I about killed Kim this morning. We went for a walk along side of the Uncompahgre river when a rain storm came over the mountain. You can’t see it coming because we are in a box canyon. Anyway, we started walking faster and faster to out run the rain but realized Kim was walking slower and slower. Kim did not want to talk about it when I ask how she was doing. I started a video but she wanted no part in it.
She is fine now and smiling again.
The day was outstanding. We headed over to Montrose, CO. Stopped at Walmart and then had lunch in the RV. We then headed to our final destination of Ouray RV Park & Cabins. The beautiful drive over reminded me why we wanted to spend more time here. Just amazing views! We met some of the other workampers and both of the owners. Super laid back! We get three days to get use to the campground and get set up before we are placed on the schedule. We took a ride into Ouray for about an hour and now we are settling in for the night. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us!
Our home away from home !
This is downtown Ouray!
We made it to Montrose for a quick stop at Walmart. We took a little time and had a sandwich for lunch. Now we are about to take off on the last leg of our journey to Ouray, Colorado. I’m not sure if these are butterflies I’m feeling or if my PB&J is swirling around in there! I’m sure it’s butterflies. Haven’t felt those since Jeff and I first started dating. It’s been 8 days since we left and we have had a blast so far. Nothing but high hopes for the next few months!!
Til we blog again!
Today was a fun day. We took a ride over to Lake City, CO. Talk about a beautiful ride! It was incredible. I know I always say that, but it’s the truth. Most rides out here are just incredible. We had to go over a mountain at over 9000 ft
elevation and then back down a bit before we got to the little mining town. We did have lunch at the Cannibal Grill and Saloon. 
We met a couple from Slovakia who own the restaurant (her pic is above) and the Cannibal Cabins. They met in Panama City Beach, fell in love, got married and opened a business in the sleepy little town. There’s a story about Alfred Griner Packer and how he and five others were trying to make their way through the Rocky Mtns. Chief Ute from Ouray warned them not to leave because the storm was so intense. But they ignored his advice and left anyway. Packer was accused of eating the four others. He was sentenced to 40 years but the sentence was overturned by the CO Supreme Court. I took a picture of the story, actually it’s recorded history. If you would like to read it, it’s in the pics.
After lunch Jeff and I boxed up the rest of our veggie pizza and began driving around town checking things out. As I was looking at one of the homes I noticed that right there in front of our eyes was a BEAR! Yes a bear in the yard right by the home. We began to follow it and I made a video which I’ll post. We are convinced that the bear smelled the pizza. Anyway we weren’t mauled or anything, but I think I’ll get two cans of bear spray for our hikes. We couldn’t believe it was right in town. I’m sure we will see a lot of that this summer, hopefully at a distance.
Tomorrow is our big day to head less than 100 miles to our final destination Ouray, CO!! Super excited and I’ll blog all about it later I’m sure. 
The drive today from Coaldale, CO to Gunnison, CO was INCREDIBLE!! The pictures can never do it justice. We finally saw substantial snow on the top of the mountains and we passed over the mountain top and it wasn’t on the road of course, but it was on the sides of the road. We made it to over 11,312 feet when crossing Monarch Pass. Now that was FUN! Once again, kudos to Chauffeur Jeff. Up and down the mountains with no issues.
We are staying in Elk Creek Campground in Curecanti National Recreation Area about 15 miles west of Gunnison, CO. Elk Creek Campground is right beside Blue Mesa Reservoir (we can see it from Ole Blue). This is an artificial reservoir on the upper reaches of the Gunnison River. It’s the 2nd largest reservoir in Colorado….meaning it’s just huge. Blue Mesa Reservoir is 20 miles long and 9180 acres and 96 miles of shoreline. The surface of the lake is at an elevation of 7518 feet. It’s a very popular lake for boating, fishing, horseback riding. In the winter, it’s popular for ice fishing. There are so many boats and fishermen here. Jeff looked it up and the bulk of the fish in it are rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout and sock eye salmon.
We also took an afternoon drive to Crested Butte. Crested Butte is at about 9,000 ft elevation and there is so much lodging there. It’s dead right now because there’s no snow, but in season I can see where it would be packed based on all of the lodging. Cyclists enjoy the summer there. There’s no way in the world that I could ride a bike at that elevation or tackle some of the areas around Crested Butte. I have a hard enough time at Hibiscus by the Bay parking lot.
On the bright side, we bought a few Powerball tickets, so hopefully we can buy a mansion and fly all of you out to see us this summer. Fingers Crossed.
I will upload the pictures when I can get to WIFI. They are incredible!!
Today was a lazy day for us. We took a trip into Salida and I FINALLY found a Nail Shop. Whew!!!! It was relaxing and she did a great job. We found a store that has everything. Murdoch’s Ranch and Home Supply. If you ever pass by one, I suggest going in and giving it a shot. They carry everything. We then had lunch at the Lost Cajun restaurant. Veggie Gumbo and Fried Okra, and it was yummy! The restaurant was clean and the people were friendly. I would give it a 5 star review online. I took some pictures on the drive back to the campground which is about 30 miles out of town. I took a little nap just to rest my eyes (about 2 hours) and we washed some clothes this afternoon. I’m including a picture of our washer/dryer combo. We were just sitting here talking and all of the sudden water in the sink started bubbling. We have washed three loads and Jeff ran outside to dump the water so we weren’t wading in it. Too funny. We have a cloud on the other side of the mountain now, but we think it’s going the other way. It’s hard to tell. A hike is in our near future this afternoon, just making sure the the storm isn’t headed our way. I’m hoping the video from the ride back will upload. We had two motorcycles in front of us and Dale Jr., AKA “Jeff” was doing a fine job getting back to the RV. I’ll have to add it later when I have WiFi. It won’t upload now.
