2015 summer trip, Colorado, Utah, Oregon,?

Day One, Monday, June 8, 2015, NB to Indio, CA

Left NB about 12:30, we had a ½ full tank of gas which said we could go 289 miles till empty. Morning was spent doing last minute loading of clothes and food. I had a frozen hamburger for lunch, Maria had a sport bar on the way. We really need to get into eating something before we leave. Trip was uneventful, no traffic, no wind. We arrived at Emerald Desert RV Resort in Indio about 3 PM. This place is totally deserted! There are no more than maybe 20 rigs here. When I planned this trip, I knew we would see temps over 100 in Lake Havasu City. But, I did not check out Indio. The first indication of fire was when I pushed the info button on our rig and saw that the outside temp was 105. WOW! We could feel the heat coming in through the very large windshield, but the AC kept us comfortable… until we opened the doors to go to registration. Quite a difference. 85 inside, 105 outside. WOW! Since this place is pretty deserted, (but it is a desert) we were able to pick our spot. We are in spot 91, just 3 spots from where we were when we were here in January. At that time, the place was filled with snow birds. Those from the frozen northern areas who come down here to get to warmer temps for the winter but they typically leave late May or early June to head home.

Although the Ford AC had kept us comfortable while driving, when we arrived at Emerald Desert RV Resort and I left the RV to go to registration, the difference in temp was amazing. I hurried out to hook up the AC so the rig AC could start to work. When we arrived the temp in the back of the RV was 88, now at 10:30 PM it is 79. I had not looked into what the temp in Indio would be and was very surprised to see how high it is. I thought we should not see high temps until Lake Havasu City. Maria says she will get more involved with the planning next time. I think we will be able to sleep comfortably but we will see. We actually spent some time looking into getting an additional AC for these high temps. We finally got an oscillating fan for the back bedroom, tell you more in the morning.

We elected to not go out for dinner. I had what I call a chef’s salad. It is based on what we used to serve at the Snack Shop many years ago. A bed of lettuce, quartered tomato, quartered hardboiled egg, julienned sliced ham/cheese with the world famous sour cream dressing. I am probably the only person still living who has this recipe. Maria had some vegie thing. She says we will make a frittata with the left overs tomorrow or the next day.

We did not do our usual spa trip due to the triple digit temps, but cooled off in the 85 degree pool. After our visit to the pool, we laid back on the very warm deck to look up at the evening clouds as they drifted over us. After the “cool” pool, the warm deck felt good. It was fun to look up and see all those weird things we used to see as kids in the clouds. I actually saw Willy Nelson in the clouds, but when I pointed him out to Maria, his chin had started to dissolve so she could not see him. We rinsed off in the most spectacular bathroom/shower rooms we have seen on any of our trips so far. Tile all over the place, each shower/toilet had sensors to turn on the lights as you entered. I will have to take picts tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015, Indio, CA to Lake Havasu City, AZ.

It rained a little during the night but not much. Since the ground was so warm it evaporated quickly.

We headed out about 10:35. It was overcast but we didn’t see rain until about half way to Havasu. It was never heavy. We had made ham sandwiches to eat en-route. We were getting low on gas so we stopped a few miles west of Blythe at a Valero, we only put on in 10 gals as it was 3.95/gal with a debit card. Those 10 gals allowed us to get to Quartzsite, AZ where we finished our fuel up at a Pilot station, 2.73/gal. WOW, only a few miles east, but a

different state. We ate our sandwiches in the parking area between the station and a McDonalds. Back on the road to LHC, we followed SR 95 into LHC and the 3 t’s RV shop where we are to have their version of a steering dampener installed to replace the Safe-t-plus that Camping world had installed to fix the same problem. 3t’s claims that the safetplus only prevents the rig from swerving if there is a front tire blow-out. Theirs does what I want done. We shall see. They will have to remove the safetplus to install theirs. Too bad we couldn’t have both installed.

