RV-Dreams Journal

Movin' South - (Safford, AZ)

It took awhile, but we finally decided where we were going.

We considered a trip northwest to the Grand Canyon with the smaller crowds this time of year.  But we were certainly ready for warmer weather, so we ultimately decided to head south.

The plan was to drive about 150 miles to Globe where we would stay a night or two at either the Gila County RV Park, a Passport America Discount park, or at the Apache Gold Casino RV Park.  Then we would take a short trip of about 80 miles southeast to Safford and stay at Roper Lake State Park for an undetermined number of days.  From there we would move back southwest another 70 or so miles to Benson where we would stay at the Escapees park, SKP Saguaro Co-Op, for the holidays.

It took a bit of the morning to figure out that plan.  I'm in charge of all the route planning, selecting the places to stay, etc.  However, Linda The Worrier takes responsibility for checking the route for mountain passes and giving the ultimate thumbs up or thumbs down on my chosen route.  :)

She had out our handy dandy Mountain Directory West for Truckers, RV, and Motorhome Drivers and found that the section of today's drive from Show Low, AZ to Globe had some significant challenges.  Still, she approved the plan.

I looked more closely at the Gila County RV Park in Globe and decided against it.  It was a few miles in the opposite direction we were headed, it wasn't the easiest to get to, and the Google Earth map showed it sitting between a highway and a railroad track.

On the other hand, the Apache Gold RV Park also had cheap full hook-ups, was on our way to the next stop, and had two of my favorite recreational activities - golf and gambling.  :)  That's where we would stop.

I went inside to the Crystal Forest Gift Shop and thanked them for the place to stay.  It was apparent that doesn't happen often, and they were very appreciative of the gesture.  Such a little thing to make someone smile.  :)

We pulled out around 11:00 am.  About a mile down the road, I heard a beep and looked down at my dash.  There was a "Trailer Disconnected" warning.  I radioed Linda that I was pulling over.

We hadn't unhitched during our stay at the Petrified Forest, but I had unplugged the trailer from the truck.  When I plugged back in this morning we made sure the lights worked, but I wasn't as diligent as usual about making sure the plug was all the way in.  Apparently, it wasn't and had loosened.  With that taken care of, we were back on the road.

It was U.S. 180 back toward Holbrook and then south on AZ 77 to Show Low.  Then we took U.S. 60 southwest toward Globe.

About half way between Show Low and Globe is the Salt River Canyon.  The descent into the canyon includes several 5 - 6% grades of varying mileage.  There are two pull-offs designated to "Check Brakes & Equipment".  And the last few miles include switchbacks with 25 - 35 mph curves.  Fortunately, the road is wide and forgiving in the curves.

I went down the canyon in second gear almost all the way and only rarely had to hit the brakes.  Out of courtesy, I pulled off at some of the numerous turn-outs to let the building traffic behind me pass.

The canyon was absolutely beautiful.  What I saw of it anyway.  I was too busy concentrating.  :)

On the descent, we could see the steep ascent on the other side with more switchbacks.  As tempting as it was to pull over and enjoy the views, we plodded ahead.

Once we crossed the river, the truck steadily pulled us up the 6% grade on the other side.  It was a long, long uphill climb at 30 - 40 mph.  There were passing lanes in some stretches and some more turn-outs as well to let folks around.

Linda & I agreed that climb was worse than Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado.  Had she been able to see our trip through the canyon beforehand, she probably would have vetoed the route.  Ultimately, it gave her even more confidence in our truck.

Once we reached the top, there were a couple more 6% downgrades as we moved toward Globe.  But I just geared down and they were no problem.

We arrived in Globe a little after 2:00 and made our way to the casino on U.S. 70.  Even though the drive through Salt River Canyon was a bit mentally tiring, I was still in pretty good shape.  I radioed to Linda and asked if she wanted to go on to Safford.

We pulled into the casino for her to get gas and we checked out the RV Park.  It is a parking lot with a concrete island for hook-ups between each pair of sites.  No big deal for a place to stay a night or two.  But it looked like all the sites were full.

Knowing that we might be pushing darkness, we decided to keep going.  Besides, that would save money since I would avoid golf and gambling.  :)

As we left Globe, we got our first views of some giant saguaro cacti on the hillsides.  There is just something about those big prickly plants that say "Arizona".

The drive to Safford was pretty easy as we passed cotton fields and the temperature was rising on my truck thermometer - a great sign.  :)

After 232 total miles (9.3 mpg), we arrived at Roper Lake State Park around 4:15.

We almost never travel on Saturdays because we find it much easier to get campsites at public campgrounds on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays.  But today we took a chance.

And boy, did we get lucky.  The volunteers said one of the best sites had been reserved for the weekend, but the people never showed last night and hadn't come in today either.  So they gave it to us.  Cool.

We paid for two nights and wanted to see our site before we committed any further.  Well, we will be here a little while.  :)

We're parked parallel to the lake, so we have more privacy than most.

