10-20-08 Monday (The Darkside)

Am I the only one who thinks softened water is creepy? It would seem that the park here treats it or perhaps the city here does. Maybe it's over softened? I feel like I can't get the soap off. I think it wastes water in a way. I rinse my hands for way too long. Have you ever gotten fabric softener on your hands? You know the feeling.

I'm glad I was able to get that out into the open. I've been keeping it bottled up inside for days now... ready to explode like a bottle of Calgon Water Softener that reached a 6,000 foot elevation.

We actually got moving today and out of the RV by 10am. It was wondrous. Well, maybe more like tiring. We loaded up the dog and away we went. We were going to consider boarding Dasher but guilt kept us from pursuing that avenue.

Driving through a town in Utah called Montezuma Creek was eerie. The High School had no signs of life, so I confirmed the time and thought "is it a holiday?" Everything looked abandoned. 2 dogs on the side of the road tried to eat at the Cherokee as we passed them. It's as if we were in some Stephen King movie. You know, like the 2 dogs are all that's left of the town, and if we stop, we'll never be able to leave. I'd call it, "Don't Stop In The Eerie Town, Because You May Not Be Able To Leave, So Don't Stop." Crafty, eh? I'll run it by my agent and see what he thinks. Anyway, as we hit the end of the town (it was 5 blocks long), finally I saw 1 person. There was no blood on his face, no screaming, I guess he was OK.

Through the next section of Utah, fields of oil pumps were o'plenty. Reminiscent of that time we lived in New Mexico. OK, not lived, stopped by.

Finally we crossed the border into Colorado (yes again). I guess I should tell you where the hell we were going. We went to Mesa Verde National Park. This park was full of cliff dwellings that were more spectacular than the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. We were able to walk through a set of cliff dwellings but had to leave Dasher in the Cherokee. Some others could only be seen from across the canyon, while others only on a guided tour. We didn't do the tours because we couldn't leave Dasher in the Cherokee that long. We saw plenty without the tours anyway. There were several areas to walk through and see Pithouses (earliest form of buildings), and many Pueblos. An awesome park all in all. I'll just slideshow the slew of photos I have.

After the park, we stopped at Wal-Mart. Jim stayed in the car to call his Mom, while I had the ultimate power to shop. The power, it was strong. I felt light headed; I had to come to terms with the power. I knew I needed to use the power for good. I couldn't resist the darkside and picked up a box of Velvetta Cheese and Shells. I knew it wasn't on the list, but I did it anyways. Ummmmm, yeah.

I'm glad you asked about gas prices. Gas was $2.90 a gallon! Woo-who! It was so nice for a change. In a couple of days we'll be filling up the rig.






Another question? Yes, you, in the pink bunny slippers. Oh, yes, how'd the Garbanzo Bean soup come out? Not even close to Aunt Patty's. I didn't look like it or taste like it. It was flavorful, a little spicy which was probably from the Chiritzo. I'll make it again, but I'll play with the ingredients a little more. Maybe Aunt Patty will realize my unspoken cries for help, and uhhhhh help.












A nice end to the evening was the ever-amazing full bright sky of stars right over the campground. I snapped photos but they came out like black boxes, with a white dot. I'll spare you the photos. We then started dinner. We had a precooked meatloaf that was frozen. It had been thawing in the fridge since yesterday and it was still solid. We shoved it in the oven. Eternity passed. Still frozen. More eternity (silly, huh) passed, still frozen. Jim nuked it. He then nuked it some more. I took it out, prepared the side dishes. He asked if I had checked it's temperature. I told him "no, I don't care if it's still frozen, it's 10 o'clock". It was hot.

10-05-08 Sunday (The Onion Button)

On the road again.... with us, not Willy, silly. I think I should have a function key programmed to insert: We had to refill the jacks today. Well, it went easier this time with yet another thing-a-ma-bob Jim got the other day. It's kinda like a syringe.

We made our usual 20MPH climb on some of the roads. That was OK, because we were able to gaze upon the snow covered mountains and powdered sugar-esque pine trees. We were a little nervous with the wet roads; it was hard to tell if they were iced or not. Shortly before we departed the campground, we got to talking to a couple who told us that during a snow storm one year, their C-Class RV slid on the ice and if it hadn't been for the freshly plowed snow on the edge of the road, they would have slid off the cliff. It surely made me feel all comfy-cozy.

I have a rant. I finally got to snap a picture of the sign below. This sign has appeared many times throughout our drives in Colorado. We've seen some that even appeared very permanent. I find it amusing, like they have no intentions of fixing the road.



I'm grateful that we have so many National Parks in our country. Seems like every few miles there was a sign welcoming us to the National Forest of such and such. In the future, we'll be trying to stay at those parks (as long as they have full hookups).

Oh, a new problem, seems the slide slips out about a half inch while we're driving. Great... We used the handy-dandy tether strap to secure it. We'll have to get that looked at too. Just another thing to add to the list.

On the bright side, and somewhat strange side, we saw 2 foxes in a field that looked like they were harassing a cow. That's not the strange part. Before entering New Mexico, we saw 2 camels and a llama. No signs of a zoo, petting zoo, or whatever. Just on a farm or ranch. I wished I could have gotten pictures!

We had a misadventure today. We stopped for a smoke, and when we were ready to leave, Even Brake beeped and beeped. Low voltage from the Cherokee. We tried to start the Cherokee but no good. We decided to drive a few miles to a safer stop to disconnect the Cherokee and jump it off the RV. We tried several times and still no luck. We decided to have lunch, while the Cherokee tries to recover. It worked! We stayed in "saucer separation mode", for several miles. I drove the Jeep and Jim the RV. We eventually reintegrated and off we went.