We are currently parked in their lot next to their building. They have 30 amp outlets and we are on a level cement pad. We actually have a great river view out the front. Due to the rain, the temps have been in the high 80’s, not 107 which is what was predicted for today and tomorrow. We left Frankie in the rig and went into town to get dinner to bring home and other stuff. We found envelopes, Vicks, and batteries at a K-mart. We picked up Chinese take-put at a Panda Express. We are now enjoying the view and the dinner. It rained again a little while ago. Heavier than we had seen, it caused our dish to reset itself a few times. Thank god we have our food network and CNN back.

They want to start on our rig at 7 AM tomorrow, after that we will probably need to get lost for a few hours. They say they will have us done by noon, if so we will have to decide how far we want to go tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 Lake Havasu City, AZ to Kingman, AZ.

It rained on and off for most of the night but stopped about 6 Am. I had set the alarm for 6:30 so we could get us ready for their 7 AM opening. We were surrounded by a large puddle of water, the 30 amp cord was in the water. I unplugged it from the office before stepping into the water. Tina, # 2 of the 3 T’s and her husband John arrived right on the dot at 7. They drove us into one of their two bays and started working. I bought the whole package. Front steering dampener, back air shocks, weighing the rig to determine the proper tire pressures. Since they are a warranty Winnebago dealer and highly recommended by Russell Hunt, Tina asked if there were any warranty issues I was concerned about. I told her about the inability for the DVD to connect with any TV. In the process of checking it out, they ruined the HDMI cable that is embedded in the walls of the RV. They don’t have any HDMI cable in LHC that is long enough to complete the installation, and if they ordered it, it would not be here until at least next week. Also, their diagnosis of the noise coming from the kitchen slide-out requires two weeks to get the parts, and we don’t have that kind of time. We are very conflicted, 3 T’s has been the first and only place that has been honest and really cared about us. We really want them to do the work, but we can’t come back for that. This place is way too far from home. Tina reassured us that she would convey all this info to Russell Hunt and hopefully he will be able to do something for us.

We drove around LHC most of the day just too waste time. We had a great meal at a Mexican restaurant called Bad Miguel’s’ which had an outside area where we could have lunch with Frankie. We each had a beer, Maria had her usual, a chimachonga, I had 3 pork taquitos with rich and beans. We came back about 1 to see how they were doing and were told to come back about 3. We went to a river side park, Rotary Park and sat watching the river for over an hour with the motor and AC working. Maria and Frankie took nap and I read my iphone book. 3 T’s closes at 3:30 so we showed up at 2:00. They had installed all the driving stuff but were still trying to fix the DVD and the noise from the kitchen slide-out. Both of them said they had never heard that much noise from slide-out before. I can only hope Russell can figure it out and get someplace other than RTMV to fix it.

We left LHC about 3:35 on the way to Kingman, AZ. Since we were not able to get anything done in LHC, we decided to move to cooler climes. On the drive to Kingman, I was able to see that the driving was very improved. There was still some swerving, but I could be much more relaxed while driving. No more white knuckle driving.

We had stayed at Kingman KOA before, but I can’t remember when. We are in space 161 which is a drive through site since we will most likely be leaving in the morning to Flagstaff.

I went down to the pool/spa. When I stepped into the spa, there were 2 couples who sounded much like Dutch people to me. One couple had arrived in Washington, DC a few days ago. They met their frieds in LA to rent their RV’s and start their 3 week trip.

Thursday, June 11, 2015, Kingman, to Flagstaff, AZ

We left at 10:35 and had a pretty uneventful drive. It rained a little but no big thing. We were still undecided as to where to stay. The weather reports said Flagstaff has a 40-50 % chance of rain for the next few days. We thought about going to Winslow, but there is almost nothing to do there. Williams was another option, but we ended up in Flagstaff. We tried the J&H RV but they were full, our first refusal. We went back down SR 89 to the KOA we had passed earlier. We got into the KOA for 2 nights, rain be damned. We might even stay another night. We are in space 79 which is an end site with too many trees for our dish to work, but they have great cable TV. We do not have a sewer hookup, and since we had

not used a sewer for the last 4 nights, we needed to use the dump station and flush the tank out before we went to the site. We have electricity, water and as it turns out, great cable TV. While the trees keep out dish from working, my iPhone personal hotspot is working more strongly than their wi-fi.

Dinner was the pork chops we bought a few days ago, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes from our corned beef dinner when we were home. And, a few spoons full of ice cream.

Friday, June 12, 2015, Flagstaff, AZ.

We tried the Kamp Kitchen for breakfast, it is a little trailer almost buried in the gravel with 6 picnic tables under a canvas cover. We both had a #1, 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, bacon or sausage. We added OJ and split some hash browns. It all came to $19.74. Food was hot, served on paper plates, not bad.

The weather reports are calling for rain and thunder storms most of today and tomorrow. We have decided to stay until Sunday, and hopefully we will avoid the worst of the weather.

After breakfast we drove to the Camping World 19 miles back west on I 40. We were in search of 2 more wheel covers to protect the tires when in storage and a ramp that attached to the pads we use to elevate any wheels to help level it. Yesterday when we arrived, our site is not level front to back. We drove up onto the plastic pads, and fell off to the front of them. That is why we thought the ramp would help, however, CW had neither item. My thinking now is I will get 2 2x6” planks about 3’ long to use as the ramp. A work in progress. We bought some of those no-damage hooks that can be removed with no damage to the surface, and placed two on either side of the door to hang our keys on. Well, my keys, Maria’s 2 lb bundle of keys would pull anything off the wall. They will remain in her purse.

On the way back from the CW, we stopped at a Safeway. I asked Maria to go inside and get something for dinner, she declined so I went in and bought boneless, skinless chicken thighs, loaded mashed potatoes, spinach with cheese sauce, frozen mac and cheese. Maybe next time she will go shopping.

Saturday, June 13, 2015, Flagstaff, AZ

A little rain in the morning. We have decided to stay here one more night. I actually had breakfast, a package of apples & cinnamon instant oatmeal with milk and a spoonful of chunky peanut butter, and ½ of a banana. WOW! We drove North on 89 to Wupatki Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. My senior card for national parks that we got years ago in Hawaii, got us in. Saved us $10! We were on a 35 mile loup on SR 545 that goes by lava flows, cinder cones and a really

neat Wukoki pueblo that is 800+ years old. It sits on top of a natural rock formation made out of flat rocks like bricks, and is 3 stories high. At one point on the way there it started raining heavily, the splats on the windshield were the size of 50 cent pieces. I thought it was hail, it made so much noise. Good news

it only lasted a minute or two. And, was not hail.

Maria has had a few symptoms of altitude sickness, or as she says asthma, mostly feeling week. During our trip today, she was seeing double, which goes in and out.

We stopped for 16 pieces of chicken wings at a Wingstreet at a Pizza Hut shop. We brought them home for lunch.

We spent the afternoon looking at viral videos on msnbc-tv. Some very funny and amazing stuff.

Sunday, June 14, 2015, Flagstaff, AZ to Gallup, NM.

Today dawned bright and clear, clouds, sure, but no threat of rain. Again, I had oatmeal/peanut butter/banana for breakfast.

Off and running by 10:35. I am still impressed with the improved handling since the upgrade at 3 T’s. I will have to call them tomorrow and leave that message.

We stopped at Winslow AZ to drive down the I40 business portion in order to see the statue commemorating the line in

the Eagles song “Take it Easy”. ___________ _ .

The town has even created a whole park around the statue called, oddly enough, Standing on the Corner Park. We took

the obligatory pictures and moved on. Winslow is a dead town, even the tourist books say, people stop to take a picture of the Standing on the Corner statue and rapidly move on. All most all we saw was deserted and down run properties.

At Lupton, AZ we had 95 miles to go to Gallup and 123 miles till empty. I elected to stop for gas and a Subway sandwich. OTRA, (on the road again) the rest of the trip was without incident. We are staying at USA RV Park just west of Gallup. It is nice and clean, not too many trees so our dish works well. They have a smoked BBQ dinner served at the common area between 5:30 and 8:30. Maria had the ribs, I had the brisket sandwich. It was good.

We are now planning our next few days and what and where to spend our time in Colorado, where we will head in 2 days.

Monday, June 15, 2015, Gallup, NM.

Not much to do in Gallup, we drove thru town, enjoyed the Historic Old Gallup. Best part was the El Rancho Hotel/Motel where we had lunch. We had seen tons of bill boards on the way here advertising it. It is known as the hotel for the stars. Every billboard had a different star from about 50 years ago, Bob Hope, Clark Gable, der Bingle, etc. My guess is that many years ago, when they were making so many Western movies, this was the place to do the filming. Obviously, the stars need a quality place to spend the nights. The El Rancho was, and still is the best place in town. It really is a very impressive building, at least the hotel/restaurant is. Very old NM, heavy wood, lots of bull horns, huge lave rock fireplace, and antlers on the walls. Maria was intrigued by 2 chairs and a love seat made out of bull horns. Quite inventive, but these days not to PC. We split a club sandwich with fries and 2 cokes, a starter of chips and guacamole.

Most of the shops we saw in town were closed up. The same thing we have seen in many of the “towns” we have driven through. We never went to the newer side of town, north of the I40. We saw there is a Walmart there. We will probably pass it tomorrow on our way to Cortez.

We went to the pool tonight, shallow and heated by the sun. There was a family from Florida with 3 kids who are on a 2 month trip across the US. They bought their 2001 RV and took off. Very amazing.

We have made reservations at Cortez/Mesa Verde KOA for the next 3 days. We joined the KOA Kamp Kard for an additional $27, but got an immediate $13.46 discount. I have always looked down on KOA, but the 2 we have stayed in have been great. Wide spaces, clean, modern bathrooms, what’s not to like. The next 2 days are in Durango, and then South Fork.

We hope to make day trips to Telluride and the Durango/Silverton road.

Dinner tonight was German sausages that we had bought over a week ago at Alpine Village in Torrance, CA. Maria bought the sausage, and some sort of dried meat which the Durow’s always bring over. I bought a large package of dried spaetzli which are open to discussion as to the correct spelling/pronunciation.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015, Gallup, NM to Cortez, CO.

We left Gallup about 10:30, I had oatmeal again, amazing. Maybe the start of a trend here. We went north on 491. We passed the notorious ship rock although it was hard to tell which one was ship rock as there were several that

looked quite impressive. The amazing thing here, is how quickly how the scenery changes. A few miles out of Gallup, we both noticed it was getting much greener. A few miles further, we were in dessert again and these fantastic rock formations appeared to grow up from the dessert floor. We have both been to four corners before so did not feel the need to go there. (In the pool tonight I talked to a grandmother with one of her 3 grandkids who had been there earlier today, and she said the waiting line was long to be able to place 2 hands and 2 feet in 4 different states. Been there, done that.) The Cortez/Mesa Verde KOA is on the east side of

town. We are in space 12 which is a

south facing site with a few widely spaced shade trees. After setting up, we headed back into town for supplies. The only grocery store was a Safeway where we picked up essentials. Colorado does not allow grocery stores to sell anything other than beer. We found a LIQUOR STORE where we picked up a few boxes of Franzia Chablis. I thought we had enough of Maria’s Cabernet Sauvignon but I was wrong. We will need to pick up some more tomorrow.

Just after we returned to our site, our neighbors returned from their day. They have a motorcycle trailer on the back of their Class C 29’. They along with their friends on their MC did the 275 mile loop to Dolores, Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, Durango and home. It took all day, even on a motorcycle. My plan is to do it in 2 days, Cortez to Telluride and back tomorrow in the Honda. We can do Mesa Verde and/or Canyons of the Ancients National Monument the next day. When we get to Durango, we can do the trip to Silverton or maybe even Ouray. This would bypass the 11075’ Red Mountain Pass which M wants to avoid.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015, Cortez, CO

Unbelievable, I have had breakfast 3 days in a row. Today was a banana, orange, and a yogurt tube. I made a pastrami and a turkey sandwich for our trip. We arose too late to do the Telluride drive so we did a smaller version. We drove 145 to Dolores which is on the way to Telluride, but turned SE on 184 to Mancos and then back on 160 to Cortez. We passed

the entrance to Mesa Verde about 7 miles east of Cortez. Maria and I have both been there before so we had decided not to go there, but, I really wanted to at least drive in. I did not realize how long the drive was to the cliff dwellings. Maria put up with the drive for 15 miles but I decided to turn back so as to preserve marital bliss.

We had steak, mashed pots, and spinach for dinner. We have been trying to get reservations for the next part of the trip. We are good up until Denver, which will be Fourth of July weekend. We hope to hear from that RV spot in Golden tomorrow.

Thursday, June 18, 2015, Cortez, Telluride, Cortez.

We got a late start on our all day drive north out of Cortez on 145 until just before Stoner, where we would turn left onto a dirt road that parallels 145, and go to Dunton. I had been to Dunton many years ago in our VW Westphalia bus. Back then it was basically a ghost town. There was a bar, crudely dug hot tub, and many cabins that were at least 100 years old. We could look in the windows of the dilapidated cabins and see the utensils, beds, and everything that has been there forever. Since then some big corporation has bought Dunton and turned it into a very high end resort. All the cabins have been upgraded and the nightly rates are several hundred dollars/night.

The road to Dunton is dirt, I made it in my VW but was concerned about doing it in our CRV. I passed the turnoff without turning off.

When we arrived in Telluride, they were in the middle of The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. They gave us a 3 hr parking pass. The town was crowded with many people on bicycles and backpacks. We drove to the end of the road at the end of the dead end canyon. We turned around and drove back through the town to the road with two options. Left goes back to Cortez, straight goes to Montrose, Right goes to the Telluride airport. I elected right, we drove up a fairly steep hill until we could see the airport, where we ate our sandwiches from yesterday in the airport parking lot. Great view. We had flown into this airport many years ago to go skiing. We also could not fly out of Telluride another time and had to drive to Montrose to get to the airport there. I couldn’t see many changes to the main part of town but there are many more outlying homes than I remember. The New Sheridan Hotel is still there as is the place on the second floor of the liquor store next to the hotel where I stayed many years ago on a single skiing trip. I was also happy to see that the “Fly me to the moon saloon” was also still there. We did not stop, due to the crowds, been there, done that.

I had planned on going to Dunton on the trip back down 145 but, again, caved. We took the counter-clock-wise trip home via 145, 141, 491. This route proved to be at as least twice as long and was pretty boring. We made it home about 4:30.

One thing I noticed on our trips in CO is how many more Airstreams we see. We took a few pictures which we can send to Sherrie for her ongoing collection of derelict trailers.

Friday, June 19, 2015, Cortez, CO to Vallecito Lake Resort, Bayfield, CO, Space 65

Left Cortez about 11 AM. Headed east on 160, passed through Durango as we will see it tomorrow. Turned north on 501 the 12.4 miles to Vallecito Lake Resort. When we checked in, they told us we would be dry camping, I said that is not what I ordered. Ron, the guy in the golf cart went to the office to check and we were given a full service spot, but with no cable. And, the pine trees are so tall, there is no satellite possible. I asked Ron if it were possible to hook up to their cable system. He came back later with a splitter and long cable. He hooked us up to his own spot which is directly behind us.

Soon after arriving, we discovered the reason for all the Airstreams. They are having a rally at this resort. They are all over the place. Most of them are from the 60’s or 70’s. Their amenities are few, their interiors are less than basic in some cases, but these people love their trailers. The Airstream people had an appetizer and cocktails party at the gazebo next to the hot tub.

Maria met the couple next to us on the east, they live in AZ but own this place for the summers. Our guide, Ron, told me that the husband had been on the Survivor TV show.

After setting up, we drove to the lake. It is fairly large, we drove around it on the left/west side until we hit the dirt road on the east side. We turned around and headed back. We stopped at a grocery store so I could buy a trout for dinner. The guy said nobody sells trout around here, we just go out and catch them. Too bad if you don’t fish.