From inside, we have a decent view of the lake and mountains.

And we have mountains on the other side as well.

These other sites have the road between them and the lake, but they're still not bad with no obstructions of their views.

I don't know about the campground as a whole, but our site certainly has an "it factor".  However, I think we can only have it for four days as it is reserved after that.  We'll have to see what other sites are available to see how long we might hang out here.

Oh, we have 50-amp electric and water hook-ups.  We can't remember the last time we were on 50 amps and had such great water pressure.  We also have a covered picnic table behind us and a firepit.  And the fee is $16 a night with no additional park entry fee charge.  It's a nice deal.  :)

With the campers grilling out and fires in the firepits, Linda summed it up.  "Ah, it smells like a campground."

Yep, this is certainly our kind of place.  We look forward to seeing what else we can find here.  Until tomorrow.  :)

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Petrified Forest National Park - (Petrified Forest, AZ)

Once again I was up early enough to see a lovely sunrise out the rear window of our fifth wheel.

Linda got up around 8:00 and eased into the day as usual with her two cups of French Vanilla coffee with her French Vanilla creamer.  If we run out of either of those, a trip to civilization is surely in order.  :)

After some bacon & eggs and waiting for temperatures to warm up a little, Linda packed our backpacks while I took the bikes off the bike rack.  We ventured into the Petrified Forest National Park about 10:00 am.

I can barely remember my prior visit, sometime in the 70s I guess.  Linda had never been and didn't quite know what to expect or what it was all about.

One thing is for sure.  The Petrified Forest looks absolutely nothing like any "forest" you've ever seen.  :)

There is a twenty-eight mile road running through the park that connects the southern entrance with the northern entrance just off of I-40.  We could have saved ourselves a lot of mileage yesterday by driving the rig through the park to get to the southern end.  But I wasn't sure about the width of the park road, the condition, or the speed limit, so we took the longer, more sure route around.

There is a museum and visitors center at the southern end, but we decided to drive all the way to the northern end to the Painted Desert Visitor Center to see the film about the park and start from there so we would end up near home in the afternoon.

On the way, we made a couple of stops thinking the photos might be better then than on our return trip.  This is a section of the park known as "The Teepees".

Moving on and looking out to our left, we were struck by the colors of the Painted Desert.  We stopped at the first of many overlooks.

Pinks and reds and mounds and canyons as far as the eye could see.

We continued on and finally arrived at the Painted Desert Visitors Center.

There we watched the 20-minute park film to give us a better understanding of this geologic wonderland.

The film tells how this area was once a subtropical climate 225 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed.  Rather than me trying to explain what happened here to create the unique environment, I'll just link to the "Trees To Stone" brochure. 

After getting a better understanding of the park and why it was designated as a National Monument in 1906 and later a National Park, we started our journey back to the south.

There are eight "points' overlooking the Painted Desert within the first few miles.  Here Linda is reading the sign at one of them.

We then made a quick stop at the Painted Desert Inn National Historical Landmark.  Apparently it was once a private inn overlooking the desert long before any roads or services were available.  It has been completely remodeled, so we passed on photographing the new structure.  :)

We made another quick stop at the old Route 66 historical marker.

Before Route 66, the park was only accessible by railroad.  Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles dramatically increased the tourism and, unfortunately, led to much removal of petrified wood from the park.

Next, we stopped at the Puerco Pueblo.  It was the remains of a pueblo built around 1250.  The short trail also has overlooks where you can view numerous petroglyphs.

The photo above includes what I would guess to be a Great Blue Heron with a frog.

We moved on to the next stop.  Newspaper Rock was also an overlook of more petroglyphs.  There was an abundance of images "picked" into the rocks, but they were not as close as at the pueblo.  Binoculars needed at this stop.

We went back through "The Tepees" and turned left on a side road to Blue Mesa.  It's a 3 1/2 mile road on a mesa looking down into the "badlands" of the park.

We stopped at the first overlook for a view of the eroding landscape that continues to uncover more petrified logs.

Here you can see one of those logs teetering on top of the mounds.

The views from Blue Mesa certainly make you feel like you are on another planet.

We made our way to the Blue Mesa Trailhead.  This shot is looking northwest from the top of the trail.

Another view along the trail.

Then the trail descends steeply down into the heart of a section of the badlands.

At the bottom, there is a one-mile loop where the vivid purples and and shades of white contrast with the brown pebbles and colorful petrified wood.

It was one of the most unique hikes we've ever been on.

I couldn't get over the purple throughout the rocky mounds.

Linda posed with a large chuck of petrified log.

We eventually made it back to the top where our Jeep was waiting.

With as little as we have hiked the last two months, we were surprised we weren't more winded.  It's not 8,000 feet elevation like the Ranch in Colorado, but the park does range from 5,000 to 6,250 feet.

We made one more stop on top of Blue Mesa.  This is a view down into the area where we hiked.

Really cool!  :)

Near the end of the Blue Mesa Road, Linda spotted a small herd of Pronghorn Antelope in the distance.

