Saturday we drove into Santa Fe looking around for campgrounds to move to. We decided that Santa Fe was more appealing than Albuquerque and had more historical aspects for us. And, we still could not get any closer to Albuquerque until the 10th (I fly to Phoenix on the 10th - we want to move before then and be settled before I fly out). We found a lovely campground to move to this coming Friday in Santa Fe -with great sunset views over the mountains. Feel much better that we will be near people and businesses. There is NOTHING here in Santa Rosa other than a campground for weary travelers and a couple of hotels and fast food. Zip zero nada nothing else. Makes sense that this campground fills up by dinner time - this is THE only campground for about 100 miles whereas some RVers prefer to overnight in a WalMart since it's free (there are none for 110 miles) and since there isn't WallyWorld - they are forced to come here and pay for the night. In the meantime we are having a great time watching people come in and set up, the show starts about 1pm every day. By 9am the overnighters are gone. Quiet for a couple of hours until the next show. There are some really strange characters. For example - there was (they just pulled out) a motor home that came in yesterday right beside us and we knick named them Big Chuck/Little John (2 TV personalities from Cleveland). Little John is a dwarf and this guy that drove the motor home - small/looked like him, and he backed out of the trailer which they were pulling, an ATV - similar to what Little John drives around in at the WoolyBear Festival in Vermilion. He pulled it out, revved it up, jumped on it - big grin - and drove all over the campground - pellmell, dust flying, scaring dogs and people. People just looked at him, shook their head, turned away. Then Big Chuck (his wife who is a big person) got on the thing after he came back, revved it up and obviously didn't know how to drive it, peeled around, yelling loudly at him if she had to keep the brake on all the time, and then he jumps on it and sits on the wheel well and off they go. Bunch of hill-billies!
One 5th wheel RV that came into the campground Dave says he remembers it - was on the side of the road when we were coming back Saturday from Santa Fe. He went over to talk with them and said that there is a problem with the truck, they limped into the campground and had an appointment this morning at a diesel mechanic's place. While talking with them they asked Dave what our plans were, where were we going for the winter. Dave mentioned the Big Bend National Park of Texas and they adamantly said - don't go there - there's trouble. I need to google this information to verify what ever it is they are talking about then make decisions.
We just plan to sit out the next couple of days, catching up on chores and I plan on doing some quilting. We look forward to moving to Santa Fe - seems there is so much to see and do there but traveling 110 miles one way just doesn't make a fun day - too much time sitting in the car.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
I took the wheel yesterday and drove us from Raton, NM to this campground in Santa Rosa, about 178 miles from point A to B. Been quite awhile that I have driven the truck/RV and it felt good. Beautiful ride down I25 and then cut off in Las Vegas (New Mexico, not Nevada) down to Interstate 40 and east about 35 miles into Santa Rosa. Not happy with this campground but it was the only thing we could find since the Balloon Fest started today through the 9th in Albu(querquie). And, it is 110 miles to Albu from here - and no campsites available. On Wednesday we plan to drive into Albu to do shopping, stock up, etc. and to check out RV's. This rig is getting just too huge to maneuver. We are hoping some campsites open up and maybe move next Friday to way closer to Albu since I fly out on the 10th to Phoenix. Would make it much easier for Dave to be around civilization instead of this no-mans land town.
Being in this campground was entertaining last night. A neighbor RVer said that they have been there for 3 days, waiting on a campsite to open up in Albu, but they said each night the campground fills up and by 8am, all gone. Which is what happened this morning only it started about 4:30am with RVers leaving to head into Albu to watch to mass ascension of balloons - the kick off morning. Got pretty noisy for awhile. My chore for today is to scout around for a possible campground to move to - and yippee! we have cell service.