In the meantime, Dasher was splashing blood all over. Huh? Well, seems since Florida, he has itchy spots, and today he managed to pull off a large scab on his ear. It bled and he shakes his head, and fling goes the blood. I've wiped it up so much, I'm considering staying with the polka-dot look and giving up. I'm not sure what I could cover his sore with that he won't pull off. Maybe he's going to have a "funnel-head" soon. Speaking of bleeding, our bathroom soap dispenser committed suicide during today's journey. You can see it's white blood ready to ooze out of its lower side. It was a nice soap dispenser, available when needed. It died so young, so many new states for it to see. A moment of silence please.


We made it to Farmington, New Mexico. Actually we're staying at The Desert Rose Resort in Bloomfield. Look at those clouds above the welcome sign.

We set up our site, put together a shopping list,ate dinner at Applebee's and went to...... Wal-Mart. Back to Applebees for a sec. Jim ordered a sirloin and added mushroom and onions. It came without onions. Jim pointed it out to the server so we don't pay for something we didn't get. We told him no big deal. He apologized and said he forgot to hit the onion button. I was so impressed that he admitted his error without the usual blaming-of-the-kitchen. I should have complimented him to his manager. I had mine topped with shrimp and cheese. It had an awesome garlic flavor. It's the best steak I've had in a long time. Where was I? Oh, after Wal-mart Jim spotted a huge laundromat. He made a u-turn so that he could show it to me stating he'd never seen such a huge place. I agree, it's like the people of New Mexico don't have washers/dryers. I took a picture of it but I'm not sure if a night photo will do it justice.

I have no photos of New Mexico landscape because in general, my first impression of it: shithole. Just at the Colorado/New Mexico border, the road quality went to below average which included the faded lines and rough surfaces. Next, it seemed like the first 99,000 New Mexico towns/cities we drove through were industrial. Warehouses, tractor sales, trucks, etc. Next, we saw all of these ominous tanks sitting in fields here and there. They were fenced in and perhaps some sort of oil pumping devices? Our campground has an oil pump thingy on it's property but it's different looking then all the other stuff we've seen. Everything is brown here. Yeah, I know, it's a desert. The campground is nice though and this week we'll do some sight seeing.

Let me leave you with a few of my favorite pictures as we left Colorado today.

10-04-08 Saturday (Child Population Control)

Our last full day here in Ouray. I must start by telling you that Jim made muffins last night. He didn't use the muffin pan but used paper muffin cups. This has worked for him in the past but only with the cups that say "No muffin pan needed" right on the package. Here's how they came out.

Square.... it's the new round.

Jim had planned out the day. I'm so happy he does this, it certainly helps with knowing what the hell we're gonna do. It also cuts down on missing sights. Our first stop was to the Ouray Museum. This historic miner's hospital opened to serve miners and their families in the Ouray area in 1887 under the direction of the Sisters of Mercy. The museum is now owned and operated by the Ouray County Historical Society. The museum currently boasts 32 exhibits featuring Native American, Minerals and Mining, Transportation and Railroad, Ranching, Hospital and Medical, Civic and School Memorabilia, Firearms, Victorian and Gold Belt Theater. Unfortunately they were closing early today for some sort of event so an hour seemed too short to read all of the exhibits. The museum as a whole was quite impressive.







We toured around the neighborhoods behind the downtown area. I saw a sign/scenario I thought amusing. I title this "Playground Dangers". Notice the swing set in the foreground and the danger sign in the background. Gotta love it.

I'm thinking of opening an alligator petting zoo for children, located next to an explosives manufacturing plant. Any other suggestions?


After the downtown drive, a quick stop home for some lunch and then off to another trail. Because of yesterdays VERY long trail, I made several jokes toward Jim about it. Before leaving for the trail today, I said things like, "Dasher, be a good boy, we'll see you tomorrow." Or I asked Jim if we should pack a change of clothes. This trail was called "Last Dollar Road" and was a class 1 (Easy) trail. It actually was difficult in some areas due to large rocks and washed out roads. This trail was in the San Juan region and led from Ouray to Telluride. Once in Telluride, we took a gondola up the mountain to a ski city called "Mountain Village". Most everything was closed until ski season but it was neat to ride the free gondola up and down. The area is accessible by car so we're not quite sure why it's made to appear as though it's so secluded. Maybe skiers like to park below, ride to the top and ski down? I guess it's pretty hard to ski up hill. There were 2 sets of gondolas. One was open aired ski type that was closed and the ones we were in were trams. There were a lot of bikes parked at the bottom so maybe it's the easiest thing for them?


After the gondola ride to and fro, we stopped off at a place called "The Sweet Life" which was a burger, soda shop slash candy store. There we had some chicken tenders AND get this, fried Oreos. I had been wanting to try some cookie or cake deep fried. This was pretty good. Battered and then drizzled with chocolate syrup and topped with some powered sugar. Overload. This place had various newspaper reviews and even a Rachel Ray review framed up. It's too bad the 2 young girls manning the place could bring it down. We walked in and found melted chocolate on the floor near the door. In the middle of ordering, 1 girl noticed a previous customer's children (see above for solution to unruly children) had spilled gummy worms onto the floor from a self help bin and she almost through a fit. Girl 1 had to point out the mess to girl 2. Girl 2 resumed taking our payment. As we ate our food, girl 1 and 2 took turns text messaging. Girl 1 stopped for a few minutes to draw a design on her hand with a Sharpie. Jim and I watched as neither one ever grabbed a mop or a broom. Sad.

