Lessons Learned

We learned a few things on those first RV trips.

1. Colorful hand weights do a better job of holding your table cloth down than those flimsy clippy things.
   
   
   
2. A tray is a very useful thing to have.
   
3. The shower curtain that comes with the RV must be replaced before the second trip.
   
4. You will make at least three trips to WalMart - even if you don't especially like shopping at WalMart. It also doesn't matter whether you are there for three days or three weeks - three trips to WalMart is a required minimum. 
   

Hot, Hot, Hot Springs

I bought a National Geographic book on National Parks. It contains all kinds of wonderful information - like when to go and what to do and see. I took the "when to go" information and put it into a spreadsheet so we would know the best times to go to different places.

And because I have this spreadsheet, I know that the best time to visit Hot Springs is October/November. It's really not much cooler than it is in Dallas, which makes it really hot. So what were we doing there in July? Well, let's see - it's a relatively short drive from Dallas and we wanted to do a trial run with the kitties. It was a bit too hot to test out the screen house concept, but everything else went fine.

Just think of all those calories I burned walking in the heat from the campground at Gulpha Gorge into town. (It WAS uphill both ways!)

Here are a few pictures.

  

Camping with Cats

I've always felt bad about leaving my cats behind when I travel. I know that they are loved and well cared for while we're away, but I miss having them around when we're gone. And when we bought the RV, it was with the intention of being gone more often than we've been gone in the past. At one point Mark said something about being home two weeks and then being gone two weeks. For me, the big drawback to that was our cats - it just didn't seem right to be away from them that much.

We started thinking of ways we could take them along. We asked some friends if they knew people who camped with cats. "Oh yeah! Lots of people. One couple we know has seven cats in their RV." Okay, our RV isn't big enough for seven cats. Would it be big enough for two?

It is a small space and we were afraid they'd find it too confining. We also thought that they'd enjoy sitting out with us in the evening. When we're at home sitting on the back porch, they're both free to run around the back yard and chase bugs. But since we don't want them to be bear or bobcat bait they need to be somewhat contained - especially since they don't always come when they're called. And if a bird or rodent is involved telling them to stop doing something is pointless. So we decided to buy a screen house. It gives them a taste of the outdoors, yet keeps them somewhat confined. The first one we looked at didn't have a floor. No good. We ended up with a tent/screen house. If you unzip the roof, you are left with screen half way down and it has a floor. We can get our chairs in easily and there's room for a table for them to sit on and plenty of room for their food and water, litter box and their carriers. Perfect! I thought they were bored because they didn't want to come out of their carriers. We went and got them a perch/scratch pad with some dangly things on it and some toy mice. (Mostly because we forgot to bring their favorite toys with us.) But they weren't impressed. They preferred to hide in their carriers. I suspect I misinterpreted their suspicion for boredom. I'm hoping they will be more comfortable with it next time out.

The car trip went very well. They settled in to their carriers and didn't make a fuss at all. We still haven't completely worked out how we will manage food and water on extended trips, but we're working on that.

Two days in and they were still suspicious. It took them a day to start eating and drinking normally. I don't know what I expected. I guess I thought they were going to sit around and be "wowed" by the scenery. Actually, they behaved much as they do at home. Heidi hid under the sofa in the RV. (At home she chooses a bedroom to sleep in.) Harry was more into exploration, but even he spent most of the day just stretched out on the floor, which is pretty much what he does at home when he's inside. They slept most of the day, looked out the windows occasionally and hid from unfamiliar sights and sounds. Exactly what they do at home.

At night they were right at home sleeping in our bed. All in all, I think they are both going to be good little travelers.
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No Plans

Our days were fairly well planned on the Colorado trip. Although we left some wiggle room for spur of the moment things. For example, we discovered there was a Bluegrass Festival in Telluride and that sounded like fun, but it was sold out. While there was to be one free concert, we assumed that attending that would be a bit like walking into a bear pit. We also wanted to ride the train from Durango to Silverton. Everyone who's done it absolutely raves about it. But it turns out we didn't buy our tickets far enough in advance. No availability on the days we could go. At least not at the price we were willing to pay. VIP service may have been available but that train isn't cheap to begin with and there is no senior discount! A regular ticket is $90. I just can't imagine what happens to make the VIP ticket worth more than that.

But it was just as well because the morning we'd wanted to go (Tuesday) we woke up to a flat tire on our Jeep. We wouldn't have been able to get to the train anyway and we'd have bought those non-refundable tickets for nothing. But we no longer had to worry about what we were going to do on Tuesday. While they were replacing the tire, we found out that the brakes needed replacing. Great find! You really don't want to be towing an RV down a mountain with dodgy brakes. Unfortunately, they couldn't schedule us in for a brake job until Thursday, the day we'd planned to leave. No problem. We would just be a little later getting started than what we planned.

That left us with Wednesday with no specific plans. We had pretty much decided to just kick back that day - do a bit of walking and reading. Instead we got to look for someone who did emergency dental work. Mark started the phoning. "I wondered if you might have an appointment available today? OK, thank you." Too business-like.

I said, "Give me the phone. You are not going to get anywhere like that. You need a desperate edge in your voice."

In this type of situation, you've got to play the desperate card, be the damsel in distress (I understand he can't do damsel in distress - at least not without losing his man card). While women are more resistant to damsels in distress, you have to appeal to their sense of "you know what men are like! - help me!" to get the desired response. I finally found a dentist who agreed to see him at 3 PM. By that time, we had 40 minutes to get there and it was a 45 minute drive. But we got there, the problem got fixed and I could look forward to a pleasant journey home. (Seriously! You know what men are like!) So much for kicking back and relaxing.

But here's the take away - always have plans! Fun plans. If you have no specific plans for a day, events will conspire against you and you will be forced to do things that are not fun.

Old Hundred

The Old Hundred Mine didn't produce enough gold (or copper, or lead, or anything else) to cover the expenses of digging the mine much less turn a profit. So now they run tours in an attempt to recoup some of the costs.

It was an interesting tour, although I found there was a bit too much standing around to suit my knee. I'll also admit that I found the history of the place a bit more interesting than the workings of all the equipment.

Our guide told us that the mine was named Old Hundred after Psalm 100. "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth". I suppose I'd be shouting for joy if I had a gold mine. (Maybe not so much when I found it was unproductive.) But internet research tells me it's named after an old German Hymn called Old Hundred. I Googled that and found several versions of an old British hymn, which is essentially the words of Psalm 100 paraphrased and set to music. (You might recognize the music as The Doxology.) If you'd like to hear it, click here.

We also learned a bit about advances in mining equipment, the superstitions associated with having women in mines and how mining operations work today. Even though it's cool in the mine and the temperature stays the same year round, I don't think it's a job I would enjoy.

Here are some of the pictures we took in and around the mine.

He Didn't Look Stupid

We went to Four Corners. Not because there's anything remarkable about a plaque in the ground but because it's a photo op. Where else can you stand in four states at once?

I was told by some ladies at Priest Gulch not to expect much. "It's just a spot on the ground and rows of Indians selling a bunch of stuff."

I figured it would be a bit like the "Southernmost Point" in Key West or Land's End in Cornwall. You stand in line for your photo opportunity. But unlike the southernmost point, this spot is controlled by the Navajo Nation who demand $10 per vehicle to look at that spot on the ground. And unlike Land's End, you can take your own picture.

I figured a full shot would be better than a "selfie". We wanted to have our feet in different states. It's more than a head shot. I had to locate a suitable photographer. The most likely choices were the people directly in front of us or behind us. The kid in line in front of us had a bloody nose. He kept wiping the blood off his face with his hand and his shirt and then he would wipe his hand off on his pants. I did not want this kid touching my camera. There was a couple behind us. He had a really fancy camera. He was the go-to guy! If he could operate one of those fancy cameras, he would be able to handle my little Fuji point and click with no problem. We made a deal. We'd take their photos if they'd take ours.

We were first. I had one foot in Utah and the other in Arizona. Mark had one foot in Colorado and the other in New Mexico. We were holding hands. We were smiling at the camera. What a great shot! Want to see it? Me too. I assumed the guy took the photos. But I didn't check and when we got back and transferred the photos from the camera to the computer there were none from Four Corners. None. Nada.

I can only assume that the guy was either totally stupid, inept at taking photos or a malicious jerk who didn't want us to have any photos. I'm going with inept. And next time, I'll actually look at the photos before leaving the scene.

But we did buy a really cool piece of pottery.

Ophir Pass (Oh! Fear!)

Anyone who's been on the Million Dollar Highway and thinks it is scary should take a trip across Ophir Pass. This road is for four-wheel drive vehicles with high clearance only! The road typically doesn't open until June because the snow hasn't melted yet. Some of the local folks were talking about having to get out of their vehicles to shovel the snow and rocks that were blocking the road.

It didn't start off scary. Just some trees.

But the further we went, the scarier it got. No guardrails. Not that they would have helped you if you slid off the road. And I know this is perfectly logical but it sounds really stupid: the closer we got to the top, the further we were from the bottom. The saving grace is that we were crawling along about 20 miles an hour. It was also helpful to look up and out instead of down. The views were stunning.

Did I mention that this road is not paved? Every now and again, a stream crossed the road. There are places where the road is seriously eroded.

Mark didn't think it was a big deal because every now and then we had to pull over to make room for someone coming the opposite direction. He thought it couldn't be too bad if people were coming from Silverton going toward Ophir. But it made more sense to me that they had been in front of us and reached the point where they could go no further and now they were turning back and we should, too.

I didn't voice any of my concerns to Mark at the time. I was sitting quietly, snapping pictures out the window and pleading with Jesus to let me off the mountain safely.

I can't believe we didn't stop at the top for a photo opportunity! But we were following our friends (although at 20 MPH, how far ahead of us could they get?) and there really wasn't much room up there to park. (Some other people already had the only two parking spots up there!) There's really no way I intend to repeat that trip, but the sights were fantastic!

Two Days In Mesa Verde

We didn't know much about Mesa Verde before going there. I'd heard of it, but unlike Yellowstone and Yosemite, I didn't really know what was there. And as it turns out, since we're officially old coots now, we can buy a pass that's good for the rest of our lives that gains us entry into every national park for only $10. (Normal parking fee for one day was $15 and we went for two days. Think how much money we've saved already!)

Mesa Verde is well worth the trip. If you're really fit (I'm not) you can take one of the ranger-led tours to some of the dwellings (steep inclines, ladders, and some crawling required). Only two of the sites permit self-guided tours. We toured Spruce Tree house, which is the best preserved of all the sites and one of the two that you don't need to be accompanied by a ranger.

There were lots of places where you could hike out for a better view of the cliff dwellings. Impressive!

An abundance of wildflowers...

And more scenic overviews than you could shake a stick at. No one seems to know exactly why the ancient people who lived at Mesa Verde abandoned their homes, but with views like these, a surprise attack seems unlikely.

All in all, a great visit! If you haven't been to Mesa Verde, make some plans.

The Million Dollar Highway

The Million Dollar Highway is a 25 mile stretch of road in Colorado that connects Ouray and Silverton. Some say it's called the Million Dollar Highway because that's how much money it took to build it back in the 1920s. I also heard that it cost a million dollars per mile. Either way, they didn't spend much money on guard rails - there aren't any, although there are some fairly steep drop offs. I think it's named the Million Dollar Highway because of the million dollar views. What do you think?