Circle The Wagons

The Bride and I will be leaving this afternoon to join the rest of The Circle at La Vista campground which is about 2 1/2 hours southwest of the Denver area. The will be the first The Bride has ever ridden in the RV. I’ve had this RV for about 1 1/2 years now and every time The Bride has “camped” she has driven or flown to where I had driven a day or two before and met me at the campsite. This time she will get to occupy the co-pilot seat. This should be interesting because it takes a little getting used to, especially on narrow roads. The seats of the RV sit right over and a bit to the outside of the front wheels so if your close to the edge of the road, it looks like you’re actually off the road.

Guitar and Pic-E are leaving before us and will be responsible for dinner for the rest of us tonight. Guitar has been dying to try his Dutch Oven out and today is his chance. Too Tall, Two Timing and K. will leave about the same time as The Bride and I so we should all be in place by 7pm.

I’m not sure what the plans are for Saturday but you know we’ll find some type of adventure to keep us busy. Check back on Monday for a report.

After getting back I’ll just have time to re-provision the RV, do a dental and doctor appointment and head for the Pecos Conference on Wednesday. After returning from that, I have one day to re-provision again and head out for the Fairview Peak PIT.

Posts will be spotty at best for the next couple of weeks but I’ll update everyone as I can.

Thanks for visiting.

Another Passport In Time Project

I mentioned that there was another PIT project that I may participate in, in September. Well, it been finalized and I will participate for sure. This will be an archaeological survey as well but this time we’ll be looking for the remains of an 1870’s toll road and the remnants of any structures related to the toll road. Additionally we will look for any signs of the earlier Old Spanish Trail which was known to go through the area. We may even do a little excavating which is something I haven’t done yet on a PIT project.

The project will be the third week in September which is usually the peak time for fall colors in the mountains. This promises to be one of most scenic and interesting projects yet.

I actually had my choice of this project and another one the same week that was in northern New Mexico. It was difficult to choose between the two but the Colorado one was closer and to be able to work in the mountains at the peak of fall colors won out.

I have applied for two other Passport In Time projects the week following this one and hopefully I’ll get chosen for one of them. It’s shaping up to be a busy fall…stay tuned.

Here’s the official write up for the Old Spanish Trail PIT.

Old Spanish Trail & Early Toll Road Survey and Excavation

CO-3872
Sept 13–18, 2009 (including weekends)

Must commit to minimum of 2 days

In the early 1870s there was a rush to explore new mining opportunities in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. In 1871, as a result of the increased influx of interested parties, Otto Mears established the Saguache-San Juan Toll Road, which spanned the distance from the San Luis valley to the then up-and-coming town of Lake City.

The toll road is no longer visible in its entirety, but several sections of it have been relocated. Just a few miles northwest of the Cochetopa Indian Agency is a site that is believed to be a stage stop for the toll road. A stone foundation, a well, and a scatter of associated artifacts are present at this site. PIT volunteers and Forest staff will test (and possibly excavate, on a limited basis) the site to determine its association with the toll road and determine a time period for its occupation. Additionally, we will survey along the known (1870s) route of the toll road for remnants of other sections and possible evidence of the Old Spanish Trail, which also ran through the area.

Volunteers interested in this project will not submit applications as usual. If you are interested and available for the project dates, contact GMUG N.F. archaeologist Justin Lawrence directly. He can answer all inquiries and accept commitments for participation.

Number of openings: 10

Special skills: Must be physically able to hike moderate to long distances over potentially rough terrain daily, and in highly variable weather conditions; previous excavation experience helpful, but not required

Minimum age: 12 years old, under 18 with a responsible adult

Facilities: Tent and RV camping available at the Old Agency Ranger Station; electricity and working toilet at O.A. Ranger Station, no water or other facilities; volunteers responsible for personal camping equipment, food, and water; Gunnison is a full-service community with hotels/motels, restaurants, and a full range of other amenities; those opting to stay in Gunnison must provide own transportation to and from designated meeting area each day

Nearest towns: Gunnison, 40 miles

Thanks for visiting.

A Look At Fairview Peak in Google Earth

Thought you would enjoy these pictures of Fairview Peak that I snatched from Google Earth. The black arrows point to the trail up the side of the mountain and in one picture you can actually see the fire lookout on the very top of the mountain….a black arrow also points to that. Google Earth is amazing!

