Palo Duro Canyon 36 years later

 

Entering Palo Duro Canyon State Park

We were up early early this morning. We had gone to bed early last night so we woke up early this morning. It was 5:30 and both of us were drinking coffee in the living room. It was cold...yes cold this morning. We had to crank the heat up to knock the chill out.

We are headed to Palo Duro this morning. The last time we were there was 36 years ago. The kids were babies then and Jason...our oldest got a staff infection that showed up the first night at the park. It was after 10:00 pm so when we got to the gate on top it was locked. We had to make a phone call to the police to contact the gate attendant to let us out. The man came and opened the gate and we took Jason to the hospital where they gave him a shot and meds. We had to leave that next morning so we did not get to see any of the canyon.

This time we arrived about 9:00 am. It was all new to us because we had not remembered the first thing about the park. I did recall the gate going out that was locked! In the picture below you can see the building and the gate post. Years ago that post was wooden and there was a pay phone to the left of it. I was on that phone and there was an owl on the post about 3 ft from me. I thought it was a statue but when it took off flying I took off the other direction. That coupled with my son being sick and the gate being locked just about did me in.

 

We had decided not to camp in the park due to the 10% grade going down and the same going out. I did not want to put that kind of a strain on the truck so we opted to stay at the Oasis RV Park in Amarillo. Nice park if you ever pass through there.

The drive through the park was drop dead gorgeous. We drove the entire 16 miles of road and enjoyed every mile. We did not get to hike any but then that will give me a reason to return. We did find our old campsite from 36 years ago. As I stood there looking at it I could almost see the kids playing in the sand next to the RV. That was so long ago and yet I remember it like it was yesterday.

No that is not John Wayne                  Two good looking people at the overlook

Rock formations galore                        Campsite 36 years ago

Found me a house in the canyon      Sherri and I on the overlook

Sherri in the Informative Center       Informative Center behind Sherri

Outcrops on the canyon walls           One beautiful Ridge shot from the road

We ended up at the Trading Post and Sherri bought one of the Grandkids a necklace and I bought me one too...a manly one....OK. Then we started to get a hamburger there but decided to go back to Amarillo to eat a good lunch.

We arrived at Furrs Buffet and had a real good meal. I ate just enough and left there comfortable. Then it was time to go shopping...which I had told Sherri we would do. I went to the $ store and Sherri went to....Kolh's...where else! Then it was off to Penny's and last but not least we ended up at...where else...Wally World! If you guess all those stops you must know Sherri pretty good.

We bought just enough grub to get us to Sunday when we will drop the RV off at Explore USA in Denton Texas. No need to haul too much on the last leg of our adventure.

Tomorrow is a long travel day. We will leave here and go all the way to Hickory Creek COE park on lake Lewisville. There we will spend the last 3 days of our adventure with heavy hearts and memories of Colorado for ever etched in our minds...

Somewhere in Time  

Amarillo By Morning

 

Now that would make a good song.

We left out early and beat the traffic through town. Up the side of Sandia mountain pass and down the other. We stopped in Tucumcari NM at the Flying J and topped off. We swung out of the fueling area and parked in the lot. Sherri put us together some lunch and then we were on the road again.

Sherri and I arrived about 12:00 noon and found the Oasis RV Park with no trouble. Sherri was a little worried about the park but once we pulled in all her worries left her. This is a nice park with plenty of room to stretch out those slides and still have concrete to walk on...for those guys who like to putter around outside.

We got set up and ate a bite of lunch. Sherri cranked up the Internet to see how it was doing. She had a good Verizon signal here so she played with that and I took a nap.

When I rousted myself out of slumber land I went outside and puttered around. Got some things straightened up from the trip and then set up the patio for our lounge time. I started getting hungry about that time and asked Sherri if she wanted to go out to eat with me. Now you have to remember we are on vacation and not full time traveling. That means we have money to eat out on. When we go full time traveling we will be eating at home.

Sherri wanted some real Tex-Mex food so we looked on the Internet to see what was here. She found an Arbueles south of town. This is where we would not eat after getting there. We were almost hit twice in the parking lot and decided that it must be an omen not to eat there.

We really were looking forward to eating Mexican food so we found an On The Border closer to the Interstate. We had a good meal and went home satisfied...well we did make a stop at the Penny's down the road. Sherri wanted me to buy a new light weight jacket. Then we went home. We took a walk around the park as the sun was going down. Stopped by the laundry to check it out. Wash is $.50 and Dry is $.50 a load! What a deal! We walked until it got too dark and then went in.

