Out Bound

Note to new readers: The accounts of our travels include the daily hum-drum events, including laundry days. Expect no great prose. Expect to find missing words, very dry humor and comments on things of interest to us.

Sunday - April 27, 2014 - The weather forecast was dire, but we were not waiting two days for it to pass. We took our usual northern route US82 which has a good road surface over much of it’s length and very little traffic. We got into a little rain two hours on the road. It cleared and we had a nice afternoon and evening. Monday, we got some more rain in the morning, but we threaded our way through the high winds and got to the CG around 1pm under blue skies and a nice breeze. We washed the road grime off both vehicles and had cocktails.

The following long account will be no interest to most people. I am recording it so I can ask a technical type how it happened.

My apprehension was much less about the weather, than the house electrical system. I replaced the seven year batteries last week. They were still OK, but I figured they were not going to last another year. When I got back from the battery store, the battery monitor was doing something funky and I decided it was the battery disconnect switch. Anywho, after tinkering with it for awhile, I declared it was OK. Dorothy wanted to hook to shore power the next day to cool the refer, so she could start filling it up. So we were on shore power until we left. The first hint of a problem was when I turned on the inverter and it squealed like it does when there is less than 11 volts. How could that be? The battery monitor is showing 100% and 13.7 volts, but that’s with the alternator running. Oh the monitor is back to flashing 100%, then Low. What’s that about? The monitor must be failing.

So we get to our overnite, the Jeff Busby CG on the Natchez Trace. A pleasant place and it’s free. We had not been parked long when I heard the refer try to light and fail. Oh no! I flip on a light switch and there is no light. I check the fuse panel. After much tinkering, I really don’t know what the problem is other than the monitor shows a dashed line for volts. We need hookups right away so we don’t lose all the food in the refer.

We found a National Forest CG not too far away. We connect to shore power and I decide to remove the battery disconnect switch from the equation. After four hours, the voltage starts to creep up. It should, the monitor shows 14.7 going in, higher than we have ever seen it. By bedtime, it appears they are recovering. By morning they are fully charged. So it was the battery disconnect switch. It seems logical that the batteries would not charge if the switch is in the Off position, but I don’t understand how I could read 12 volts at the batteries no matter what position the switch was in.  

Our second night was at Rising Star CG, near Grady, AR. Just 4 miles off US82 down a many times patched farm road. Our site was right on the Arkansas River. We stayed at the nearby Arkansas Post the last time we came this way. Both are good stops.

Tuesday, we again encountered light rain on the drive to Little Rock on I40. Road construction is booming for miles north and south of the capital on I40. Or maybe I should say the safety barrel rental biz is booming. There are several miles of barrels closing the left lane where weeds were pushing through cracks in the asphalt. Perhaps the lane was prematurely closed. You think?

The capital building is one of the better ones we have seen. It took 15 years to construct since no funds were allocated for long periods. Infighting, corruption, the usual. We plan to visit two more capitals in the next two weeks.

Every state has state birds, flowers, etc. Arkansas has all the usual ones plus some that are really unique. How about the State Historic Cooking Vessel, a Dutch oven. I kid you not.

 

North of the city we hit another car park. We thought it was construction related, but it turned out to be caused by drivers gawking at the storm damage. What you are seeing in the pictures use to be homes – total devastation.  We parked at another COE CG on the Arkansas River for the night.

Wednesday we took the interstate to Bentonville. We have driven this road before and it’s one of the more scenic sections of the interstate system. Our first stop was the Crystal Bridges American Art Museum. Since we are almost devoid of culture there was little we found of interest to us. We did enjoy touring the forerunner of Wal*Mart. We exited that museum into a 1950’s soda shop and we had to have an ice cream cone.

The cube is the only modern painting I liked. There were several paintings of hummingbirds that would look good in our LR. The car on legs is more art displayed at a hotel. The “tree” behind the car contains several basketball hoops.

We parked for the night at Prairie Creek CG another COE facility.

Before leaving Bentonville we had to shop the store across from headquarters. While we are Wal*Mart fans, we do wish all stores were like this one. Fluffed and buffed in every way, shelves fully stocked, huge selection and associates on almost every aisle.

Thursday was supposed to be an easy driving day. Bentonville to Claremont, OK, less than two hours. I violated my standing rule to always verify Glenda’s (Glenda is our GPS) route on a paper map. Toll roads were set as an avoidance, so Glenda sent us an hour south and then back north to bypass the toll road. By the time I pulled out the paper maps the damage was done. All this to avoid a $1.50 toll. Grumble.

We did enjoy our visit to the Will Rogers Museum. Since he was killed in a plane crash in 1935, not that many people know about him. He is ancient history. I did not know he was in 50 movies, only half of them “talkies”. He was such a big BO draw that his name went above the title. 

Leaving the museum, we saw the COE lake de jour and parked for the night. It’s was a busy CG, almost full. We got to observe a popup erection next door that went on for over two hours. Their first time we guess. He brought a floor jack to level it. Two hours after erection and in the dark they are still banging things around setting up their camp.

We note that Barry is fine with making Interstates toll roads, since revenues from the federal gas tax are down because, get this, federally mandated fuel economy standards have reduced consumption. Well, we have been doing our part with the RV and gas guzzling Jeep. Newton’s third law applies to anything Big Sugar tampers with. Oh well, we use the old highways more than the Interstates anyway.

Friday is a driving day, fours hours north to Topeka. On the way, we stopped at Will Rogers boyhood home, now a well tended farm, still in the family, overlooking Oologah Lake. I don’t care so much for old homes and furniture as I do for the opportunity to pet goats and burros. The resident black lab checked us out before allowing us to pet his goats.

We parked for the night at yet another COE on a lake, just south of Topeka. However, before we could park we had to charge the Jeep battery which was down to 5.7 volts. From this we learned the many positions the key can be in while in ACC mode. There are no clicks to guide you. We found the instrument panel has three display modes that may provide a clue to what position the key should be left. We will know is a week if we have got it right. Sure was nice to be able to pull out the battery charger, fire up the generator and boost the battery. It took all night to get to 13.2.

Saturday we drove to Topeka to see the capital building. We saw it from outside. Gaining entrance was not possible. A sign on one door advised us to go around to the other side, the visitor’s entrance. The sign had a  a red line drawn showing how to get from where we were to the visitor’s entrance. When we got to the proscribed entrance the same sign was on the door, sans a red line. There was no one around to ask so we blew it off.

On the drive to the Eisenhower Library, we saw signage for a Calvary museum and the Custer House located on Ft. Riley. We spent a hour touring the First Division museum and the Calvary museum. Ft. Riley begin in the early 1860’s and all of the buildings in the older section of the fort are massive and built of stone. We approved of the style. The base was all but deserted, but for a few at the athletic center. (Former indoor riding arena)  Perhaps the division is deployed?

When we got to the Eisenhower Library after lunch our energy level was dropping and Dorothy’s foot was hurting her pretty damn bad and she had already downed one pain pill. I pushed her around the extensive exhibits for 2.5 hours. A quick tour. I expect that if you read most of the text in the exhibits you would be there all day, if not longer. We thought there was too much concerning events before his election. Still worthwhile.

We had planned to stay at a city park in Salina, but any evidence that RV parking has ever happened there has been erased.  Nothing else in the area but a run down and over priced KOA, so we wound up at a busy Wal*Mart. Which got too busy at 11:30 with local teens. We pulled out and drove an hour north and parked on the roadside.

Sunday, we drove through the wheat fields on some great US highways with little traffic to St. Francis, which is almost in Colorado. Kansas has named their near flat landscape with valley names. I think we are in Solomon Valley. Reminds of the “valley” in south Texas near Brownsville. There ain’t no valley there or here.

Kansas may be the state with the most museums. There are several in every county, plus a few oddball attractions like this one.

Here I am posing with an 18,000 pound ball of sisal rope that a guy started in 1953. Across the street is the Ball of Twine Inn.

Eight days of driving so far and tomorrow we will be in the shadow of the Rockies with Red Rock country only a day afterwards.

Only 10 Days

Only 10 days until we leave. KoKo is not packed yet, but we are making progress.

We went 7 days without rain. That’s the longest period since the moonsoons began in November.

We have learned a lot over the winter. We finished our education on meth from our mentor Walter White. Then we learned all about cannabis from Nancy Botwin. Recently, we found out that sex is entirely possible without taking off your clothes. Thanks Don Draper. We have just about finished the last decade TV-wise.

2014 Route

Uploading this image from S&T to see how it will display. It shows our intended trip route.

Texas

We are exactly where I do not want to be during the summer - Texas. I prefer to cross Texas in October to avoid the heat. Well, we have been in the wrong place for months. And so it goes. A high pressure system is in the midwest and the forecast is 99 everyday for the next week.

Oh well, we have crossed the 100th parallel where things are green, trees grow and lakes are abundant and filled with water. 

Saturday, August 24 - From Littlefield to Haskell City Park.

In the little town of Haskell, where we stopped for a night, THIS TV broadcast one of my all time fav movies. A little known one by Peter Bogdanovich, The Last Picture Show, made in 1971. I became acquainted with small Texas towns when I was 21. That was 1966, so the period of this film matches the period when I came to know Texas. As we were passing through towns on US380 on the way to Haskell, I was silently thinking of the film, so it was a real treat when it came on. There is not a bad performance in the cast, but it's Ben Johnson who makes the film for me. Now I need to see the sequel Texasville again.

We were friends, me and this old man 
We's like desperados waitin' for a train 
Desperados waitin' for a train 

He's a drifter, a driller of oil wells 
He's an old school man of the world 
He taught me how to drive his car when he was too drunk to 
And he'd wink and give me money for the girls 
And our lives was like, some old Western movie

Oh BTW, there was this girl in The Last Picture Show

I am still available Cybil, call me

Sunday, August 25 -  We are here to visit the George W. Bush Library, which is the beginning of our Presidential Library tour in Texas.  We are staying at a Corp of Engineers CG.  It's HOT in Texas. [psst Dorothy, that's why I like to wait until October to cross Tejas]

Monday, August 26 - We drove to Southern Methodist University (SMU) to the George W. Bush Library.  This is the fourth Presidential Library we have visited.  The first one we visited was Harry S .Truman, followed by Richard M. Nixon and Ronald W. Reagan.  We were blown away by Truman's Library it was so fantastic.  It really brought history to life and we spent many hours there. President Nixon's was also fascinating and also covered a lot of history.  There was even a Marine One. President Reagan's Library was not as much history as the other two, but still very interesting.  Not only was there  Marine One there but so was an Air Force One. 

So this brings us to President Bush's Library.  This hard to explain.  I love President Bush and I miss him.  When I see pictures of the wonderful things that he has done I can almost cry.  So this gets us to the library.  I was so excited to go there.  But we were somewhat disappointed.  The main focus was, of course,  the September 11, 2001 attacks and the War on Terrorism (yes, it is a war, I don't care what the current bozo calls it and those people want us dead).  The gifts that are given to the President by the Head's of State of foreign countries is impressive.  But the gifts that are given to the First Lady are just fantastic.  The one that made an impression on me was a diamond and sapphire (lots & lots of diamonds) necklace, earrings,  bracelet and ring that was given to Mrs. Bush from the King of Saudi Arabia.  The President and First Lady have to turn them over to our government when they leave office.  They can get them back for use in the Presidential Libraries. It was smaller than the other libraries.  I'm trying to figure out my problem - maybe it's because he has not been out of office a long time and I vividly remember all that went on during this time.  I am not saying don't visit, just don't have high expectations.  Like at Nixon's Library, there is a duplicate of the Rose Garden.  Also a reproduction of the Oval Office when he was there.  You get to sit in the Oval Office and even at the desk - kind of fun.

Tuesday, August 27 - We got a new tire for Koko to replace the one that was blown out.  Discount Tires was very nice and got the job done quickly.  We then drove to the Apple Store because my computer is having some problem and we needed to get that checked out.  They were too busy to help us, will try in Austin.  There isn't an Apple Store in Montgomery.  We found an absolutely delicious Indian restaurant, Majaraja - sometimes you just get lucky.

Wednesday, August 28 - We arrived at our stopover Llano, TX.  Llano is a small town in the Texas Hill Country, which bills itself as the deer hunting capital of he world.  That and Cooper's Bar-b-que.   In our opinion, it is the very best bar-b-que in the U. S.  We each got a large slab of ribs for our lunch.  Don also got some goat.  There are several items you can purchase, but you get pinto beans and white bread with each meal, so we didn't need anything else.  The ribs were delicious and we had enough left over for another meal.  

Thursday, August 29 - We drove around Llano sightseeing before we returned to Cooper's for lunch.  This time we had prime rib - which like the ribs, was the most delicious prime rib we have ever had.  It was well worth the extra miles that we drove to get to Llano.

Friday, August 30 - Arrived at Bastrop which positions us to see the two remaining Presidential Libraries.  We had a quick lunch and headed off to Austin to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library.  This was a very well done library with lots of pictures, papers, and videos.  One thing that was interesting is a life-size automaton of Johnson. The eyes, lips and one are move as he talks.

Nice Bling

Another thing we enjoy is visiting state capitols, so since we were in Austin, we went to the capitol. The capitol is massive and elaborate, which is what you would expect.  I thought we would spend about 45 minutes there, but we spent an hour and a half.  Luckily we did not get a parking ticket.  It was a very educational day.

Saturday, August 31 - It is hot, hot, hot in Texas and so we did nothing except drive around Bastrop. The town was founded in 1832 and there are many old house that are in great repair.  It's great to see architecture from the past that people care for today.  Another thing we did was go to HEB, a Texas grocery store.  The HEB's that we have been to are very large, clean, and has a huge selection of fruits and vegetables that are very fresh.  A fun thing about traveling is going to our "favorite" grocery stores.

Sunday, September 1 - We went to College Station to the George H. W. Bush Library.  He was only President one term, but he served our country in so many capacities.  The tour of his library took three hours.  I learned a lot about him that I did not know.  One thing that I did know is that he is gentleman and is very well respected.  Also he is a WW II hero - a member of the Greatest Generation.  He and Mrs. Bush have continued to serve our country since they left office.  It makes me wonder, we did not have a Korean or Viet Nam veteran as president, will we have one from Desert Storm or the War on Terror.

Downtown Bastrop, TX

September 2 through September 5 - The final hops home. Monday, Tyler, TX, Tuesday, Poverty Point, LA, Wednesday, Okatibbee, MS, Thursday, Home. 13 hops from Silverton, CO in 19 days.

New Mexico

We use a web source to locate pubic campgrounds that is more extensive than any other one, but it has a glitch. The co-ords for each CG are in the center of the CG, never the entrance.  The shortest way to the center of a campground may or may not involve using a road. That was the case today. We were advised to Navigate Off Road, which in this case meant driving down a steep hillside about 50 feet until we got to the maintenance yard for the CG. We declined the instruction and kept on driving and found the paved entrance a mile or so down the highway.

There is something about the sun in northern New Mexico that is different from anywhere else that we know of. Fifty miles over the Colorado border and the sunlight is somehow softer. We especially noticed it at sunset yesterday. 

We have left the San Juan's and the scenery is just not as exciting.  We have camped in New Mexico State Parks. They are nice and not expensive. The very sad thing is that the drought has the water levels about 75 -100' below normal.  That's a whole lot.  You can look and see where the water used to be and think how pretty the park was back when there was water.  If only some of Alabama's water come could out here - then everyone could be happy.

Sunday, August 18 - Off the mountains, down to Durango to fill the larder. Shopped at both City Market and Wal*Mart. Dorothy made our food last for three weeks, buying only bread, milk and eggs in Silverton. City Market is our fav grocery in the country. Beats Publix handily. Drove down a rural NM road to Navajo Dam State Park.

Monday, August 19 - Our second night at Navajo Dam State Park. We needed another day to veg out. Hot days but cool nights.

Navajo Lake State Park with bonus rainbow

Tuesday, August 20 - Stayed at Heron Lake State Park. It was cool and we had no need of hookups. Dorothy made a yummy Tex-Mex dinner.

Can you see the soft light we do in New Mexico?

Wednesday, August 21 - US64, aka Paseo del Pueblo Norte, from Tierra Amarilla east to Taos affords some scenic views on a rural and very lonely road. It tops out at 10,500 and it's a long grind to the top. We were not passed nor did we pass anyone. We saw may a dozen on-coming cars on the one hour leg to Taos.

Taos has not changed much from the first time we saw it in 1994. Still a sad place. I think fewer "artists" now and more wanna-be hippies. It now has Earth Biotecture colony. These are rammed earth structures that look like something out of Mad Max. They are built by plaited hair guys driving rusted out Mercedes that run on bio-diesel.

Bottles in mortar and earth

 The Earth Biotecture colony just west of lovely Taos

US64 east of Taos is a narrow winding road with plenty of tourist traffic following the Enchanted Trail Circle. We made it to Eagle's Nest which is a golf and ski getaway town in a wide valley. The CG was fairly new and the parking pads were level. You have a view of what's left of the lake, which is low like all lakes in the area.

Thursday, August 22 - The plan today was to get from Eagle's Nest in northern NM to Conchos Dam, NM in the east central part of the state. From 8,200 feet to 4,200. From mountain valley to desert scrub. From 72 degrees to 104 degrees. Had to be done. It's the way to Dallas. It's the way to Alabama. Glenda routed us on NM 434, which starts off as a narrow winding road through pasture. Then it gets more narrow. Then it's unstriped, 1.5 lanes narrow and winds down Coyote Creek. Then I gave an on-coming truck too much room and crushed the sidewall of a tire on a sharp rock. Blowout. Found a pull-off a 100 yards down the road where I could change the tire. No cell phone coverage and many miles to nearest town. I have not changed a tire in over 10 years. Did not know if I could break the air hammer tight lugs or not. Fortunately we had a flat gravel surface for the jack and in only an hour, we had it changed. Quite a few cars were on 434 with us, most with out-of-state plates following their GPS.

Don drove until we got to Storrie Lake SP at Las Vegas, NM where we had lunch.  You don't want to go there!  I started driving and it was a wide road with wide shoulders and straight.  UNTIL we started going downhill - lost about 1,000' elevation in just 5 miles.  And the road for the last 35 miles was a paved washboard.  Driving 50 mph was rough.  We were exhausted when we arrived at Conchos. The lake was not low. The COE is keeping their water. Not a drop was being released. Our outside thermometer indicted 105. Inside it was 74.    

Git er done!I like Llama's. We have seen more herds this year. This herd was about 80 to 100.

Friday, August 23 - From Conchos, NM to Littlefield, TX. The first day of the slog home through terrain we have seen too much of. Oh well, it will green up when as we get close to Dallas. Tonight we are parked in a city park that has some connection to Waylon Jennings as this was his home town. The price meets with our approval - free. Texas does not have any public lands but almost every small town has a city park for RV's. 

In two jumps we will be near Dallas where we will tour 'W's library and pick up some money from the printing press there.

We will post again after we tour the three presidential libraries in Texas.

 

 

Our Last Week In Silverton

Tuesday, August 13 - We decided to drive to Lake Emma.  We were told that this was a pretty drive. It was easy but not as scenic as Ophir or Red Mountain.  I think that we are jaded by some of the scenery - we want it all to be that good.  As we drove, I started reading our trail book.  The mine collapsed and Lake Emma drained in 1975!  So much for seeing a mountain lake.  On the plus side, it was a beautiful day and we did not have any rain.

Wednesday, August 14 - We drove to Stoney Pass.  Living up to the name, the road was very stoney.   From the road, you get a glimpse of the boarding house at the top of the mountain.  The tram lines are still visible and there is a suspended ore car on it giving a glimpse of what life might have been like in the late 1800's, early 1900'swith tram lines snaking up every basin.  I can not imagine the hard life that these people endured!  Could people survive these conditions today - I doubt it.  The afternoon was beautiful, with only a few clouds.  For some reason, I have fallen in love with the town of Silverton.  It's very small and I don't want to live here, but there is a certain romance that I feel with the town when I am here.  I will very much miss the view of the mountains when we leave. 

Cinnamon Pass and a cobalt blue sky

Thursday, August 15 - We continued driving the mountain roads.  We were anticipating Cinammon Pass, but it did not impress us. Rocky road, full of bikers, etc. all on the way to Lake City. The scenery was not as majestic as on the previously mentioned drives, but still worthwhile. [Some day we will go to Lake City, but not from this side on the mountains. It's a long drive and then you have to come back. Right Mike and Liz?]  After we returned I decided, on a whim, to do Picayune and Placer Gulch trails, which turned to be just more roads up a basin to a saddle and then back down. Another day without rain!

Friday, August 16 - My next wife will drink beer and be able to read a map. We had been saving the northern part of the Red Mountain trail for a day like this one. All my navigator need to do was tell me the mile marker for CR31. She could not do it. She put us at the northern end of the trail and there were numerous spur roads to mines off it and every damn sign had been removed by tourists. Glenda was on no help, she only knew of one road and she did not have a name for it. Short on gas, I returned to 550 and back to town for gas and then to camp for lunch. Meanwhile the afternoon clouds filled in.

Yankee Girl Mine - One of the few vertical mines in the area.

In the afternoon we went to Montanya's [rum distillery] for "farewell" drinks.  Dorothy says they have the best pina colada's. I enjoyed two Snake Oil Bob's and was snockered. We enjoyed a campfire with neighbors

Saturday, August 17 - The last day in Silverton was one of the best!  We drove to Clear Lake.  We remembered it as a short drive, but it was four miles.  That doesn't seem like much unless you are on a rocky trail and having to use granny low in places.  It took 45 minutes to get to the lake.  The scenery was worth the trip, but we could not stay long because we wanted to be back in town for the noon "Brass Band Festival."  This weekend is their 32nd festival.  Members of the band come for all over the United States and foreign countries.  They do not play together except for one weekend a year.  It's a really big deal.  They start off with the National Anthem.  I love seeing people with their caps off, hands over their hearts singing.  Call me old fashioned, but it always brings tears to my eyes.  The band plays a varied selection from Sousa to Tschaikowsky.  One of the highlights for me was an older gentlemen (even older than me), playing the xylophone.  The selection was "By the Light of the Silvery Moon".  As if that wasn't good enough, he then tapped danced to the turn - utterly amazing.  They ended the program with men and women from each of the armed services holding the service flag while the band play the service song and people in the audience stood up when their "song" was played.  It was inspirational.  The finale was Stars and Strips Forever.  This is a fantastic event and it was one of the main things that I wanted to see when we returned here. It is well worth the trip just to see the band and I will do this again.

Afterwards, we drove to the Hillside Cemetery.  The name indicates how the cemetery is laid out - on a hillside.  I don't think there is a flat spot in the whole cemetery.  The markers on the old graves are so ornate.  Very few people lived to an old or middle age that worked in the mines.  Children died at a young age from disease that would easily be taken care of today with a trip to see their doctor. Another thing that is interest about old cemeteries is that the graves are fenced in.  Was it just a fad to keep families together or was their another reason.  If you know, let me know.

It's time to move on, but I really had to leave the town that I have fallen in love with and this lovely area.

Headed south and east.

Miscellaneous Notes:

Great views of the red mountains here.

We have driven every Jeep trail we care to, so it's time to move along.

Camping here was different this time. We did not see one tricked out Jeep the whole time we were here. A few stock Wranglers and plenty of stock Liberty's. Quite a few came with no vehicle or one incapable to off-roading. Why did they come?

The weather prevented campfires most nights, but on the nice nights most folks came with friends, so they were not much into meeting strangers. 

Silverton is the only town in San Juan County. Not a store or gas station anywhere else. Radio and TV waves do not make it over the mountains. They have a public service radio station that broadcasts with a mighty 100 watts. The play list is diverse. They play a little of everything. While the song might be popular, the artist they pick to cover is no one anyone has ever heard of. 

People who dry camp may have friends who do not. It's always the dry campers who have to move to hookups so their friends are not inconvenienced. We have seen that here a few times. And there was the guy who bragged to me about how well his solar system worked. The next day he was running his main engine. Happened the next day too. Someone told me he had replaced the refer with an all electric one. His four batteries and limited solar could not keep the refer running so into town they went. Along with his SIL and his two generators. Yippee!

Also learned that they now make 5's and TT's that are all electric. That will keep the CG's with hookups filled.

Memo to us on Jeep Trails:

Last Dollar Road - No interest, too far away.
Yankee Boy Basin - Could not get past boulder field at start of trail. Next time.
Governor Basin - Decent, nothing spectacular. Red rated, but was fine.
Imogene Pass - Missed this one again.
Porphyry Gulch - Great amphitheater basin, but Dorothy nixed the narrow shelf road.
Ophir Pass - Easy road, decent views.
Clear Lake - We did it in 2009, and it was better the year.
Mineral Creek - Red rated
Poughkeepsie Gulch - Red rated
Corkscrew Gulch - One of our fav's
Red Mountain - The best
California Gulch - One of our fav's, connects to Corkscrew.
Engineer Pass - Missed it this time.
Cinnamon Pass - Not worth the time, unless you want to hike.
Picayune and Placer - If you have nothing else to do. Road was in terrible shape.
Eureka Gulch - Not worth the time.
Kendall Mountain - We did it in 2009, but passed this year. Great view of Silverton.
Arrasta Gulch - Missed this one.
Stony Pass - Decent, nothing spectacular.

The Second Week in the San Juan's

The rains continue. The rain, high altitude and lack of hookups drove our friends off the mountain to more agreeable and familiar territory. We decided to stay and wait out the monsoon. Frankly, right now there is no cool place within a thousand miles that we care to go. The next time we come to Silverton we will come in fire season and take our chances. Anywho, the chance of rain is less than 50% for the next six days and then goes to zero for a few days. And so it goes.

Want to see some really great pictures of this area? Then you should spend some time on Box Canyon Blog. We got to meet the author, Mark, and his wife, Bobbie, last week at their home in Ouray. I wanted to find out if he talks the way he writes. [Only Bill Buckley and Victor Hanson come to mind] Mark and Bobbie are obsessive hikers and have the extremely poor taste to be both retired and physically fit. Here is his pictures looking down on Chimney Rock. Our view of the same was from below with clouds surrounding the upper part of the masts in the sky.

At the home of Box Canyon Mark in lovely Ouray. Nice View Huh?

Good eating in Dorothy's Kitchen Place. Cursor over picture to see what it is.

Wednesday, August 7 - The rain is here and I am not a happy camper at this time.  We had new neighbors come in yesterday afternoon.  One couple is very nice.  One turned on his generator and we were told they did not turn it off until midnight.  It was back on at 7:00 and when I talked to him, he said he plans to run it off and on all day.  How rude - if you have to run a generator all of the time, at least have the decency to move to a place where you don't disturb others.  We all moved away from them.

John and Mary Jane have to be back home in Nevada by the end of the month, so they plan to leave tomorrow looking for sightseeing in the sun - don't blame them.  They took us out to dinner tonight to the Brown Bear Cafe and it was very good.  They are good camping buddies and we are sorry that we are not able to spend more time with them.

Thursday, August 8 - We said goodbye to John and Mary Jane.  It really was good to see them again. We didn't do anything because it was overcast all day, but we only had light sprinkles.  More campers came in today but the weather is not conducive to sitting outside and chatting around the campfire.

Friday, August 9 - Woke up to blue skies!  We went jeeping on Black Bear Pass.  We can only go to the summit because the road becomes impossible after that in a Jeep like Pelli.  But we had great views.  There is another dirt road that I have been wanting to take.  It doesn't have a name, but we decided to go on the excursion.  It was interesting with a couple of water falls.  Also there are old mining relics, of course.

Looking east from Black Bear. You may have seen the Jeep commercial that was made here last year.

 

For the last two decades, I have spent 83% of my waking hours enjoying the freedom of not owning a cellphone, 5% feeling smug about it, 2% in situations in which a phone would have been awfully convenient and 10% fielding incredulous questions.

This spring I scumbed to my wife's need for me to have a cell phone so she could call me during those 20 hours a month we are not together. I thought it might be useful on our trips, but Sprint does not have much of a nationwide network. I suppose for $9 a month one should not expect much. The phone has not been turned on for two months.

For those addicted, I will quote Thoreau that things "are more easily acquired than got rid of".

Saturday, August 10 - Clear blue skies at 7am. We hustled off to Animas Forks. Dorothy likes to wander through old buildings and there are several there. Someone, Forest Service?, is restoring the homes. New roofs and siding. I scanned the ridges for goats while she got her ghost town fix. Then we repeated a drive we took the last time we were here. Up California Pass and down Corkscrew Gulch. It's not a technical drive, but route has great views, especially of the red mountains.

Along the way we saw three large flocks of sheep. Probably around 800 in each flock. They spend the summer grazing in the high hills. We only saw one sheep dog and no herders.

The sky was threatening as we came down. We had lunch in Ouray and drove back to Silverton. It was rainy until about 6, then it cleared up on our level, but sleeted above 10,000 feet leaving the peaks with a white coat.

 

This is a working dog?

Red Mountain #2

Corkscrew Gulch

Sunday, August 11 - Blue skies until 4pm. We tried the Porphyry Gulch trail. When Dorothy saw the narrow shelf road, she said no way. And I was not going to tumble down the slope without her, so we walked up, huffing and puffing, to this viewpoint.

As you can see there is plenty of room. I don't know why Dorothy objected or why this woman got out of the Jeep with her daughter. OK, OK, there would have been less room for us, as I would have had to put the wheels on the very edge to be able to get over some rocks in the middle of the road. The lifted Jeep in the photo did not have to worry about wheel placement.

We did laundry in the afternoon.

Monday, August 12 - A lot of clouds in the morning,  but I wanted to try to get some shots of the jagged peaks that can be seen on the east side of the Ophir Road. I figured that it would rain before long, but it would pass. I was half right. As we got to Ophir Pass we were in a hail storm. We almost felt a little sorry for the motorcycle riders who were massed with us at the summit. I was right in that it passed over in less than 20 minutes and we had an hour of wonderful sunlight before the next set of clouds arrived. We got back to base camp just as the next rain came.

Along The Ophir Road

We plan to leave here Sunday and meet our RV Tech near Antonito for annual maintenance and to figure out why the refer is mis-behaving. Then where? No clue.