With me out of the Jeep pointing my zoom lens, soon we had several cars stopped to look at the fastest animal on the continent.

We skipped the stop called Agate Bridge and stopped at the Jasper Forest overlook.

According to the sign, the Jasper Forest had a huge concentration of petrified red jasper.  But because this section was so close to the railroad, the petrified wood was hauled out in bunches.  It is thought that the decimation of this "forest" is what led to the designation of the land as a national monument in the early 1900s.

Next we stopped at the Crystal Forest where there is 0.8-mile paved trail.  Most of the crystals that gave this area its name have been taken by tourists.  The film we saw said that about one ton of petrified wood is taken by tourists each month even with all the signs and warnings that it is a federal offense to remove anything from the park.

Still, the petrified "wood" is in abundance in the Crystal Forest.

It's amazing.  It still looks like wood, but the wood "cells" have been replaced by various mineral cells.  The varying mineral colors create beautiful patterns.

One of the most frequently asked questions is "Who cut the logs?"  :)  Well, over time, with freezing and thawing and shifting of the ground underneath, the logs fracture.  Here is a shot that exemplifies how a log breaks as the ground underneath erodes.

This was one of the longer logs in the Crystal Forest.

They say that many of these trees were in the 200-foot tall range.  We walked one off that was about 100 feet.

As we neared the end of the Crystal Forest Trail, I took one more shot of a huge tree section.

We made one last stop.  That was to take the Long Logs Trail.  It was a half-mile walk from the parking area and then a 0.6-mile loop.

The brochure says this is the largest concentration of petrified wood in the park.

Another great specimen showing the various colors.

This log was almost as round as Linda is tall.

I'll make that the last shot for the day in this entry.  However, if you want to see the other 100 photos we took over these two days, you can watch the Slideshow.  :)

We headed on home after that.  We covered just about the whole park and hiked about five miles in addition to the driving.  It's certainly a place that can be seen in one day.  The good news about being here in November is it's not very crowded at all, it's cool, and the sun stays at a low angle so lighting for pictures is pretty good even in the middle of the day.  :)

We had a great time.

So we went back to the rig and relaxed, had some dinner, and tried to figure out where we are going next.  Still undecided as of bedtime.  :)

Guess you'll know shortly after we figure it out.  :)

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First Night As RVers In Arizona - (Petrified Forest, AZ)

I was up well before daylight.  But that gave me a chance to see the wonderful colors of the sunrise ... even if they were through power lines and buildings.  :)

Having been in Colorado so long, we've missed the beautiful sunrises and sunsets of the flatlands. 

While waiting for Linda to get up, I did my periodic computer scans.  Of course we have AVG Free virus protection that runs all the time.  But we also have Ad-Aware Free anti-spyware that I run to clean up junk that makes its way onto the hard drive during web browsing.  I also run Spybot Search & Destroy, another free program, as a back-up to Ad-Aware.

I'm no expert, these are just suggestions from some of our computer experts in the Forum.  What I do know, is that my computer performance has been much better since using these programs.  I'm so glad we have knowledgeable folks so I could get away from Norton & McAfee which seemed to cause more problems than they fixed - at least for me.

Once Linda got up and it warmed up a bit outside, I got out the air compressor and went through the business of making sure all the same tires had the same air pressure.  There is no question, the dual wheels on the truck are a pain.  Everything else is easy.

Once I was satisfied with all the pressures, I re-programmed and installed our Pressure Pro sensors on each tire.  I had taken them all off when we had our truck tires rotated and the new trailer wheels added.  So I followed the easy instructions in the manual and re-installed everything.

I also checked the lugnuts on the new wheels while I was at it.  We've come to rely on the Pressure Pro and the peace of mind it provides.  Linda wasn't happy when we just drove 100 miles yesterday without the sensors on.  :)

And I much prefer plugging in the monitor and checking tire pressures from the comfort of the truck cab, rather than manually checking them each time we move.  :)

We left Mom & Pop RV around 11:00 and headed toward Arizona.  It was U.S. 64 west to U.S. 491 south through Shiprock to Gallup where we picked up I-40 west to Holbrook, AZ and then U.S. 180 southeast to the Petrified Forest National Park's south entrance.

Our only stop was just west of Gallup to fuel up.  I just had a feeling there might not be many places once in Arizona and I suspected that fuel in New Mexico was cheaper.  I paid $2.65 for diesel and Linda filled up the Jeep at $2.19.

I rarely fuel up the truck while towing, but I'm now comfortable pulling into the semi-truck lanes.  I used to not know what to do when the pumps asked for "truck numbers" and such, so now I just go directly inside and tell them I'm a private RV and which pump.  They take my credit card, usually check my driver's license, and set the pump for fueling.

I always throw on my handy-dandy diesel pumping gloves and start filling.  We didn't know to ask when we bought our truck, but fortunately the big truck pump nozzles fit our tanks - they don't on many pick-ups.