The slideshow below is a combination of today's 2 trips. You can pause them to read the captions or study the photos.

There's been some pros and cons to being here this time of year. A lot of things are closed for the winter, and we don't get to see the wildflowers all over the place. I wouldn't change the time of year we've come though. The leaves are pretty, we've driven through snow flurries and tourist traps are empty.

Tomorrow a "winter storm" is moving in. We encountered some flurries today here and there. Our next destination is Farmington, New Mexico.

Oh, before I forget, I stumbled on this webpage about someone's RV MISadventures. It's pretty funny. Right click here and open a new window cause I'm not done with you yet.

Lastly, here's a short video of a view we stopped and drooled over.

10-3-08 Friday (Here Comes the Bride)

Off to Black Canyon we went - but not without noticing the local Montrose True Value store rented "wedding supplies". I thought this to be a little odd. Buy a hammer, rent an arch covered in tulle. How can you go wrong?

Tired of paying $15.00 each time to get into a National Park, we decided to buy an annual pass for $80.00. We could have used it at Yellowstone and gotten a discount at the Arch in St. Louis. We'll use it for many other places to come so hopefully it will be worth it. If nothing else, we can use it to scrape the kitty. (L1/L2 reference)

Jim packed a lunch for us today, so we were able to eat something other than junk food. It was our first picnic we've ever packed. Our first was with John and Tonia.

When we arrived to Black Canyon, we stopped off at the Visitor Center where we were just in time to catch a 30 minute video about it's history. Here's an excerpt from the web about Black Canyon:

Most rivers of the Southwest cut through relatively soft sedimentary rock, forming canyons that tend to be quite wide, colorful and stepped - descending in a series of cliffs and ledges through layers of differing hardness. When rivers flow across harder igneous rock they produce steeper gorges, spectacular in different ways, such as Hell's Canyon in Idaho, the deepest in the US, or the multicolored Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in Wyoming. One of the steepest, darkest and most rugged of such canyons is formed by the Gunnison River as it flows through hard ancient rocks at the western edge of the Rocky Mountains, on its way to joining the Colorado river at Grand Junction. The canyon walls are composed of volcanic schist, predominantly black in color, and as the gorge reaches depths of over 2,000 feet while often being only 1,500 feet across, sunlight illuminates the walls only briefly, hence the name 'Black Canyon'. It is unsettling, almost frightening to stand at the very edge of one of the canyon overlooks, such is the menace and sheerness of the jagged rocks below.


It is beautiful and of course, being so many photos, I've prepared a slideshow. I know, I know (bowing). There's like 40 pictures..... really..... go ahead and get some popcorn, we'll all wait for you.

10-02-08 Thursday (Are We There Yet?)

Another off-road adventure awaited us. This one was called Cinnamon Pass, part of a series of trails called the Alpine Loop. We drove to Silverton, 23 miles south of Ouray, to catch the trail. Once on the trail, we caught the ghost town at Animas Forks. It's an abandoned mining town from the late 1800's. I could see why it was abandoned.... there was no Wal-Mart. Its such a remote location and is apparently hit hard in the winters. Towns on the outskirts, had many a snowmobile parked and stored. Houses seemed tucked away and far between.

Back to the Ghost Town. What I thought most interesting was that the Historic Society permitted unescorted self-tours. Some of the structures were partially restored, mostly safety features, like floor boards that won't cave in. Remember, all of this is very remote, so again, no supervision. Here and there were some information boards about a structure or mine.

If you care to read more, see below, otherwise skip over the next paragraph. History as printed by Bureau of Land Management Environmental Education.

One highlight on the Alpine Loop is the historic mining town of Animas Forks, named for the three forks of the Animas River, which flows through the townsite. Animas Forks is tucked away twelve miles northeast of Silverton, Colorado, at 11,200 feet — more than two miles — above sea level The town's first log cabin was built in 1873; by 1876, this bustling mining community boasted 30 cabins, a hotel, a general store, a saloon, and a post office.The population of Animas Forks grew to about 450 people by 1883. The town also had a newspaper, The Animas Forks Pioneer, published from June 1882 through October 1886 at the highest newspaper printing plant in the history of the United States. Every fall, most residents left in a mass exodus to "warmer" Silverton. In 1884, Animas Forks suffered a blizzard that lasted 23 days and dumped 25 feet of snow on the town. Residents dug tunnels to get from building to building.Before Silverton became an incorporated town, Animas Forks was the San Juan County seat, where court cases were heard. One man who didn't like the outcome of his trial promised, "I'll take this to a higher court!" Responded the wry judge, "There is no higher court in Colorado."Mining projects, processing mills, and speculation led to the rapid growth of Animas Forks. The town declined when mining profits no longer justified investments. Mining activity rebounded briefly with the construction of the Gold Prince Mill in 1904. Completion of a rail line to Animas Forks also stimulated mining interests, but the rail line success fell short of expectations. The Gold Prince Mill ceased operation in 1910; in 1917, miners removed its major parts for use in a new mill in Eureka. Dismantling the mill signaled the start of the final decline for Animas Forks, reducing the community to a ghost town by the 1920's.

This trail was rated a class 2 (moderate) for difficulty. I think a lot of it was worse than that. A good part of the roads were narrow and very rocky and at 5 mph, it took forever. Don't get me wrong, the views, the history, the old mine shafts, all were eye candy, BUT several hours of being flung around in a Jeep got old.

