Arizona has been HOT!

 Hello Family & Friends,

It has been awhile since I've put up a post -- we headed back to Arizona on October 1 and made the trip in one day --- we did take a different route, through the Navajo reservation -- we left early at 32 degrees and arrived back in Arizona to 105 degrees and 102 degrees in Congress!  Any Hoo, we had quite the journey and found ourselves experiencing Year 1 with problems to fix on the RV!

So I am going to just do a bullet list as to what we have been doing for the last 17 days!

• Sweltering in the heat -- yep, we left 72 degree days in CO and have been surviving 90-101 degree days in Arizona
• replacing a trailer block jack (one of the buckets we put under the outriggers that cracked)
• fixing the water softener (needed new parts as we have a cracked water filter and the housing cap) the washer actually hooked up and has been running well (YAY)
• starting up the refrigerator in the shed (which ran well) but work up the next morning and head this fan squealing sound -- so had to turn off and oil the fan -- but it is back to working!
• fixing the ceiling fan that has shook loose from the motor arm to run it up and down
• Did I mention surviving the heat???  -- yes, 10 days into excessive heat and I was ready to brave the snow in Colorado!!
• spending a few hours trying to track down a lighting issue that blows the fuse when you turn on that particular bank of lights -- which are the night lights --- still haven't tracked that one down.
• looking under the RV and seeing fluid which Darrel thought was either water or sewer but it turned out to be hydraulic fluid which means tracking down a leak (hoping it is loose connector but figuring it will be a split hose or in some place we cannot get to easily --- which is already difficult because it is under the RV and Darrel will need to be on his hurting back under the RV!?!?!?!
• Oh, and trying to do all of this with Darrel's back hurting and he can barely move?!?!?!?
• going to the dentist and chiropractor (for Darrel's back and had a gum bothering him) -- which means a drive into Peoria, AZ -- near Surprise to the offices and spending a day shopping.
• Did I mention surviving the heat???? Yes, I believe I have mentioned it 3 times -- next year I will not repeat returning to AZ with such high temps
• ......I am sure there are more tasks like, cleaning the RV from traveling, emptying out all that we haul to Colorado, reorganizing the shed (since everything was packed in there), paying bills, catching up with North Ranch residents, etc.

I think we are finally settling in --- and maybe can see the light at the end of the tunnel -- still many things to fix but will deal with them one by one.

While out driving the UTV we noticed smoke and behind us near a town call Crown King is the "Horse wildfire" which is quite a ways away but still can see and smell the smoke.

It was blowing towards Phoenix and we only got a slight smell.

And after talking to Darrel's brother in Colorado (which we had wildfires there as well but not near us) he sent a really scary looking photo of their skies from the Cameron fire still burning and threatening lots of home and buildings.

He deals with lots of smoke and ashes to clean up on their porch, deck and driveway.  I guess we are lucky that ours is not so intense and a further distance away.

Guess that is all I know -- we are safe and sound, staying healthy and hopefully will be visiting family in the Midwest soon --

Sending blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel

PS  Send rain and cool -- the temps are dropping this week which is better but we NEED RAIN!!!!

Leaving Colorado 2020

 Hello Family & Friends,

This mostly likely will be my last post from Colorado 2020 -- we are packing up over the next 3 days and pull out early on Oct. 1.  I will miss Colorado but know the nights are getting chillier and there will be more snow.  One snow event this year was enough for me!

We have been out and about enjoying the Aspen color changes and the warm sun filled days -- we took a drive up to Summitville and have been out prospecting in the streams along Embargo (not doing so well with the prospecting : (  A few days of metal detecting and I can honestly say that Darrel is cleaning up the forest of metal junk -- shells, lead bullets and his latest find was a utility knife??

So enjoy the pics of the last few days in Colorado!

There are so many ways to view the Aspens colors, from the roads and from the mountain peaks --- I love the "batches" of Aspens that are nestled among the Pines.

We had beautiful blue skies and the clouds reminded me of Kansas -- all puffy and big!

Caught this valley on the way up to Groundhog park -- hard to give it just with my little Canon camera.

Each day they have grown in size -- the patches of Aspens.

This was taken from a high up vantage point -- again, my little Canon camera doesn't do it justice!

Tried to get a shot of the Aspens in the background with me in the foreground -- not so great, but you can see the distance of how far below we were.

Along the road of Aspens to Summitville -- tried to get Darrel's long arm to get the trees in the background -- we were goofing off and enjoying the day!

On the way to Seitz, we happened across a hawk on the fencepost -- I asked him to turn my way and he flew off, can you image that??

So thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the journeys/adventures we had this year in Colorado!

Sending blessings from the road and love and hugs,

Susan & Darrel

Catching You Up!

 Hello Family & Friends,

I cannot believe that we have just 10 days left before we head back to Arizona.  We took a trip to Darrel's brother's house (just north of Denver) and the only pictures I took was of Collegiate Peaks with all the snow on them.  It was beautiful and I've decided that pictures just don't do it justice, but then, when does it?

I kept trying to get a picture without traffic on the road, but it wasn't going to happen!

This one had a motorhome driving through 😆

The morning was chilly, we left South Fork with 41 degrees but the weather was much warmer north of Denver and we drove into upper 70's and mid-80's by the time we arrived.  We had a nice visit, the time always flies and we headed home on Thursday.

Over the weekend we took a drive up the mountain roads to see what shape they were in after the snowmelt.  Things are pretty dry on the surface but there is moisture under the ground.  Darrel was trying out a new pair of headphones on the metal detector but our finds included lead bullets, bullet jackets, rusty wire, and an utility knife so rusted you wouldn't have recognized it!  But at least he is finding metal!

On the way down the mountain in fact only about 4 or 5 miles from the RV park, Darrel spotted a herd of deer and we watched them for about 5 minutes -- they definitely knew we were there.  I couldn't decide which ones I liked the best, so I've included them all.

Mr. Buck was definitely a young man and he was herding the women and children up the hill.

Boy, don't they really blend?

Our last pic before they were gone from sight.

Sunday we went in search of Aspens --- to see if they were going to change color this year.  I think maybe?  We spotted a few and I hope we see more in the next 10 days.

Will try to see how well they do along Willow creek later this week.  We have the perfect temps, warming in the days, and chilly nights -- it should do the trick, especially after the snow moisture.

Better run, will try to get at least 1 or 2 more posts in before we travel (but don't hold me to it).

Sending blessings (and lots of love) from the road,

Susan & Darrel

Snow is Mostly Gone!

 Hello Family & Friends,

Well we survived the snow event -- about 12" I am guessing.  The weather never seems to report snow fall or rain totals, so I guess that is harder information to get.  You be the judge of it by the pics in this post.

These pictures are from Tuesday, Sept. 8 when it was just starting to fall.

Outside my front door!

Picnic table just starting to get accumulation.

We had logs by the table for the fireplace and was using them as our measuring tool.

OK, this is probably 1.5 later from the earlier pictures.  I'm guessing about an inch an hour?

It finally quit on Wed. with a few flurries throughout the day and a few on Thursday.

Here's the picnic table, you decide about the amount???

These are the trees behind our site, we could hear them cracking all night long.

Here's some of the tree damage after the snow was gone -- you cannot believe the amount of tree limbs, bushes, etc. that came down from that wet snow.

I can see this mountain peak out my front door.

We had such white, pluffy clouds on Saturday -- you can see the snow is gone from the rig next door.

This one is a little toward South Fork and is lower in elevation -- it was a beautiful sight to see.

On Saturday we took a drive up to Radio Tower to check out the road conditions -- the snow was mostly gone but we had some nice views of the snow covered mountain peaks.

We are much higher up and looking toward the East -- the snow amounts varied widely in the area.  We got a lot more than Creede but I think Wolf Creek Pass got just about what Monarch Pass got.

As we headed up the road to Radio Tower -- Darrel caught our Antelope herd hanging out in a meadow -- not quite as close as we were to them when we came down Embargo along the road, but I bet it was the same herd.

Look real close and you can see them in the background.

I finally tracked down the pictures of our resident bear -- you can see him climbing the tree to the right.  We were all gawking and I didn't have my camera by a nice lady sent me hers.

You can just see his nose peaking out of the crotch of the tree, I think he was trying to nap and wished all of us would leave him alone.

So we survived the snow and it was kind of beautiful.  We stayed pretty toasty, not water issues and the furnace worked (knock on wood) -- I am glad we are back to September "normal" fall weather -- with highs in the upper 60's/low 70's and 45 at night.

We are closing in on 2 weeks before we leave -- will try to get another post up next week and then after than probably not until we get to Arizona.

Sending blessings from the road,

Snow Trekkers, Susan & Darrel

September Weather Update

 Hello Family & Friends,

We went from a balmy 79 degrees on Labor Day to a 45 degrees as our high on Tuesday -- also on tap is rain, thunder and lightning, hail and grapple (slushy rain) with the crowning glory being snowfall -- and up to 2 feet.

I added this link that I tried to text to a few people that was a highlighted weather story on the Weather Channel.

Colorado Weather forecast

(It make take a couple of minutes for the video to load depending on your Internet speed)

I hope it plays for you -- I was trying to figure out what was going to happen and at the very end of the weather clip, they mention the town of South Fork ---- usually you cannot hear the town you are in when they give the forecast and I now wish they had skipped over South Fork!

Will update and send pictures as the weather develops.  I am still holding out that they have it WRONG!

Sending Wintery blessings from the slick Colorado roads,

Susan & Darrel

PS  Needless to say, we are staying close to the RV!

September This & That

 Hello Family & Friends,

I am trying to catch up on our journeys because we have 3 weeks before we leave Colorado -- and we have expected snowfall of 11" coming Tuesday - Wednesday morning (hopefully, it is happens, I will get some pictures to show you the proof).

I have a few photos from the first week of September that I just wanted to share --- enjoy!

As we travel I pick out pictures that I imagine might be a perfect Christmas Tree for us!

This one?

Or this one?

How about this big guy?

Or maybe this one?

This one was in the shade but the shape was pretty perfect.

I will keep adding my Christmas Tree pics because there are just so many I could take home with me.

And now for the last 2 pics -- clouds and mountains, what more can I say?

Take care and send prayers for us to keep warm during the cold spell -- doesn't appear to be lasting long with temperatures back into the upper 60's by the end of the week.

Check back for the snowfall event or non-event if the weather guys have it wrong!

Sending blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel