Chilly In Santa Fe

It’s Wednesday and I’m in Santa Fe. While it’s chilly here is way warmer than I’ve had it the last few days. I left home on Monday morning just ahead of heavy rain and wind in the Denver area. I travelled south to Walsenburg, CO and then across La Veta pass and into Alamosa, CO. Just before getting to Alamosa I saw an ugly looking cloud bank ahead of me and by the time I pulled into the Safeway gas station in Alamosa it was snowing  pretty hard. My destination was about 50 miles south of Alamosa but out in the boondocks on a primitive Forest Service road and I thought long and hard about continuing…..but I did.

By the time I had gotten that 50 miles south the snow had disappeared but the primitive dirt road I needed to traverse was very wet and slippery/muddy. My original plan was to go about six miles on this road but I chickened out and after about a mile I pulled off on a flat spot right next to the road. They say that “discretion is the better part of valor” and in this case it saved my butt. On Tuesday morning when I drove the rest of the way to the area I was going to search I realized that if I had gone much further I would have gotten stuck big time. I dodged that bullet but there was no way to dodge the cold and wind. For two days the wind blew at a steady 15-20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Last night the temperature got down to 19 degrees and the high yesterday was about 40.

The wind and temperature made my metal detecting search for remnants of the west fork of the north branch of the Old Spanish Trail somewhat challenging. Besides the wind and cold, digging artifacts was difficult because the ground was frozen until about noon. In spite of the conditions, I had a great time. I only saw two other vehicles in two days. The area I searched is private land and has been used as a cattle stop over until very recent times. That meant that the area was loaded with modern trash. I spent a lot of time digging up tin cans, barbed wire, fence staples and all manner of modern stuff. I didn’t find anything that would date to the 1830-1860 time period but I did find artifacts from the 1880ish time period. The picture below shows a piece of a wood stove with a patent date of 1879. I also found a hand forged  carriage bolt which probably would date to the late 1800’s. On the other end of the spectrum, I found a 1960 penny. So I didn’t find anything in the era I was looking for but in searching for that stuff I found something a lot older.

While on the north side of the property I saw a few prehistoric basalt lithic flakes and thought it was interesting that with all the modern activity in the area there was still evidence of prehistoric natives to be seen. In the afternoon I went to the south side of the property much to my surprise I stumbled on a large prehistoric quarry.

A prehistoric quarry is an area where the ancient natives came and collected rocks that they could shape into tools. In the southwest those rocks can be chert, quartzite, obsidian, jasper or a number of other minerals including basalt. This quarry was a deposit of basalt and covered a very large area. The ground was littered with rocks that had obviously been broken or knapped by man. The ancients didn’t make tools at this site but they obtained the raw material to take with them and at some later point when they needed a tool they would flake off a piece from a “core” and make whatever they needed. From the size of the lithic scatter this site was probably used for thousands of years.

What a great surprise! I spent most of the afternoon wandering around looking at all the scatter and marveling at the fact that some of the stones I picked up were last held by a human being maybe 10,000 years ago!

When I got back to the trailer I tuned in the weather forecast and found out that the temperature was going to get even colder in the next few days…..a low of 9 degrees on Wednesday night.

Long story short, I decided to head south to a lower elevation and warmer temps so this morning I packed up and drove to Santa Fe. I’m staying at the Trailer Ranch RV Resort until Friday morning when I’ll head out to meet up with Guitar somewhere between here and Canyon de Chelly.

Tomorrow I’ll go into old Santa Fe and do some exploring. Tomorrow evening I’m thinking of going to the old La Fonda Hotel because a famous local Western singer is performing in the bar.

Bill Hearne is famous throughout the Southwest and has influenced many country and western performers like Lyle Lovett and Chuck Pyle. I saw him perform once in the Denver area and always wanted to see him perform on his “home ground”. His performance starts at 7:30 and I think I can stretch my normal bed time a bit and see him perform a couple of sets.

There’s still lots of adventure left so check back in a few days.

Thanks for visiting.

The Adventures Continue

It’s been a while since my last post but that doesn’t mean that “his-self” has been bored or lonely. One of the reasons for the lack of posting is that I’ve just been having too much fun to sit down at the computer. This post is being typed in my trailer which is parked in Lathrop State Park in Walsenburg, CO….but more about that later.

Last weekend we three couples of The Circle had a 4th of July camping outing at Mueller State Park just to the west of Colorado Springs and on the north side of Pikes Peak. The Circle socializes a lot while we are in the Denver area but because of our diverse schedules, we don’t get to camp out together all that much so this weekend was a treat. It was a great weekend with liberal amounts of sightseeing, relaxing, group dining, laughter and fun. To add to the fun, Jamie and Betsy (part of Guitar’s extended family) joined us.

On Saturday we took a tour of the mining gold camps in the area. The picture at the top of this post was taken in the historic mining town of Victor, CO…birthplace of Lowell Thomas. For all you whippersnappers out there, Lowell Thomas was a very famous news reporter in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Victor is also the home of some of the most famous gold mines in the United States. The Independence, the Cresson, the Gold Coin and pictured just to the left of the American flag above, the Portland. At it’s peak in about 1902 Victor had a population of about 17,500. Today the population is about 400 and it looks more like a ghost town than lively bustling mining town.

