Back Road to Summitville

Hello Family & Friends,
After mostly settling in, we took the backroad to Summitville -- there are a couple ways to get there -- so we call this the backroad since we usually take the route out of South Fork.  It has been cold here in the mornings (not chilly, but 32 degrees cold) -- so just before lunchtime we headed toward the new route to see if it was any closer than going through South Fork.

It is a county road out of Del Norte where you take 14 up until you hit Forest Roads.  It was paved a little longer on the climb up then the turn off from South Fork -- the road seemed a little smoother but it is early in the year.  Anyway, it was nice to try it out to see how it differed!

Here's a few pics of the journey:

Not as much snow as we saw last year, but you can find the capped mountains in the distance.

As you can see, really melting off under the summer sun.

Such a lush green mix of Aspens and the darker green Pines.  This year is the beginning of a drought and they could use rain.

Beautiful scenery and it seems more open than the other route.

Darrel caught this picture of pines in front of the snow ridge.

We stopped for a stretch break and I found snow (along with pinecones) under some of the shaded trees that were along the north side.

Not a lot, but noticeable from the distance.

Darrel tried to catch a Marmet sunning himself on the rock ledge, but he didn't zoom quick enough and missed his dissent into his burrow near the culvert.

We took a hike up one trail and discovered more snow along the mountain tops.

A better view!

And along our path, was snow tucked in the tree line, not seeing much sunshine yet -- temperatures were chilly, probably mid-50's.

We headed home the original route and found things pretty quiet in the campgrounds.  I think things will pick up soon, but it is still light travel and the crowds aren't here yet.

Not sure what our next week looks like, but will try to capture some highlights along the way.

Sending blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel

Wrapping up Arizona

Hello Family and Friends,
Here's a few pictures I found on my camera of the last couple weeks of Arizona.  I didn't want to discard them so I am adding this post to share my camera finds 😀

On our last trip out to the desert before it got to HOT, we left early one morning and took a quick ride on minimal use trails.  Darrel and Bob had found this bee hive in the cliffs of the wash  -- so of course, they had to show Susan (the non-bee lover in the group).

Big nest --- you can see better in the next pictures.

I don't even want to count how many are in this hive.  We were very quiet and didn't get very close an you can tell from the quality of my pictures.

More saguaro blooms

The blooms were amazing this year!

This saguaro is near the front entrance of North Ranch.

 One of my projects was to cover the bar stools that pull out from the island in the kitchen/livingroom area.  One day Susan T and Susan P. spent the time constructing the covers and added foam for a padded feel.  There are 4 seats and they do feel a lot better to sit on.

My sister Carol requested a picture of Rufus, the lizard.  He is really cagey.  When we were painting the shed, we disrupted his hidey hole and so he would kind of follow us around where we painted.  Then I didn't see him for awhile --- then he appeared and I tried to get a pic, but he was uncooperative.

You can see that he is a big boy, I think Bob called him a dinosaur the other day when he checked our lot, Rufus was still around.

And then before we left, Darrel decided to pour concrete blocks to put under our trailer jacks.  He has tarped was watering them as the concrete cured -- one morning he pull the tarp and found Mr. Toad -- burrowed into the corner of the cool, wet sand.

He was one big boy!  He was there about 2 days and then gone, it was the first toad I have seen in the desert.

So I think that wraps up my treasure finds from my camera.  I knew I had some pics on it but wasn't sure what was there. --  I hope you enjoy our wrapping up AZ ---

Sending blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel

Colorado Coolness

Hello Family & Friends,
We have arrived in Colorado and staying at Peacock Meadows RV Park in South Fork, CO.  We drove straight through.  I don't know how many miles because Darrel reset the trip counter each time we filled but we think it is somewhere in the 700 miles.  With the riots and COVID, we were unsure where we might stop to overnight, since casinos in New Mexico are still closed.

So we bunked down in a campground drive and drove in as our RV tire went flat.  Not sure what happened there, but we have managed to get it repaired and it is back on the RV.

Here's a few pics of the campground --- they ware about 1/3 full -- I think 20+ campers, a few come in and a few go out -- the busiest month in July so we shall see how full it gets with all that is going on in the world.  I will try to get some better pics of the scenery but we are still settling in.....

This is out our front door -- you can barely see the snow on the mountain peak.

From our back door, we have a big "green" space to our right side.

Standing at the rear of the trailer, this is the back of the park that butts up to the Rio Grande River.

This is standing at the front by the hitch, we have nice scenery around us.

This view is straight ahead of our picnic table.

Our flag is in the green space by the rear of the trailer, we have a row of trees that border the west side of the park.  Our patio deck looks out to the trees.

The weather has been nice warm days and nights cooling off into the upper 40's - 50's -- it looks like next week we might dip into the 30's so brrrrr, we might need some heat that night.  We had a heck of a storm blow through on Saturday with rain, small hail and wind -- we still have the wind through Monday evening.

We are glad to be setup and I think mostly settled.  When next week warms up, we hope to hit the streams for some panning to see how they are running.  I don't think there was as much snow and the rain has been minimal too.  So it will be another interesting year!

Oh, have to brag a little, I still wear my fitbit and received my badge for walking 4,132 miles --- length of the Nile River!  Yay, Me!!

Oh and one last picture -- my last evening at North Ranch, strolling through the Saguaro Park at sunset time.

Very different scenery than I get in Colorado and will try to get a sunset picture from here soon.

Hope you all are staying healthy and cool, I know we are!

Blessings from the Road,

Susan & Darrel

PS  I didn't mentioned that we also had a water check valve go out (again) and we had to pull everything out of the front bin to fix it.... then Darrel decided that we need to move the RV back 3 feet so the deck has a better placement on the site... so we did that, too!

PPS  Also, we did some extra weather proofing/sealing on the AC in the bedroom because we could see daylight through the vents...

PPPS  And Susan gave up drinking Diet Coke 3 days before we traveled to Colorado -- call me crazy!  As hot as it was in AZ, it really didn't taste as good a a cold drink of water, so I have made it 10 days and if I can make it 21, that is suppose to be a habit???  We'll see..... but I am still eating chocolate for now!

Middle of May Activities

Hello Family & Friends,
It has been a while since I have posted, I guess all I can say is that we have been busy getting ready to leave the "excessive" heat of Arizona for Colorado.  We all know that these times they are a changing and we weren't sure if we would be able to even move to Colorado but we are and will depart the first part of June.

Until then, here's a few pics of happenings for the last 2 weeks -- I won't be as wordy and I am scrambling right now to squeeze this in before we go on the last 3 days of crazy packing mode 😀

The desert is a bloomin' with all kinds of cacti blossoms -- driving me nuts with allergies --- even my Zyrtek isn't keeping up with the pollen count of trees, grasses, etc.  It is really funny that they don't list cacti blooms as a culprit!

Shared by Carole A. --- she is great at locating those blossoms and sending my way -- all of the plant pics are provided by our walks and her journey around North Ranch.

This is a century plant that has this type of "bloom" -- after they have this shoot, it usually means they are going to die -- this one isn't very big, so maybe it didn't get the memo???

Saguaro blooms (usually in late May) are everywhere with multiples on the top and barrels (arms)

So many unique ones and they seem to be in full bloom this year!

We had a girl's craft day to decorate our "devil's claw".  Bob found me mine so I wanted to turn it into a sun catcher (kind of like a wind chime idea) -- we were under Susan T's gazebo, painting and beading and turning them into treasures.

Working hard at stringing the beads and creating a hanger for the little sucker!

 

You cannot see it real well again my shirt, better on the right side -- We had a warm day to decorate!

This is Carole's she used all crystal beads to pick up the rainbow affect with the sun shines through.

Skittles is Susan T's dog and she loves Carole's bag -- she decided to check it out during Craft day -- not doggie treats for her!

Memorial Day brought many flags and Red, White and Blue decorations -- Beautiful display!  Hope you all have a safe and celebratory holiday! 

Remember our Owl family?  Well, walking one night around 7:30pm, one of the owls swooped right past me and landed on the flag pole at the end of the block.  Amazing how big these birds are.

It has been a hot May and we are ready to head to cooler temps.  Our last trip to the desert was May 14th for a early 6:30 start and back by 8:30am, it really warms up quickly.

Darrel had his skin cancer surgery the week of May 11th and we had the stitches out this week May 25. - The margins were clear and the doctor was pleased with his healing.  Now we just need to use more sunscreen!

Guess I had better run, we do a lot of work early and after sundown to help with heat overload.  We will keep you posted on our arrival to South Fork.  

Sending blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel

Painting/Trimming the Shed

Hello Family & Friends,
The past two weeks we have been busy painting the shed (2 coats) and putting up the aluminum trim so that we don't have to paint that again (I'm hoping ever, but you never know).  With the temperatures soaring we have been out painting either at 6AM, following the shade when we can, or painting after sunset until we cannot see anymore!

Here's a few pics of the activity.  I do have to admit that it does look really nice and is much more protected from the sun and monsoons.  I didn't really get before pictures so you have nothing to compare but I do like the white trims as they give it a little more pizazz....

This is the west side and we really had to work quick in the early morning to not get caught by the sun. You can see the trimmed side on the right and the left side is being finished.

Darrel is adding our address numbers, we painted them black so they would stand out.  Previously they had been a "weathered, rusted number" and they bled on the paint when it rained.

You can see them here to the left, now we are trying to install the trim boards over the garage door and it wasn't going well.  But with perseverance and both Darrel's and Susan's muscle, we got them on.

Here's the other side of the door, the white trims really make it have some definition.

Here's a shot of the west side with the entire trims installed.

The white corners add some character to the barnboard.

The plastic storage shed sits at this corner and it was just sitting on the dirt.

Notice the edge of the pavers to keep it out of the dirt we used 15 pavers to cover the space and then added 30 to make a motorcycle parking pad.

We park the motorcycles on the first paver pad but it was too much in the sun during the spring/summer months....

....so we added another paver pad closer to the shed to store them when we occupy the lot.

The first pad also helps with dirt washing from the neighbors lot, too.

We added a different door, (that took about 5 days) with a security screen door we can lock plus the inside door.  We hope it helps with the rain not getting in the shed.

And of course, we are working during the hottest 2 weeks so far this year.  It came on quick and I think it is here to stay.  Let me tell you, a high 80's would be a welcome relief.

So you can see, we are doing home chores while the COVID orders keeps us home -- I guess that has helped us get so much done.

Thanks for reading and keeping in touch, we miss you all and hope you are keeping healthy!

Sending blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel