One more day-April 30, 2012

We were going to leave tomorrow morning, but we worked too hard today plus we were awakened at dawn by birds building a nest under the awning on our living room slide. Jerry got up and sprayed everything down with water and washed out the nest. Then we tried to sleep again, but the pecking on the roof would not allow that. We finally got up and listened to those birds running back and forth on the roof until we were really annoyed. Jerry sprayed them down again and they seemed to get the message. We left and ran our errands. Tonight they were back, along with a wasp nest built on the side of the coach and a whole bunch of Miller moths. We think these critters don't like us being here. We're in their way. However, they will have to suffer through another cold water shower tomorrow morning as we are staying one more day. Derrick wants to take us out to dinner tomorrow night for early Mother's Day and Jerry's birthday. We could not turn down that offer. We had a great linner (lunch/dinner) yesterday with Jerry's sister in Denver. If you can have brunch, why not linner? The food at the Colorado Hacienda was delicious.

Ah, the country life-April 28, 2012

We are all three having a busy Saturday. Jerry and Derrick have chipped the limbs and branches from the Russian olives that were cut down a few days ago. They were starting to clean up the mess when Derrick noticed the three horses next door had just gotten out of their pasture. He yelled at his neighbor that her horses were loose and she yelled back, "Can you help me?" He and Jerry hopped in the truck and took off down the street after the horses with the owner close behind. The horses found another pasture to go into before they got to the busy highway. Thank goodness. They were rounded up and forced into yet another pasture where the owner put bridles on them and, with the help of  another neighbor, led them home. I had just remarked at lunch that one of those horses was terribly skinny. Maybe they were running for "greener pastures". They are settled back in now. And we have all returned to our day's tasks. Nothing like living in the country! I was going to give you all the details of last night's dinner but I'm out of room. We had the opportunity to eat at On The Border in Loveland. Besides the three of us, we were with Josh, J.D. and Shawn. They are all great guys and each is very, very funny. So, put us all together and the laughter is endless. We actually wore ourselves out laughing. The food was delicious as always. We did not get our usual waitress so we had to "train" another one last night. She was great! The weather is sunny but very crisp today. The skies are a beautiful blue with lots of cirrus clouds. What a great day. Please take some time to rest and relax tomorrow.

Begrudingly being led back home after a run for the "border"

Not much new here-April 26, 2012

We have had a full day of activities of some kind every day since we got here. We think we have to move on to get some rest! Not really. In the midst of a list we were working our way through I broke a veneer into about 4 pieces. So, Wednesday afternoon I spent 1 1/2 hours in the dental chair getting the prep work done. It was ready in less than 24 hours, so I got my new veneer at noon today. Looks great and I am a happy camper. My dentist who is the nicest man and the best dentist anywhere did a great job with his new fancy dancy digital machine that scans the tooth and works from the scan in the computer. This is the simple way I understand it, but I am certain it is really much more complex than that. Nobody likes to go to the dentist, right? Wrong. I adore my dentist and everybody in the office. Good people. Honest people. We had set aside tomorrow to go look at coaches, but the weather may not permit it. We have a rather bad front moving through right now and should continue until sometime tomorrow. We told Derrick if it got too bad, we'd open his garage door and spend the night in his truck! It has been so far above normal temps everybody knew something was going to happen. We'll hang in there. You do the same!

Friends-April 24, 2012

I have decided that if you have friends, family and faith, you are emotionally taken care of. I had an opportunity to visit with two dear Loveland friends today. We had so much fun laughing and catching up over a cup of delicious coffee. I am truly grateful for their friendship. It is great to have email so I can visit with many friends on a daily basis, or at least close to that since it is not possible to see everybody as much as I would like. I appreciate all of my friends! And for the record, all of our clean vehicles were lightly rained on today and bombarded with cottonwood pollen. Such is life in Colorado.

Beautiful Monday-April 23, 2012

Please take a look at this:

You will never see the coach and the Cute Red Vehicle this clean again. Why? Because it is such hard work and we're just too old!! This weekend, thanks to a very energetic son, the coach, car, Derrick's truck and one motorcycle all got great baths. The Cute Red Vehicle and the coach also were waxed, top and bottom. We were both so tired we hardly knew our names but Derrick seemed to have energy to spare. Besides that, Derrick and Jerry moved 13 trees, planted 3 new fruit trees and 4 blueberry bushes. I was merely the cook. The weekend was gone before we knew it and it was time for Derrick to return to work today. Neither of us could have done that! We have started on our list of tasks to be done before we depart. We have set aside Friday, weather permitting, to go look at some coaches around here. We still would like something different. I can only hope your weather is as beautiful as ours. What a fabulous day. The temp today was a bit higher than normal (in the 80s) but there was still a slight breeze to help cool things down. If only we could find this weather somewhere year 'round.

