A Care Package From Mr. Barbecue

The Bride returned from a trip to North Carolina, seeing family, with a Care Package for me! There will be good eats on my trip next week! My favorite Carolina Barbecue place! If I ration myself, this will last almost a year.

 

Thanks for visiting.

Pawnee Campground –Brainard Lake

Another weekend of camping! This brings me to a total of 50 nights spent in my trailer this year so far…and I have at least four more weeks of activities planned between now and October.

The Bride and I left home of Friday morning at about 9 am and headed for Pawnee Campground to meet the rest of The Circle….Too Tall-Two Timing, K., Guitar and Pic-E. This campground is about an hour and a half drive from home and is at about 10,300 feet in elevation. With all the adventures I’ve had so far this year, this is the first time this season that I’ve camped this high and we picked the perfect time to do it! While The Circle camped in 70 degree weather, the Denver area sweltered in 100 degree temps!

It was an adventure to start with. The campsite I chose was listed as a 40 foot back-in site. Plenty of room for both my trailer and truck….if you could get into it! What the description didn’t say was that the access road was a very narrow rough dirt road with ditches on both sides and the area was heavily forested. To make a long story short, it took me about an hour to get the trailer into the site and once I was in, I was wedged between two trees both less than two feet from either side of the trailer.

In the picture above you can see the tree close to the door side of the trailer. I had to climb on the trailer roof and cut some of the branches off of the tree to keep it from damaging the roof.

After that adventure I was ready to chill for the rest of the weekend and we did just that. We had two days of pleasant weather, good food and good friends. The campground itself was peaceful but the surrounding area was crawling with folks from the front range getting away from the heat. It was so crowded that the park rangers were limiting the number of people coming in and when we left on Sunday morning we saw them allowing one vehicle in for every vehicle coming out.

It was stunning scenery but there were probably as many people on the trails as at the mall here in town. A little too “peoplefied” for my tastes.

I now have a break of about two weeks with no out of town adventures and then I’m off to Twin Lakes, CO for a Passport In Time project. This project will be an archaeological survey looking for prehistoric Indian sites east of the Arkansas River. There have been numerous reports of tepee rings, lithic scatters and other evidence of prehistoric occupation but the Forest Service has never done an official survey of the area. It will be fun and an adventure!

The week after that I’m off to Wyoming for another PIT, this time using a metal detector to find evidence of the Cherokee Trail. And the week after that I’m back close to home at Guanella Pass doing another archaeological survey with the Forest Service.

I have applied for three more Passport In Time projects in September and October that I have not heard anything about yet….and The Bride and I will spend a week camping in the Black Hills of South Dakota in September so the adventures definitely will continue.

Thanks for visiting.

Bats, Bears And Burgers, Oh My

The post title is a take off on the famous line by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. Hard to believe that this classic 1939 movie is still entertaining and being quoted some seventy years after it was released. I wonder how many of today’s crop of movies will have a similar stature in 2080?

Enough of that. On Saturday The Bride and I left early and headed to the Colorado Division of Wildlife Volunteer orientation. The orientation was in Colorado Springs about an hour drive from our home. About 15 people attended to find out what types of opportunities are available for volunteers.

It turns out that there are a lot of varied projects available to interested volunteers. I’ve mentioned previously that I participated in a waterfowl count last week and that it tame compared to some of the projects. One that interested me is the Bats/Inactive Mines Project. In this project, volunteers survey inactive mines to see if bats have taken up residence in them. First of all there a literally thousands of inactive mines in Colorado and they are extremely dangerous. These mines make perfect habitats for a number of species of bats and bats are of terrific importance to man. The dilemma is to allow the bats a place to live and to keep humans from entering these dangerous sites.

Volunteers go to the mines but not in them. They use electronic “bat detectors” to detect the ultra sonic signals the bats use. If bats are found the mine entrance can be closed with a grate that will allow access by the bats but prevent humans from entering. How cool is that??

Other projects range from helping clean up State Wildlife Areas to helping at fish hatcheries to collecting animal heads for chronic wasting disease testing. The collecting heads project gets the heads from hunter harvested animals. There is also a State Wildlife Area Host program where volunteers camp at the Wildlife Areas and help educate visitors about the area. Between volunteering for the Division of Wildlife and the Forest Service methinks that I’ll be pretty busy this year.

All of that information about opportunities made The Bride and I hungry and fortunately the DOW orientation broke up at noon. We had previously made arrangements with The Circle to meet them at Conway’s Red Top burger joint. I learned about this place from a Christmas present book given to me by Cajenn and Cajon and my curiosity took over.

As you can see by the picture above, the restaurant is a non-descript little place but it serves decidedly non-non-descript burgers. These behemoths are eighteen inches in diameter! Now they are not your typical two or three inch thick gourmet burgers but are relatively thin allowing that artery clogging grease to really flavor the burger. The burger is a bit thinner on the edges and their frying technique renders them crispy at the very edge. A great taste.

As hungry as I was I was not foolish enough to order a whole burger but settled for a half burger which was more than sufficient. I had mine without cheese most of the rest of The Circle ordered theirs with cheese. Guitar and Pic-E also sampled the chili while K had a hot dog and a bowl of bean soup. All pronounced their meals worthy of the trip.

After a leisurely lunch we all headed back towards the Denver area. On the way back we stopped at the little town of Monument, Colorado. Monument sit astride Interstate 25 and I’ve passed by it hundreds of times without taking the time to look past the ever present gas stations and fast food joints. It turns out that there is a quaint little historic town a few blocks off the Interstate. We did a little looking and following the ladies of The Circle and then Too Tall-Two Timing, Guitar and I retired to the local cantina to have a cold one and watch football while the ladies completed their exploration.

We were back in the Denver metro are by late afternoon. It was a great day. I had learned a lot and had an adventure or two. Life is good.

Thanks for visiting. 

Merry Barbecue!!!

The Bride arrived back home from her trip to North Carolina Monday morning at about 2am. She was supposed to land at the Denver airport at about 10pm on Sunday night but because of the snow storm on the East Coast, her flight was delayed. It was delayed not because of the weather at the airport but because not enough service personnel could make it in to work at Dulles airport to keep the planes flying on-time. In spite of the weather and delays she had a good time with her mother and I got a special gift out of the trip too!

Long time readers will remember that I have an affinity, a yen, a sweet tooth as it were for barbeque. Not just any barbecue mind you but the best barbecue in the land…..North Carolina pork barbecue. Not Texas cow and ketchup not grilled yard bird but honest to God North Carolina chopped pork barbecue. One of my favorite places to get a barbecue fix…when I’m in the area, is Mr. Barbecue in Winston-Salem, NC. I have been going to this fantastic little barbecue place for over 30 years now but it’s been about two years since my last visit and I’ve got to admit that I have thought of that barbecue more than once in that time.

To paraphrase a saying, “if his-self can’t go to the barbecue, bring the barbecue to his-self!” and that’s exactly what The Bride did. The Bride, bless her little heart, put a whole barbecued pork leg, from Mr. Barbecue, in her luggage and brought it to me as a Christmas present. This is no little task as the pork leg is a bulky item and probably weighs 5 or 6 pounds. She had it frozen, wrapped in tin foil and then wrapped in a plastic bag. From experience I can tell you that a whole leg is by far the most efficient way to transport barbecue. Carrying it in a chopped state is way too bulky and reduces the amount of this culinary gold that will fit in a suitcase.

Since I prefer my barbecue chopped, my task this morning was to reduce the leg to chopped ‘cue. While the process is pretty simple, great care must be taken to ensure that nothing gets wasted. After all this manna from heaven doesn’t fall in Colorado very often!

The meat is carefully carved off the bones of the leg ensuring that nothing edible is left behind. In my case the bones are so clean that even ants refuse to waste their time foraging for a meal!

After the meat is stripped from the bones it’s chopped into the desired consistency. I prefer a variety of sizes to the chopped meat and chop it so there are small and medium sized pieces.

The barbecue is then packaged in quart sized freezer bags and stored away. Each freezer bag has enough of this redneck caviar to serve about four normal people or two and a half North Carolina barbecue aficionados.

I now have five quart sized bags of Mr. Barbecue, barbecue in my freezer just waiting to please my palate and stomach at the right moment. Life is good!

Thanks for visiting.

Not Feeling Like A Motherless Child Anymore!

My new Arctic Fox fifth wheel was delivered to the dealer in Colorado Springs on Friday so first thing yesterday morning I drove down there to look at it. Due to the Christmas holidays I won’t be able to actually take possession of it until the 29th. The outside has not been cleaned up yet from it’s trip from Oregon and it shows. Apparently it went through a pretty good snow storm in Wyoming and it looks pretty grungy but the dealer promised it would look perfect when I come to pick it up. The dealer has started his inspection and prep and during the initial inspection found that the kitchen faucet had a small leak. He was unable to fix it so he has ordered a new faucet from the factory.

One of the reasons I drove down there yesterday was to give the dealer the “capture plate” that must be installed on the pin box of the trailer before I can tow it with my SuperGlide hitch. After talking with the dealer for a while I spent about a half hour just sitting inside the trailer dreaming of the trips I will begin to take in it starting in February. I have managed to keep my enthusiasm in check up till now but now that it’s actually here I am “overflowing”!

I brought all of the manuals for the different appliances and features of the trailer home with me so my task today is to go through them and read them.

I spoke with The Bride this morning. They didn’t get as much snow and ice as was predicted but it’s still pretty dicey there. While we were talking I checked online for her flights….she flies from Greensboro, NC to Washington Dulles, to Denver. Both flights are still showing on-time but Washington Dulles is starting to report short delays. She will lay over in Washington Dulles for about four hours and leave there around 8pm so hopefully things will have cleared up by then.

Thanks for visiting.

Home Alone – Almost

The Bride left home at about 4am on Monday morning for a visit with her mother, Ladder Lady, in NC leaving The Emmer and I to fend for ourselves until Sunday. Fortunately over the last few years I have done enough cooking so that The Emmer and I will not starve. My repertoire is not anywhere close to as extensive as The Bride’s but it is enough to keep the two of us from wasting away.

I have received a report from The Bride that she arrived without incident and is enjoying the visit with her mother, brothers and their families. She also reports that she timed her trip perfectly to coincide with a potentially major snow storm in the area! This is what Weather Underground is forecasting for Saturday, when the storm finally moves out…

Saturday

Cloudy. Snow likely...mainly in the morning. Total snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches possible. Ice accumulation around a trace. Cold with highs in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.

From having lived in the area for many years I can tell you that this is going to be a big deal. Even though she is in the western part of the state where they are a little more accustomed to snow, they still do not have the equipment to keep the roads clear for a storm of this magnitude. Add to that, the fact that most of the electricity is delivered by above ground lines and there is a distinct chance that they could lose power for a couple of days as well. The Brides visit may be a little longer than she anticipated.

On the RV front, my new trailer should be delivered to the dealer either today of tomorrow and the dealer says that they will have it ready for me by Tuesday. That however presents a scheduling problem related to another project I have been working on.

Over the last year or so I have become interested in becoming a member of the Elks fraternal organization. A few weeks ago I went to the local Elks Lodge and enquired about membership. Long story short, this Tuesday I will be going to the Lodge for an interview and indoctrination so I will have to postpone getting my new rig until after Christmas. It’s just a good thing that I’m retired because I don’t think I could manage my schedule and squeeze in some “working” as well.

Thanks for visiting.

Comin’ Atcha!