Loving life here just outside of Salida! Wouldn’t trade this trip for anything. We are only 3 hours away from Ouray, and we will pack up and move a little closer to our new home tomorrow. 
Until we blog again!
We have a new name for the RV. Jeff came up with it since Barney on Andy Griffith named a dog he once found “Blue”. So now the big blue bus is “Ole Blue”, our 1 bedroom 1 1/2 bath home away from home. We have all of the room we need and it’s less to clean. When we get to Ouray we will turn the driver and passenger seats around for more seating.
I’m sharing the inside pictures for those of you that haven’t seen it yet. We have yet to put the touches from home up. Of course I brought pictures, but I may have to sit them on the dash. It’s absolutely perfect to us!
We left Angel Fire about 8:45 am and rolled into the concrete campground at Walmart in Alamosa, CO about 11:30 am. Along the drive after Taos, NM we went past Earthship Biotech. The name Earthship Biotech kind of freaked me out and since its right in the middle of thousands of acres of prairie land it was just downright strange. There are unique shaped homes with the majority of the home being underground. You can’t miss it the pictures. It was so random in such a desolate area that I couldn’t help but hit the ‘ole Google. Had we known you could take tours we probably would have signed up. Please check it out https://www.earthshipglobal.com/.
We had four elk in our backyard in AF last night and today on the drive we saw alpaca, big horn sheep, elk and hundreds of nasty prairie dogs. They are digging up NM and CO and apparently they carry disease and just nastiness. Our friends from AF said they never miss an opportunity to hit one. Literally, they are everywhere.
I’ve included some pics from Taos, NM which is a neat little artsy town with adobe architecture that I thought people would find interesting. We have a GoPro video and Jeff and I will try to figure out how to upload it to You Tube. We are going to create a link to upload all of our pics too, the good the bad and the ugly! This blog just doesn’t support the number of pictures we are taking. Had I been traveling without the big blue bus, I would have stopped and stayed a while.
After arriving in Alamosa (the blue and white water tower with the mountains in the background was taken there), we took a drive over to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Truly an amazing site, as they are the tallest sand dunes in North America over 750 feet tall and covering 30 square miles. The fact that sand collects in that area at the base of the Sangre de Christo Mountains is phenomenal. We walked about a mile up the dunes and a mile back down because after all, what comes up must come down. We were shoe deep in the sand at times and our skin was being exfoliated the majority of the way. I kept trying to figure out where the helicopter was going to land if I passed out. It was an experience of a lifetime to say the least and the pictures do not do it justice. It is much larger than the pictures show. It’s nature at it’s best.
I am also convinced that there are no nail shops in the states of New Mexico and Colorado. I have been looking for one for about 500 miles. NOTHING! All I want is a simple pedi people! Forget the pedicure, we just want some veggies. I asked two middle aged customer service reps in Walmart in Alamosa if there were any restaurants with vegetables in town. One said.. IHOP! Are eggs and pancakes veggies??? I told her I was looking for like a Golden Corral and I swear she has never heard of it. She looked at me like I had three heads. Then she said they have nothing like that and all they have is Mexican and Chinese Restaurants. We went for Mexican. After all, when in Colorado..eat as the Mexicans do. (????) We thought for sure there would be vegetables somewhere in town. However, they were only in the veg and fruit section in Walmart (for me to cook). We are settling with Veggie Chips… a wholesome snack. It does contain spinach.
We were going to rest in Alamosa tonight, but we decided to take off since we still had some daylight. We are staying at Big Horn RV Park in Coaldale, CO. Our plan is to stay two days then venture North. Who knows…if we like the area we may stay another night. It sure is nice having no calendar of events to keep up with. Our schedules are clear until next week. We went on a hike as soon as we got to the RV park because the scenery is sooo nice. The RV Park is right by a fast running stream and the horses and a deer were across the road. Super nice owner and we have an awesome site for the RV. One of the best. We are sitting here now with the windows up. The lows are in the 40’s, so I don’t think we will run the AC tonight.
The best news of the trip is that finally my brain has started to rest. For those that know me, I am always thinking of work or keeping my mind preoccupied with work scenarios, etc. Being a pilot Jeff always has a way of turning it off when he comes home. Yesterday, as I sat outside and closed my eyes and enjoyed the bird chatter it was so relaxing and I just turned it all off. I was at peace for the first time in a long time. Thinking about nothing but the adventure ahead! We are so blessed to be able to have this opportunity to be together and enjoy each other’s company (while we still get along and are physically able..lol). We have been together since 2010 and he proposed to me on this day (May 17, 2013) on a balcony at Hibiscus! So today we are celebrating our 5 year engagement anniversary. I guess that’s why I am getting so sappy! Our goal is to enjoy the summer, hike daily, get in better physical condition (so we can keep up with Bill and Cheryl our hiking buddies) and continue our vegetarian lifestyle!
Live simply! No stress!
Jeeping & Rving 