For 2-3 days while touring around, I'd catch this sweet-musk type smell. Every time I asked Jim if he smelled it, he'd say no. I thought perhaps some type of fragrant flower around. The only problem is, there are no flowers around. Finally today, Jim smelled it. He quickly identified it as a leaking bottle of Skin-So-Soft in the back of the Cherokee. I was almost ready to ask the readers of the blog to help identify it.

I do need help figuring out what I've seen a lot of. As we drive about, I'll see fencing, be it chicken wire or such. Every 10 or so posts will be a birdhouse looking thing. Does anyone know what it's for? Is it a place for copies of deeds or proof of ownership is stored for the public to view?

We finally made it off the rocky trail. We had started all of this at 11am and it was now 4. As the brochure stated, we'd be left off in Lake City. We toured this little downtown city for a few minutes and marvelled at the old buildings. It was time to head home. I programmed the GPS for our return. 3 HOUR drive home. We were shocked. Yes, I realize a "pass" went over mountains but damn, 3 hours? Shoosh. We got home at about 8. It was a long day.

Slideshow Below

Video below: Cherokee on the trail

Video view of Animas Fork below

Mountainous View video below

Just a video below of our snow follies

10-1-08 Wednesday (Trails, Not Suited for Trailers)

Jim planned out a 4 wheel drive Cherokee trip some time last night and presented it to me this morning. Since it was to be a scenic drive with a Ghost Town towards the end of it, I was ready to go. We stopped off at the Visitor's Center and the woman was very helpful. She told us to start that trail early in the day and do a shorter one instead. We took her advice and it was a beautiful drive as you can imagine. We drove through trails, county roads and even a National Park. Tomorrow we'll catch the other trail. See ya tomorrow!

09-30-08 Tuesday (Discontinued)

Another problem with the jacks this morning, delayed us on our next destination to Ouray, Colorado. Jim had purchased a new pump thingy to transfer fluid directly from the bottle to the reservoir. Wow, how great this will be. A few pumps, and the hose on the pump blew off spewing ATF fluid all over. Damn it! We clean up the mess and hit the road by 9am.

Because of the McDonald's problem the prior day, Jim made it a point to incorporate a McDonald's into the journey. Awwwwwwww, how sweet. I was concerned about getting the RV into a McDonald's parking lot but we "went for it". We had to go in the wrong way because it was a dead end street and we can't u-turn in the RV beast. I went inside and ordered, found out my favorite bagel sandwich was being deleted, made my alternate selection and returned to the RV for breakfast at "our place". I'm still bummed.

On parts of our route, early on in the day, was a constant incline. At one point the coach wasn't able to go any faster than 20MPH. Scary. Jim tried petting the dash while spouting words of inspiration, but it didn't seem to help. Scarier. We pulled over with thoughts that something is wrong. We examined the brakes, parking brake, Cherokee, etc. All was OK. Turned out, a wicked down slope was just a few feet ahead. We checked out our elevation and we were at 8136. We figured it was a combination of a constant incline, with a high altitude, sprinkled with full fuel tanks and a lot of fresh water on board.

Further on in the trip as we seemed to climb higher, I checked out our elevation. Our top mark in the RV was at 11,600! Wowsers. We drove on mountain tops, and in canyons. It was all spectacular, a close running with some of the Wyoming views. The natural colors confirmed this is the best time of the year to see the mountains. I talk about the colors alot lately, especially the yellows. Some of the yellows are so bright, almost neon, it's amazing it comes from nature. Here and there, I'll see oranges and reds mixed in and it creates the perfect natural backdrop. Down below, check out the nearly 360 view video and below that, a slideshow of today's pictures.

A couple of other interesting factoids is we crossed the Continental Divide, unique this time, since it was in the RV. In Yellowstone it was done in the Cherokee. We also drove through South Park, Colorado which is the town featured in the South Park cartoons.

We arrived in Ouray, and picked a spot (they are empty), close to the river. I inspected the river behind us, and it's pretty low and mucky right now. Oh well. I'll take pictures of that later. After setup a trip to Wal-Mart! Yay. Actually before Wal-Mart we went to Chili's for dinner. Jim was bummed they discontinued the Awesome Blossom. Bastards!

09-29-08 Monday (We Nearly Drowned)

I know it's rare but we've had yet another MISadventure. If you remember, I made an appointment for service on the RV for today at 10am. We got up at 7am, and did all of the usual disconnections and such. It was time to retract the jacks, or so we thought. Naturally, they wouldn't register as retracted so Jim got out his handy-dandy oiling can to squirt some ATF up in the reservoir. Once again we both can't get the cap off. After fighting with it, and ATF fluid all over the place (sorry Cherry Creek State Park), we were on our way. (This isn't the MISadventure quite yet...... Read on.) We made it right on time. I checked in with the service advisor, Howard while Jim readied the Cherokee for today's adventure. The write-up process, took a half hour. I think it was due to the lame, antiquated dealership software. You would have thought that Howard needed to key in the RV paint design into his computer. My list is as follows:

1. Cruise control won't set.
2. Possible open cruise control recall.
3. Rotational squeak from front end when very hot and slow speeds. Noise stops when braking.
4. Vibration throughout RV at 70mph or more.
5. Steering feels loose.

*Side note: On my end cruise control is #1 but in preview it shows as #0. Who knows what it will read once published.

Labor rate $125.00 per hour. Cruise diag = $125.00; vibration diag = $125.00; brake squeak diag = $63.00

Jim joins me and tells Howard that the cruise control is very important. I remind Howard this is our home and we have no place to go. It needs to be done today. On the way to the Cherokee, Jim tells me that the latch to lock the fridge/freezer broke off (it's used to keep the doors from swinging opening and breaking off during travel), but no fear, he duct taped it for now. We write down the model number of the fridge and later, we'll stop at a Camping World for a possible part purchase (if lucky). Sorry, this isn't the MISadventure either.... read on....


It's time for breakfast; Jim requests donuts, I veto with McDonalds. It's now 10:30am. Jim: We won't make it in time. They stop serving breakfast at 10:30am. Garret: Why would they do that? Who wants a burger at 10:30am? I'm sure they still serve breakfast.

Off to McDonalds we go. They stopped serving breakfast.

Garret: Sorry..... Shall I find a Dunkin' Donuts. Jim: See. Yeah.

Nope, still not the MISadventure you're hoping for. I program the GPS, we arrive at what used to be a Dunkin' Donuts. DAMN. We agree on a fast food joint across the street called "Good Times". It's kind of like a Juicy Lucys with outdoor seating only which was fine since we have the dog with us.



Jim had already planned out a beautiful scenic roadtrip the night before so we set out for the journey. Along the way we see a sign "Buffalo Bill's Grave" and venture off course to visit his grave. Pretty area with lots of overlooks. We skipped the museum since we couldn't take Dasher inside. In case you're wondering, no, Dasher did not pee on his grave.... just 15 other places. Oh, you were wondering why Buffalo Bill would be buried in Colorado, instead of Wyoming. It was his wishes per the signage at the site due to it beauty. Were you expecting a stranger explanation?



We journey on towards Estes State Park and stopped so many times along the way to photograph or take in the beauty. A lot of the route was driving through canyons. The leaves are different colors, the mountains are uhhhhhhh tall, just the overall pictures are great.



It's 2:00, no call from Howard. No cell phone service either. (Too much canyon). We decide to turn around, head back toward town, and skip Estes State Park. We've seen so much already. The GPS takes us a different route, through Boulder. Great views on the way. Even tunnels. Once in Bolder I get a signal (2:35pm), I call Howard. He says it needs shocks, road force balance front tires, brake pads are new but glazed (overheated). I'm witness to the fact that Jim does a lot of downshifting to keep the brakes cool, but what can I say? I skip the brakes and tell him to proceed with the shocks, tire balancing, and cruise diag for $800.00. Parts are in stock. What about the cruise control? Recall is done, waiting on the electrical tech to check it. They are open, and techs work until 7pm.

Here IT comes:

5:14pm, almost 3 hours from authorization, Howard calls. He was bringing the parts out to the tech (3 hours later?????) and the tech is gone. He can't get any of it done today. The electrical tech went home. He suggests that we camp out in his parking lot and the electrical tech will diag at 7am. I declined. Apparently, no one else can check the cruise control.

I'm LIVID. I tell him I'm on the way and I have no intentions of paying checkout. He calls back and says the manager lowered the checkout from $180 to $120. I told him to tell his manager that if his tech makes $25 an hour, he can use his Policy Monies to write it off. I'm not paying. I now decide in advance that I will refuse to pay and will camp out there until they call the police. Soon after they make the call, I'd then pay by credit card and then dispute the charges. When I arrive, the Service Manager is ready for me and tells me to take it. I thank him, and off we go.

SO, yet again, nothing gets done... They lost out on a probable $1000 repair bill. And for Mike who texted me asking why the service contract doesn't cover it..... It's a wearable item and excluded.

Oh, and Camping World needed more numbers off the fridge to check on the damn latch, so that will have to wait since the RV was in service (busy not getting serviced) at the time.

Jim and I are thinking of a new strategy for businesses. We pay them, and they'll fix things. What do you think?

The day wasn't lost, here's some fun pictures from today.

We thought of you. We even made a U-turn to get a picture of this.

This sign was on 1 side of the road. 1st off, NO DUH. 2nd is if it's a flash flood, will I have time? 3rd is what is on the other side of the road...

A wall of very tall rocks. As pretty as they are, Jim says, "If you're going to give me a sign like that, and an escape route like this, then give me some stairs, a ladder or even some fucking rope."

09-28-08 Sunday (Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign...)

Today was lazy day, with a touch of projects. Jim woke up this morning with a stomach ache. Pretty much the entire day, he didn’t feel well. He’d clean the Banks Power Pack air filter (like a K&N air filter) and then nap. We cleaned out the refrigerator and the hot water heater exterior access panels of dirt and such. He then napped. While he napped, I played video games and surfed the web. He hooked up the Cherokee to the rig so it’s ready to go for tomorrow’s adventure to the Ford dealer. I spot cleaned the carpet and hung up some more 3M hooks in the bedroom for belts and such. In an RV, one can never have too many 3M Adhesive on Demand hooks hanging about. I also cleaned out the litter/food area in the basement. There’s probably other stuff we did that I’m forgetting. We never left the campsite today. That was fine with me for a change. I think the last time we stayed at home for the day was when it kept raining at Lumberjacks in Georgia.

I did manage to get a few pictures of a rabbit that was about 20 feet away from the RV. I snapped a picture, got closer, snapped again, got closer, etc, until he finally hopped away. I took about 10 pictures but the best is the one shown here.













Dave managed to find various links as a sarcastic reply to the handicap sign comment from Friday’s Blog post. "I was shocked" and "I about shit". (3Davisms)

I mentioned earlier that I played a video game today. I had brought a few games and other software in a ziplock bag of sorts for this trip. I'm not sure where I even got the bag. As it laid on the table, I discovered a very humorous photo on it. See what you think.

