Crested Butte time ends with blue moon

Off we go tomorrow to Denver to visit old friends for a couple of nights and possibly sleep in a house! Crested Butte has been a lot of fun and we've met new friends and seen old ones again. All in all, a very fun--and cool--week!

The eighth day

Greetings from God's country!

It really is so gorgeous here; the conference is terrific and the weather glorious. I hope each of you has an opportunity to come up here sometime in the summer.

These are a couple of shots taken just north of Crested Butte on a little scenic ride today. The "head" photographer was giving it a shot too, but I have no product of his to show you.

I think he got some good sky shots.

But, we did find a thrift store prize that he applied to our little casita and check the reflection too....

Happy days to you, one and all.

Tuesday...seventh night out

This is the RV park where we're staying til Saturday morning. It's about five miles south of the Crested Butte Mountain resort where the conference is. It is so beautiful in this area.

This morning we rode the ski lift up to near the top of the mountain then hiked about a mile farther up, but not all the way to the top. It was a little rough at times going up. Coming down was a lot easier, I thought. We just came back down to the ski lift, not all the way back down to the base. That would have been tough.

I didn't take a lot of pictures up there. Too busy trying to catch my breath I guess. Crested Butte is 12,162 at its crest. The resort town is at 9,375. A lot of people suffer with the altitude, but I haven't felt it too much, though climbing this morning left me breathless at times. I recovered quickly.

I was glad for the walking sticks. I think they are ski poles that Jim altered by taking off the bottom circular part. I found it very useful, both going up and coming down.

The RV resort has some nice common areas and a lovely bathroom and shower, but the individual sites themselves are a little tight. It's fine though. And the air...oh my. I won't talk about it too much since I know most of my readers are suffering now in extreme heat but....yeah...

Greetings from Crested Butte

Where the odds are good and the goods are a little odd.......but awfully sweet!

Conference started this morning with a meeting on the gorgeous deck overlooking the mountains and ski lifts. Last year I remember being very cold on that deck so I wore a coat and hat and scarf. By the end of the meeting I was almost down to underwear.....not really but I had definitely shed layers.

The weather here is refreshing and invigorating....when we woke up early this morning it was 45 degrees but now it's close to 80...the forecast for tonight is 39...brrrr! Wow. I may have an advanced degree in layers by the end of the week. I'm happy to report that the heater in the casita works as well as the a/c...better actually because there's both gas and electric so when we're off "the grid" we can still keep warm.

Not too many pictures today but had to get a little post done since this is my last chance of the day. The wifi at the RV park is sketchy.

Flowing on.......wish you were here........

Adventures Abound

When last we met, I was embarking upon a kayaking trip on the mighty Rio Grande. Sister Dee and her beloved Carlos rented an inflatable “funyak” to carry them down the river beside our yellow kayak, formerly the property of the most generous Paul and Cynthia Finney.

Spirits were high after Jim gave Dee and Carlos a mini lesson on kayaking. Dee had chosen a part of the river that had only a few small areas of rapids...not the much more formidable part of the river known as the “racetrack.” So off we went...down the Rio Grande gorge in beautiful northern New Mexico. All seemed to be fine. It was a beautiful day, the water was moving but not overly swiftly...all was well....until....dun dun dunt dun (what?)

We came upon a part of the river where there were some real rapids. Dee and Carlos headed into them first. They turned sideways, but righted themselves and made it through. Now it was our turn. A guide at the rental place had said to stay left...so we tried. But, alas, the kayak “wedged” and started filling with water. The cooler and the beach towels floated up and out and...away.

Jim told me to get behind him but first I asked for and put on one of the life jackets we carried in the boat. The water was shallow but moving swiftly and the rock population was abundant and varied. He told me to sit on a big rock right at the end of the kayak, so I did. He tried to free the boat, but it didn't seem to be budging. I was sitting there doing nothing. I'm not sure why I was so passive because it's not usually my way but I think mostly it was because I WAS SCARED S***LESS. I wasn't afraid that I would die, really, but just that I or Jim would break a leg or get a big bloody abrasion. I tried hard to stay calm and focused on my breathing.

Soon, a man who we had talked to right before entering the rapids made his way across the river and started helping to bale water out of the boat. He and Jim managed to get enough water out of it to get it unstuck and moving again. He took it around to the lower part of the rapids while we tried to figure out what we were going to do to get ourselves out. I saw no choice but to body surf. A couple of rafts loaded with people came by about that time and our helper tried to get them over to rescue me, but they couldn't navigate to me. I was glad because the rafts were full and there were little children on board. The rafts went on by and Jim took off first through the rapids and I followed. I just held on to that life vest and hoped for the best. I was fine. The kayak had been beached on the nearby bank but the water took us well past where it was. I held on to one of the rafts and they pulled me mostly to shore. A tiny little girl on the boat looked at me with the biggest, scaredest eyes. I wonder if she thought I was going to die. Jim askedme later  if I had smiled at her, but I think I was too scared myself to do so.