There is one active mine left in town and it is just over the hill from the Portland Mine in the picture above. The Portland represents the old hard rock mining of the past. The new mining is open pit mining and while I understand the necessity of this approach to mining it sure is a shame to see what happens to a mountain when gold is mined in this way.

To give you an idea of the scale of this type of mining look at the picture on the right. The dot that the black arrow is pointing to is a pickup truck!

The weather for our outing was just perfect with the exception of one night when all hell broke loose. We had just finished dinner outside at the picnic table when and evening shower commenced. The shower rapidly got ugly and it rained, hailed, thundered and lightninged, blew and every other thing for about two hours. At one point we had about an inch of hail on the ground and my trailer awning nearly collapsed. Since the entire group was eating outside my trailer we all rode out the storm in my trailer….all eight adults and five dogs! It was a might cramped but we all had fun as you can see by the picture to the left.

On Monday morning we had our traditional group breakfast…with Mimosas, before breaking up and returning home.

Now about my current location. I left the Denver area this morning (Friday, 7/9) and headed south to the little town of  Walsenburg. Tomorrow morning I’ll be meeting up with a number of people who are all members of the Pike’s Peak Adventure League (I’m a member too.) This is a metal detecting club based in Colorado Springs. About once a month during the good weather months they have an outing. Tomorrow we will be going to metal detect at an old coal camp site that is located on private land. This area of Colorado had numerous coal camps to supply fuel for the railroads and other industry from the 1890’s until the 1930’s and later. This will be my first outing with the group so I’m not sure what to expect, but it should be interesting. The person who set up the outing informed us that we would be in rattlesnake country so I have come with snake gaiters for my legs and I’ll be carrying a  .38 caliber pistol loaded with snake shot! Hopefully my next report will tell you about all the cool artifacts we dug up…and the lack of snake activity so stay tuned.

I’ve also been selected for two more Forest Service Passport In Time adventures which I’ll tell you more about after I get home next week.

Thanks for visiting.

Ft. Huachuca & Tucson

Sunday I went into Ft. Huachuca to see the post museum and the Intelligence Museum. It was a gorgeous day, sunny with temps in the high 60's. A perfect day for just about anything.

I have mentioned previously that I had been assigned to Ft. Huachuca on TDY in 1971. Even though that was almost forty years ago I thought I might recognize some things in addition to the old historic fort....Wrong. There were so many new modern buildings that I recognized nothing and got terribly turned around trying to drive to the museum.

With the help of my GPS I finally made it to the museum. It was not large but it did a very good job of documenting the history and people of Ft. Huachuca from it's inception in the 1870's until the present. While I was stationed here I stayed in an old two story World War II baracks that had been converted to visiting Officers Quarters. Much to my surprise while viewing a display of the fort's more modern history I found an exhibit of some of the "artifacts" that were discovered when the old barracks were torn down in the late 1970's. It was a weird feeling to see things not uncommon in my life forty years ago, displayed in a museum.

Monday morning I headed for Tucson and a date with a LONG hot shower. My schedule called for staying at a "full service" RV camp ground while doing a few things in the area. A few things included the LONG shower mentioned above. Bivouac contains a nice comfortable shower and a hot water tank for plenty of hot water. I was on the road for eight days however, before I had the opportunity do drain my waste water tanks and that necessitated being very frugal with my water/waste water. I took showers but they were "Navy" showers and while they kept me clean they didn't provide much enjoyment. Monday afternoon I remedied that condition.

I had laundry to do as well but got it done with enough time left in the day to take a trip to Saguaro National Park (East) which is only about 8 miles from the RV park. Saguaro National Park actually consists of two different parks, one on the west side of Tucson and one on the east side. The west side park is the larger and more well known facility. I had visited that park last year. The east side park while smaller is still a great place to spend a couple of hours and that's about all the time I had.

Monday evening I had dinner with some friends that had just recently moved, full time, to the Tucson area. Jamie and Betsy had wintered here for a number of years before deciding to move here full time from their home in the mid-west. Last year they acted at tour guides when Guitar and I came down and had our ladies fly in for a long weekend. It was great to be able to see them again.

This morning I intended to visit the Pima Air and Space Museum and take a tour of "the bone yard", officially known as the Aerospace and Regeneration Center, and then head north towards Phoenix. I spent way more time than I ever though it would take to visit these two attractions that I decided to stay another night in Tucson.

Both the museum and the bone yard were just fantastic. I was like a kid in a candy store. The museum had acres and acres of old and historic planes. A lot of them I could remember from my childhood and military service but there were also many that I had only seen in history books. It's probably just a guy thing but a lot of them were just beautiful. Graceful lines and each had a personality of it's own...kind of like a woman.