Being in this campground was entertaining last night. A neighbor RVer said that they have been there for 3 days, waiting on a campsite to open up in Albu, but they said each night the campground fills up and by 8am, all gone. Which is what happened this morning only it started about 4:30am with RVers leaving to head into Albu to watch to mass ascension of balloons - the kick off morning. Got pretty noisy for awhile. My chore for today is to scout around for a possible campground to move to - and yippee! we have cell service.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Raton, New Mexico
We had a smooth ride today from Loveland, Colorado down I25 into Raton, New Mexico - about 254 miles from point A to B. Raton (pronounced Rat-tone) is Spanish for small mouse (?) and to get here in New Mexico about 10 miles into the state from Colorado we had to pass through Raton Pass - a tidge scary. Pretty steep up and then back down. Surprising is that the temperature is quite cooler from the mid 80's we have been experiencing to the low 60's. We are in the Culabra Range of the Rocky Mountains and as we drove down through Colorado Springs we saw Pike's Peak to our right. It was much more snow covered than the national park's mountains we just experienced. A funny thing happened on the way down - Chip kept screaming at us - and I kept yelling at him to lay down, shut up. It wasn't until about an hour into the trip when I realized I had not turned on the a/c for him - I guess it was getting stuffy in the back seat. As soon as I did that, he quieted down and went to sleep. He is much better than a few weeks ago but we will have to watch him closely for the rest of his life. Fortunately we found a human food that he gets daily that helps his digestion (a spoon full of Gerber's squash baby food!).
Another neat fact is that we are following the Santa Fe pioneer trail, the one and the same we learned about in Casper, WY. Tomorrow we travel on to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, about 78 miles east of Albuquerque where we will stay for a month.
Another neat fact is that we are following the Santa Fe pioneer trail, the one and the same we learned about in Casper, WY. Tomorrow we travel on to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, about 78 miles east of Albuquerque where we will stay for a month.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
RMNP and Family Visits
We traveled back to Rocky Mountain National Park for the third time on Monday. Spent the day wandering 
around getting the scenes and views imprinted on our brain. We were so lucky - Monday was considered the peak of the aspens changing color - this is something I have wanted to see for so many years, the aspens in their height of golds. What an amazing thing to see. I encourage any and all, if you haven't seen these trees in their gold color, you must put it on your list of things to do. Absolutely stunning. Every where you turned - golds, smell of pines, clear blue sky, animals. Another of the things we wanted to do was hike the Milner Pass trail which goes up and over the Continental Divide. We climbed from 9400 feet in altitude to over 12,500 by the time we decided that if we didn't turn around and come back down, we would not be able to function for the rest of the day. Again, 
breath-taking views. We were higher than the snow packs! A Stellar Jay bird was quite upset with us as we hiked along, we got too close to her nest and she came within 5 feet of us, squawking and saying to go away. We figured we hiked about 3 miles that day - but the first mile and half was almost straight up. I am surprised we did so well but we knew that drinking water, resting, eating snacks would help which it did. We didn't get mountain sickness like the other day. We stopped in Estes Park on the way back and had a fabulous dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We will never forget our time here.
Yesterday we drove into Littleton which is a suburb south of Denver, to niece and nephew's house (Caryn and Scott) - our mail had finally arrived after 16 days of being in la-la land lost. Darn Post Office - we lost all faith in them and will not use the PO for much anymore. We since opened up a FedEx account so we can ship to and from home. The time spent with Caryn went too fast. This morning we drove into Fort Collins and met up with with Emily (Caryn and Scott's daughter) and Cody and Imana for a couple of hours. Just adorable kids. Tomorrow morning we move south to New Mexico and will be staying in Santa Rosa, about one and half hours east of Albuquerque for a month. I will be going to Phoenix to help with the grand kids during this month, so blog entries will be scant. Sad to say good-bye here, we had such a lovely time.