Thanks for visiting.

Fairview Peak Fire Lookout PIT

I mentioned in my last post that I have been selected to participate in another Forest Service, Passport in Time project. The last two projects I did were both archaeological surveys. This project will help restore the highest fire lookout in the United States. This lookout was built in 1907 and unlike later fire “towers” that were all built to a Forest Service design, this was built in what is called “pioneer” design with local materials.

Here’s the official write-up for the project:

Fairview Peak Fire Lookout Restoration

CO-3832
August 13-18, 2009 (including weekends)

Must commit to minimum of 2 days

This will be our third year of working with PIT volunteers to restore the stone Fairview Peak Fire lookout. The lookout was constructed around 1907, at the 13,214 ft. summit of Fairview Peak overlooking Taylor Park. It is eligible to the National Register of Historic Places, but was in severe disrepair when it was inspected in 2007. We have spent the past two years working on the roof and the stone walls. This summer, we will repair the south (and final) wall and complete work on the interior walls. We will also transport windows and a door up the mountain and install them. Finally, we will draw plans for the reconstruction of the cupola, which will take place over subsequent years. Our goal is to have the lookout completely restored to its original condition by its centennial. In order to meet that goal, we need your help. Come join us for this historic endeavor!

Number of openings: 10

Special skills: Must be physically capable of hiking and working at high altitudes; carpentry experience helpful, but not required

Minimum age: 5 years old, under 18 with a responsible adult

Facilities: Camping at a developed campground near the project; water, pit toilets; RV spaces, limited hookups; volunteers responsible for personal camping equipment and food; Gunnison is a full-service community with hotels/motels, restaurants, and a full range of other amenities; volunteers staying in Gunnison must commute to the project in the mornings

Nearest towns: Pitkin, 10 miles; Gunnison, 35 miles

This should be a challenging project for me as it will involve a lot more physical exertion than the past projects. Also note that the work will be done at an elevation of 13,214 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL! I have spoken to some people that have worked on this project in the past and they confirm that it’s a tough go, to work at that altitude. The campground that we will stay in is at 11,000 ft so that means every day we will have to climb 2000 ft to the project site. Somehow we are also carrying a window and a door up the mountain to install on the building!

Below is a topographic map of the area and you can see that there is no easy route up the mountain. I’m excited about the challenge and hope that I’m physically up to it.

There is yet another Forest Service Project which I may participate in during September. I’ll tell you more about that one in a later post.

Thanks for visiting.

Back From A Mountain Fix

It’s amazing what two nights and three days in the mountains can do for the soul! It was a great trip and I found even more new places to explore.

Tuesday morning however, I was sure that my soul was damned. When I began final loading of the RV first thing Tuesday morning, I opened the RV door and the electric steps came down and stuck in the down position. When the steps are in the down position it is impossible to drive the RV….unless you want to tear the steps off of the RV body, and I did not. I fiddled, fumed, fought and festered, but nothing would get the steps to operate correctly. I finally had to disconnect the arm from the electric motor that powers the steps and then use two ratchet straps to hold the two steps in the up position. A little thing like electric steps was NOT going to keep me from my date in the mountains.

After I resolved the steps issue, I started to load the scooter on the rack that fits on the front bumper of the RV. Well started is not the correct word because I couldn’t get the scooter to start! The engine would turn over, run very roughly for a few seconds and then stall. I fiddled, fumed, fought and festered with this for about an hour and decided just to load it with sheer muscle power (It only weights about 100 lbs.), take it with me and see if I could get it to start once I got to my campsite. It took about another hour for the remaining preparations and just as I was getting ready to drive off, I decided to try the scooter engine one more time….while it was sitting on the rack. To my surprise it started right up!

I was on the road at about 10 am and got to my campsite a little after noon. The campsite is a “dispersed” camping area which means that there are no designated sites and you camp where ever you want. I found an area about 5 feet from Clear Creek, the stream that feeds the reservoir, and was delighted at my luck.

“Luck” might not be a good word to use in selecting that camping site. I later learned that because this is the hottest part of the summer, even in the mountains, and because I was so close to the water, I would be attacked by millions of mosquitoes, the instant I left the protection of the RV. It made it pretty much impossible to enjoy the view of the stream anywhere except from the inside of the RV.