The bone yard was just as if not more interesting. There are literally thousands of "mothballed" modern aircraft here. We were told that most of them could be put in flying condition in anywhere from a few days to a couple of months. You name it they were there. F-16s, F4 Phantoms, C130s, B1B Bombers, KC135 tankers, C5A cargo ships, helicopters of every sort. It was well worth the time and money for the experience.

Tomorrow I intend to leave here and get to an RV park somewhere north of Phoenix. I'm headed for a date with The Bride in Flagstaff on Friday!

Thanks for visiting.

Tripping The Light Fantastic – NOT!

I had my foot surgery…or more correctly my toe surgery yesterday. My little toe on the right foot is now somewhat shorter than it was yesterday at this time. It’s hard to believe because it feels like it’s about the size of a dump truck! The fourth toe is a bit skinnier too but feels like a sumo wrestler. The doctor assured me that the shorter toe would not cause me to walk in circles but she did say that walking of any type for the next couple of days might cause me to fall on my face and writhe in pain. Judging from the way I feel this morning I believe her.

So, I’m ensconced on an easy chair in my bedroom with the computer in my lap, surrounded by books, remotes for music and tv, and a large bottle of vicoden. I Will Survive….(a great golden oldie from 1978).

To pass the time I’ve been working on plans for the maiden voyage of my new trailer. That will hopefully occur in about two weeks. My original plans were to do a big loop from here down through southern New Mexico across to the Tucson, AZ area, up to Flagstaff and back across northern AZ and NM to I-25 and then north to home. Part of the plan was to have The Bride fly in somewhere for a few days too. We did a similar trip last year and really had fun. Last year The Bride and Pic-E flew into Tucson to meet up with Guitar and myself. This year The Bride wants to see the Sedona and Prescott area.

After looking every which way at the map, I decided to scrap the big loop plan and go with a much smaller loop that would eliminate southern NM and AZ. Right now the first half of the loop is looking like this….

Leave Denver area and spend the first night in either Las Vegas, NM or Albuquerque. Then travelling to/through, Acoma Pueblo, El Malpais National Monument, El Morro National Monument, Gallup, NM, Window Rock, AZ, Canyon De Chelly National Monument, the three Hopi Mesas and down to Flagstaff where I’ll meet The Bride. From there we’ll spend two nights at the Grand Canyon and a night or two each in Sedona and Prescott before dropping The Bride off at the airport in Flagstaff for her trip home. I haven’t decided exactly how I’ll make my way home yet but I’ve got plenty of time in the next couple of weeks to research it. I would love to go north of Flagstaff through Monument Valley and the four corners area but seeing as how this will be in February, the weather could be an issue.

In other camping news we’ve made plans for two Circle The Wagons weekends with The Circle. The first on the July 4th weekend, we’ll all get together at Mueller State Park. This is a gorgeous facility not too far from Cripple Creek, CO. The Bride and I have camped here before. In fact, the picture on the left margin of this blog entitled “Training for Retirement” was taken at this park. The second event will be the third weekend in July at Pawnee campground in the area of Nederland, CO. I’ve never camped at this campground before but it is rated as one of the top 100 campgrounds in the state with five star views of the mountains and a beautiful alpine lake. The campground is at 10,400 altitude so it will be a break from the July summer doldrums along the front range.

My toes tell me it’s time for a little medication so I’ll end this here. Stay tuned for more.

Thanks for visiting.

Colorado Cowboy Poet Gathering

What can I say, I love this stuff. A sawbuck ($20 for you whippersnappers) got me an entire day of great entertainment, music and western culture. I went to this event in 2008 with Guitar and we both vowed to do it again. I forget what happened last year but we missed it. This year I was determined to go and go I did yesterday a little after 9am.

Here’s the deal. There are about 40 different performers. Some are poets/humorists, some are musicians and some are both….God, this is hard to explain….groups of four or five performers, perform in a room, round robin style. There are four “sessions” per hour each with a different theme. Examples of the themes are, “Get ‘er Goin”, “Modern Ranch Life”, “Bunkhouse Banter”, “Cowboy Humor”, “Critters”, “Dancin’ & Romancin”. Each hour you have to pick the session you want to attend based on either the subject or the performers, or however you want. The performers switch between groups based on the subject matter so it gets pretty complex. I chose most sessions with the goal of seeing as many different performers as possible. After re-reading this paragraph, the easiest thing to do is give you this link so you can see the actual schedule

This year’s group of performers hailed not only from Colorado and most of the other western states but New Hampshire, Canada and Australia as well. The caliber of talent was amazing, especially considering that they are just “local”. You will not hear any of these artists on top 40 radio or see them listed on Ticketmaster for a concert but listening to a complex story told in rhyme and/or accompanied by guitar, banjo, or bones was one of those experiences where you told yourself, while listening, “wow, this is really good!”. I may have only paid a sawbuck for the entrance fee but by the time it was all over I spent three times that much on CDs to take the experience home with me.

It was after 5pm when I left and I had to face a vicious rush “hour” commute on a holiday weekend to get back home. One of the biggest “perks” of being retired is that I can normally avoid this unpleasantness but this day I had to endure. It was, however, well worth it.