We are in space 65 in a circle with mostly long term residents with a few transient spots. There is an Adults Only Hot Tub in the center of our circle. Hope to try it soon.

When we checked into the office we learned that on Friday nights, they sell pizzas as the pavilion. We decided to attend for dinner. The thinnest crust I have ever seen, but tasty. We brought it back to the RV. The country breakfast they have Sat mornings looks good I want to try it before we go to Durango/Silverton tomorrow.

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After our pizza dinner, we went to the Adults Only Hot Tub. There was only one man in it at the time. He turned out to be a soon to retire fire captain from Albuquerque. He has a disabled wife and they have a 40’ 5 th wheel trailer. They “season” here, which means 5 months of summer. They have been doing it for years. It is so fun to meet new people and share stories. He told us we were 2 hrs to soon in the hot tub, we would miss the great show of stars later. We shared our stories of bi-lateral carpal tunnel surgery. His which is 30 years later than mine seems to be going much better than I remember. He is only 3 wks post-op and is 90% normal. Jealous.

Saturday, June 20, 2015, Vallecito – Durango – Silverton.

Left about 10:30, took 240 about 20 miles into Durango and then headed north on 550 to Silverton. That leg is about 50 miles, the first part on divided highway, but the last part was up and down and around and around. Maria, poor girl, was

sitting on the “don’t look down” side much of the time. We decided not to head on to Ouray, that road, while only 27 miles, is said to be much, much more difficult. We had enough for one day. We had gone over two passes today, Coal Bank Pass at 10,640 ft, and Molas Pass at 10,910 ft. On the up hills we slowed down some but kept up with traffic. We drove through Silverton towards the north end and found a funky little café. Kenderson’s Café.

They had several tables under aspen trees in a grassy area. We had 2 cheeseburgers with very greasy curly fries and

cokes. Frankie enjoyed it as he most of our meat.

On the way back, we drove through the southern part of Durango. I was trying to find the building my uncle James French owned which housed his French’s Hardware Store. As I remember it, the building was on the east side of what I assume would be Main St. There was a car show just winding down, and we had to park and walk the streets. As it was in the low 90’s, walking didn’t make it for more than a few blocks. I remembered the store front with an alcove which housed a portable freezer where locals would bring their prize catches to show the town. On one of the trips with my mother, I spend a day of two helping unpack packages of new merchandise in the back room. Most of the back was sub-leased to Coca-Cola distributing for that area. I really enjoyed opening all those boxes, it was like Christmas, I never knew what was in them until I saw the items. My job was to check off the items against the order lists. I remember there was a basement under the whole building, there was an antique cash register with a gold finish that used little wooden balls to total up the money. Unfortunately we never saw anything that I thought looked like what I remembered. My last trip to CO with my mother was in 1959, things might have changed. We returned home on 240 and arrived about 5 PM.

We had the corned beef, cabbage, mashed potatoes that we brought with us, frozen for dinner tonight. After dinner we visited the spa. Our friend from last night was just getting out, but there was a couple with their 19 year old son from some city in very SE CO. It was fun talking with them and comparing stories. They are towing a 24’ trailer and will head north up the road to Silverton, Ouray, over the red mountain pass (11,017 ft) and down into the valley to Ridgway for their first night. Good luck! Better them than me.

Sunday, June 21, 2015, Vallecito Lake to South Fork Campground, space 39. Father’s day.

I think the Vallecito RV park was my favorite place so far. I am actually a little sad to leave. We met nice people and the spot was great except for no wi-fi.

Hit the road about 10:30. We drove back down 501 to 160 and turned East.

