I have no idea why I sometimes just don’t get in the mood to post. Maybe I get overwhelmed with beautiful things, and I have trouble deciding what to show. Ok, I’ll go with that one, at least this time.
We spent four nights at Elk Creek campground in the Curecanti National Recreation Area. Nice sites with electricity, a rarity for NPS campgrounds. My youngest grandchildren had noted I hadn’t sent them any post cards (bad grandma!), so I picked some up at the visitor center. They didn’t have any way to mail them though, so we had to wait until we got to town. Gunnison wasn’t too far away, so that is where we spent some time. I came down with a UTI, so I had to spend time at a very nice clinic and the local pharmacy. Sigh. They don’t allow UTVs in the park, so we kept to the truck. Pretty country though. Kevin got an oil change on the truck and we did laundry – fascinating stuff. Not all of camping is sightseeing!
After Elk Creek we stayed at a BLM dispersed site halfway between Alamosa, CO and Great Sand Dunes National Park. We were in a large sagebrush covered area on the flanks of Mount Blanca, the fourth tallest peak in Colorado. While we could ride the RZR there, the trail got rougher than we like about 5-6 miles up the trail to the top. The area is called the Lake Como dispersed area, but we sure never saw a lake. As you can see from the photo, it is a pretty isolated area. We were at least 100 yards from our nearest neighbor. We took Minnie to a vet in Alamosa for follow-up blood work. Thanks fully everything is perfectly normal! She is acting like her old self again, and I am thrilled.
One of the other things we did while we were here was take a long waited for ride on the Toltec and Cumbres Scenic Railway. Kevin bought tickets a few months back for the “Parlor Car.” It was pricy but absolutely worth it. It was an enclosed car with half the number of seats. Each seat faced the window and was comfortably padded. Since we went a bit over 60 miles over 5 hours, that padding was important! I can’t begin to pick the best photos from the trip, but here is a sampling.
And of course we went to Great Sand Dunes. It was intermittently raining so we didn’t get out much. I am always thrilled to see just how huge the sand dunes are. If you blow up the picture a bunch you can see two people on top of the far dune.
And like most parks, the animals get to know people won’t harm them. This doe and twin fawns are an example. They were perhaps 6 feet off the road and totally ignored us.
After the dry open sagebrush of Lake Como Road, we splurged on 10 days at the 4K River Ranch in Red River. We had a big site right on the river, though we did have to move for the last 3 mights a few sites farther down the row. Full hookups of course (laundry!),and green, lots of green. We had a few dozen teal ducks keep us company, and there were lots of other birds flitting around. The ground squirrels had obviously been fed by previous campers, and they would come within inches of our feet. Kevin’s sister came over for a few days, and they did some sightseeing and hiking. It was nice for Kevin to have a hiking partner since that’s something I can’t do anymore. He also took her on her first side by side ride. She had ridden an ATV before, but she agreed the SXS was a lot more comfortable.
The old Questa Church was lovely. At one point an entire adobe wall fell down, and the community spent 49,000 hours of work to rebuilt with original techniques.
As a change from the barren sagebrush We had grass and trees. Those led to visitors.
We also had our first significant mishap of our SXS career. There was a very deeply washed area where our tire slipped and we ended up tipping sideways. It wasn’t anything really serious; both the rig and us were fine. But it was slow going to get the right on its four wheels and get it winched out. You can’t work very hard or very long without a break at 9600’! We also decided we needed a winch with a longer work cycle. Ours had to rest 20 minutes for every 5 it was working, so it took quite a while to get it all done. Yes, we travel by ourselves a lot, and yes, we carry a full complement of self-rescue and self-support gear. Still took us (well, Kevin) two hours to get us all out. Just as we got on top of the washed out area and stashed the gear back, along comes two rigs that could have helped! It never fails.
After Kevin’s sister left, we visited Taos more extensively. We finally got into the Taos Pueblo World Heritage Site after being disappointed three other times due to religious ceremony closures and COVID closure. Fabulous place. The church, San Geronimo, was lovely. Here is the outside. You can’t take pictures inside, but it was lovely too – very traditional southwest.
The Pueblo itself is well worth visiting. We took a guided tour, and she was worth her tip. The three story adobe buildings have the homes of multiple families inside them, but no more building is allowed there due to structural concerns. Families still live in the houses, but most are only used for ceremonial or tourist businesses. Building is allowed for one story adobes, but since the homes inside the wall cane have no electricity or plumbing, there isn’t much new construction. The older ones are occupied though. Our guide said 40-60 people live full-time in the historic Pueblo, but thousands more live just outside in more modern houses.
When we left Red River on 12 September, we spent one night at the Sante Fe Elks so I could pick up a prescription, then we spent two nights at the Farmington Elks. The Sante Fe site was just dry camping, but Farmington had electricity. We didn’t need much because the weather has been quite pleasant. We are now at the Cortez Elks lodge, staying until Friday morning, 19 September. Then we will find one night at a FHU campground to get laundry done and generally clean up the rig and ourselves before heading to the Rocky Mountain Motorhome Association Ramble. Kevin is going to help with parking, and I am joining the “Frustrated Maestros” musical group. I am also doing a class on sewing oven mitts,
I actually have done some sewing, but not a bunch. I made a cover for a little folding table we have, but I forgot pictures. I also finished the September Kona Block of the Month a bit before the last day! As usual, it hasn’t been pressed, and I noticed just now that I have some spare threads here and there. Oh well!
We do have some things planned while we are here, so I will try to be more diligent at posting.