Work day at Derrick's-April 20, 2012

The three musketeers, aka tree cutters, worked hard today. There were three huge old Russian olives on the back part of Derrick's property. Russian olives are such awful trees and good for absolutely nothing but taking up space and water. So, today was the day they had to come down.

Derrick and Josh work on the first tree

These trees would make great furniture because they are such hard wood. But they are no match for 3 strong men.

The tree was no match for fearless Josh

It was such a beautiful day the "boys" really accomplished a lot AND the pomegranate tree stayed outside all day.

Jerry and Josh take down the last tree!







Tomorrow will be clean up and wood chipper day. I am the designated cook and water carrier. It takes teamwork for a project this size. What a great day!



Virga-April 19, 2012

Virga

To friends living here this post will be boring. But to those in other parts of the country I want to share a picture of virga. That's rain that evaporates before it hits the ground. You can see the shafts of rain but they clearly do not reach the ground. I love watching this stuff! It was a very rainy day today as Jerry, Derrick and Josh repaired sprinkler heads. (I was the lucky one who got to go grocery shopping). As we were driving to dinner tonight, we saw where it was not virga, but instead a very good rain for those underneath this cloud. It appears to be quite heavy. It has been dry so everyone is glad to see the rain.

Watching the weather in this part of the country is really easy because you can see it for so many miles. We'll see if it rains tomorrow as the trio plants fruit trees and blueberry bushes. Think I'll go shopping again. 

Greeley, CO-April 18, 2012

We arrived at Derrick's a few minutes after he got home from work. He is off for the next two days so we will have some time together. Yesterday before we left OLD Colorado City we found yet another rock, but this one is for Derrick. He said he did not need anything for his house, so his early birthday present is this:

Pepe the peacock and Rocky

Pepe is a peacock but he is different rock than Rocky because he moves in the wind. He is actually a very unique scarecrow for Derrick's garden. Pepe and Rocky get along fine, they are similar rocks. We all just stood around and laughed. The more the wind blew, the more we laughed. You just can't beat a gift that brings a big smile to the recepient's face. We were originally going to avoid most of Denver as the traffic and roads are both bad. But in the past year, they have improved the roads on the south end of town greatly, up to 5 lanes in spots. So we came straight through and we made remarkably good time with only a couple of insanely deviant drivers around us. Most were just fast. We are securely parked, have gone to town for a great dinner, watched Survivor together and are now winding down. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow but I sure know a couple of spots I'd love to hit for shopping purposes. This will be a fun visit though short. We made one big discovery on the way up here. The part of Colorado south of Denver is so much prettier than the north part. We have never noticed that before but it could not be denied this time. 

OLD Colorado City-April 17, 2012

Tax day. We discovered in this area lies the original Colorado City, now called OLD Colorado City, founded in 1859. The one we stayed in over the weekend is the new Colorado City. Who knew? The old one was a gold mining town as so many towns in this part of Colorado were. There were two gold ore carts on the main street. They are larger than coal ore carts. Here's one.

It was a great walk on a wonderful day. The weather is so nice. No matter where you go in this area Pikes Peak towers over every view. It is a mere 14,110 feet tall, so it should tower, right? There's so much snow on it which makes it really pretty. Otherwise, it is brown, all rock, no trees. We'd love to bottle this weather and take it with us everywhere. We also took a very long walk this morning on a walking trail behind the park. The trail roamed through some very nice parks, under a couple of highways and past the back entrance to the Garden of the Gods. We should sleep well tonight. We're on the road tomorrow to Derrick's house.

Manitou Springs, CO-April 16, 2012

We tried to stop in Colorado Springs, but the park was full and I'm so glad. That park was on such a hill it made me nauseous. They were all fulltime residents. That's happening in many parks because it is such an affordable way of life with few responsibilities. The man who checked us in here in Manitou Springs used to live in Loveland and worked for Garrett Motors where we used to buy our cars. Small world indeed. We had plenty of time after arrival so we hopped in the car and headed for Garden of the Gods. Neither of us has been there in many years. The weather was fabulous, 56°, warm sun, light breeze, bright blue skies. Perfect. This is one of the entrances to Garden of the Gods.