And I learned the first time I ever filled up at the big boy pumps, that they go a lot faster and will gush out of the smaller tanks if you're not careful.  So I never leave them on automatic fill, and I listen closely to the sound of an almost full tank so I can slow it down in time.  :)     

Just a little refresher for our new reader newbies who might have great anxiety about pulling into a truck stop to fill up.  Been there.  :)

Anyway, we finally made it to the Petrified Forest.  Just outside the entrance are two gift shops, and I had read that they both allow free no hook-up parking for RVers.  I had also read that you can get electric for $10 a night.  Until we get our furnace working or get a better propane solution, Linda wanted electric for our fireplace and electric heater.

Linda drove in ahead of me, sized up the two gift shops, and decided she liked the Crystal Forest Gift Shop on the right better.

The Petrified Forest Gift Shop on the left had a big sign that said "Free Parking if you spend $20 in the gift shop".  Crystal Forest had no such sign.

In fact, we went in and asked about the camping.  "Welcome.  Just find you a spot.  It's free.  Do you need power?  If so, just plug in, tell us the number on the electric box and it's $10 a night.  We'll give you that back if you spend $50 in the gift shop during your stay."  Cool.

Just one problem.  I assumed there would be a place to take on water.  There isn't.

Fortunately, I didn't dump the remaining water that I put in the tank yesterday.  So we can go a couple of days on what we have.  Should have called ahead and checked.  Oops.

And there is no dump station, so we will have to find one of those when we leave.  But still.  Free or cheap camping right at the park entrance is nice.  :)

We selected our site, above right.  I backed in, we got leveled, and Linda started setting up inside.  We went through a couple of bouncy sections on the way and the inside was in more disarray than usual.  But nothing major.

There were two motorhomes in our "campground" with us. 

Since it was about 3:30 when we arrived and the park closed at 5:00, we didn't venture in.  Well, I walked in to get a picture of the sign with the petrified wood in front of it.

I think that's the obligatory picture everyone is supposed to take.  :)

Back at the rig, I was having trouble getting the satellite to lock on.  Yesterday, it was so quick, and today it was being stubborn.

I left it alone and took a picture of the Arizona sunset with the gift shop flags in the foreground.

Just as the sun went down, the full moon was coming up behind our rig.  Wow.

 

As it got darker and the moon got higher, I randomly snapped a couple more pics.  I thought the shot below looked like an angel floating over the desert.

Maybe it was an internet angel, because I finally got connected when I went back inside.  :)

But I prefer to think of this "angel" as the spirit of my cousin Gaye saying "Go forth in your great journey, I'll be watching, and now I'm free to go with you".

And with that my friends, we called it a night - our first night ever as RVers in Arizona.  :)

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Breakin' In The New Wheels - (Farmington, NM)

Most of our snow melted yesterday and the roads were clear.  We packed up everything and got out of the campground around 10:00 am.

That was about the time Buckskin Towing & Repair could fit us in to put on our new wheels.

I backed our big ol' trailer up to the door of their largest bay.  I watched as a young man put on the first tire.  I had done my research, but I was still nervous that these new wheels might not fit.  Boy, was I relieved when the first one went on perfectly.  :)

Forty-five minutes later, all the wheels were on, the lugnut double-checked, and the tire pressure confirmed.  They bought our old wheels, so they just deducted the installation fee and handed us a check - a nice little offset to the cost of the new tires/wheels.  Finally, we were on our way south.

Of course we weren't going far.  We drove 103 miles southwest to Farmington, NM via U.S. 160 to Durango, U.S. 550 to Aztec, and NM 516 on into Farmington.  Our truck is still doing its job at 10.2 mpg.

This is just an overnight stop as we make our way to the Petrified Forest area of Arizona.  We pulled into the Mom & Pop RV Park around 2:00.

It's certainly not the type of place we typically stay, but it is quite adequate for our needs tonight.  It's a small park tucked in an industrial area near one of the main thoroughfares.

No "it factor" here.  :)  But, it has full hook-ups for twenty bucks.  The roads are wide and the spaces are paved.

We got a long pull-through where we didn't have to unhitch.

There are just a few of those really long pull-throughs and I bet they are full when it's not off-season.

Pop greeted us and told us about all the local attractions, gave us a map, and pointed us to the restaurants.  What a nice guy.  :)

We were starving, so the restaurant directions were the most important.

But first, I had to take pictures of our new wheels & tires.

The Goodyear G114s and the Hi-Spec Wheels are lookin' mighty fine.  And they gave me a great deal of confidence as we made our trip today.  I'm so glad we finally got that done.

We did the overnighter, quick, semi set up.  We plugged in and sent the dish up and got locked on to the net.  I put just a little water in our tank and we decided not to even bother with the sewer.

Then we rushed off to Red Lobster for a really early dinner.  Oh, that was good.  :)

Yesterday, we found the part we thought we needed for our furnace at an RV dealer in Durango.  For twelve additional dollars, they had it delivered right to our campsite in Pagosa.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the problem.

