The phrase, "this is the first day of the rest of your life" always seemed trite to me, but, after Saturday, it feels more appropriate than any other.
Our first day on the road full-time was exactly as I was hoping - boring. Trust me, you don't want excitement while towing 18,000 pounds. Stowing, hitching, pulling and setting up went fine. We did discover two more things that need to be better secured. Liz's wine cabinet door came open and spilled a half dozen bottles of wine on the floor. Luckily, nothing broke. And the papers in my in basket spilled onto the desk. No harm done.
It's great to escape the heat of Alb. It's been north of 100 every day for over a week. Here in Pagosa Springs it's about 90 for a high and 50ish overnight. Last night before we went to bed we turned on the super fan to pull outside air through the rig. Sunday morning it was cold enough that we actually ran the heater for a few minutes to take the chill off.
And Sunday was Liz's b'day. She says getting on the road is just about the best present she ever got. I agree. We went for a short ride into the local mountains and had a nice dinner in PS.
We're staying in a tiny little park called the "Last Resort" that we stayed in last year for about a week in September. We practically had the place to ourselves then, but with the holiday, it's maxed out this time. It's not as fun because we're crammed in like sardines. On the plus side, it only holds about 12-13 rigs and it's really, really quiet. No interstate, trains or traffic. The owner's have a dog named Spot, horses, turkeys, chickens, ducks and a goat named Buddy. Last year Buddy came up to me while I was making a fire and wanted some pets. This year he's sticking close to the horses. He may come around when the place empties out next weekend.
(Indelicate stuff follows) Our toilet started "burping" when we flushed it, and, let me tell you, it has very bad breath!! It was like it wasn't venting pressure or something. I couldn't figure it out so I called Ralph at RV Sales. Turns out we have the dreaded "pyramid o' crap" that's caused by the tank not having enough water in it. We put some of that super bacteria treatment in the tank. It's supposed to eat the stuff for breakfast and that should fix it. We hope. About Ralph. He takes very, very good of his "family". If fact, if the light is just right and you look real close, you can almost see a halo. Or maybe it's horns. Not really sure. :)
Ya'll have a spiffy day.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
A day off... Really.
We actually took a real day off yesterday. No working on the house or the Excel. We didn't even talk about anything we needed or wanted to do.
Instead, we took a very long ride. Since we've never visited the Kiowa National Grasslands and we wanted to see something new, that's where we went. I envisioned something like vast vistas of tall grass swaying in the wind, untouched, as it must have been when bison freely roamed the west.
Right. Not even close. The mostly abandoned town of Mills is in the center of the western unit and seemed to be a good place to start. In Mills, we turned west on a dirt road leading further into the grasslands expecting at any minute to be overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all. Didn't happen. First of all, it's all fenced off and there's no access. Second, the reason it's all fenced off is to pen the cattle grazing on the land. They have eaten all the grass. The tallest blade of grass I saw wouldn't shade an ant! We were disappointed.
One aspect of exploring I've come to expect is that no matter how dull the trip, something interesting and memorable will always come along. On this trip it was the strangest critter sighting we've seen in a long time. After visiting Mills Canyon and the Canadian river, we headed north with the intent of turning west into the mountains. A few miles north of Mills, while still in the grasslands, I spotted something at the base of a power pole along the side of the road. As we got closer my first thought was that some strange individual had put a wood carving of a bear trying to climb the pole. I asked Liz, while pointing to it, "Is that a bear?" At about the same time, the bear heard us and took off running.
It was a small bear. About 2-3 feet tall while standing on it's hind legs. So I assume it was also a very young bear. We didn't see a mama bear around which also was strange. I swear, there wasn't a tree or bush over 6" tall within 10 miles of that spot. We have no idea how it came to be there or what will happen to it. Just a strange and interesting sighting.
We finished the day by driving south from Angel Fire along NM 434. A beautiful drive.
Today, it's back to work. I have to finish securing all the loose stuff in the Excel. Tomorrow we hook up and test how well it's going to travel as well as get the rig weighed. The county landfill will weigh us for free. Ain't that special? I'm a little worried we're overweight (the trailer, not us, smarty). If so, we'll have to jettison some stuff, of course. Liz threatened to jettison me first, but she's just kidding.
I think.
Instead, we took a very long ride. Since we've never visited the Kiowa National Grasslands and we wanted to see something new, that's where we went. I envisioned something like vast vistas of tall grass swaying in the wind, untouched, as it must have been when bison freely roamed the west.
Right. Not even close. The mostly abandoned town of Mills is in the center of the western unit and seemed to be a good place to start. In Mills, we turned west on a dirt road leading further into the grasslands expecting at any minute to be overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all. Didn't happen. First of all, it's all fenced off and there's no access. Second, the reason it's all fenced off is to pen the cattle grazing on the land. They have eaten all the grass. The tallest blade of grass I saw wouldn't shade an ant! We were disappointed.
One aspect of exploring I've come to expect is that no matter how dull the trip, something interesting and memorable will always come along. On this trip it was the strangest critter sighting we've seen in a long time. After visiting Mills Canyon and the Canadian river, we headed north with the intent of turning west into the mountains. A few miles north of Mills, while still in the grasslands, I spotted something at the base of a power pole along the side of the road. As we got closer my first thought was that some strange individual had put a wood carving of a bear trying to climb the pole. I asked Liz, while pointing to it, "Is that a bear?" At about the same time, the bear heard us and took off running.
It was a small bear. About 2-3 feet tall while standing on it's hind legs. So I assume it was also a very young bear. We didn't see a mama bear around which also was strange. I swear, there wasn't a tree or bush over 6" tall within 10 miles of that spot. We have no idea how it came to be there or what will happen to it. Just a strange and interesting sighting.
We finished the day by driving south from Angel Fire along NM 434. A beautiful drive.
Today, it's back to work. I have to finish securing all the loose stuff in the Excel. Tomorrow we hook up and test how well it's going to travel as well as get the rig weighed. The county landfill will weigh us for free. Ain't that special? I'm a little worried we're overweight (the trailer, not us, smarty). If so, we'll have to jettison some stuff, of course. Liz threatened to jettison me first, but she's just kidding.
I think.
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