This afternoon, The Circle will visit the yearly RV show at the Denver Convention Center. Even though I am NOT in the market anymore, I still like looking and all the different models. Both Guitar and Two Tall-Two Timing now have the “urge” to upgrade and I’ll have a large time goading them into it. It should be a fun time.

Monday morning I have an appointment with a sawbones….this is getting to be a theme post…sawbuck, sawbones. I didn’t even plan it! Anyway, I’ve got to have a bone spur taken off one of my toes. It will be outpatient surgery but I’ll be unable to drive for about two weeks. More to follow on this.

Thanks for visiting.

Pawnee Buttes, Lamb Springs and Molly Dog

Yesterday, Guitar and I did something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, hike around Pawnee Buttes. Pawnee Buttes are a series of geological formations in northeast Colorado. You really want to have to go there, to get there. To catch a phrase, it’s desolate there. The only sign of human habitation are a few scattered ranch houses and windmills, yes windmills. This area is pretty windy year round and the power companies have installed hundreds of windmills a few miles from the spot of our hike. If you enlarge the picture to the left you can see some on the ridge, center right in picture.

The trip from the Denver area is about 100 miles, but it’s light years away from the city crowds and madness. The hike itself was about 5 miles round trip and it wound over prairie and through some badlands. We saw only two other people there and they were about 1/2 mile away.

The wildflowers were spectacular. It’s amazing the number of different types of flowers we saw in an area that, in the heat of summer, you would think was barren of flowers. I brought my Rocky Mountain wildflower guide but it was no help at all….This terrain could not be classified as “Rocky Mountain” . On our way to Pawnee we passed miles of prairie that were covered with some type of white morning glory type of flower. When I first spotted a field of them, I said to Guitar that it must have just hailed. That’s what the flowers looked like at a distance. The white covered the ground between other plants and bushes and looked like hail. I tried to take a picture but it just doesn’t show the way the eye sees it.

On the way back home we passed through the “almost” ghost town of Keota, CO. There were maybe, five people living in this otherwise deserted town. This town had it’s heyday just before WWI. At that time it had about 150 town residents and served about a thousand other ranchers, dryland farmers and their families. It had a bank, a newspaper, numerous stores and….no saloons. Today only a few buildings, the water tower and fire hydrants survive.

It was a long and enjoyable day. Guitar and I got back a little after 6 pm and are already beginning to plan for our next hike.

To tide our adventure lust over for the weekend, The Circle, had made plans for an unusual short trip on Saturday morning. Several weeks ago I read an article in a local newspaper about an archaeological site called Lamb Springs. On a local ranch not 20 miles from my home, a rancher in 1960, discovered the bones of a Columbian mammoth, ancient camel and ground sloth. The site now belongs to Douglas County, Colorado and they hold seven tours a year of the site. The Circle will see what this is all about on Saturday. Stay tuned.

While Guitar and I were on our hike yesterday, Molly Dog had an accident. It seems that while chasing a squirrel along the fence in our back yard, she severely cut her foot and tendon on the metal edging around a flower garden. Luckily The Emmer was home at the time and called The Bride. The Bride had to rush home and get her to a vet, who operated immediately. She is now not a happy pooch. Her right front leg is bandaged and in a splint and she is under the effects of heavy sedation for a few days. Total recovery time will be 10 days to two weeks. In looking at the amount of blood on our deck, patio and garage floor, I’m thinking she could have easily bled to death. I will be nurse for that period of time so there will be a break in my adventures for a while.

Thanks for visiting.

4 Wheelin’ And Other Moab Stuff

Friday was the day I chose to participate in the 4 wheeling activities. The day was cool with intermittent light rain and it made for an interesting trip. A little moisture with the sand makes Moab’s famous slick rock even slicker. We had 6 vehicles in the group on Friday and everyone made it back safe and sound. I rode with Guitar in his Jeep Rubicon. It’s amazing what these wheeled vehicles can do but while I enjoy riding along I don’t think I have the skill….or money, to do this on a regular basis. The trail we took this day was called Green Day and if you click the link you can watch a YouTube video of some other folks doing the trail.

We were through with the trail at about 2:30 pm and the rest of the group decided to head for another trail on the other side of Moab. I got Guitar to drop me off at the RV and I managed to get in a little afternoon nap. Life couldn’t be much better.

Saturday The Bride and I took Ladder Lady to Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyon Lands National Park for sight seeing in the morning and then in the afternoon we visited the Moab Arts Fest that was being held in the city park. As you can see from the picture to the right, light rain continued to bother us. I’ve been doing this Moab trip for about 6 years now and this is the first year that it has rained. Rain or not, I took a ton of pictures…almost 500 over the entire trip. In the next post I’ll show you some of the better one’s.

I’ve always enjoyed the Arts Fest. It has a good mix of vendors and the live music is usually pretty good too. The Bride and Ladder Lady definitely had fun and managed to contribute a bit to the local economy. While we were doing our thing, the rest of the group was on another 4 wheel trail. This time they weren't as lucky and several vehicles broke down and had to be towed out.