It's a one way street through the entire park. They had many walking trails and lots of places to pull off and take pictures. I will limit how many pictures I post on this blog. We only took 48!

Tree roots grow on top of the rocks

Pikes Peak has lots of snow on it

Majestic spires of rock. Cheyenne Mountain in the background.

Birds were enjoying the sun on the top of  the

rocks. Because this blog reduces the pictures to

such a small size you can't see them. Sorry.

Somebody's dream house on the side of a cliff

This is a beautiful place. It's peaceful and quiet, for the most part, a great place for a long nature walk or a picnic. Maybe tomorrow.............





Pueblo CO Riverwalk-April 14, 2012

We knew a storm was headed our way this afternoon so we left early this morning to go to the Pueblo Riverwalk. It is very nice, much like the San Antonio Riverwalk, but much smaller. It was beautiful weather so we walked nearly the entire area. Pueblo has done a nice job for their inner city area.

The Arkansas River

In one area of the walk is a beautiful bronze statue. It is of an Indian maiden without a name but she is dancing a dance to the stars. If you look at the detail on the quilt first, it looks very real. But the beadwork on her clothes is fabulous. It is really not beadwork at all, but instead, it is bronze. The fringe is also bronze. It is such a wonderful piece of work. I just loved it.

These pictures do not do the statue justice. On my computer they are wonderful, but when they come out on the blog they appear to be so far away. Sorry about that. It's the best I can do on this blog. Just take my word for it, please. It was worth the walk to see this.

I wish you a very peaceful day tomorrow. We will take the day off as we usually try to do.

Bishop Castle and more-April 13, 2012

Today is one of those days when words fail me. It was wonderful, interesting, exciting, beautiful, fascinating and more. Plus we met one of the most unique people we've meet so far. Jerry says Jim is the most outstandingly unusual person he has ever met in his life. The man is Jim Bishop, owner of Bishop Castle in the San Isabel National Forest, south and west of Colorado City and Rye. I hope to keep this brief but I don't know how to do that. First of all, neither of us has ever been to this part of Colorado. It is just spectacular and like nothing we've seen in this state. If ever we want to go Aspen viewing in the fall, this will be the place we will go. First I have to tell you that we stopped in Rye to mail something to Alabama. The man in front of us who appeared to be around 35 years old was trying to write a check for a post office box. He had to ask the clerk how to spell "twenty". I think we both nearly fainted. He was a local person known to other people. He was obviously employed. The irony to the whole situation is that the post office in Rye is directly across the street from the high school. "Nuff said. We continued on up into the mountains in search of the Bishop Castle. First there was San Isabel lake.

Yes, that's snow on the opposite shore of the lake

Next we saw turkeys crossing the road. I only managed to get one picture taken before they ran off into the woods. Jerry said it's the first time he has ever seen turkeys in Colorado. They were very big and there were about 10 of them together.

Yep, more snow on the side of the road

We kept going to an altitude of 9000 ft and there was the gigantic castle. Jim Bishop is sole builder. He is an ironworker by trade, has an unlimited imagination and is such a wonderfully colorful character. We were fortunate to have him greet us along with his spaniel, Betsy. We talked for about half an hour before we started our climb. Here's what we saw when we got out of the car.

This work of art reaches 160 feet into the

colorful Colorado sky

We did attempt to climb to the top but gave out about half way up. I would have gone to the top if Jerry had wanted to, but he said we should go back down to earth. Please look at this picture and notice a person standing on one of the walkways.

Can you see him? He's in the round turret

Then there is the dragon head at the top. It is made from scrap steel and belches smoke when it is working.

The bottom jaw is 7 feet long

As you can imagine this could go on forever, but I'll spare you any more details. All I can say is that if you are ever in this area, this is a must see. It's free and if you are lucky you will meet the delightful owner and true patriot, Jim Bishop.

Tomorrow and Sunday are due to be very cold and nasty so we may stay here until Monday. We were going to move on to Colorado Springs, but their temps are lower than here. We are just praying for the wind to stop soon. It is irritating but did not spoil a wonderful day today.