This is just plain funny.

09-27-08 Saturday (Duck Season)

The other day when we arrived, Jim put out the slide. Usually I do this. I always check to make sure nothing may have fallen from the curio and then will get squished by the slide. Jim didn’t check and a brand new loaf of bread was almost obliterated by the slide. After scolding him, I decided to keep it and use it to feed ducks here at the park. Today, we toured around Cherry Creek State park and came upon a pond with tons and tons of ducks. Here comes the funny part…. Wait ….. So Jim throws a slice of bread and all the ducks scatter. He tosses another piece as far as he could to reach them and they didn’t give a shit. We watched one swim toward the bread but then stop and swim away. Did they think it was a specially designed duck trap with the words “ACME” imprinted on it? Did they have something against Sara Lee? Maybe against wheat bread? Maybe they are boycotting it? No more bread until they enlarge the pond? Some sort of protest.

I thought it might also be my vague resemblence to Elmer Fudd?

Maybe they’re just idiots. QUACK! We took our unloved bread home.

6 Dumbass Ducks 6

We saw a trail and decided to walk it. Uneventful. 2 snakes and that’s it. No deer or fox as the nature trail indicated we might see.

The park has a “Model Airplane Field” which was neat. There, 2 guys flying awesome radio controlled planes and a 3rd controlling a helicopter entertained us for a short time.

Here’s a picture I took of a bee on a pretty flower. I was trying out some camera settings and thought I’d play “Professional Photographer”, especially since I left my Fisher Price Medical Kit at home.

We drove down to the park marina and looked into reserving a sail boat or something fun. Jim touched the creepy, dirty lake water for a quick temperature readout and stated, “Forget it, no way.”

More photos from around the park

09-26-08 Friday (Wheel Chair Races!)

Jim stopped at the office to register. They told him the site we were in was reserved and we had to move. It wasn’t so bad if:
1- The reserved board was updated properly.
2- If the woman wouldn’t have immediately barked out orders and said, “You have no choice, you have to move.”


Jim was pretty angry upon return to the site. We packed it up, and relocated. While Jim reconnected shore lines, he gashed his back on the corner of the slide out. It was pretty bad looking to me. It looked like it needed stitches but yet there was no blood. I guess there’s a piece of skin or something holding it together. I cleaned it out and did all that Mommy-type stuff.

Will our jacks ever get fixed? Stayed tuned…… I called a Ford Truck shop that specialized in buses, RV’s, etc. They don’t work on jacks. Argh. We set an appointment for Monday to have the vibration at 70mph looked at anyway.

We took the Cherokee to a Sears for an oil change, tire rotation and alignment. One tire outside edge is worn a little more. After check-in we headed to the mall to browse, oh and buy junk food too. Sears calls and says the alignment is within specs but the coolant is black and needs a flush. Well of course, being in the business I want to see it for myself. We headed back, and sure enough, the coolant was so dark, it was almost embarrassing. Another 45 minutes for the flush and Jim spots a sign about a special for: oil change, tire rotation, and air filter for $35.00. We return to the desk and have to drag the service advisor to the damn sign (3 were posted). She returns to her computer and says, it will only save you $3.00. Well, I think to myself, Garret, I often call myself that, it’s more than $3 savings because I also get an air filter. She says the air filter is clean. I tell her to leave the new air filter in the Cherokee for future replacement. She says OK. As she corrects her repair order, she then says they’ll have to replace the air filter because they can’t just give it to me. I said fine. She walks away and I ask the other advisor why that’s so. He says because they keep the old one as a core. A core on an air filter? Whatever! Just pitiful and perhaps some lying too.

We ordered business cards in Colorado Springs prior to Yellowstone and they awaited pickup at the Denver location. I was torn between "Making Friends Coast to Coast" and "Stimulating the Economy Coast to Coast". Often, we’ll be asked where we’re from or where we’re going which leads us into a short story of “We had the house for sale, got an offer and the same day Jim found out he’d be losing his job. 4 days later, Garret found out he’d be losing his. We sold the house and with some of the equity, here we are. Visit our blog at blah blah blah.” So now after the short story, we can hand them a card with the web address and such. Got it?




We also stopped into a Big Lots. I'm not quite sure why I was in the bra section but thought it funny that Delta Burke had/has a bra collection and it had been lowered to Big Lots standards. Her hair is terrible, maybe she should get into hair products.

Also for another humorous photo was this handicap sign at a few intersections. Is this road safe for handicap scooters? If you are in a wheelchair and need to cross, will someone come and push you or something? Instead of a bike lane, is there a wheelchair lane? It's puzzling. I'm sure Mike Gabbard can come up with some more explanations, and if not, Dave Ward can find the answer on the Internet.

All in all, I think there's so many humorous things in our day to day lives. From people we see, maybe the what they chose to wear, to signs that are mispelled or confusing, to other strange things. I'm glad that I now take my camera with me, even to the day to day normal places. Now I just need to remember to take more pictures of this goofy shit.

09-25-08 Thursday (Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

On the road again, to Denver. Actually the outskirts of Denver to Aurora. I’m happy to report that the hydraulic jacks behaved this time. I knew you’d wonder. It was a fairly uneventful day. I know, you’re disappointed. No emergency Cherokee disconnects either.

We arrived at Cherry State Park, the office was closed. We looked at the board of available spaces, chose one, and set up. Hey, it can't ALL be exciting.

09-18-08 Thursday (New Holiday?)

Today is Journey-To-Wyoming-Day. While this may not be a National Holiday, it sure was a smooth going day for us. I think it may deserve to be a National Holiday.