Oh, one other thing of interest happened on Friday. After I took my nap, I heard a pretty good size bus drive by and I got up to see what it was. It was the German Rotel Tour Bus parking at the campground for the night. I saw this thing on my Mesa Verde trip last year but it was going in the opposite direction and I didn’t get a good look at it. You have to look at the link and read all about this rather Spartan way of touring. I imagine that after a tour on this thing you are either very friendly with the other participants or they are mortal enemies!

The drive back on Sunday was OK until we hit Idaho Springs, CO about 50 miles from home. Then the bottom fell out of the sky and it rained, hailed, thundered and lighteninged harder than I think I’ve ever seen it do! Top speed the rest of the way home was 35 mph max and most of the time even slower. Visibility was very poor and it rained so hard that standing water became a problem. About 4 miles from home I passed a bad accident caused by the conditions that involved 4 or 5 vehicles. I was one happy camper when I got to the house in one piece.

That aside it was a wonderful trip and I was glad to be able to show Ladder Lady something she had never seen before. In a day or so I’ll post some more pictures.

Thanks for visiting

If They Danced, They Did It Without Us

A week or so ago I did a post entitled “A Miss Is As Good As A Mile”. In that post I described how we just missed a pretty good spring snow storm. Well, this time the weather guessers got it right and we had 2 days of snow/rain/sleet and generally just an ugly time.

The snow started at about 6 am on Friday morning. By early afternoon the roads were more of a mess than normal. The problem was that the temps hovered right around freezing so a wet snow would accumulate, melt some and freeze on the streets. The Emmer called from work at about 3 pm and said she wasn’t sure she could make it home in her little 2WD car so I went to get her with my little Suzuki Grand Vitara. I actually had to use LO 4WD to get through and even then I slid around a bunch. I’m really glad The Emmer decided to call me an not just give it a go. Because the snow was accumulating and melting it’s hard to say exactly how much we got. I’m guessing a solid 18” but it could have been more.

Yesterday morning it was still snowing like crazy so we had to cancel our trip to Eastern Colorado to see the Lesser Prairie Chickens dance. That part of Colorado got just a little snow and some rain but there was no way to get there safely. This morning is sunny here so they probably danced without us. I’m bummed. Our collective schedules are such that there is no way to reschedule for this year. If we want to do it as a group we’ll have to try next year. My schedule is more open and I’m seriously thinking of doing a solo trip in about a week and a half to see it.

By late yesterday afternoon the storm had started to subside and the plows had pretty much caught up with things so as a consolation prize, The Circle decided to get together at Pic-E’s and Guitar’s place for dinner and entertainment. Pic-E and Guitar provided the main course and the rest of us provided salad and dessert. After dinner we decided to play an electronic catch phrase game. We divided into teams, men vs. ladies and used a small hand held device that provided a phrase associated with different topics. The person that was “it” had to provide clues to their teammates and get them to guess the phrase. All the while the electronic gadget was beeping a set amount of time away. When the phrase was guessed the device, still beeping, was handed to the other team for the next phrase. Points were awarded for guessed phrases and when the allotted time was expired the team left holding the bag…I mean device…lost a point.

All of us gentlemen were quite surprised at how competitive, and frankly unladylike, the ladies became during the competition. I heard a number of descriptive phrases uttered that made even me blush! In the picture above you can see K. flashing the “loser” sign to the gentlemen when she managed to successfully complete her turn. Belly laughs were plentiful and we all had a great time. The gathering broke up pretty early because K and Too Tall – Two Timing were headed out on a business trip to Las Vegas early this morning.

The Bride took tomorrow off for our cancelled trip so we will look for something interesting to do in the local area.

Thanks for visiting.

Mountain Man In Training

This post is all about Guitar and his long road to becoming a Mountain Man. Last October, Guitar and I and our ladies went to the Spanish Market and Mountain Man Rendezvous at The Fort Restaurant here in the Denver area. At the Rendezvous part we watched a bunch of re-enactors demonstrate pioneer skills.

Guitar was particularly mesmerized with the fire starting exhibit. No matches here. No electronic gadgets. No gasoline. Fire was started using flint and steel, some charred cotton cloth, lots of tinder and a lot of lung power. I'm not sure why Guitar is so infatuated with fire, most guys kinda grow our of that after a while....I did, after I set the school on fire in my younger years. #1 could tell stories about that, but I digress.

So, Guitar really thought it would be cool to start a fire with a rock and a tire iron. Being the observant friend that I am, I tucked this bit of information away and for Christmas I got him a fire starting kit....complete with instructions, because novice mountain men need a little direction.

Guitar told me that he had tinkered with the kit a bit in his back yard a few times but had never had the chance to try it out for real. Our trip to Tucson and back gave him the perfect opportunity. On our last night out, while camping in Navajo Lake State Park, he decided to take the Mountain Man Part One test.