around getting the scenes and views imprinted on our brain. We were so lucky - Monday was considered the peak of the aspens changing color - this is something I have wanted to see for so many years, the aspens in their height of golds. What an amazing thing to see. I encourage any and all, if you haven't seen these trees in their gold color, you must put it on your list of things to do. Absolutely stunning. Every where you turned - golds, smell of pines, clear blue sky, animals. Another of the things we wanted to do was hike the Milner Pass trail which goes up and over the Continental Divide. We climbed from 9400 feet in altitude to over 12,500 by the time we decided that if we didn't turn around and come back down, we would not be able to function for the rest of the day. Again, 
breath-taking views. We were higher than the snow packs! A Stellar Jay bird was quite upset with us as we hiked along, we got too close to her nest and she came within 5 feet of us, squawking and saying to go away. We figured we hiked about 3 miles that day - but the first mile and half was almost straight up. I am surprised we did so well but we knew that drinking water, resting, eating snacks would help which it did. We didn't get mountain sickness like the other day. We stopped in Estes Park on the way back and had a fabulous dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We will never forget our time here.Yesterday we drove into Littleton which is a suburb south of Denver, to niece and nephew's house (Caryn and Scott) - our mail had finally arrived after 16 days of being in la-la land lost. Darn Post Office - we lost all faith in them and will not use the PO for much anymore. We since opened up a FedEx account so we can ship to and from home. The time spent with Caryn went too fast. This morning we drove into Fort Collins and met up with with Emily (Caryn and Scott's daughter) and Cody and Imana for a couple of hours. Just adorable kids. Tomorrow morning we move south to New Mexico and will be staying in Santa Rosa, about one and half hours east of Albuquerque for a month. I will be going to Phoenix to help with the grand kids during this month, so blog entries will be scant. Sad to say good-bye here, we had such a lovely time.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Alberta Falls and AMS
As planned we traveled back to Rocky Mountain National Park to go to an area called Moraine Park that is located in the interior part of the NP yesterday. Terrific
, awesome, beautiful, breathtaking! We stopped first at the visitor's center to get more information on what trails are 'easy' and manageable. And, where to park the car since it was a gorgeous day and thousands of people were there. We got to the ParkNRide and boarded a bus to go to Bear Lake and then travel by foot to Alberta Falls. Even though there were ALOT of people, we had our alone time and space which was amazing. We opted to go to Bear Lake first, walk the trail, then walk to Alberta Falls about a mile away. Bear Lake - beautiful! This photo shows the lake peeking out at the lower left with the jagged snow covered mountains above. Lovely place. We stopped along the path and 
had some snacks and water, rested for a bit before heading on the next trail to Alberta Falls. Dave brought his back pack so we had what we needed if the weather changed and carried our snacks and water. Good thing we chose the paths in the order we did - Alberta Falls was all downhill and we could have never made the 16% incline up if we were at the Falls first then hiked to Bear Lake. So much beauty and since this path was not as traveled as the others, we pretty much had the walk to ourselves. We paced ourselves, stopping to take many pictures, and continued on to the Falls. Glad we went - was a pretty place. We met up with a Volunteer Ranger who for the past 6 years has volunteered in the park and he had hiked up to the falls for the last 
time this summer because he was returning back to North Carolina on Monday - "I had to see the falls one more time before I could go home." All I can say - stunning. Again, we rested, ate snacks and drank water but we were in trouble by then. We had been hiking in 9475 feet above sea level and had not paid attention to our bodies - just felt tired. I was beginning to get a headache, Dave was stumbling and we both felt lassitude - very lazy tired. We hiked back down, really taking our time and got to the bus at the bottom of the falls' walk and drove back into Estes to get home. There was alot of people in town due to Oktoberfest and fall festival, but I am surprised I was able to get us through and home in about 40 minutes. We could not carry on a conversation or do anything - I made us a dinner and we were asleep by 8pm. Today I found out we had AMS - Acute Mountain Sickness - which is common in people who are not acclimated to higher elevations and do not heed their bodies when in trouble. At the first sign we should have stopped, rested for about an hour, then turned around and gone home. Dah. So - will we go back? Of course! Tomorrow - but not hike - only to drive around and take some more pictures. We are at the peak of the aspens changing color and it is spectacular to see the golds and oranges. We have delayed leaving Loveland for a few days, waiting for mail to be delivered before we move on.
One tidbit - as I was maneuvering through Estes Park on our way home, traffic was halted and Dave was trying to figure out why everyone was taking pictures of a tree. Turns out a bear was in the tree! I hope Dave was able to capture the picture of the bear - I almost captured a ticket because I would not move faster than the police officer said. Ooops.
