful security, so we thought she was fine-turns out she doesn't know anything about pot!!  BUT-she was secure!

SHE STARTED!  We gassed up, checked tires, got propane (took forever!), water and we were on the road-just in time to miss happy hour at our next (and first stop with Maxine) in Deming, NM-the DH Lescombes Winery.  Aside from having goatheads (weeds with thorny seeds) all over us and our rugs and worst of all-Boo!, it was a delightful sunset outside, watching the sun go down and the moon come up and picking goatheads out of our Crocs and Boo's fur.  First time we could sit outside in ages.

Since we raced down to the border area, we were determined to have a little fun on the way home. First we stopped at San Antonio to stop at one of our favorite restaurants, The Owl Cafe, for a chili cheeseburger and a margarita.  We ate outside with Boo this time which was just fine but the inside is quite a trip in itself!

The Owl Cafe

It had been many years since we visited Bosque del Apache, a National Wildlife Refuge south of Socorro, NM.  We had been down here several times for the annual migration of sandhill cranes and snow geese.  Although nothing can ever compare to the thundering sounds of thousands of those birds taking off at sunrise or returning home at sunset, this is a thrilling area to visit any time.  We saw javelinas, turkeys (mating!), vultures, hawks, deer, hundreds of ducks and just as many birds.  Below is a smattering of the beautify of the area.

This picture actually was taken around Sonoita, AZ. The
Palo Verdes were just stunningly beautiful this time of year!

The Turkeys

The javelinas crossed the road in front of us
and went into the marshes.  You can just barely
make them out on the right.  I didn't want to
take a picture of them any earlier or I may not
have made it for the rest of the trip!  I hear they can be nasty.

Next, we had the most delightful Harvest Hosts' stay at Black's Smuggler Winery, south of Albuquerque in Bosque.  We got off the highway and followed the railway north through all these small towns (Abeyta, Las Nutrias, Sabinal....each one with a population below 50), went under the Interstate and came upon this wonderful place, with only 2 sites (we were the only ones there this time!).  It was terribly windy, so they put us right alongside the winery building, out of the wind.

Tony Black, the owner, greeted us and invited us in for a wine tasting.  They had wonderful wines and we had a great afternoon tasting them all.  It was especially delightful when 3 neighbors walked in, saying, "we heard there was a party here" and joined us.  We had a million laughs and learned more about 

hunting than we might have needed.  We also learned that this area (around the Thief Mountains) was renowned for hiding smugglers and banditos!

 

Arley, Arley Jr. and ?  They, of course, had beer!

Tony, Owner and Bartender for the day.  See all the prize wines
behind him!  He and his wife retired in Denver and came down
here shortly thereafter to open this winery.

Maryann, the very hospitable owner and wife
of Tony.  She brought plenty of snacks!  They had
pictures of all kinds of Wild West characters,
from Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid, to Jessie
James and Annie Oakley.  It was fun guessing
who was who.

Sunset over the "back forty"

We needed one last hurrah before we headed home so we stopped at Lathrop State Park in Walsenburg, CO.  We have stayed here before, usually as a last minute quick overnight stop on our way to somewhere else.  This time we stayed for two nights.  We were thrilled with the beauty of the area and the wonderful, large, pull-through sites.  It was chilly at night but we were snug as bugs in a rug!

We managed to enjoy Maxine, despite her wounds from last
year's accident.  Our steps were taken out by the tire we hit
and the whole right hand side of her was damaged.  The bill
amounts to $11,000-thank god for insurance!!!!  We still need
to get her repaired when we get back.

The most wonderful view of the Spanish Peaks from the back!

And this wondrous view in the front!  We had a whole back
yard to ourselves.

And, home again, home again, jiggity jog!

Back to San Carlos-October 2020

 We took off for our annual trek to Mexico in October after a quick trip to the dust bowl area of Colorado in the southeast corner of the state, near the Oklahoma border.  We had a lovely time with Gail and Harley visiting the Sand Creek Massacre Site, Queens State Wildlife Area and the Comanche National Grasslands.  Not to be misleading though, the flies were horrible and the roads a huge challenge but the sense of isolation and closeness to the land, the wildlife and the topography of the area more than made up for the inconveniences.

This site sits along the creek at a desolate location way off
the main roads.  It commemorates a horrific and senseless
slaughter of the Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples (mostly
women, children and the elderly) by 675 US Cavalry
soldiers.