We so much want to troubleshoot this ourselves.  But it will need to be done when we can sit for a few days.

In the meantime, after dinner, we popped into Home Depot and picked up a little propane heater to use as a back-up.  It's a Dyna-Glo Double Tag-A-Long Portable Radiant Heater.

It uses two of the basic one-pound propane bottles that can be found just about anywhere.  Because of the expense of those little bottles, it is not a cost-effective permanent solution, but it is certainly a convenient little heater to have on hand.

Once back home, Linda went to the bathhouse for a shower and then we watched the CMA awards.  Tomorrow, I'll re-program the Pressure Pro on the new tires and we'll get back on the road.

We're already feeling warmer.  :)

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Veterans Day Sadness

There was no question that I was going to write about Veterans Day today.

We completely understand that the opportunities and freedoms we have in this country have come at great cost, and there was no way we would allow this day to pass without pausing to thank all of those that have served and are serving on our behalf.

Of course, "Thank You" doesn't seem like enough.  So, I think the best tribute is to live life happily and partake in the governing of this country for which so many have given their lives, their health, and their futures.

One such American hero was my cousin Jeffrey McDonald, a multiple tour veteran, who I wrote about this time last year.  On November 13, 2007 he was tragically killed in a hunting accident.  He was a year older than me.

Today, my cousin Gaye Tyler, passed away.  She was like a sister to me, and we had great times together up through high school.  She had been battling cancer for several years now and reveled in our journey across this nation.  She was just a few years older than me.

These two cousins were the closest of the many I grew up with.  And now, within a year, they are both gone.  Sure, we weren't as close in our adult lives, but there was an unspoken bond that we always carried from those days as kids and young adults.

So, please forgive me if I can't eloquently put together the words I feel in my soul need to be expressed for our veterans.  Today, the thoughts and memories are too deeply personal.

 

Morning Surprise - (Pagosa Springs, CO)

We certainly weren't expecting to see this when we woke up this morning.

After a little breakfast, I bundled up and got outside to take some pictures.

It was still snowing with no signs of letting up.  But I wanted to capture some views of our rig in the snow I hope we never get to see again.  :)

I took a walk around the lake in the four-inch snow.  It was so peaceful and quiet and the undisturbed snow was beautiful.

After a trip around the lake, I walked down to the river for some shots.

One more shot of the river with ice floating downstream.

Linda was actually pretty excited about the snow.  I just kept wondering how many days it would delay our wheels & tires from arriving.  :)

It was chilly, but not as cold as it had been the last few nights.  Still, we had the furnace on to warm things up.  Except it seemed we were out of propane.

Upon further review, we were out in one cylinder, but I had forgotten to turn the other one on.  Still, I ran the empy cylinder up the road and got it filled.

On the way out, the steep driveway wasn't anything I'd want to tackle with the rig.  Hope they plow it or it melts quickly.

The radio said we were under a winter weather advisory until noon but the snow should end later.

When I got back, we decided it would be a great day to go to the Hot Springs.  Linda has been wanting to go and sitting in the pools with the snow all around was too much to resist.

We got there around 11:30.  We quickly went to the adult only Serendipity Pool overlooking the river.

But it wasn't quite hot enough.  We bounced to a few other pools, until we ended up in the Lobster Pot at 110 degrees.

Yikes.  That one was a little too hot.  It felt like we were being burned every time we moved.  I was afraid someone was going to come and pour some melted butter on us.  :)

So, like Goldilocks, we kept looking for a pool that was "just right".  Ah, we finally found it - the Columbine Pool.

It was the perfect temperature and somewhat secluded.  We sat back and relaxed.  With eyes closed and head back, I could feel each snowflake land on my face.  We both could have gone to sleep with the coolness of the air being offset by the soothing warm water.  Nice.

A little later, Jamie and Bill joined us.  They met in college at Michigan State many years ago, and they were on vacation here with another old college buddy.

We chatted with them for an hour or so.  Really nice guys who, like most others we meet, were intrigued about our lifestyle.  Before we knew it, we had been in hot springs pools for about three hours.

We were quite relaxed by then.  We got showers in the locker rooms to wash off that sulphur-smelling water and then made a grocery and gas stop.

The snow finally stopped around 3:00.  On our way home, we dropped in at Buckskin Towing.  To my surprise, our wheels had just arrived.

I took a look at them to make sure they were the right ones.  And the "born on" date was March of this year, so it looks like we are good to go.  The only question was whether we pack up and get 'em put on tomorrow or Wednesday.

Since we are on a weekly rate where the seventh night is free, it wouldn't cost us any more to stay at Pagosa Riverside one more night.  And the weather was still a little iffy for tonight and tomorrow morning.

We decided to wait until Wednesday when the weather will improve.  Hopefully, getting out of the campground will be easier and we are sure the roads will be better.  As much as I'm ready to get out of here, sometimes the wiser approach must prevail.  :)

Back home, I got out our rig cleaning brush with the extended handle and pushed the four or five inches of snow off of our truck bed cover.  I got out the ladder and got up on the roof.