We watched a little TV and then got ready for bed. It has been a long day and we both are feeling it tonight...

Somewhere in Time

Having to leave all our friends

 

Sherri and I woke up this morning with heavy hearts. She was not too long in bed after I got up and we had coffee together...dreading having to say good-bye to the Dream Team was going to be a hard thing to do. This is not the first time that we have had to do this and it will not be the last and it will never be easy.

What is that coming out of my hat???...Yes it was cold when we left. 

We left out at 10:00 am. We had to stop at the Park office to file for a refund on our early departure. You have to fill out a form that request your money back if you leave early. This takes about 6 to 8 weeks. We will see how that comes out.

Going south to Albuquerque on Hwy 550

It was almost 12:00 noon before we pulled out of the park. It was about 4 1/2 hours before we arrived at Sandia Casino. We drove around for some time trying to find the right spot to park. Now it was time to head toward the casino and collect our $40.00 that new players get when they get a players card...YES!!! $40.00 to play on. WOW we had a ball using their money playing for most of the night. I won $60.00 using their money and enough to buy us a buffet for two. This is a nice place to stay for free and have them pay for your gambling.

Parking on the lot at Sandia Casino

After we ate we decided to go back and get some sleep. We are leaving in the morning as soon as we wake up. Waking early puts us in Amarillo  before noon. It also gets us out of town before the traffic gets too heavy.

We had no AC but then by the time we got back the temps were cool and we had no problem sleeping. I think we can do that boondocking thing with no problem...

Somewhere in Time

Going North Before Going South

 

 

It was about dark thirty when I noticed Sherri was not in bed. I went down in the living room and found her sleeping in her recliner...I must have been snoring? I went back to bed and woke up about 7:00 and she was back in bed...so I made the coffee and sat down at the computer. She woke up an hour later and I found out that she could not go to sleep last night so she sat up and watched a movie.

I told her that this is what being retired is all about. Doing what you want to do when you want to do it and not worrying about it. At the moment we are enjoying it. We will be practicing this life style for a while so when we start doing it full time we will be ready.

This morning we will be going to Pagosa Springs to explore the campgrounds there. We are on the lookout for summer homes here in Colorado. We want the monthly rents so that will be on our list of things to look for.

Tomorrow will be a travel day to Albuquerque. We will stay the night there and then head on to Amarillo. The plan is to stay a couple of days there and visit Palo Duro Canyon. I hope to do a little hiking there and exploring some of the area.

I was there as a small boy and then Sherri and I visited there back in the early 70's. We took the kids with us on that trip and while down in the canyon Jason...our oldest..go sick and we had to take him to the clinic. That put a bitter taste in our mouth for a while but we wanted to return and have an opportunity to see it in a different light.

OK so we got ready this morning...no hurry...our neighbors are not early risers so we just took our time and got everything together for the trip. We headed up Hwy 151 about 14 miles to Hwy 160. We headed east on 160 for 16 miles to Pagosa Springs.

Once on the western outskirts of town we started looking for RV parks that might accommodate our needs for a summer stay. We found several RV Parks but only two tweaked our interest. Pagosa Springs RV park on the river was one and the other was south out of town on Hwy 84. Both of these have back-in on the river and both would rate the same on our scale of good and bad...which would be in the average range. Either place would not rate a months stay in our book.

All that being said we will stick with the Sky Ute Casino RV Park in Ignacio Colorado as our place to stay when visiting this area. So there you have it.

We did find a good restaurant to eat at in Pagosa Springs called the Junction Family Restaurant. Sherri and I had the ground sirloin steak and mash potatoes. John had the chicken fried steak and Bridget the chicken strips. We all had a good time visiting eating and taking pictures of each other.

We stopped by an Indian Recreation area...found some wildlife!

After eating we headed on back to the park. We had seen all we wanted of Pagosa Springs...which by the way is a nice town. They have lots of shops there and girly things to do. The springs are located in town and if you like that sort of thing you will have plenty to do.

We arrived back at the park and rousted the other couple out to join us in cold drinks. Leslie said she was feeling better. It was good to hear she was on the mend. We ate leftovers and watched another movie...My Cousin Vinnie...and had a good laugh...we all love that movie.

This being our last night it was really hard to say good-night. We knew in the morning that we would be parting company and that is not easy for us. We would love to stay forever but then we have to go back and finish our out out tour of duty. Soon that will all be behind us and we can roam at will...

Somewhere in Time

A Trip to the Casino in Ignacio

 

I crawled out of bed this morning did my coffee thing and then plopped down...you know the routine. I was writing away when I heard my sweet heart stirring in the bedroom so I poured her coffee and greeted her as she came down stairs. I asked her how she was feeling. She told me that she felt much better this morning.