      

We  camped at the Queens Wildlife Area near Eads.
 It is very barren but beautiful in many ways-multi-hued grasses
bending to the winds and a cloudless blue sky!  There is a lot
of dispersed camping around here.

Until the food comes out we can visit outside. But, if the food
is anywhere outside, the flies attack from everywhere and we
must go in.  

The evenings are glorious and the night sky is
one of the best parts of being here.

After two nights near the Nee Shaw Reservoir, we headed south through Lamar to the Comanche National Grasslands.  These grasslands are a patchwork of federal, state and private land which range from steep canyons to gently rolling hills covered with sage, yucca and cacti.  

This area was settled in the 1800s under the Homestead Acts, which opened up the area to people who settled the west.  A prolonged drought in the 20s and 30s caused much of this land to dry up and, with it, the hopes and dreams of many of the early settlers, mostly farmers.  Now, being a national grassland is a indicative of efforts to restore the area to a multiple of uses.  

The land is still just as susceptible to drought and high winds. Evidence of American Indian occupation are in the rock art found in the Vogel and Picket Wire Canyon areas.

You can see a little bit of why they call it the Dust Bowl.  The
roads are all dirt and, when windy, fill the skies with dust.

One of the beautiful hikes into canyons where there are
petroglyphs.  It was hot but worth the walk in.

And of course, as we do so often in the west, we ran across 
many cattle, often blocking the roads for awhile.

This was probably our very favorite site as it sits atop a canyon.
Unfortunately, we got lost and separated from the Lyons for a few
hours, so arrived late.  Can you see the dust storm forming in the
far left of the picture? Some wonderful woman drove up and warned
us to get everything inside and close up our rigs tighter than a drum
as a dust storm was coming.  We have never been in anything like
this.  Within moments it was gaining on us.  We brought everything
inside and Gail and Harley popped into Maxine with us.  Huge winds,
started howling and the air was filled with so much dirt and gravel
pounding on the RV that we couldn't see anything.  Within another
15 minutes it had passed and life got back to normal.  SCARY!

We took off early the next morning for Albuquerque.

We have joined a group called Harvest Hosts which, for an annual fee gives you free nights at attractions, breweries, wineries, etc.  Our first stop was in Albuquerque where we stayed at the Wildlife West Nature Park. and Rescued Wildlife Zoo.  We arrived, noticing warning signals about tires on the CRV, so went the following morning to Discount Tire, where we found that we needed 4 new tires and struts- $4,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost as bad as the cost, was the inconvenience.  We had to take everything out of the car and leave it in the parking lost of the tire place in downtown Albuquerque.  I'm sure most people walking by thought we were having a garage sale.  

After spending the day in the parking lot and freed from our $4,000, we went back to the Zoo for another night of listening to wild animals.

Then it was off to a lovely winery, DH Lescombes) in Deming where we spent the day eating chili cheeseburgers and sampling flights of wine.  Our favorite was a St. Clair Port.  It was hot as could be but we got there early enough to get the only spot in the shade and spent the afternoon in the lovely outdoor tasting area.

We took off separately (better safe than sorry after yesterday's experience) early the next morning and not ten minutes into our trip I saw a huge black tire in the middle of I10.  I tried to warn Jim but was too late and he ran over it.  It managed to tear off the automatic step and damaged the basement.  It also was not starting (which later we found out was a switch that activates in an accident to cut off the flow to the engine.). So, we sat on the side of the road (with cars and trucks whizzing by us at 75+ mph), trying to talk to insurance and towing and finding a place that might be able to fix it, or at least tell us all was OK for driving.  As luck would have it, the closest tow had to come from Las Cruces, a good hour away.

He was very capable and told us about the switch.  The RV repair shop couldn't take us until the following week (no way we were staying here that long) but he could tell us that the only thing he would be concerned about was that the propane tank might have been damaged.  He recommended a propane company nearby.  So off we went to find Angel at Griffins Propane.  He literally was an Angel.  He spent a good deal of time, looking at everything, checking for leaks, and proclaimed her safe and ready to go.  When we asked for the bill, he said that he enjoyed helping us and wouldn't take our money.  He said we should just pay it forward.  He told us that his mother called him Angel because it would be something to live up to.  He did not disappoint her.

So, off we went to Tubac, a lovely small artist colony that was originally a presidio, a fortress in the borderlands of Mexico and Arizona.  We stopped at a pretty deserted outdoor restaurant - remember, its still pandemic times so we are very careful to be away from people and masked up except when eating or drinking.  Tubac was a great place for a celebratory margarita and Mexican food and unwind from the stresses of the last few days.