Wolf Creek Pass is impressive. It is 8+ miles of uphill 6-7% grade. At 10875’ is not the highest pass we have done, but it is the highest we have done in the RV. Previously, we never were slowed below 40 mph, and 3rd gear. Today we were in 2nd most of the time and only doing 30 mph. incredibly, we passed about a dozen bicyclists going up on the bike trail, WHICH IS BETWEEN US AND THE EDGE. CO Law requires all vehicles give them 3’ clearance when passing. Most times we just move into the inside lane, if there is one. A few times, there was another car there so I couldn’t move. In those cases I slowed down as much as I could, but that made my own speed slow down to the point

that I had to start in 1st gear all over. At the top we stopped for a potty break for everybody. Just before I went to take pictures of the sign, which gives the history of this road, one of the cyclists rode in and dismounted. After he took off his helmet, I saw he was probably in his 60’s! WOW! He was lean & mean. I asked how long he took to do the assent. He said it was horrible today since it was much hotter. He took 3.5 hrs from Pagosa Springs for his assent, after a swig of water he headed back down to Pagosa Springs.

The eastward descent was only about 4.5 miles and not nearly as steep. Beautiful scenery, but I was not able to appreciate it as much as I would have liked. What’s with these narrow roads?

We arrived at South Fork Campground around 2:30. We have space 39 right on the banks of the Rio Grande River. I had originally planned to head in so our windshield could look out on to the river, but that put the utilities, table, and fire pit on the wrong side. So I decided to back in as the view was messed up by a large tree right behind us.

When we opened the doors to begin setup, we were attached by about a zillion mosquitos. Maria, in particular does not do well with mosquitos. After setup, we headed back to South Forks, such as it is, to find Off, and another flyswatter, and when we returned, most of the bugs were gone. We have seen a

couple of inflatable kayaks float down the river and one oar boat. This is a great spot.

Two spots to our left is a Winnebago Vista that came in just after we returned. The tall thin man originally had short shirt and pants. He quickly changed to long sleeves and pants. Later he changed back in to shorties. I should think about that tomorrow. Later, he his wife and a beautiful golden receiver dog emerged for an evening walk. They sprayed the dog for bugs before starting their walk.

Maria made chicken fajitas for dinner with fresh salsa, refried beans, whole wheat tortillas, and guacamole. Great dinner!

All day long we kept getting messages from mostly the Jones side of the family. It started with CJ wishing all fathers a great Father’s day. Then the short comments started, the only problem was most did not have an identifier other than their phone #, which meant nothing to me, and since we were in and out of coverage, the messages were coming sporadically.

Anyway, Andy called twice today to say have a great Father’s Day. The second time, he was at the Yang’s house and we were able to Facetime with the kids. It was fun to see them eating their melted cheese sandwiches after wearing themselves out in the Yang’s pool all afternoon. Andy evidently bought a SUP, stand-up paddle board, and is leaving it at our house as it is easier than transporting it back and forth from his house. He said it is big enough for at least 3 kids + 1 adult, which he suggested, might be big enough for me. I tried one when Karl bought one, I barely made it up to the Bay Island Bridge and back. I don’t think I have the balance for it anymore, but, maybe I will try again.

It’s late now and after taking Frankie for a walk, a lot of bugs came back in the RV! Maria now has over 15 mosquitos bites and most likely will get more before we move on!

Monday, June 22, 2015, South Fork to Creede and back.

Today we go to Creede. Creede is at the end of a box canyon, similar to Telluride, but at only 8852’ elevation. Creede is back west on 160 about 3 miles and then 21 miles up 145. Maria kept asking me if I remembered any of the road into Creede, I didn’t drive then so I had to say no. It was a good road, we could have even done it in the RV. We saw several RV spots all the way into Creede.

We drove completely through the town to the end of the road, or at least where it became a one way dirt road that headed very steeply up to old mine buildings. On the way back into town, we stopped at the Underground Mine Museum. I asked the lady in charge my 2 big questions, she was the one who told me Mr Opie’s house had been demolished 10 years ago. When we finally re-entered Creede itself, I started to recognize some of the town. I had 2 memories that I needed to research.