The primary goal was to get the snow off the slideout awnings.  But while I was up there, I went ahead and cleared the entire roof being very, very careful with each step to make sure I didn't slip.  Whew, that wasn't so easy with all the vent covers, vent pipes, solar panels, satellite dish, and bat-wing TV antenna.  :)

I was glad to be off that roof.  Back inside, there was another problem.  Suddenly the furnace controls on the wall stopped working.  Sheesh.

While I was on the roof, Linda had gotten out the owners manual and reset the remote control.  And she followed the instructions to override the system.  Nothing was working.

We pulled the fuse.  No problem there.  We shut off all the electricity and turned the battery disconnect key.  We turned all the power back on hoping the thing would reset.  Nothing.

I unscrewed the unit from the wall to check the wiring.  Hmm.  There is only a phone line-type connection.  I unplugged it and plugged it back in.  The lights that had been on went off, but it still wouldn't work.

My best guess is the circuit board on the back is fried.  Good thing we have our fireplace and a little forced air heater.  We'll have to bundle up tonight and see if we can get someone to help us troubleshoot it tomorrow.  We'll probably just need a new wall unit - at least I hope it's that simple.  :)

Well, it was a rather eventful day.  Hopefully, we won't get a big snow tomorrow and the temps will stay reasonable until we get out of here and get the furnace fixed.  Ah, we continue to learn something new every day.  :)

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Short Entry - (Pagosa Springs, CO)

We didn't do much again today.

I returned about 30 emails.  That takes a long time.  :)

Linda made oatmeal scotchy cookies.  Another recipe converted to high altitude successfully.  :)

Yesterday, she made some jalapeno beer bread.  Today, she sliced some up, got out the George Foreman Grill, and made grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches for lunch.  They were excellent.  :)

She got an order for a bracelet and whipped that out.

I'd had enough of the computer for awhile, so I put it down for the afternoon and evening.  I work on that thing from two to six hours every day, so it was time to leave it alone for awhile.

We watched our usual Sunday shows while I flipped back and forth between football games.  And that was about it.

I promise some pictures for tomorrow.  :)

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All About Linda Today - (Pagosa Springs, CO)

Hey, it warmed up.  It was only 19 when I woke up this morning.  :)

After Linda had her coffee, she decided she wanted to volunteer for another local Audubon society event.  I was comfy cozy, so I opted out.

She went to the Pagosa Springs Community Center where volunteers showed up to build roosting boxes for the native birds.

She jumped in with the Boy Scouts and others and built a box of her own for chickadees and nuthatches.

In true Linda fashion, she named her box and added a "welcome" message.  :)

Several Pagosa area birds will have new places to seek shelter thanks to today's volunteers.

A pizza lunch was provided and then she came home.  I was surprised to see her that soon since I thought they were going to go hang the boxes after lunch.  But, apparently, the plan was to monitor these boxes closely and keep logs of activity.  So they were all being hung at volunteer homes and other places where they could easily be watched.

I was chillin' most of the day and watched some football.  She did some more reading.

I looked at Etsy.com, an online handmade craft mall.  I've looked at it a half dozen times or so to see if we wanted to set up a store for Linda's jewelry.  I still can't convince myself it's worth it.

If you Google DreamLife Creations, her jewelry page on our site is at the top of the list on the first page.  But maybe it would help to go on Etsy for folks to find her using other search parameters.  Perhaps we'll give it a try.  I'd rather do that than eBay.

Still trying to increase our income any way we can think of.  :)

Also, as I've mentioned before, Linda and her brother, Jon, did a country tape several years ago entitled "Black Hollow Road".  It includes ten songs, ballads and some fun novelty tunes, and everything was written by Jon.

We've re-packaged it on CD, and were are now waiting for a sample to see how it turned out.  It won't be Nashville studio quality, but if it turns out like we hope, we'll offer it.

In the meantime, here's a teaser.  Click on the controller below to hear the title track - Black Hollow Road - with Linda on lead vocals.  Warning:  It's a bit of a sad song.  :)

She's a gal of many, many talents.  :)

We cruised through the evening and Linda got in the Chat Room for quite awhile during the evening football games.  The regulars chat anywhere from about 7:00 or 8:00 pm eastern time up to around 10:00 or 11:00 eastern.  It's a friendly bunch and they love new chatters.  They'll even show you how to get into a new room and help you practice.  :)

And thus ended another day of waiting for wheels.  :)

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No Wheels Yet - (Pagosa Springs, CO)

Well, it was 11 degrees this morning when I got up.  Much better than yesterday's 7.  :)

After checking the online tracking of the shipment of our tires/wheels, it looked like we weren't going to get them today even though the "estimated" arrival date was yesterday.

I made a phone call and found that our wheels wouldn't arrive until Monday or maybe even Tuesday.  I wasn't very happy about that news.