Jim wasn’t pleased with the drive through Denver. It was 10 lanes, then 6 lanes, HOV lanes, etc. There was a lot of traffic but with it being a wide highway, vehicles were not bumper to bumper which was nice. Jim’s main bitch was that it seemed never-ending.

As we drove through Wyoming, various cut out figures were at different hilltops. One was a cowboy, another buffalo, etc. I snapped a photo of one, but it wasn’t really that interesting to get into the “Collect ‘em all” mentality.

The night before Jim had filled the fresh water tank to the top. With the weather being so cold, it’s hard to coil up the hoses. He had hoped that we’d be able to shower and such off the tank’s supply and that in the morning, we’d have one less thing to do before hitting the road. We had plenty of water, and in fact, too much. The excess water creates weight. It’s like 8.3 pounds = 1 gallon of water. We probably had 30-50 gallons too much. At the first rest area, we figured we’d dump some, but of course there was a sign prohibiting the dumping of water and/or waste. What’s the frickin’ chances? Of all the traveling we’ve done so far, this is the first time I’ve seen such a sign that specifically named water. We spent some time while smoking on the possible reasoning. It ices? Too muddy? Someone who made the sign is a crack-smoker? Dunno.

At another rest area, Jim pulled up to a dump station/water station where he removed the bugs from the windshield. He spoke with a neighboring dumper about Yellowstone. The old guy told Jim there isn’t much to do there. We’ll see once we get there. We may reorganize our schedule if 4 days is too much.





With much anticipation we arrived to the KOA in Casper, WY (Barr Nunn). In other words, there isn’t much to do there. We quickly setup the pure basics and then headed into town where we went to the mall which had the usual department stores as well as Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and some others. Jim needed to get some hiking boots. Next we were to have dinner at “On The Border”. They weren’t open yet (new place) but next door was this awesome place called “Sanford’s Grub and Pub”. They have about 8 locations. It’s mostly car themed but has so much to look at inside. The food was good too. Interesting menu of fried pickles, strange burger combinations, etc. I didn’t have my camera with me. I was glad that “On The Border” wasn’t yet opened.

Miscellaneous photos I thought were interesting:

Costco fuel pump. I loved the picture of the woman about to burst into flames!

The population count was fun.

09-17-08 Wednesday (Can't Stop Coughin')

Colorado Springs is truly amazing. We ventured to Garden of the Gods today. For those of you who have been to Red Rock Canyon in Vegas will understand the beauty of it. This place is similar but the beauty and awe is magnified many a time. This was a driving tour that provided many pull-overs with opportunities to use facilities. They had trails all over the place. They were specialized; some for horseback riding, some for walking and others for mountain biking. Picnic areas and informational boards were bountiful. Like so many other attractions, pictures don’t do it justice, but here’s the slideshow anyway.



Back at home for lunch. After I smear mayo on the bread, a large moth lands in it and gets stuck. It fluttered in the mayo, leaving it’s icky “moth wing dust” to turn the mayo from white to gray. Jim and I starred in disgust. What’s the chances? Or more like ewwwwwwwwwwww. It was our last piece of bread so Jim got the tweezers to carefully pull it off. NOT! We threw that damn bread out and started over.

After an eventful lunch, we met up with Andy and Steve who live in Manitou Springs. It was fun talking to locals and getting the inside scoop on the area. We chatted for 3 hours. One story that stuck in my mind is the Emma Crawford Festival in late October. Legend has it that she was buried up high and after heavy rains, her coffin slid all the way down into the downtown area. Every year the locals have coffin soap box races down a hill in her honor. Sounds fun! Just a reminder to novice computer users. If you wish to see a link or picture made larger but don’t want to “lose” the blog by doing so, RIGHT-CLICK on the link or picture and a window will pop up. Choose “Open in new window”. Here’s a link: http://www.manitousprings.org/coffin_races.htm.

Tomorrow we move on to Casper, Wyoming. We made up our dinner menu and this time headed to Target. I know, you must be thinking, “What traitors!” I like Target’s clothes better and we needed some more long sleeve shirts. We had to pass 3 Target stores to get to a SuperTarget. We picked up thermal undies and the shirts, as well as dinner menu ingredients.

I guess with the thinner air, we’ve been tired earlier than usual. It seems that it’s hard to make it up past 11pm, yet I can’t sleep past 7am. I was always amazed at how most retirees are early to bed and early to rise, and often commented if I was retired I’d sleep in. Hmmmmm doesn’t seem to be happening! Odd. I’ll tell you that Grandma Kelly, is not like that. She’s a late night, sleep in late type of gal as Harold can probably attest. YAWN.

Some miscellaneous photos for ya:

View from our campground at Lone Duck in Colorado Springs.

View from our campground at Lone Duck.

Family bedtime again. Where will we sleep?

09-16-08 Tuesday (I feel woozy)

The Lone Duck Campground, where we're staying. Nice views.

We had a 10am appointment to drop off the RV to Camping World. The kitties stayed locked in the bedroom as me, Jim and Dasher headed to breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts. (Jim’s new favorite donut is Buttermilk).