#1 was my uncle James French owned the hardware store when I was visiting with my mother sometime in the 50’s or 60’s. I thought it was called French’s Hardware, but I was mistaken. I went in to the Tomkin’s Hardware, and asked if they knew my uncle, and if it had ever been called French’s Hardware. The sign outside and what the woman inside said

was that it has been called Tomkins Hardware since 1892. She did admit there had been several owners during that time but did not know if James French was one of them.

#2 was a man who had built a house into a cave, probably an abandoned mine, in the wall which surrounds Creede. I remembered him as Mr. Hoppy. I was to learn he was Mr. Opie and his house was demolished about 10 years ago.

The lady at the Mine Museum told us about the Creede Historical Museum next to the old train depot. She said that just beyond the Museum was the Historical Society Library where they would have records to answer any of my questions.

About this time, lunch became an issue, We stopped at the Best Little Doghouse in Creede. We had a bratwurst for Maria, a Polish for me and we shared Frito chili pie and a lemonade. It was a very popular place and fun and good food.

We found the museum and met two older gentlemen who were volunteering in the museum. I presented my 2 questions and neither of them had any answers. We did 2 senior citizen tours, $1 each. The museum was typical old stuff, but some of it was interesting. Nothing that answered any of my questions, but it was interesting. One of them asked if we had seen the red caboose on the way in. We had. He told us he lived there. I asked, are you a railroad nut? Then I rephrased it, are you a railroad buff. He said I am a railroad nut. He told us, it took him one month to set the railroad tracks but the crane operator had only needed 2 hour to lift and secure the caboose to his tracks. He is a summer only resident as the old train depot, which is now his home, is single wall construction, ( no insulation) and the winter temps can get down to -50.

Just south of the museum was the Historical Society Library which the lady at the Mine Museum had told us about. She had said we would find all our answers there. Unfortunately, it is only open Fridays, from 1-4. This is Monday, Bummer.

On the way back out of town, Maria saw a very funky shop called, Mines & Memories. She suggested we should turn around and check it out. There were two gentlemen sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch. The place was crowded with so much stuff I could not believe it. This was M & F’s turn to stay in the Honda, with motor and AC running while I go check things out. Of the two guys sitting on the porch, one was older with white hair, the other a decade younger with black hair and beard. I walked onto the porch just as the older gentleman got up and moved into his truck to move out. I asked the remaining gentleman if he knew James French who used to own the Tomkins Hardware store. He immediately jumped up and told the older man to wait a minute. It turned out that that older gentleman was actually related to my uncle through marriage. His last name was French because of it being his foster father’s name. He knew James French and his wife Lettie and knew they had owned the hardware store in Creede, Durango, and Del Norte. He had only a few teeth in his head and appeared eager to go, so our conversation was short. It was amazing that in only a few hours, we were able to connect with a “relative” or so.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015, South Fork, CO to Canon City, CO.

Late start, but were out by check out time, 11:00. Turned left on 160 east and we are on our way.

Our trip was 160 east, 112 NE, 285 North, over Poncha Pass, 9010’, to Poncha Springs, 50 east to Canon City and KOA home for 2 nights. The downhill side of this pass was exciting. The road was downhill and curvy but not too bad for our RV. We pulled over several times to let traffic pass as I was not pushing it. For most of the drive we were right alongside the Arkansas River. I could not believe how many buses filled with people, towing trailers with 4-8 Rubber River rafting boats aboard were heading up the canyon to drop off their rafts and rafters. Initially, I was not too impressed with the “difficulty” of this river, but further down, it became much more interesting, and exciting. Since the road was so close to the river we had great seats to see the rafts go over the rapids. I, of course, needed to watch the road, but I got a few good looks in.

I guess I screwed up with the reservation confirmation for this place. Partially in my defense, the name of this place has been elusive. Anyway, we finally found it after going all the way into Canon City and then having to backtrack 8 miles west to Hwy 3A where we found our KOA. Luckily it is on the road to the Royal Gorge Bridge, which we will drive over tomorrow after we do the train ride through the gorge itself.

Steph sent us bad news that Barb is in the hospital with pneumonia and UTI. Steph has found out she may have a few loose screws from her previous back surgeries. Trouble in river city.