Colorado City, CO-April 12, 2012

Have you ever heard of anybody being sea sick while driving down the road? The wind was so bad we both feel beaten. But we have found a wonderful park in a place we've never been. As I type this blog, this is the view I see out my window.

This picture is not crisp and clear. The view is

much prettier than this picture. I'm loving it!

Last night on the nightly news they said the storm was so bad south of Dumas that the road had been washed out. That was the very road we were going to drive today. We got up at 4:00 AM to check the news. Nothing. By 8:00 this morning we heard the road was clear. It had not been washed out. It was just totally covered in mud and hail. Today it was all pushed to the side of the road and the piles of hail and mud were 4-5 feet high. Thankfully, the road was fine. First I want to show you how the trees in the extreme part of the Texas panhandle grow due to a non-stop prevailing south winds. ALL trees grow bent toward the north.

As we drove into New Mexico, the interesting point of interest is the Capulin Volcano. One day we are going to drive the road to the top. The last time it exploded it spewed lava rock for miles and miles. It's quite a sight.

This picture is too far away to see, but this is the first view we saw of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, a part of the Rocky Mountain chain. They were covered in snow. I'm so sorry the picture is so poor. 

We are now settled in at Colorado City. It is still very, very windy. We are glad to have a nice place to stay in spite of the wind. We have not decided about tomorrow's adventure, but we will be here.

The Big Texan-April 11, 2012

We saved the best for last. We had lunch at The Big Texan today. It has been highlighted on The Travel Channel. It's been in Amarillo for eons of time. Our first stop here was probably 25 years ago. It is a place that tourists like to go, but it also has very, very good food. We knew we'd have lots to do tonight to get ready to hit the road tomorrow. (That is if the wind allows us to sleep. It's awful right now and it's dark and gloomy). The Big Texan is the place where if you can eat an entire dinner which includes a 72 ounce steak in an hour, it is free. If not, it is very expensive. Years ago it was over $50. It might be closer to $100 now. Who knows for sure? We enjoyed a relaxing lunch which included a big cold crisp salad in a small skillet. They do offer a free ride from many locations including this RV park, but when you see the limos you'll see why we drove ourselves.

Would you ride in one of these?



Route 66-April 10, 2012

Since we enjoyed old Route 66 in Arizona, we decided to check it out here, too. What a waste of time. Nothing there but pawn shops, small restaurants and antique shops. Most buildings were empty. How sad. It was a thriving area in Arizona. Then we drove downtown. There are some beautiful old buildings there. No parks or any place to shop. So...........we went to Sam's and bought oranges and strawberries.  When we came back to the coach a little finch of some type was so thirsty he was trying to get water out of our faucet. We just sat in the car and let him finish sipping. I feel sorry for any animal that's so thirsty it will hang on a faucet and try to drink. It is really dry here in the panhandle. They are only an inch below normal so far this year, but were 15 inches below normal for all of last year. That's dry! Other parts of Texas are near or above normal so far. It's a big state with several weather systems happening at the same time.

Palo Duro and Cadillac Ranch-April 9, 2012

We got up early this morning and headed for Palo Duro Canyon, south of Amarillo. We should have known that it would not be special after having seen the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas, but everybody we met said it was a must see. It isn't but we can add it to our list of places we've been. Here are a few pictures so you can see why we did not find it very special.

Palo Duro means "hard rock"

See, it's not that wonderful

The only living creature we saw in the canyon

Our next stop was the Cadillac Ranch. No, not like the one outside Las Vegas! Years ago some crazy farmer "planted" 10 old Cadillacs, hood down, in the middle of his wheat field. You could tell they were Cadillacs then. Now you cannot. They have been spray painted so many colors they don't look so nice. One couple was there and he was painting "It's a Boy!" on the last car in line. This "site" is west of Amarillo on I-40. 

It's a Boy!

As we returned we could hear the thunder and see the dark skies. However, it appears we might have missed today's rain. The next three days are not supposed to be nice weather so we will see what we can find to do. Everything here is outdoors. We leave here on Thursday. 