Next on the agenda was a trip to Pike’s Peak. It takes approximately an hour each way to get to the top and back. That doesn’t count the stops at all the scenic viewpoints as well as all the souvenir shops. The trip to me was worth it but also disturbing at the same time. Disturbing? Well, yeah, most of it doesn’t have guard-rails and it was a long ass drop down. Pike’s Peak at its highest elevation is 14,110 feet above sea level. We traveled to that point. The air was thin, we were out of breath and very light headed. Dasher did fine, walking through the snow. Most of it was slush. Jim and I grabbed some alleged famous donuts while at the top. They were good. Yes, I know, donuts twice in 1 day. Go take a Dexitrim pill and get off my back. Where was I? Oh yes, Pike’s Peak. The views were awesome. They also offered a “Cog Train” that rides back and forth. Jim preferred to drive it and it’s unlikely that they would have permitted Dasher on it.

There are so many awesome pictures, here’s another slide show. Remember you can pause them, fast forward, etc. I do slideshows when there’s too many to mix with wording.



We headed to Camping World. They changed the oil and filter in the RV and the generator. They didn’t have the parts in stock to fix the jack. When Jim made the appointment Sunday, he asked the woman if parts weren’t available could they be ordered and installed at the Denver location since we’d be there in a week or so. She said no problem. However, at pick up today, Jim asked the man to call the parts order to Denver and they said they don’t work on jacks. Jim and I were furious. We were told to settle down. Strangely, we did. They took a half hour to get the invoice right. I think that started it. I’m not kidding. A half hour!

Jim had spotted an RV wash prior in the week. We stopped at it and he washed the windshield and front end of all those bugs we're been hauling around. We spotted a doe and a buck walking on the sidewalk in front of the car wash. They ran away when the mammoth RV came by.

When we got back to the campground, we needed to complete the never-ending day of the floor clean up. We emptied the cabin but one basement compartment is still freakin’ wet. We have a space heater going to try and dry it out.

On an offbeat subject, I’ve been meaning to mention that several times on this trip, I do something silly. The first times threw Jim off guard. Anyway, we’ll get home and I’ll say that there are no messages on the answering machine OR I’ll go smoke a cigarette and come back in and say that there’s no mail. Picture it. Really, it was amusing. I just had to share that.

Pictured below, Clea and Dasher caught cuddling...

09-15-08 Monday (Niagara Falls early)

No, you didn’t miss a post. I skipped Sunday because we didn’t really do anything but some shopping here and there.

This morning we were up at 7am, not purposely. Our first item on the agenda was to visit the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. An excerpt from http://www.cliffdwellingmuseum.com/ reads:

The word "Anasazi" (ah-nuh-SAH-zee) is used to describe a distinctive American Indian civilization and culture that existed from about 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1300 in the Four Corners Area of Southwestern United States. See Southwest Culture Map. These people are probably best known for the ruins of their monumental cliff dwellings at places like Mesa Verde, which they abandoned at the end of the 13th century. But that's a small part of their story.
The structures at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings are authentic Anasazi cliff dwellings faithfully reconstructed and preserved so that generations can witness and experience something of this impressive people. This website is similarly dedicated to responsibly and accurately educating visitors about the Ancient Ones and, perhaps, stimulating some to explore this vanished culture more deeply.

Eventually, a slideshow will appear below:





We made our way back home to the coach when Jim’s voicemail chimed. It was a message from the owner of the RV park stating that water was leaking from under our coach so he turned off the water. Once home we found that the coach was pretty flooded. Standing water on the linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom. The carpet in the bedroom and under the bed were soaking wet. The carpet in the living room was also soaked but hadn’t gotten to the cockpit area. What happened? Well, I didn’t empty the lint trap for the washer in weeks and weeks. When the washer was trying to drain it forced water through the lint trap compartment. We got the shop vac out and sucked up the water. The owner came over and loaned us his shop vac. The water had also gotten down into 2 basement compartments. Because under the bed was soaked as well, we had to leave the bed up so it could dry underneath. Jim went to the office to see if we could just rent a cabin for the night. He scoped it out and found out that it is too rustic. No bathroom, no heat, and no linens. We decided just to store the items from the basement in the cabin until it dried out. The owner's let us use the cabin at no charge. It was an hour and a half of cleaning up…..

We were to meet newly made friends Andy and Steve for lunch, which of course I had to cancel. Jim suggested salvaging the day. We headed to Cave of the Winds and took a tour of that. http://www.caveofthewinds.com/ excerpt:

The Very BEST in Colorado Caves! Cave of the Winds, a hidden jewel within Colorado Natural Attractions, literally makes your jaw drop in wonder and astonishment. These Colorado Caves feature geology and adventure rolled into one—a true, unique GeoVenture! Located in scenic hills above historic Manitou Springs, this Colorado Attraction is one of America’s most important show caves and a "must-see" for all Colorado Natural Attractions. Visitors have shared in the stunning beauty of Cave of the Winds for over a century. Early legends of the Jicarilla Apaches, who migrated through the Pikes Peak region around 1000 AD, tell of a cave in this area where the Great Spirit of the Wind resided. In the late 1800s, the modern era of Cave of the Winds began when two young brothers, George and John Pickett, stumbled onto these Colorado Caves. Just out for a day’s exploration with a church group, the boys never expected to stumble upon what would become one of America’s greatest show caves and a premier Colorado Natural Attraction!

Through the years, visitors have ventured to these Colorado Caves by foot, horse, carriage, car, and RV. But whether 100 years ago or today, a visit to Cave of the Winds enthralls the whole family with the magnificent wonders of our special underground world--making it the best in Colorado Natural Attractions! Bring your camera, your curiosity, and prepare to be awed while sharing this unique GeoVenture within these Colorado Caves with your entire family.

Eventually, a slideshow will appear below:





The sights around here are phenomenal. There’s so much to see. The combined views of rocks and fauna are stunning. Make Colorado Springs a possible vacation destination.