We stopped on the way at our friends', the Neubauers, chili company in Tumacacori and loaded up on spices and gifts for friends.

Our final two days we spent at Sunflower Camp in Tubac.  It is hard to even describe what this place was like.  The daughter  (Jennifer) of a scientist inherited the property from her Dad and has turned it into a most unusual Campground.

The main house where Jennifer lives.  She
could not have been more helpful to us.  We
had talked to her several times from the road
regaling her with stories of our misfortunes.

She saved this special place for us, away from anyone else,
big yard for Boo, privacy and close to the laundromat.  We
found this to be a real find-within walking distance of Tubac,
safe, quiet and relaxing.

Jennifer even found a palette for us to put under our footstool
so we could get in and out of Maxine.

Amado RV and Storage

And, after finding a suitable RV storage facility for poor bruised and battered Maxine, we took off for Mexico once again.

SUMMER/FALL IN COLORADO-2020

Well, the rather lazy, quiet days of June in San Carlos came to an abrupt ending when mid-month, we heard that Janet's lease at the Peloton was up in August and she would need some help planning for a new place.  We began putting things away for the summer and hightailed it home early (it was getting really too hot and humid anyway).  

When we got a little west of Lordsburg, NM the air conditioning went out on the car.  It was unbearably hot and there was no way we could continue our trip and remain sane.  There was one moment of heavy rain when I opened the side window, put my arm out and hurtled the wet rain towards a very pleased driver and dog.  We found a Hampton Inn where we could spend the night (it turned into two) and found a mechanic who could order the parts we needed (compressor, which had been damaged back in the fall in Longmont when I had the accident with a deer). 

We spent the second night there and then made it to Santa Fe where we had a delightful, very short night and then finally to the Lyons' cabin in Glen Haven to quarantine for 14 days.  

We drove by Janet's apartment so we could at least see her from the parking lot and let her know that we were here.

And Linda and Jack Laughlin dropped by for a socially distanced visit, too!

We always miss  Jack, Jason's dog who is a real sweetheart.  It's so nice for Boo to have a playmate, though Jack is a lot friskier!  

We even got to see the Dyer-Dings:

And our grown-up godchildren, Julianna and Jameson.

Richard Conklin, the Director of Lavender Farms, greeting Janet.  We were not able to go in with her because of restrictions due to the pandemic-very sad!

We hunkered down at Yatahai for a few weeks of farm life.  Because Jason was working at CU (where cases of COVID 19 among partying students were rising), we decided to stay at the farm in our RV and go back and forth to help with Janet's and our appointments and the actual moving process for her.

.

When Janet's plans were set and she needed to quarantine for 14 days, we took about 10 days off for a birthday getaway in Maxine.  We started out camping at a gorgeous Larimer State Park-Hermit's Hollow.  There we stayed in a large equestrian site and even though there were no vacancies for the weekend, we  tried to will one into existence- no luck!  So, off we went towards the Peak to Peak highway, finding every place we knew of to be booked.  Desperate, we remembered seeing a camping spot on the side of the road down a couple of miles from Julie's cabin. When we saw it, an ATVer was coming from there and we asked if we could camp down there and he thought we'd be fine.  Well, we were fine but it was really a four-wheel-drive road and not exactly Maxine friendly.  We did manage to drive over a dip and scraped the back end slightly BUT, we did find a great place to spend a weekend.  It had some gorgeous views, lots of privacy and a great "happy hour hill".  (I need to figure out where those pictures are and post them!)

We were so happy there that we talked of staying, but the sense of adventure got the better of us and we took off for one of our favorite areas-the Crystal River near Redstone and then up to Kebler Pass.  First we stopped in Nederland and had a local mechanic check out our tow bar on the back of Maxine.  He tightened the bolts and recommended that we get new ones when we could.  

We enjoyed a drive along Peak to Peak through Rollinsville, Black Hawk and Central City, which we hadn't done in probably 30 years.  Black Hawk and Central City have certainly changed since the "old days"-they are now very prosperous casino towns.  You would not believe how narrow the streets are-a real challenge driving through in Maxine, towing our Honda CRV!!.

Both plans for the night were thwarted when we realized that, because of the pandemic, lots and lots of people were out camping, even late on a Sunday afternoon.  The place we usually camped was overloaded with people, as were all places along the river.  Undoubtedly our favorite camping spot on Kebler Pass would be loaded with campers also (and it was a long drive up that mountain to then be stuck with no place to stay!). So, onward we went past Paonia, pretty desperate for any place to stay.  We saw an empty RV park on the side of the road by the river and were happy to see that we could camp there-a place we wouldn't even consider normally.