, awesome, beautiful, breathtaking! We stopped first at the visitor's center to get more information on what trails are 'easy' and manageable. And, where to park the car since it was a gorgeous day and thousands of people were there. We got to the ParkNRide and boarded a bus to go to Bear Lake and then travel by foot to Alberta Falls. Even though there were ALOT of people, we had our alone time and space which was amazing. We opted to go to Bear Lake first, walk the trail, then walk to Alberta Falls about a mile away. Bear Lake - beautiful! This photo shows the lake peeking out at the lower left with the jagged snow covered mountains above. Lovely place. We stopped along the path and 
had some snacks and water, rested for a bit before heading on the next trail to Alberta Falls. Dave brought his back pack so we had what we needed if the weather changed and carried our snacks and water. Good thing we chose the paths in the order we did - Alberta Falls was all downhill and we could have never made the 16% incline up if we were at the Falls first then hiked to Bear Lake. So much beauty and since this path was not as traveled as the others, we pretty much had the walk to ourselves. We paced ourselves, stopping to take many pictures, and continued on to the Falls. Glad we went - was a pretty place. We met up with a Volunteer Ranger who for the past 6 years has volunteered in the park and he had hiked up to the falls for the last 
time this summer because he was returning back to North Carolina on Monday - "I had to see the falls one more time before I could go home." All I can say - stunning. Again, we rested, ate snacks and drank water but we were in trouble by then. We had been hiking in 9475 feet above sea level and had not paid attention to our bodies - just felt tired. I was beginning to get a headache, Dave was stumbling and we both felt lassitude - very lazy tired. We hiked back down, really taking our time and got to the bus at the bottom of the falls' walk and drove back into Estes to get home. There was alot of people in town due to Oktoberfest and fall festival, but I am surprised I was able to get us through and home in about 40 minutes. We could not carry on a conversation or do anything - I made us a dinner and we were asleep by 8pm. Today I found out we had AMS - Acute Mountain Sickness - which is common in people who are not acclimated to higher elevations and do not heed their bodies when in trouble. At the first sign we should have stopped, rested for about an hour, then turned around and gone home. Dah. So - will we go back? Of course! Tomorrow - but not hike - only to drive around and take some more pictures. We are at the peak of the aspens changing color and it is spectacular to see the golds and oranges. We have delayed leaving Loveland for a few days, waiting for mail to be delivered before we move on.One tidbit - as I was maneuvering through Estes Park on our way home, traffic was halted and Dave was trying to figure out why everyone was taking pictures of a tree. Turns out a bear was in the tree! I hope Dave was able to capture the picture of the bear - I almost captured a ticket because I would not move faster than the police officer said. Ooops.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Rocky Mountain High
Yes, John Denver captured the essence of the Rocky Mountains - we have been 'high' since we spent the day there Thursday. Incredible, beautiful, surreal, majestic.....on and on. I cannot explain the wonders that are in this park. We have been to numerous National Parks and this by far is the most spectacular we have been in. And, we are going back today to get another fix. But lets back up to where and what we have been doing since we got here in Loveland, Colorado.
Tuesday afternoon and evening we spent with our niece/nephew Caryn and Scott and their daughter Emily and Emily's two children Cody and Imana. A great visit, caught up on each other's lives and then had a nice dinner in old Fort Collins area. Wednesday Emily and kids were visited by us as we traveled to Fort Collins to see her and then we all came back here to the RV so Cody could play on the playground. I will not show pictures for security reasons, but suffice it to say - the kids are absolutely adorable, and Cody found that riding in a big truck was outstanding. Thursday? Well, Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park. For those that know this area Estes Park is a name of a city right at the entrance to RMNP. Cutsy, trendy, but has the feel that you want to live there.
Dave and I were in heaven in the RMNP. We traveled the Trail Ridge Road, stopping to gawk and take pictures. And the amazing thing - if we were here one week into the future we would not have been able to go to the end of the road to Alpine Visitor's Center - they are in the process of closing the road down for the winter. This road is only open about 4 months a year, the snow gets to 35 feet in some places. We saw new snow on the ground and were told that from now on this new snow will not melt, only get more on top and build as winter approaches. The most amazing road to travel, and the highest paved road in the US. Pristine, beautiful. We saw glacier lakes (see the two in the picture above?), all kids of wildlife, flowers, birds, amazing to see. We hiked the Tundra Community's Trail which at first glance - no big deal. As we started along this paved path we noticed many high school 
kids cleaning the side of the path and stopped to ask. It was community service 'give back' for these kids of the Eagle Rock School, well known in the country for kids who have chosen to go to school and work in the community for excess of 500 hours a year. Very impressive. The walk? When we got 
to the end and climbed up on the one outcropping (told to go there by the teacher of these kids) there was a plaque and a directional dome structure that showed the distance to national parks around the country. We saw so much and felt relatively acclimated to the 12,000 feet since we have been living at an altitude of about 5000 feet for the past two weeks. What got us worn out is we would get out of the car, take pictures or walk a bit, in about 40 degree weather with the wind blowing about 30 knots. Brrr. And we just could not stop in getting out to walk a bit. Every where you looked was truly amazing. On our way out of the park we came across a pack of female elks and a baby or two, never saw the buck. They stopped in the middle of the road and just stared, then moved on. Today we are heading back to the park for another fix. Have to put this park on your list of things to do - truly amazing!