After hearing all that you’re probably thinking that this was a terrible trip, but it wasn’t. After getting all of the above stuff out of the way, things started to click in a good way. Tuesday afternoon I rode the scooter about 12 miles further up into the mountains on a small dirt road, scouting for possible adventures. I had been up this road in a car 8 or 10 years ago and remembered that there were two small ghost towns way back in the valley. Riding on a scooter gave a completely different perspective to the surroundings. I could feel the cool wind in my face and smell the aspen trees. Everything seemed more beautiful and more fragrant on the scooter!

I rode until the road became a four wheel drive trail and decided that on Wednesday I would come back and hike up that trail. I also spotted numerous boondocking campsites for future reference.

I returned to the RV at about 4:30 pm and decided to try fishing for a while. That didn’t work out too well because about the time I got the belly boat pumped up and into the water, the wind started blowing like crazy. I toughed it out for about a half hour and caught one small trout. The wind didn’t seem like it was going to quit, so I did.

The next morning I was up early and headed out for my hike. Even though I was anxious to start the hike I took my time and stopped numerous places along the way to explore and take pictures. I got to the four wheel drive trail about 10 am and figured I would walk up the trail for about two hours and then turn around and come back. Summertime in the mountains brings afternoon thunder showers and more dangerous, the lightning that accompanies them. Colorado is a top state in the category of people killed by lightning and I certainly didn’t want to add to that reputation. 

With all of the stopping, exploring and taking pictures, two hours only got me 2.5 miles up the trail. That 2.5 miles however was 2.5 miles of soul cleansing, Rocky Mountain beauty. (See picture at the top of the post!). About two miles into the trail, I came upon the ruins of the Banker Mine. According to my research this was a silver mine started in the 1890’s and it shipped ore until around 1927. The tunnel has been closed but you can see the tailings pile in the background of the picture to the right. The mountain in the background is aptly named Granite Mountain.

I spent a good deal of time poking around the four or five remnants of buildings and trying to figure out what each building was used for. It was so picturesque that it was hard to leave and continue the exploration.

The exploration continued only for another half mile when I ran out of time and the four wheel drive road turned into a hiking trail. According to my map there are several more old mines and another ghost town about two miles further up the trail. I decided to leave that for my next trip.

I had lunch sitting on a boulder in the shade of a large fir tree and just let my soul giggle. Normally when you hike round trip over the same route, the return is a bit boring but this scenery was so spectacular that it was great in either direction. I was back at the RV by about 3 pm and decided that I needed a nap.

Napping was accomplished in a professional way and it was time to fish a bit more. This time I decided to forego the belly boat and fish from the bank. I really didn’t care if I caught a fish or not because I was still enjoying the glow of the morning’s adventure. It’s a good think I didn’t care….because I didn’t catch anything.

While eating dinner that night and planning my activities for Thursday I heard on the radio that this was the weekend for the Fairplay “Burro Days”. I’ve always wanted to attend this event and have never gotten the opportunity. Fairplay is a small mountain town and it’s 3 or 4 motels and one small RV park are normally booked months in advance for this event.

I decided however, to give it a chance and drive back to Fairplay Thursday morning. Maybe I could luck on to a place to camp for the weekend. If I did my plan was to call The Bride and get her to drive up and meet me for the weekend. If I couldn’t find a place to camp I was halfway home anyway and would just continue on home.

Luck was not with me on this endeavor. I found one business that would let me park in their parking lot right on the main highway…no power or water and just a gravel parking lot. I called The Bride to see if that was to here liking even though I wasn’t too crazy about the idea. The Bride was of the same mind a me, so I called it a trip and drove back home.

The RV is now at the lot and the repair guys are going to look at the steps this week. I will need some type of fix for this as The Bride and I leave on Friday afternoon for a Circle The Wagons trip with the rest of The Circle to La Vista Campground about 3 hours southwest of the Denver area.

The Wednesday after we get back I take off again, this time to the Pecos Conference, which I posted about earlier. Two days after returning from this trip I start on another Forest Service Passport In Time project which I’ll tell you about in a future post.

Thanks for visiting.