I helped him scrounge bits and pieces of wood and tinder from around the empty campground. We got enough for just a little fire....if he was successful. I watched him for about 20 minutes and periodically would offer him a little gasoline, which to his credit, he declined. He's a determined guy.

After 20 minutes I got cold and went inside the RV to the "sure thing modern fire". Every couple of minutes I would go back outside and give him words of encouragement like "Putz!", "The Indians would have what's left of your scalp by now!", and go back inside the RV.

I was inside the RV getting ready to do my Mountain Man lasagna in the microwave when I heard him shout and bang on the side of the RV.

Sure enough he had a fire going. Now I wasn't there to see the actual ignition point...and the gasoline can for the generator was sitting outside next to the RV. I guess I'll have to take his word for it that he didn't use the gasoline because the silly grin on his face couldn't have come from using gasoline.

I'm pretty sure that if any readers, wherever you might live, need to have a fire started in your back yard to burn leaves or whatever, Guitar would be happy to travel there to start a "Mountain Man fire".


By the way, Pic-E, Too Tall, K and The Bride...what do you think of Guitar's hair do in the third picture down from the top?
Thanks for visiting.

Still Alive and Well

It's been over a week since my last post. I don't go that far between posts too often but I just didn't have the inspiration during the last week. There just wasn't a whole lot going on and I was pursuing quiet past times like reading. One thing I did that hopefully will bring some adventure to my life in a few months was to volunteer for two more Passport In Time projects.

If you will remember, this past September, Guitar and I spent a week volunteering with the US Forest Service, helping them do an archaeological survey in a remote canyon in SE Colorado. The first project I volunteered for will "curate" artifacts collected during this and other surveys in the past few years. The Forest Service description of the project is as follows:

"The Pike-San Isabel National Forest will host a curation project at the Monument Fire Center (historically known as Monument Nursery), established May 1, 1907, and summer home of the Pike Hot Shots. It is located in beautiful central Colorado at the interface of the Great Plains and the eastern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Over the years, FS archaeologists on the Pike-San Isabel National Forest and Comanche-Cimarron National Grassland (PSICC) have accumulated materials while recording and evaluating historic and prehistoric sites. We need your help to properly curate these artifacts. Participants will help clean, identify, analyze, and package some of Colorado's most important cultural resources. We encourage both those with archaeological curation experience and the interested neophyte to apply. In addition, if the weather permits, there may be an opportunity to conduct ground surveys or site and feature relocation activities associated with the nursery."

It's basically an "office" job but it will be fun to see the process of "curating" and to see what becomes of the artifacts I helped collect this past September. Besides that this project takes place at the end of March and by that time my cabin fever should be at a maximum.

The second project I volunteered for is in June. It will be a full week of the same type of archaeological survey activity that I did on my first project. It will also be in a remote canyon in SE Colorado. Picketwire Canyon is a lot better known than the canyon we went to in September. They have been doing surveys there for 15 years but are still finding important stuff. In addition to what the Native Americans left behind, Picketwire Canyon contains over 1300 dinosaur tracks frozen in the rock that was once a muddy lakeshore or swamp. Here's how the Forest Service describes the project.

"Join us for another year of adventure on the Picketwire Canyonlands Survey - a project that itself is becoming a heritage resource! The Canyonlands is a spectacular and rugged venue containing a great wealth of prehistoric and historic resources - and it offers wilderness without the crowds. We are recruiting volunteers to help us continue efforts to record and understand the human past of the Picketwire. Among the prehistoric resources are complex architectural sites, camp locations used by the antecedents of modern tribes, and a variety of rock art dating to all periods. We also anticipate Hispanic pioneering homesteads of the 19th century and the remnants of historic cattle ranches. PIT volunteers will help us thoroughly explore the canyon and its branches to record sites and features using specialized tasks including photography, botany, orienteering, site mapping, and artifact identification. We look forward to having you join us for our 15th year in the canyon!"

I said I volunteered but that is no guarantee that I will be accepted for the project. I'm thinking that my chances for the "office" job are pretty good but there will be a lot of people volunteering for the Picketwire project and there are only 8 openings. Hopefully my experience on the project in September will give an edge.

In the meantime, The Bride and I, the rest of The Circle and a whole bunch of our Moab on the Rocks friends are going to a concert to see one of our own perform in a local band. Next weekend the full Circle will be going to another concert by Chuck Pyle. I first became acquainted with Chuck Pyle last year when I attended the Cowboy Poetry Gathering across town and really enjoyed his music. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Finally, Guitar and I are beginning to plan a road trip to Tucson next month. The early plans are for he and I to drive one of our RVs on the scenic route to Tucson in late February. The Bride and Pic-E will fly down to Tucson to meet us for a long weekend and then Guitar and I will drive back, taking as much time as he can manage to get off from work. Much more to follow on this.

Thanks for visiting.

KitchenAid Part 6 and a Walk in the Park

It's a good thing I'm retired or I wouldn't have time to deal with this mess revolving around my KitchenAid wall oven. One repair "technician" came on Monday to replace the oven fan and door seal. That makes 3 thermostats, one fan and one door seal that have been replaced so far. As soon as the repair guy walked out of the house, I started the self clean cycle and guess what? About two hours into the cycle, the oven crashed. Duh.