Getting those tires/wheels are the only reason we are here right now dealing with the frigid overnight temps.  And the extra days are costing us high campground fees and propane costs while we wait.  The only good news is I found a buyer here locally for the wheels we will be taking off.  That will help offset our extra expenses while we stay the extra days.

We hadn't eaten breakfast and it was almost lunch time, so Linda suggested we go up the road to Kip's Grill & Cantina for some Baja-style tacos.  She laughed at me when I asked the waitress "How tomato-y is your salsa?"  :)

You see, I love chili, salsa, ketchup, marinara, etc.  But I have never liked the taste or texture of tomatoes themselves.  So, serve me anything with uncooked tomato slices or chunks, and I'm either pickin' 'em off or not eating the dish.  :)

It turned out my question was completely legitimate as the salsa they brought me on the side was a plastic cup mounded up with almost nothing but shredded tomatoes.  There wasn't even enough juice underneath to spice up my beef tacos.  Oh, were they bland.

Linda had better luck with her mahi-mahi tacos that apparently actually had some seasoning on the meat.  I never seem to order the right thing at these health-conscious fish taco places.  :)

Back home, I knew my duties.  I had to fill the fresh water tank back up for a few more days.  And I had to reconnect the sewer hose.  Fortunately, it was over 40 degrees by then.

I spoke briefly to the guys in the little trailer that flooded yesterday.  It turned out not to be so bad.  It was their water heater that froze up and burst.

But it's just a trailer they use when on hunting trips, so they weren't too concerned.  Plus, they had drilled some holes in the floor under the water heater just in case something like that happened.  Apparently they forgot or were not informed the campground turns the water off at night this time of year.  They were letting the water run inside to keep things from freezing, but that didn't help when the water got shut off.  :)

Inside, Linda continued her reading while I posted a few replies on the Forum.  There was a nice article forwarded to me yesterday on Green RVing, so I posted that link in the Forum as well.

By the way, the Forum "search" function was down for a couple of days, but it is working now.  I can always tell when it is down as we get more duplicate threads.  :)

Oh, some great news for more RV-Dreamers.  Ginger & Jesse got a contract on their house yesterday.  Wooo Hooo!  :)

The market is still not good in most places, but we are seeing some houses starting to move among our Family.  If you are waiting, your time will come.  In the meantime, you know where to come for moral support.  :)

Most of the afternoon, I played around with some website revisions and added some Google ads to some of the pages that didn't have them.  I hate having advertising on our website at all, but we need all the help we can get right now.  And it keeps all the information free.  :)

I spoke with my investment advisor a little this afternoon.  We are considering transferring some IRA assets into a variable annuity.  There are some really flexible products out there that can be beneficial and limit risk for those that have IRA assets that can't be touched until 59 1/2 without penalty.  With the volatility of the markets and a bleak short-term future, the particular product we are looking at is almost a no-brainer for those that won't need or can't touch IRA assets for awhile.

Unfortunately, it's way too complicated to go into here.  I tried to throw in some examples, but it was just going to create too many questions and probably a lot of confusion.  For a small donation, I'll be happy to take the time to break it down for anyone who is interested.  :)

After dark, Linda made a salad and popped a couple of mini-pizzas in the oven.  We're livin' large.  :)

I decided to pop into the Chat Room for the first time in a long while.  It was good to talk to all the regulars and they gave me a warm welcome.  We'll try to be in there more regularly.  It's easier to be in the mood to chat when you haven't spent all day being "up" for guests.  :)

Well, that was about it for another day.  I'm so ready to get moving again, but at least we don't have to be anywhere and we will be safer when we finally leave.  :)

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A Farewell & Some Great Tips For Outdoor Recreation - (Pagosa Springs, CO)

Okay, this is ridiculous.  It was 7 degrees here this morning!  Fortunately, our fireplace and electric heater are still keeping us pretty warm.  We have the furnace on, but it only kicks on a couple times a night.  Linda even got up to turn it down last night.  :)

This morning we dropped the truck off at Buckskin Towing & Repair to have the tires rotated and to have a basic oil change and service.

After that, we met Karen & Dean in town for breakfast at Victoria's Parlor.  It was the last time we will see these fine folks before we leave the area.

I took this photo of them at the Ranch this fall.

We had a wonderful breakfast and got up to date on events at the Ranch since we've been gone.  Karen & Dean once again expressed their appreciation for our work this summer.  It was indeed our pleasure.

We eventually parted ways with hugs, handshakes, and kisses.  We are so blessed to continue to have people like this come into our lives as we move through this wonderful journey.

Back home, Linda & I read all day.  She finished a novel and I read a whole book that was sent to us by readers Ken & Fran called Hey Ranger!: True Tales of Humor & Misadventure from America's National Parks.