Gone Fishin’

I’m headed out to Clear Creek Reservoir in a few minutes for a couple of days of fishing and exploring old ghost towns. The RV is packed except for my Honda Ruckus scooter and the weather report is great. Temps in the 70’s & 80’s. I’ll be back on Saturday………….

Thanks for visiting.

Senior Pass & Bad Computers

Good news first. Yesterday I drove to Rocky Mountain National Park and obtained a Senior Pass. I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to do this because this is one of the few great deal left. For $10, I received a lifetime pass to all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites and several national sites run by the federal government. Entrance fees to these types of sites range anywhere from $7-$10 and I have probably spent over $100 this year on entrance fees. For my $10, I now have a lifetime of free entry, not only for myself but up to three more adults as well!

The good news doesn’t stop there either. I will also get a 50% discount on camping fees in National Parks/Monuments, Forest Service and BLM campgrounds. These fees can run anywhere from $9-$30 so I can really save a bundle here too.

My intention yesterday was to drive to the park and do a little hiking before returning home. I got a bit of a late start leaving home and didn’t get to the park (a two hour drive) until 11 am. Even in mid week during July and August, the park is crammed with visitors and I couldn’t find a relatively short hike that wasn’t like walking on a crowded street so I opted to drive Fall River Road and Trail Ridge Road instead. Even with numerous cars in front of and behind me, this drive is so beautiful that it made me smile. I brought along a lunch of canned salmon and some cheese crackers and was able to find a nice place to eat lunch without throngs of other people (see pic to left).

All in all it was a great day. I got a mountain fix and a great deal. Life is good.

Life can be bad too and I discovered that Monday morning when I returned home from my trip to California. The Emmer had reported that the internet had been down all weekend and upon investigation I found that my wireless router had quit on me. Simple enough, I thought. Just replace it….That part wasn’t too hard but then my wireless printer, that I just bought two weeks ago, wouldn’t work. Six hours later, and two hours on the phone with the help desk and I finally had things running smoothly again.

I’m thinking about taking a fishing trip next week up into the mountains so stay tuned for complete plans.

Thanks for visiting.

A Visit To California

…And a great visit it was! The Bride and I arrived in Oakland just before noon on Thursday and was met by our daughter CaJenn. For the next three days CaJenn and her new hubby, CaJon, showed us some of the sights of the San Francisco area. Both The Bride and I had been to San Francisco before but we never really explored the area outside the city and that’s what was planned for this trip.

Friday morning we headed for Napa Valley and day of exploring the most famous wine region in the United States. The weather couldn’t have been better. Temps in the 70’s with a nice cool breeze. During the day we visited four different tasting rooms; Clos Du Val, Groth, Miner and Mumms. All I can say is that I’m glad CaJon was driving!

Napa has established a system that ensures that they profit even from the tasters. The deal is that it costs between $10-$15/person to taste from 3-5 different wines. If a taster then purchases some wine, the tasting fee is credited to the purchase. We ended up doing a little of both. We purchased several bottles at two of the wineries and none at the others. At lunch time we stopped at a great little general store/deli called the Oakville Grocery and got gourmet sandwiches. These we took to one of the wineries and ate them while looking at the endless rows of grape vines….life is pretty darned good!

Saturday we drove north through Bodega and Bodega Bay and then took Hwy 101 along the coast back to San Francisco. The Bride is a big Alfred Hitchcock fan and The Birds is one of her favorite movies. It just so happens that the school house used in the filming of The Birds is in Bodega. We couldn’t miss the opportunity so we drove into town and spent some time looking through the gift shop that now occupies part of the old school. In addition to the old school, the Catholic church next door was also used in the movie. Adding to the fame of Bodega, that same church was the subject of a great photograph by Ansel Adams. My photo is not in the same class as his but it was fun to try to get a similar shot...Mine on left, his on right.

The drive along the coast was breath taking. The wildflowers were all in bloom and that was just so much more eye candy. It was hard to process everything as every turn of the road gave us another great panorama. Then to add to the overload we drove back into San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge….see picture at top!

It was a long day but very much worth it. We ended the day with a great meal at a restaurant pretty close to where the kids live.