Luckily, we only had to spend the one night and we didn't even venture outside, except for walking Boo every now and then.  Neither the owner nor his employee were wearing masks and they seemed to love coming up to us and chatting!

Rolling on down the road looking for a spot to get propane, we decided on calling from Paonia to see about the heat on the Blue Mesa Reservoir.  I started by telling (ie whining to) a Ranger that this was my birthday camping trip, that the crowds and the heat were making me miserable and could he suggest a place where we could go that would be cool and not too crowded.  He allowed that the Curecanti area was even hotter than Paonia but that we could just drive up through Cedaredge to the Grand Mesa where there was lots of available camping and a much higher altitude!  BLESS HIS HEART!  Up we went and found a spectacular site at Ward Lake.  We stayed for a few days of hiking, painting, reading and relaxing around a fire (yes, it was that cold in the mornings and at night).  

We spent the last few days at Blue Mesa at a lovely site right on the water.  It was hot but there was enough shade from our awning to make our time there pleasant.  

We decided not to tackle I-70 again, as my memories of dealing with it on the way here were not pleasant ones.  So we chose Route 50 out of Gunnison along the Arkansas River, which was a lovely easy drive to I-25.  I was a little nervous about driving over Monarch Pass pulling the car but decided to go for it.  Jim talked me into how to drive it and, though I was a bit white-knuckled, I made it and felt pretty good about the experience. When we got home, we learned that they had closed down part of I-70 because of the fires in the Grand Junction area and had suggested Route 50 as a detour.  Thank god we had a head start on the hordes of vehicles that must have come behind us!  Little did we know the fire dangers that were soon to make records in Colorado 2020!

We came back to terrible fires all over Colorado.  Eventually, the fires came within 200 ft of the Lyons' cabin in Glen Haven.  We went up with them to get art and favorite things out of the cabin in case it burned.

One of our ladies group, Merry Witty died this winter and we were unable to memorialize her passing earlier.  We had a special celebration with the 5 of us remaining at Chautauqua, masked up and socially distanced when we got home.

Despite the Pandemic, we managed to see our friends, albeit differently than usual.  Many times we brought our own food and drinks to Chautauqua, Pella Crossing, Coot Lake or North Boulder Park.  Other times we ate at friends' outdoor areas- 6 ft socially distanced from each other.  Thankfully, most all of our friends are very, very careful of the virus.  

We did manage two or three outdoor dinners at well-known restaurants where we could feel safe.  We returned to podiatrist, optometrist, PCP, audiology, ortho and dentist appointments-all with good results. Sadly, we couldn't see Janet for awhile because of COVID numbers in Boulder.  When we did, it was at either end of an 8 ft. table with masks on for 1/2 hour!!!!!  We have not been able to take her with us during the pandemic.  Assisted living facilities are having to be uber-careful!

A special dinner out with Kathleen and Tom Thorpe:

We could finally see Janet for outdoor visits, masked with 8 ft between us:

And how cute is Kathy Manning at Coot Lake with our pups?!

Later, we had a great camping trip to Silver Lake up on the Snowy Range Rd. in Wyoming with Gail and Harley Lyons:

Can't get enough of my lady friends:

We managed to see Erin and Todd at their house for a little birthday celebration for me at the end of July.  They have both been very careful and we all ate outside (boy, am I getting sick of Pandemic rules-haven't been able to hug or kiss any of our kids!  And, of course, two of them, Josh and Athena are in Alaska and no traveling there this year!)

I made appointments with our local beautician in Lafayette for both Jim and I.  That was really something because neither of us had had a hair cut since mid-February!!!  I decided that dying my hair was getting to be too much of a chore and hadn't dyed it in months, so I am now going au natural!  She stripped the color out of my hair and put in a few blonde highlights to ease the effect of the grey hair coming through. We celebrated with margaritas at a new wonderful restaurant, Teocali in Lafayette.

Jason needed a double hernia operation in early September.  His girlfriend, Carol, took good care of him during the early days.  When she went back to work, we moved back in to "take care of him"-mainly, he could care for himself but we were there for lifting and bending-over duties.  He had tested negative both before and after the hospital.  We left in mid October for Mexico with Jason recovered, Janet happy in her new surroundings and Erin and Todd busy with their respective jobs.