After I got to the bank, I waited while Jim went back for the kayak. Dee and Carlos were waiting downstream. She said she had started getting worried when we finally showed up. It seemed like a long time had passed, but I don't really know how long it took.

We did lose the beach towels, but Dee and Carlos snagged the cooler while it floated by (though all the water bottles were gone) and we lost some sun block but later acquired a different tube that passed by...perhaps lost by another wet but grateful river rat in training?

My takeaway from it all was Jim and that helper guy (who worked for a rafting company, we later learned) were my heroes and all you can really do is

GO WITH THE FLOW.

I'm very grateful that neither of us was hurt, that the boat was fine (actually a lot cleaner now than it had been) and that in the end, we all had a great time and a terrific memory.

We did go for a nice dinner at Rancho de Chimayo last night and today we had another smaller adventure when we took a road the GPS lady recommended that was mostly dirt and very steep and twisty for a few miles...when there was a better alternative. 

The view from the scary road was "gorge"ous!

But the casita did great...Jim said it didn't seem like he was even pulling a trailer.

Little tortuga casita crosses the Continental Divide.

So we arrived in Colorado and are now nestled in very cool Crested Butte right next to another casita and looking forward to a week here.

Sorry this was so long and thanks for looking.

Adios Palo Duro; Hola New Mexico!

We left Palo Duro Canyon a little reluctantly yesterday morning. It is so beautiful there. Really a hidden gem in Texas. It's such a surprise to come upon it in the middle of the vast prairie of West Texas.

But we knew we were going on to cooler climes and you can't beat that.

We headed toward Santa Fe where we met some friends of Jim from Whitney. On the way out of Santa Fe, we saw this sign:

What does it mean? We didn't have time to stop to find out but traveling does provide giggling ops, for sure.

New Mexico, like Texas, has had a lot more rain this year and is so green and beautiful. Dee has added a new horse to the pack...this picture is in her backyard.

Dee's man Carlos shows off his antique "seeder" which Jim found on the internet, dating to 1909 or thereabouts.

Today: kayaking on the Rio Grande and dinner at Rancho de Chimayo (http://www.ranchodechimayo.com/).

So far, casita life is pretty fab!

Spoke too soon? Nah........

Second day out. Today at Palo Duro Canyon again. It is very very hot during the day but gets rather lovely at night.

Last night, after I posted on a hilltop because there is NO CELL SERVICE everywhere (OK, yes, I'm hooked) things took a definite turn sharply downward.

Jim suddenly felt sick and decided he didn't want to eat (wait, what?) and when we got into the casita, we found a gazillion ants appearing out of nowhere. Does anyone like the game whack-a-mole?? We were whacking the ants like crazy but finally figured out where they were coming from and Jim ERADICATED them. It's so nice to have a man around the house. :-)

I ate some cheese and crackers and fruit and he started feeling better and all was turning well again. It turned out to be a lovely evening and the STARS!! Around 2 or so I opened the windows and turned on the fan and enjoyed the cool air and the stars out my window.

This morning we had a fab breakfast prepared by an all-better Jim B.

We tried a little hike but I thought I might melt for real so we just drove around and hung out casita side. So far so good.

Tomorrow we're off to New Mexico and sister Dee.

Thanks for looking!

First day success

We made it to palo duro canyon which is so beautiful!! Slow but steady. 

The picture doesn't do it justice of course. No connection at all down in the camping valley but so far so good! 

Now I'm wondering what's for dinner??! 

Gettin' ready to head out......

So, we're soon to be off on the big adventure, or as some call it "the odyssey." We leave Wednesday, heading first to Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo for two nights. Then to Dixon, NM, to visit sister Dee. Then to Crested Butte, Colorado for six nights for a conference.

After that, we head to Denver for two nights to visit old friends, then to Estes Park for two nights. At that point, Aug. 5, we'll have been in the casita for two weeks and we'll decide whether we're coming back to the heat or heading north to places I've never been, to wit: Wyoming and Montana.

A couple of weeks ago we took the rig out for a practice run. This was right before departure in the driveway.

I'm going to try to make little flags for each state we visit. This is the first one, representing our little road home.

I haven't blogged in years and never really did get into it then, so you'll just have to bear with me while I learn the "ropes," both of blogging and, of course, of camping.

Feel free to never look again! Meanwhile, stay cool.......