Our flight didn’t depart Oakland until the late afternoon so we had time for more adventure on Sunday. In late morning we drove down to Jack London Square in Oakland to visit the farmers market there. If I am jealous of California about anything, one would be their bountiful supply of beautiful vegetables all year around. I was entranced by every sort of vegetable including several I had never heard of before. The tomatoes in particular caught my eye. There is nothing better than a tomato sandwich on white bread slathered with mayonnaise on a hot summer afternoon and I saw lots of tomatoes that looked like they were destined for that.

To console myself at not being able to have a tomato sandwich, I decided that a shrimp salad sandwich at a nice restaurant right on the water was the next best thing. I was in luck! There just happened to be a very nice restaurant right there with outdoor seating right on the water. We ate a great lunch while watching the boats go by. In the distance was the skyline of San Francisco. Life is really good!

The trip ended all too soon and we arrived back in the Denver area about 8 pm. I’ve got about a week of “down” time before more adventures start, but more about that in the next post. CaJenn and CaJon, when you read this I want to thank you for you’re hospitality on our visit. We’ll be back to see more of your area. Your Mom and I are proud of you.

Here’s a few more pictures from the trip.

Thanks for visiting.

62, And On The Dole

Happy Birthday to me! Yesterday I achieved the venerable age of 62 and I am now a consumer rather than a producer of our nations resources. In a couple of weeks I will start receiving a retirement pension from the company I worked for for 35 years. In September I will begin receiving a Social Security check as well.

All in all, I feel terrific and have no major infirmities. For this I am grateful. I wish the best for our country and the young people in the workforce today. I hope both succeed beyond their wildest dreams because without their success, my future will not be secure.

Today would have been my Dad’s 91st birthday. He died last August and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and wish that I could ask him just one more question. The picture of he and I, above, was taken last June. It’s one of my favorites of the two of us together. We’re both smiling because I had just smuggled in a little white wine into his apartment so that we could have a sip or two together.

The day after tomorrow would have been my paternal grandfather’s 110th birthday. As you can see July is a busy month in my family. My grandfather has been gone for 45 years now but I would give anything to be able to talk with him again.

Finally, my paternal grandmother would have been 111 years old on July 10th. Neither my Dad nor I ever had the opportunity to know her but I would have loved to have had that privilege.

I had an absolutely wonderful birthday in California visiting my daughter CaJenn and her husband CaJon which I’ll tell you about in the next post.

Thanks for visiting.

The Pecos Conference & Will California Be Open?

There is absolutely no connection between the two subjects above except that they both involve myself, his-self. The first item is the Pecos Conference and I am excited about it! The Pecos Conference is a gathering of people interested in all things archaeology related to the South West United States. Started in 1927 by several of the biggest names in American archaeology, it brings together amateurs and professionals for a couple of days of presentations and demonstrations. There are also vendors, a barbecue, a dance and field trips to some great archaeological sites in the area. I first heard of this event a year or so ago and thought it might be interesting. Two weeks ago while I was working on the PIT project one of the other volunteers told me more about it and said that I should attend if I could. This year it is being held in the vicinity of the small SW Colorado town of Cortez so I figured, Why Not?.

For the princely sum of $73.00, I get all of the things mentioned above, AND, I get to camp free at the site of the conference…a reservoir north of Cortez. Not only is this great entertainment but it’s also CHEAP entertainment. Did I mention that they throw in a T-shirt too?

The conference is August 6-9 and right now I plan to leave on Wednesday the 5th and return on Monday the 10th. I’m thinking that Wednesday night I’ll stay at the Great Sand Dunes National Park which is about half way there. There is nothing important happening on Thursday other than registration and a reception so it won’t matter if I straggle in, in the afternoon. On Sunday I have my choice of about 12 different field trips and I haven’t decided yet which one to do.

This will be a cool trip. Maybe a little hot as Cortez is in pretty arid country but I’m looking forward to it.

Now on to “Will California Be Open?”. Thursday morning The Bride and I leave for the San Francisco area to visit CaJenn and CaJon. With all the ruckus about California being broke I hope they don’t close the airports? Don’t laugh, this is California I’m talking about. CaJenn reports that the local weather will be fantastic with temps in the 70’s. My timing is perfect because it is supposed to get in the mid to upper 90’s here in the next few days.

This will probably be my last post until next week as The Bride and I don’t get back home until late Sunday.