You're probably asking why I didn't have them stay through the cycle....Well, I asked them and they said they couldn't stay that long. So, I was immediately back on the phone to KitchenAid. When KitchenAid "graciously" (Yes, I AM being sarcastic!) extended the warranty for another 6 months they said that after this repair they would send a different repair company to attempt repairs. So another appointment for this week was set up for yesterday morning.

This time there were two "technicians". I suppose that's because these two seemed to be only half as capable as the one from the other shop. The first thing they did was to supposedly test the thermostat and declared it to be "fine". When I tried to get them to explain why the past 3 times the thermostat was replaced and the oven worked they just said that the test meter doesn't lie.

They next turned their attention to the power supply on the wall to see if it was providing 240 volts. When I mentioned that if it was not the heating element would never work, they said "just checking". Well, they couldn't get the proper reading and were convinced this was the problem. Finally they decided to plug the oven in and check the voltage somewhere on the oven itself. Surprise, surprise there was 240 volts. It seems as if they couldn't position their probes to get a correct reading when trying directly on the wall outlet.

To make a long story short, after phone consultation directly with KitchenAid they deduced that the main electronic control panel was the problem and unfortunately they would have to order that part. I hope my logic is totally faulty because I can't see that as the issue but believe me I would love to be wrong. I would willing wear a sign around my neck for a week declaring that I am an unknowing lout....if they can only fix this once and for all.

They are scheduled to come back tomorrow. That makes three times this week. Wish me luck.

On a more pleasant note, Guitar and I went to Roxborough State Park yesterday afternoon for a hike. The weather was quite pleasant in town so we decided to see what it was like at the park.

Because of the terrain there was still a bit of snow lingering but that made for some nice pictures. The park was pretty much deserted and we only saw four other people the whole time we were there. As you can see from the pictures in this post, the creatures "great and small" were out and doing the thing they need to do to survive.

The animals realize that they are safe in this environment and are not skittish around humans. The nice buck deer in the picture above was in a herd of about 5 other deer and was not at all concerned about our presence. We had a heck of a time getting him to lift his head from feeding to get a good picture. Talking didn't work. Shouting didn't work. Shouting and waving our arms didn't work.....only a near miss with a small rock got his attention enough to lift his head for a couple of seconds.

Now that the weather seems to be moderating, I will make this park a regular on my schedule. It sure is a lot more interesting than 30 minutes on a treadmill!

Thanks for visiting.

Off the Road Again

The road trip is over and I'm back to the workaday world but oh, what a road trip it was. I don't think there was any way it could have turned out bad because both Guitar and I were ever so ready for anything that would take us on the road.

The stars aligned just right on this past Thursday and Guitar and I were able to sneak out of town at about 3 pm headed south on Interstate 25. Our goal was to make it to Lathrop State Park just outside of Walsenburg, CO. Not much to do on the trip down other than to explore Walsenburg after dark before we went to the park.

Walsenburg is a town of only about 4000 so you might think that there wouldn't be much to occupy us, but then you wouldn't understand that it doesn't take much to occupy Guitar and myself. "After dark", is the perfect time to hunt old neon signs and it's surprising what you can find in a small town. As a matter of fact some of our best finds come from small towns and this trip was to reinforce that. We found a number of great neon signs but the one I liked the most is the one to the left...Aly's Fireside Cafe. Just love the martini glass!

After about an hour of searching and finding three or four "keepers" we headed to Lathrop State Park, fixed a dinner of home made vegetable soup...expertly microwaved by Guitar, and settled in for the night. We were quite a ways from the lights of Walsenburg and had a wonderful night sky to look at. I spotted two shooting stars before we retired for the night.

We were up early Friday morning to find out that we had an incredible view of the Spanish Peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The Indians called these two mountains, Wahatoya, which means "breasts of the world" and you can certainly see why in the picture above. A little more exploration of the park and we headed south for Trinidad, about 50 miles to the south.....as the crow flies...

Our trip to Trinidad was a lot more than 50 miles, as we were determined to explore everything away from the interstate that we could. In doing this we found the old highway that served as the main north-south route long before the interstate. The picture at the top of this post shows a section of this road. It looks to be an early 1930's concrete road that is just barely two lanes wide. The width wasn't a problem as we did not see another car on this road for quite a number of miles.

The tractor in the picture above, was just one of a bunch of old cars, trucks and tractors sitting in a field behind a ranch house on this old road. The tractor was a Fordson model F which was produced between 1918 and 1928. A great find!

A couple more miles down the road was Ludlow, CO, the site of the Ludlow coal massacre, a very sorrowful event in which over twenty women and children were killed when the Colorado National Guard attacked a camp of strikers and their families. There's not a lot there today except a monument erected by the United Mine Workers of America, but that was enough for Guitar and I to contemplate and agree that we're both glad that this country has progressed in the area of labor relations.