It was written by a former park ranger that served all over the country.  It was an easy read and I was quickly reminded of some of the things we dealt with earlier this year as campground hosts at Arches National Park.  :)

In addition to the humorous stories, the last chapter is called "Don't Be A Victim Of Your Vacation" and elaborates on sixteen tips to help keep a trip to a national park "fun, safe, and successful".  Translation:  Things to do to keep from getting injured, lost, or worse.  As a public service, I'll list those items here.  :)

1. Start smart!  Get current information from on-site staff about the terrain and other local conditions.
2. Take stock!  Make a realistic assessment of your skills and equipment.
3. Be weather-wise!  Check the local weather forecast for the area of your activity and be prepared for both predicted conditions and unexpected changes.
4. Watch your watch!  Do you have enough time and energy to enjoy the activity and complete it safely?
5. Don't leave home without it!  Carry emergency essentials. The author included this link to a list of emergency essentials while hiking.
6. Be a groupie - keep your group together!
7. Shun shortcuts!  Stay on the trail.
8. Avoid the technology trap!  Don't let modern gadgets or gear get you in over your head.
9. Know when to say "when"!  Don't let a "once in a lifetime opportunity" be the end of your life.
10. Don't "go for the gusto"!  Beware of alcohol and drugs.
11. "Here's Your Sign!"  Don't take unnecessary chances - obey warning signs, guard rails, and special advisories; they are there for a reason.
12. It's not a zoo!  Don't feed or get too close to wild animals.
13. "Solo" is a four letter word!  Be very reluctant to travel into isoloated areas alone.
14. Be sensible about security!  Use common sense and safeguard your valuables and yourself.
15. Don't just do something - stand or sit there!  If you realize you are lost, stay put and wait for rescuers to find you.
16. A little bird won't tell them!  Be sure someone knows your plans and when you expect to be back so authorities will know where to start looking for you if you fail to return on time. 

The author elaborates on all of these and provides real life examples of what can go wrong.

In only two months at Arches National Park, we saw quite a few missing person incidents and injuries that could have been avoided by following these tips.  I can think of incidents related to the first seven right off the top of my head.

Accidents can happen and people can get lost.  But we saw numerous instances where following the tips above kept bad situations from becoming much, much worse.

It was nice just to sit and read all day.  We haven't done that as often as we should.

In the afternoon, when it got to a balmy 39 degrees, I was about to go outside and prepare as much as I could for an early morning departure tomorrow.  The hope was our new tires/wheels would come in today, and we could get them put on as we leave town tomorrow.

Just before I went outside, Linda looked out the window and saw water pouring out of a little travel trailer a few sites over.  It looked like they left their water hooked up overnight and, even though the campground turns the water off at night, the water remaining in their hose and interior pipes may have frozen.

We saw them leave early this morning.  So our guess is the campground turned the water back on during the day, the campers left the water turned on at the spigot outside, their hose and pipes eventually thawed, and they had a busted pipe inside.  I'm telling you water was gushing out of the trailer.

I ran over and turned the water off at the spigot and rushed up to the office to let somebody know.  The trailer was locked so there wasn't much anyone could do.  We don't know what time they might have returned, but it was well after dark.  What a horrible thing to come home to on a night that would have temps in the teens.

That's why we just fill our fresh water tank and disconnect the hose and drain it in freezing temperatures (well, that's what we try to do - we've been lucky the couple of times it was below freezing and we didn't realize it was going to get that cold).

Of course we also have the benefit of double paned windows, pretty good insulation, enclosed holding tanks, and holding tank heaters.  If it's going to get really, really cold, we turn on the tank heaters.  We could run a little stream of water as an extra precaution, but since we are disconnected from city water, we don't want to run the water pump all night.  Also, the ambient heat inside the rig and the tank heaters should be plenty to keep our internal pipes from freezing.

I'm sure the little travel trailer doesn't have any of that extra protection and probably a really small fresh water tank if it has one at all.  So they probably would have to take many more precautions.  What a shame.

After that drama, I continued with my chores and even went as far as disconnecting our sewer hose.  By the way, when we dump in cold temps, I always make sure the sewer hose is completely drained.  I hand walk it a couple of times.  Talk about a mess if gunk in the sewer hose freezes and the sewer hose bursts.  :)

When we parked, we failed to consider our distance to the sewer drain.  With our longest hose, we were about six inches short - which I realized after we had unhitched.  :)

It's just a minor hassle to add another piece of hose - we carry lots of extra hose in various lengths and connectors.  So it took just a little longer than usual to disconnect and clean the extra section of hose.  There won't be much for me to do on the outside tomorrow.

Unfortunately, when we went to pick up our truck, we learned our tires/wheels didn't arrive today.  According to the tracking online, it looks like it may be late tomorrow before they arrive.  If they don't arrive in time for us to get them put on, we may have to wait here until Monday.

We certainly hope that's not the case, but we don't have much control over the situation.

So, we just cozied up for the evening and watched TV.  With this time change, I'm falling asleep around 9:00 each night.  Good thing we get those New York channels on eastern time so the shows come on two hours early for us.  :)

Eventually, I got out of my recliner and we went to bed.  Supposed to be another cold one tonight.  Hope those tires come in!  :)

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