Well the storm system moved out of here this morning but it left bitter cold. The picture above was taken at 7:38 am. Don’t freak, it doesn’t say –95, it’s –9point5 but that still plenty cold. The high got all the way up to +20 but it didn’t stay there for long and it’s now back to single digits.

The storm is now headed east and in watching the news, it looks like readers to the east of me are now getting the worst of it.

Yesterday, in the midst of the cold and snow I had my truck tonneau cover installed. It looks great and will be perfect for what I want it to do. I’ll post a picture later.  All I need to do now is get the snow out of the bed of the truck. That will take a day or so as the temperatures are not supposed to get above freezing until tomorrow.  I also called the RV dealer to check on the status of my fifth wheel. They said it rolled off the line early this week and is scheduled to be delivered next week. The dealer will take a day or so to do his thing and hopefully by the end of the week I’ll pick it up. If the weather cooperates I’ll probably spend the night at Cheyenne Mountain State Park the day I pick it up to try out all the systems before I drag the rig back to the Denver area. That park is only 8-10 miles from the dealership.

Meanwhile, The Bride is scheduled to fly out of here on the 15th to visit her Mom, Ladder Lady, in North Carolina. She will return on Sunday the 20th.

I took this picture this afternoon. If you look close you can see my reflection in the Christmas tree ornament…

Thanks for visiting.

I’m Having Hot Flashes!

I could have used that title to describe the fluctuation in weather we’ve been having. It was gorgeous last week until Saturday when it began to snow off and on throughout the day, at nightfall it really picked up and by Sunday morning we had 10'”-13” of wet snow. This morning it is bitter cold but the forecast is that by early afternoon it will be in the upper 40’s and will be in the mid 50’s by Wednesday. That is not why I chose the title, however.

This will give you a good laugh at my expense. I’m rich in some of my miscues so don’t feel bad, laugh!

For quite a number of years now I have been taking a number of vitamin supplements every morning. I generally put the pills into one of those plastic containers that are partitioned off into 7 little compartments and are designed for this purpose. Just before we left on our cruise I had a routine eye exam and because I have a history of macular degeneration, it was recommended that I take an additional supplement for eye health…no problem…I bought some and added it to the mix.

Yesterday my little “week of pills” box was empty so I refilled and this morning I took my allotted portion. About fifteen minutes after taking the pills I started having severe hot flashes and my forehead and arms felt like severe prickly heat. I was stunned, confused and a little worried. I went upstairs to talk to The Bride and after a little while we discovered that my eye supplement pills and the niacin pills she was taking for cholesterol control looked almost exactly the same. So close were they that I had inadvertently loaded my “week of pills” box with niacin instead of the benign eye supplements.

It seems as if niacin has a common side effect known as the “niacin flush”. It is described as very similar to the hot flashes a woman in menopause experiences! Unfortunately, I now have had that experience…..so I guess the next time a woman says to me that I just don’t know how a woman feels, I can dispute the statement!

It didn’t take me long to get to my little “week of pills” box and rectify the situation and The Bride got a good laugh out of the situation because she had stopped taking the niacin for the very same reason and has since relied on diet and exercise to control her cholesterol.

The morals of the story are twofold. First, don’t assume that the opposite sex has no idea how you feel physically. Modern chemistry can make the dividing line in feelings very faint. Second, even with over the counter vitamins, be very careful! Make sure you know what you are ingesting or you too could have hot flashes….or worse.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Anniversary

On this day 32 years ago, The Bride and I did say “I do”. Over those years a lot has happened. Two children were born and raised. We have lived in five different places. Careers started and one finished. Parents and friends have passed away. Lots of good things and some bad have come down the road and we have handled them all. We are a team and I love my team-mate.

Happy Anniversary, hon.

Home For A Day

Well actually it’s two days but you get the idea. The Bride and I returned yesterday afternoon for a Circle The Wagons camping trip. It was just a weekend trip, not nearly long enough but we take what we can get these days with everybody's busy schedule.