Saturday April 7, 2012

Last year we had rain following us. This year it appears to be wind that is tagging along with us. The wind today is the worst we've had so far on this trip. All the positive ions produced by the wind can surely make a body feel bad. Another day where a trip into a canyon would not be wise. So, I am alternating between cleaning and reading and getting ready for Easter dinner for us. I wanted to take this moment to wish you a happy and very blessed Easter. I pray your weather is pleasant and your day is beautiful

Good Friday!-April 6, 2012

It was a good Friday for more than one reason. So many people are off from work today and we did not think about that before we left. We were going to Palo Duro canyon but the wind was so bad here we knew it would be intolerable there. We'll catch that another day. We stumbled upon an On The Border restaurant and you know from other blog posts we will go out of our way to eat there. This one was right on our way. It was, hands down, the best food we have had at any in that restaurant chain. We feel full and blessed indeed. Then we stopped at Georgia Street Market. It is actually one gigantic store where everything is displayed in rooms. There was so much stuff that it was impossible to make a decision on a gift we will need down the road. We came away without buying a single thing. But we got plenty of exercise. We did take a picture of a sign that made us laugh. Some might read it negatively but we didn't. We thought it was funny. What do you think?

Have a nice day!!

Amarillo, TX-April 5, 2012

First, I need to apologize to the state of Texas for calling their state flower a Blue Bonnet. It is a bluebonnet. Sorry. They are supposed to be blue, but they do vary depending on soil and weather conditions. I was starting to worry about my color pitch because all I could see was purple. We arrived in Amarillo mid afternoon today. It is hot and dry with only a tiny breeze. We have settled in and are planning what we want to see in the upcoming days. We've already seen 3 AWACS planes fly over so we must be in somebody's flight path. We hope they do not fly at night! I want to share with you only one picture today. It is a Texas Rest Area. As you can see it is not what you see in most states. We only stopped to make a sandwich for lunch. I just had to take a picture. Do you believe it?

Texas Rest Area

Wichita Falls, TX-April 4, 2012

Cirrus clouds. Aren't they pretty?

We watched these clouds all morning as we left Thackerville and moved on to Wichita Falls, TX. It was such a nice day to travel. There was a slight breeze and it was cool and pleasant. The sun was not too hot. We have stopped in a nice park, actually a ranch, on the east side of Wichita Falls. Not sure we'd want to stay here long term, but one night is fine.

Texas Blue Bonnets, the state flower

Here are the Texas Blue Bonnets lining the sides of the road. They are a wild flower. I will admit that this picture makes them appear closer to blue than purple, but trust me, they are purple. We just found out they did not bloom last year because of the drought, but they are abundant this year because of the rain. We do like them and really enjoyed seeing them on the side of the road. For a reason I can't explain they make you smile.

Pretty horse, si?

Every state, except Alabama maybe, has a statue to something. We've been in Mississippi where catfish were made into big statues on every corner. Pensacola has Pelicans. Well, Texas has horses.

Duh. This was a nice one, very close to the entrance of our RV resort. I hope we see many more of them. There were two live tiny Shetland ponies at the entrance to this resort, but they were very very camera shy. I'll try again tomorrow.

Today was a very good day. We look forward to tomorrow and then some time in Amarillo. Hope your day was this nice also.









 

Still here-April 3, 2012

It was dreary and stormy looking this morning, so we studied all the forecasts we could find and watched the Weather Channel. We could see the storms were west and we were going west. So, rather than drive into the bad weather, we stayed put for today. It did rain here in Thackerville. The bad weather went north and, as you know, it went south to Dallas. Did you see the picture of the 18 wheeler flying through the air in Dallas? What a shock. But then cameras are everywhere. The rain has stopped along with the wind that ruined our last two night's of sleep. We'll get up and hit the road to Wichita Falls tomorrow and then on to Amarillo. I hope everyone reading this is safe.

Oklahoma!-April 2, 2012

I believe the words to the song say "Oklahoma!, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain". Well, let me tell you the wind has been shocking, like nothing we have experienced. We are on the bottom outside edge of that storm that's crossing the center of the country right now. It is not really pleasant at all. But there are no warnings out. We are not in the path of the storm. This is just wind. And it's powerful. We had planned to move on down the road tomorrow. We will follow the weather tonight and we'll check all sights early tomorrow morning. If it looks bad we will sit tight. If it looks clear, we'll move on. We are not foolish and we don't take chances with our lives. So, I'll let you know tomorrow what we decide. We both want to spend some time in Amarillo. We have traveled through that city so many times and never ever had time to see what was there. We think we've missed a lot and we hope to make up for lost time. I hope the weather is nice where you are!