kids cleaning the side of the path and stopped to ask. It was community service 'give back' for these kids of the Eagle Rock School, well known in the country for kids who have chosen to go to school and work in the community for excess of 500 hours a year. Very impressive. The walk? When we got 
to the end and climbed up on the one outcropping (told to go there by the teacher of these kids) there was a plaque and a directional dome structure that showed the distance to national parks around the country. We saw so much and felt relatively acclimated to the 12,000 feet since we have been living at an altitude of about 5000 feet for the past two weeks. What got us worn out is we would get out of the car, take pictures or walk a bit, in about 40 degree weather with the wind blowing about 30 knots. Brrr. And we just could not stop in getting out to walk a bit. Every where you looked was truly amazing. On our way out of the park we came across a pack of female elks and a baby or two, never saw the buck. They stopped in the middle of the road and just stared, then moved on. Today we are heading back to the park for another fix. Have to put this park on your list of things to do - truly amazing!Monday, September 19, 2011
Loveland, Colorado
We had a pleasant drive yesterday (Sunday) driving down Interstate 25 into Loveland, Colorado. We were sad when the Laramie Mountains disappeared, but then got excited when snow capped Rocky Mountains (actually the Medicine Bow Range of the Rockies) appeared and got bigger as we neared Loveland. Had a scary!!! ride about the last 20 minutes before reaching the campground - we had a bum address for this place and started up Big Thompson Canyon with hairpin turns, and quite knuckle biting until we could quickly turn around and head back down. Found the campground but almost took out the side of the RV when we turned into the place - the driveway was a 90 degree turn off the road and had to have Dave slam on the brakes at the last minute and back up and maneuver back out into the road and retry to get here. The great news is that we have a wonderful view out the back (living room) looking at the canyon and hearing a natural waterfall about 100 feet away. Beautiful! And quiet, and no worker-bees.
We have been out of cell service since we got here, we are in a canyon at the base of the Rocky Mountains and there just isn't any signal. As for email - we can tap into the campground's service but I don't want to sit outside at a picnic table at all hours trying to get on. Today we had to run into Loveland to do some shopping and we went to BestBuy and picked up a booster for internet, hoping that would solve the problem. We tried this before some months ago and it didn't work, but now! Fast and on-line without a problem. Yippee! Weird to not be in touch with people - where were we 10 years ago when internet email and cell phones were not that common? We will just live with the cell phone outage until we leave - really the first time this has happened. But we are ecstatic that we are really fast internet service.
Tomorrow we meet up with our niece Caryn, husband Scott, and their daughter Emily and her two children for the afternoon and grab dinner together. Wednesday we plan to spend the day with Emily and the kids.
We have been out of cell service since we got here, we are in a canyon at the base of the Rocky Mountains and there just isn't any signal. As for email - we can tap into the campground's service but I don't want to sit outside at a picnic table at all hours trying to get on. Today we had to run into Loveland to do some shopping and we went to BestBuy and picked up a booster for internet, hoping that would solve the problem. We tried this before some months ago and it didn't work, but now! Fast and on-line without a problem. Yippee! Weird to not be in touch with people - where were we 10 years ago when internet email and cell phones were not that common? We will just live with the cell phone outage until we leave - really the first time this has happened. But we are ecstatic that we are really fast internet service.
Tomorrow we meet up with our niece Caryn, husband Scott, and their daughter Emily and her two children for the afternoon and grab dinner together. Wednesday we plan to spend the day with Emily and the kids.
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