Brrrrr…..

Last week I had a post with the title “Fall Has Fallen”. Well in the last couple of days it had done more than that, it has turned to winter!

On Thursday I decided to take my new truck and drive it to Colorado Springs to look at an Arctic Fox fifth wheel camper. The day was cloudy and chilly. By the time I got down to the Springs the temps had sunk to 30 degrees and there were periods of light snow.

The trailer was very nice. About 28 feet long and a quality build. It was a true four season trailer as it had upgraded insulation, thermo-pane windows and heating blankets for the waste tanks to keep them from freezing. On the down side there wasn’t a whole lot of storage area. A lot of the basement area normally used for storage was taken up by an onboard propane generator, something I don’t need since I have a little portable Honda generator. After looking at the trailer I decided to do something I had been thinking about for several years.

I went to high school in Colorado Springs in the early 60’s. My Dad, The Colonel, was stationed at NORAD at the time. I started at Wasson High School in 1962 and graduated in 1965. Two weeks after graduation the family moved to Ft. Benning, GA and I have never been back to the school for reunions or even just to look. This day I decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit the high school I graduated from 44 years ago.

I wasn’t sure I would be allowed to even look as a lot of schools these days have pretty tight security. I was surprised when after explaining what I wanted to do in the school office they said, no problem, just sign in and help yourself. Their one caution was to make sure I didn’t get trampled when the bell sounded for the period change! Some things never change.

I spent about a half hour wandering around and was amazed I remembered as much as I did. Wasson HS was opened in 1960 so it was very new when I attended. At the time it was “state of the art” with a great auditorium/theater, state of the art labs, several gyms, a pool, and other amenities that made it THE place to be when I attended. It’s now 50 years old but it has been well taken care of. I don’t have the connection to the high school that I do to my college alma mater but I’m still glad I went to visit. It brought back some pleasant memories.

Saturday The Bride and I had a number of chores to do including checking out a kennel that we were thinking of leaving Molly Dog at when we take our cruise and driving up to Ft. Collins to retrieve my little Suzuki that I left at the dealership when I bought the truck last week. Along the way we also stopped to look at some more trailers.

The weather had turned even more wintery on Friday night with some snow and ice on the roads. We probably saw 20 accidents on the interstate between the south side of Denver and Ft. Collins. At one point I was reconsidering driving up to Ft. Collins and just waiting until Sunday but I pressed on. We arrived in Ft. Collins about noon, picked up the car and had lunch at a local Olive Garden. By the time we headed back to Denver the roads had returned to normal.

This week I’m planning on visiting a few more RV places to continue the hunt for a fifth wheel. On Friday, The Bride and I are leaving town for Keystone, CO, a ski resort about half way between Denver and Vail. We have reservations at the Ski Tip Lodge for the weekend. In addition to being a great place to stay, they have a very nice restaurant in the lodge. We are both looking forward to it.

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.

Happy Birthday to The Bride!

Happy Birthday to The Bride, my honey. Today she is.....................naw, I gotta live with her for hopefully MANY more years so I'm not gonna tell you how old she is. I will say that her age is still a double digit although we are the teensyest bit over half way to triple digits.

The picture above is probably the earliest picture I have of her that was taken since I have known her. Ah yes, those were the days.....but you know what? These days are pretty special too.

Tonight we will have dinner at a local Outback to celebrate.

Happy Birthday to The Bride....my bride.

Thanks for visiting.