Thanks for visiting.

When It Rains It Pours

This will describe the weather here for the last few days….heavy thunderstorms in the afternoon. This is not what this post is about however. It seems as if all the good times and good living is catching up to me. The Gods are throwing some bad luck my way to atone for all the good stuff that’s happened lately.

The first bit of bad luck concerns my 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara. I’ve had it in the shop several times over the last few months for a variety of items that have put a dent in my wallet. I thought I had worked through all of the problems until this past Friday. An intermittent problem struck again. I hate intermittent problems! They are the toughest to find and fix and I’ll bet dollars to donuts that when my mechanic looks at the car, the problem won’t be there. The problem involves a very rough running engine that almost feels like one cylinder is not firing properly. It occurs at start up and will last for varying lengths of time….but it doesn’t happen at every start up. The check engine light illuminates but a diagnostic check shows nothing. So, tomorrow morning I guess I’ll have to take the car and leave it for a day or two at the garage and cross my fingers.

The second problem involves my desktop computer. We have both a desktop and a laptop computer in the house. I guess I should have said “We had….” Yesterday when The Bride tried to access the internet all hell broke loose with the computer. All kinds of error messages popped up continually and porn sites kept popping up on Internet Explorer even though my default browser is Firefox. I tried to run a McAfee scan in between pop ups and then even tried to run a restore program but most of the files had been corrupted by that time…….Trojan horse!

I have no idea how I became infected because I am very security conscious about my computers and never open unknown files. However it happened, it pretty well trashed the 4 year old desktop. Because it was four years old I decided to not even try to to have a computer whiz put everything back together again. For the price of a couple of hours of computer whiz, I could just buy a new computer….which I did. I am now the owner of two laptops. It didn’t make much sense to buy another desktop when today’s laptops have the same amount of memory and storage as a desktop, for about the same price.

So as I sit here typing this post I’m also trying to install all the programs on the new computer. It seems as if I might have a problem with some of the older printers I have. Everything nowadays is configured for wireless connection but I have three older printers and a scanner that do not have USB connections so this switch of computers might cost me the price of an all in one wireless printer in addition to the cost of the computer itself. I hate it when I get surprised like that!

It better stop pouring by Thursday of this week because The Bride and I are scheduled to fly to the left coast for a visit with my daughter CaJenn and her hubby of just one year…CaJon. We haven’t seen them since the wedding last year so we are looking forward to the trip.

Thanks for visiting.

Cherry Creek Arts Festival & Molly Dog

Today was the beginning of the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. A three day exhibition of every conceivable type of art held in the “tony” shopping area of Cherry Creek. This is a big deal in the Denver Metro area. Close to 400,000 will visit the festival during the 3 days. About ten square blocks of this very upscale shopping area is cordoned off and the streets are lined with artist booths, public service booths and food vendors. While the area is closed to vehicle traffic, the stores continue to be open so you can not only see the artists but you can shop the regular stores as well. It’s a juried event and the artists have to be invited to participate. Art forms include painting, ceramics, fabrics, metal, wood, photography and a bunch of other stuff. There was even a custom/art guitar maker.

The Bride and I decided to visit this morning when the festival opened at 10 am. We spent about three hours wandering around and admiring a lot of thing we really liked but couldn’t afford. By 11 am the streets were packed and watching people was as much fun as looking at the artists wares.

One of my favorites was a guy by the name of Jerry Berta who did ceramic and neon sculpture. I don’t think you would classify this as “fine art” but I thought it was pretty cool.

By noon it was blistering hot so The Bride and I ducked into a little Italian panini shop for a bite to eat and a cold beer. After lunch we walked a little more and then beat it back home.

Tomorrow The Bride and The Emmer are going down town to watch a Rockies baseball game. The Emmer really gets a kick out of doing this every 4th of July. After the game there will be a fireworks display so she really gets her money’s worth out of the ticket price. I have opted to sit this one out.

Yesterday marked four full weeks that Molly Dog had been in her leg cast. Most of that time we have also had to keep a “cone” on her and that has been pretty rough for her. Finally yesterday the stitches, cast and cone came off. Her paw is still pretty tender so even with the cast off she still favors that leg a lot. Hopefully in a few days she will be able to use that leg more normally.

Thanks for visiting.