We made it to Trinidad at about noon and proceeded to be surprised by this little jewel of a town. Not a big town by any means. Population about 7,000 tops but with a wonderfully intact and vibrant downtown area. It seems as if preservation and restoration have hit this corner of Colorado and it's a great thing to see.

We spent a couple of hours exploring and taking pictures of old signs....we actually did it twice because after we set up camp and had some dinner we went back into Trinidad to catch some of the signs when they were lit up. The bad news was that the museum we wanted to see the most, the A.R. Mitchell Museum was closed. Looking at the bright side, this gives us a reason to return to this great little town.

Saturday morning we were once again, up early, ready to explore historical sites and whatever oddities came our way. Before we left the camp however we had a visit from a herd of deer that leisurely browsed their way past the camper....and by the way, this campground wasn't too shabby either. A great view of Fisher's Peak from Trinidad Lake State Park and we had the park almost all to ourselves!

A disappointment was that we were unable to find the grave site of Uncle Dick Wooten. Oh, we found the graveyard easy enough. The Catholic Cemetery of Trinidad is still in operation...and that was the problem. There were a LOT of "deceased" in this place and there was no one around to help us find Uncle Dick's resting place, even though we knew the plot number. We marked that down as another reason to return to Trinidad.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip to me was exploring Morley, CO. It took a little "doin'" to get there but the trouble was worth it. This old coal mining ghost town breathed it's last gasp in the 1950's and the coal company tore down most of the buildings but the foundations remain. The centerpiece of the town is the remains of the old Catholic church on the hill above the town. It is very much photographed, painted and otherwise recorded and Guitar and I were not about to break the custom. I don't know how many shots I took but as far as I'm concerned they all turned out great!

I think we spent a couple of hours looking around and trying to imagine the people, the families, the babies, the marriages and the funerals that once made this a real place, just like the towns that you and I live in.

I had wanted to find and drive the old Raton Pass road from this point down into Raton, NM but we found out that the road now belongs to a development company and is private...closed to the public. Even Uncle Dick Wooton's ranch is closed off to the public. There was nothing Guitar and I could do, so we got back on I-25 and drove down into Raton for our last night on the road.

The official records say that Raton has about the same population as Trinidad but it sure seemed smaller to me. Smaller or not, it had it's own gems of neon signs. Guitar and I decided to stay at a commercial KOA campground this last night because he was having a problem with the water pump on the camper...and because the KOA location gave us easy access to the town.

We occupied the last of this day in hunting down some great old signs and browsing in a few antique shops.

One of the shops was owned and operated by a sprightly 88 year old woman who entertained us with stories of the history of the old store, the background of some of her wares and countless other things. I think we spent well over an hour in that one store. The woman told us that she was a graduate of Johns Hopkins, had been a nurse in WW II, came ashore shortly after D Day and was in Holland during Battle of the Bulge!

Amazingly enough, after we left this store we went into a western clothing store and spoke with the proprietor of that store....who was an army veteran of WW II who served in the Pacific.....The Greatest Generation is alive and well in Raton, New Mexico!

Sunday morning came way too soon. It's hard to believe that three days went by so quick. Guitar and I had about as much fun as you can, and still be legal. Three days of poking around back roads, looking at the obscure. Three days of non-homogenized America. Three days of road trip. It would have been nice to just keep heading south to Las Vegas, NM and over to Canyon de Chelly. Oh well, that freedom will have to wait for another 628 days.

As Guitar and I were getting ready to leave I spotted what I am going to call a good omen. The god of Road Trip sent a sign to us that we will soon be as free as birds....or balloons. Free to drift wherever we choose.....


Thanks for visiting.

It's CONTAGIOUS!!!

I swear I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't even know I did it, but Guitar has come down with Road Fever too. The Circle got together for a quick dinner last night at Red Robin and I could tell immediately that there was something wrong with Guitar. He had this slack jawed, blank stare, bad hair kinda look about him. His hands were twitching like he was yanking on a steering wheel and he kept mumbling something about the hot water bypass valves! Oh yeah, Road Fever big time!

This morning I got an email from him begging me to help him with "The Cure". If it were anyone else, I'da told them to get their own cure but Guitar needs all the help he can get. Besides, he took the first step....which can be the hardest. He admitted he had a problem. He said straight out that he had Road Fever. He was powerless. He couldn't cure this himself. He needed help...

Now, I think I already said in a previous post that Guitar has an awesome rig...diesel dually with an really big Arctic Fox camper. It's a rig I dream of....and he needs help...hmmmm.

OK, I'm gonna help him with the cure but we'll use his rig for the cure. Sounds fair to me? He's been with me in my rig a couple of times so this will work out fine.

I'm still working on the details of "The Cure". I'll have to consult a lot reference books because if I don't do this right, Guitar could be stigmatized for life! His bride, Pic-E would never forgive me! I could be ostrich-sized from The Circle. I've got a lot of research to do and only 3 more days to do it in so I'm gonna have to cut this post short.

Thanks for visiting.