Guitar, Pic-E, Too Tall-Two Timing and K left mid day on Friday and got the campsites….and dinner all prepared for our arrival at 8pm. Guitar made a stew in his Dutch oven and I was impressed. It was not only tasty but it hit the spot because there was a chill in the air once the sun went down.

Saturday morning we all rode over to Bishop’s Castle which was only a few miles from the campsite. The castle is a bit of major kitsch right in Colorado. For 41 years, Jim Bishop has been building away on his creation…and creation is the word for it. It is a castle that conjures up images of knights and dragons and sorcerers. It’s a fantastic bit of construction, all done one stone at a time and with the use of only the most primitive of equipment.

Jim allows people to explore the castle on their own, as much as they like. He doesn’t charge admission but accepts donations to help him continue his work.

I visited this amazing building about 7 or 8 years ago and was amazed at what Jim had completed since my last visit. I don’t think Jim has an end point in mind so he’ll just keep adding on as long as he is physically able.

Saturday afternoon, K and Too Tall-Two Timing took a little ride in their kayak on Lake Isabel while the rest of us did a little hiking. I even found time to squeeze in a little nap in the afternoon. At dinner Saturday night we posed for the picture at the top of the post. Nose wardrobe compliments of Too Tall-Two Timing. The young lady with us is Guitar and Pic-E’s great-granddaughter.

Today and tomorrow is re-provisioning time for me. I need to empty the waste tanks on the RV and refill the fresh water tank. A trip to the grocery store is also on the list to get food and snacks for my trip to the Pecos Conference. Tomorrow morning I have a dental appointment and a doctor appointment. The doctor appointment is to hopefully, once and for all to take care of a wart problem on my foot. The doctor has twice before…unsuccessfully tried to freeze off a wart between my toes on my right foot. If she is not successful this time, I’m going to be in a lot of trouble as my Forest Service volunteer project starts in a week and a half. It’s pretty painful walking right now and a 13,000 foot mountain isn’t going to make it any better.

I am leaving for the Pecos Conference first thing Wednesday morning and spend the night at Great Sand Dunes National Park. Thursday is the registration day and the programs begin on Friday morning. It looks like the weather will be somewhat hotter than it has been so far this summer with temps in the 90’s. There is no power hook-ups at the conference campsite so it may be a bit uncomfortable during the day. There are several field trips on Sunday to local archaeological sites. After the field trip I’ll probably head to Durango and find a commercial campground so I can dump tanks and get fresh water….and even take a shower in a full sized facility. I’ll be back home on Monday and then turn around and leave on Wednesday for my Forest Service gig.

I’m not expecting to have any internet connections until I return home a week from today so this may be the last post for a while.

In other news I was accepted to one more Passport in Time project. This is another archaeological survey in far southeast Colorado. This is a continuation of a project that I did last year and really enjoyed. Read about that one here. It will be at the end of September and I’ll tell you more about it in a later post.

Thanks for visiting

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.

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.

Pole Gulch- Passport In Time

I returned yesterday afternoon from my volunteer work with the Forest Service. What a great week! A week of beautiful mountains…mostly beautiful weather and great archaeology.

I left the house mid afternoon last Sunday and drove to Fairplay, CO a small old mining town, now small tourist town about 60 miles, but a world away from here. There I met with the Forest Service archaeologist and several other of the volunteers for an “ice breaker”. After meeting everyone and getting a bite to eat I headed for the campground that was to be our headquarters for the week. It was about 12 miles south of Fairplay and off the highway about a mile. Nothing fancy here. Outhouses and a water pump were the only amenities but the setting under the pine and spruce trees was enough for me.

Our project was to explore Pole Gulch and look for signs of prehistoric and historic activity. The group consisted of seven volunteers and two archaeologists. We split up into two teams and fanned out across an incredibly beautiful valley to begin the search.