We sat down to drink our coffee and I asked her if she felt good enough to go to the casino for lunch and some slots? Yes was the answer so we finished our coffee and got dressed.

I waited until 9:30 to walk down to the neighbors to see if they were game for a trip. The Winchesters...from upper Jackson...John and Bridget were ready to go. The Rothschild's...Leslie and Mike...from Mid Salt Lake City...were not feeling up to the trip so we had to leave them behind.

We arrived at the casino about 11:00 or so and headed to Guest Services to retrieve new cards...We had forgot to bring them...DUH! Then it was on to the slots to make our fortune. Well that did not happen as you well know but then we did have some fun.

About 1:00 we all got hungry and went to the buffet to get something to eat. The buffet is $7.00 so we took advantage of that. They had all kinds of meats and the salad bar was good. Desert came after all that and even though I did not partake of it...it sure looked good. John grabbed the ticket and paid for ours...Said that we had drove and he wanted to help pay for our diesel! Thanks Bridget and John..

We decided after we ate to go into Ignacio and see if they had a grocery store. Sure nuff we found one across from the Wells Fargo. We had to park in the back lot being that they don't have a parking lot in the front. The front is right on the main street...Hwy 172...and does not have any signage to tell you that it is a grocery store. I was stocked with plenty of grub and being grocery folks as we are we checked the dates and found them to be good. The meats looked real good and fresh too. We bought some brawts to cook out tonight.

Upon return to the park we made plans to all get together this evening to cook out and then watch some movies. John cooked the brawts and Sherri made a dip. Leslie had some potato salad left and brought it. We had a real good meal and then sat down to watch movies.

We watched a double feature...The Wedding Crashers and The Cowboy Way. Two real good movies and funny for sure. We all laughed until we hurt.

It was 12:00 midnight when we said our good-byes. Thanks to our friends for sharing a good time with us. I hope that we can do this often...

Somewhere in Time    

We are planning on relaxing today

 

 

Viola...I had a fire going before I knew it

Up with the sunrise this morning. Made the coffee and headed outside to start our first camp fire. Used a starter log and some paper and before I could say "Fire in the hole"...I had a camp fire going.

Soon after I got the fire going Mike came over and we sat around the fire and had a cup of coffee. We solved many of the problems in the world and then Sherri came out and she too help solve some more. It was nice to sit there...look out at the mountains and warm ourselves by the fire.

Mike and John prepare a great breakfast

Breakfast was in order and Mike went to get his part. John showed up and he had his hot plate and pancake fixens. Mike cooked bacon and John made the pancakes. I on the other hand stoked the fire and fetched things.

Bridget brought her part over and her and Sherri did the inside stuff.

We decided when all was said and done that we would eat inside our house due to the chilly temps and the wind. Winter is on it's way to Colorado I am afraid. Last night we had some temps in the 30's. It wont be long they will be shoveling snow here. I wont be here to witness that...and that is a good thing.

So today I think I will putter around the house and see what kind of mischief I can get into. I have things that I need to do and today will be a good day to do it.

I started with getting all the bugs off the front cap of the house. I had a good collection I had gathered from Texas to Colorado. That took me some time and plenty of elbow grease. I will need to wax that too but then the sun came up and the skin on the front got too hot for that so I will have to wait for another time.

This has been a good time here in Colorado. We have gone and had fun and still had some time to visit and rest. For those that are retired and doing this...I hope you take time to rest and enjoy some peace and quite.

John and Mike dropped by to see if I wanted ride up to the store with them. I did not need anything so I just stayed home with Sherri. She was not feeling too good this morning. We just set around and watched a movie and then ate some leftovers.

All in all it was a good day of relaxation and rest here...

Somewhere in Time

 

Chimney Rock

 

I woke up this morning around 7:00. Sherri was still sleeping when I went down to make the coffee. She is getting some good rest now that we are on the road with friends. She works hard when we are working and now it is her turn to relax for a while.

Sherri got up about 45 minutes later and I poured her a cup of coffee. I sat at the computer and Sherri told me how to use the Facebook page. I don't get on there much but this morning I thought I would give it a try.

It appears that we will have some sunshine today so I plan on getting outside to clean some things up. After the rain I like to clean the house on the outside. One thing about rain it sure does mess up all your hoses and anything else left outdoors uncovered.

I started with the back bay. I removed all the storage from the compartment. Placed it on the ground outside and started vacuuming the inside to get all the grass...gravel...and debris that had accumulated there over time. I love how much better things look after you spend some time cleaning and straightening up.