The search is simple enough. We walk in a line about 5-10 yards apart and look at the ground trying to find stone tools or flakes indicating that prehistoric people had visited the place. Part of the valley had been searched before and several sites had been discovered so we were pretty sure we’d find more. 

It didn’t take long to find flakes of Jasper on the ground. We could tell that they had been worked by someone and besides the nearest source of Jasper in the area was over 10 miles away. The picture to the right is of a flake like the many we found. We also found some more complete “points” and tools, pictured below.

All in all we found about six different prehistoric sites and three or four historic sites. One of the historic sites was the remains of an old logging camp with what appeared to be four different dwellings. The only thing that remained was scraps of lumber to indicate where the houses were and all sorts of debris; dish fragments which would indicate that women were present; a marble that would indicate that children were present and a lot of cans and other household debris. This site probably dated from 1900 to about 1920.

It’s much harder to date the prehistoric sites but it appeared as if this valley had been used by Native Americans for thousands of years as a summer campground….and I could see why. Plenty of fresh water and game and an incredible view of the surrounding area. One site was on top of a hill that gave a clear view for miles around. If you were there it would be pretty hard for someone to sneak up on you.

We surveyed the area for five days and wound up the project Friday about noon. The Bride came up on Friday afternoon and we had a great two days of just chilling and a little exploring. On Saturday morning I took her back into the area we surveyed and showed her some of the things we found. She was pretty good at spotting flakes on the ground!

On Saturday night The Bride prepared a gourmet meal of lamb chops and grilled asparagus….a little wine, a great meal with great ambiance….life is good.

The wildflowers were also spectacular at the altitude we were at and I was able to get a couple of HDR photos….see below. I still have several more applications in for other PIT projects and hope that I’ll get selected for one or two. This is really habit forming….

 

 

 

 

 

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

Indian Market & Powwow

  Yesterday was the day that Guitar and I volunteered to work at the Tesoro Foundation Indian Market & Powwow. This will be the third year that I have volunteered for this event and I enjoyed myself more this time than at any of the other times.

My assignment for this event was “Artist Ambassador” which as I mentioned in a previous post is a fancy name for a “gofer”. It was however, a blast. I spent four hours walking among the artist booths, talking with the artists and helping them in any way I could. This is a juried show and the artists represented all sorts of talents. Jewelry was probably the most prominent talent but there was also pottery, painting, leather work and a lot more. The picture to the left is the artist Pahponee and her first place winning vase/urn. She really had some nice ceramic ware and seemed to be selling quite a number of items.

Another artist, Venus Brightstar was selling her leather creations which the ladies seemed to love. She had a second place ribbon for the item you see in the picture. I asked her if she did “guy” stuff and she said she did but had sold everything at her last show. When I told her I might be interested in a vest, she took my name and address and promised to send me some pictures of what she could do. That should be interesting. I told her not garish but a bit understated….? We’ll see.

At 1 pm they had the opening ceremony for the powwow portion of the event. There were about 75 Native American dancers and  they all made a grand entrance which was pretty impressive. I’m sure Native Americans of 100 years ago did not have costumes with all the brilliant colors I saw yesterday but I guess even Native American costumes have to keep up with “fashion”. Here are some pictures of the dancers…young and old.

I brought the RV to the house this morning and am beginning to pack it for our trip to Moab. I have got the proverbial “hitch itch” and the sooner I can get on the road, the better. It seems the weather will be pretty warm there, high 80’s with a chance of thunder showers every day but I’m oh, so ready regardless of what the weather is.

In just a little while we’ll be leaving for the airport to pick up Ladder Lady. I know The Bride is anxious to see her Mom. She’s excited that she will be able to show her a part of the country she has never seen before.

This will probably be my last post for a number of days. Thursday I’ll be in a campground with WiFi but I’m guessing I won’t get a chance to do a post until I get back.

Thanks for visiting.