From there I move on to the patio and got it swept and started gathering up all the things we needed to take with us to Chimney Rock. I put several items in the truck and and some other items in the house so we would not forget them. The plan was to leave about 3:45 so we would have time to drive...park...and get in line for the trip to the upper parking lot.

We arrived on time and found a place right by the ticket office. We all unloaded and began to take pictures and explore all the sights there. We found out that we had an hour and forty five minute wait for the gate to open. We shopped around the gift shop and found music CD's on sale. Charles Martinez is the musician that was to perform on the mountain. The name of the album is Reflections. John and Bridget bought our CD because we had been driving all week. Thanks to both of you for doing that.

Here we all are waiting for the program to begin

Soon it was time to head on up the mountain to the parking lot. We followed all the others and soon found a prime spot to park that everyone else had overlooked. We unloaded all our supplies for the trip up the mountain...on foot by the way...maybe a 1/4 of a mile.

Sherri looked up the trail and decided this was not for her. Notice the folks way up at the top.

We had made it up the trail about 1/2 way when Sherri told me that she could not go any further. She has a fear of heights and I told her that we would go back down. She wanted me to go on ahead but I told her that we came together and if she did not want to do this then I didn't either. We both headed back down the hill and found us a place that we would have good view of the moon coming up. I set up my tripod and camera and waited for the moon.

Kristen and Sherri compare notes on their fears.

It did come up right on time and we both enjoyed a great show. While waiting on the moon to come up Sherri met a young lady by the name of Kristen that also had a fear of heights. Her husband had gone on ahead without her so she sat with us. Sherri and her compared fears and had a good time while I photographed the moon. We had a real good time without the climb. If you are going to Chimney Rock for the full moon rising you should be aware that it is a hard climb.

Here are several pictures of the moon rise...What a beautiful experience

After all our friends had returned to the truck we all went back down the hill to get out CD's signed by Charles. He was real nice and we thanked him for everything. I asked him if I could take his picture and he said yes. Now I have his autograph and picture.

Charles Martinez was the flute player at the ceremony. Bridget and Mike making their way to the truck for the trip home.

We left there and went back to the park. It was early yet and we decided to go to Mike and Leslie's for a game of Ten Penny. I lost as usual but had a good time doing so. Leslie and Bridge tied for the win and they were both happy.

Time to leave and we made our way back home. We were both tired and went ahead and turned in for the night. What a great adventure we had today and we are both looking forward to the next one...

Somewhere in Time  

Off to Farmington

 

Morning came quietly as usual and I woke slowly and rolled over to pier out the window. Yes the sun was just coming up and I laid there for a while to make sure I had the strength to go and make coffee.

Once I slid on leg out of bed I knew that I could make it down to the kitchen and load up the coffee pot. Sometimes I make it before I go to bed but last night I was tired from shopping in Durango and just passed out.

Coffee was making and I sat down at the computer to post my journal. We have such a slow connection out here in the boonies that I can never tell if I will get on or not. Sometimes when I get on the connection is so slow that the journal will not load up and I have to attempt it several times before I get it posted.

Sherri joined me about the time that the coffee was ready and I poured her a cup. We talked about our trip into Farmington and what all was on the itinerary. We were going to see the Tom Bolack Museum of Fish and Wildlife. If we had time we would head over to the Farmington Museum.

Our reservation was for 2:00 pm and we left around 11:00. We arrived in Farmington 1 1/2 later and stopped at Applebee's for lunch. It took over an our for our order to arrive...we were about to bail out and go somewhere else. The food was good...so we were glad that we waited.

We had about 30 minutes to get to the museum so we arrived there in good time and only had a short wait for the tour. The tour took about an hour and we enjoyed the presentation. We were a little disappointed in the condition of the live animals keep outside the museum. The cages were small and not kept. The animals did not appear to be happy at all.

Leaving there we found that we would have time for the Farmington Museum which held information about he town of Farmington and it's history. We enjoyed the tour and left there in time for the girls to shop some more. Mike John and I stayed in the truck while they found all the bargains that were there. That being completed we trucked over to Wally World for some supplies. Believe it or not we did not spend much money which was a record for us.

Home again Home again zippity do. John and Bridget had bought a movie while there...Man on Fire...so we decided to fix some tacos and watched the movie. Everyone came to our place...brought their food cooked it here and watched a good movie. The movie was over about midnight and everyone left for home. Sherri and I fixed us a bowl of ice cream and watched the weather...then it was off to bed...off to dream land...

Somewhere in Time