Mesa Verde National Park

Yep, you guessed it, we went to Mesa Verde National Park today. Once again, great scenery.


We paid for a ranger guided tour of Balcony House. It was the best $3 tour I've ever taken. In order to get in and out of the site, we have to climb a 3 story ladder, climb through some tunnels, and then exit via a staircase carved from the cliffside.



This photo is of Cliff House. Notice the people at the site and the people at the upper left on ontop of the cliff. It gives a little perspective to the photo.



One more day in Durango.

Durango Mountain Resort and Silverton, CO

Today Mike and I drove out to the Durango Mountain Resort (Purgatory ski area)to check out the summer activities. We went down the Alpine Slide, which was a lot of fun. By the time we got there, the afternoon thunderstorms were starting to form and we could only take one run on the slide before they suspended the chair lift. We may go back later and try riding their "original mountain scooter" called a Diggler. It looks like a heavy duty scooter with shocks. They have one trail for it and it's all downhill. Yeah!



After the alpine slide, we headed over to Silverton, CO. A very cute little tourist town. A local I met told me the population year round is about 450. The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad runs to and from here so there are a lot of tourists. We also saw a lot of jeep/off-roading enthusiasts. By the time we left, the clouds were turning dark, the wind picked up, and we noticed some thunder and lightning. The temp was 58 degrees according to the jeep. On the way back, explored a dirt road so Mike could get his little piece of off-roading. As for wildlife, we saw a marmot who lived under the alpine slide, a young elk, and a lot of little ground-squirrels.

Durango, CO

We made it into Durango around 7pm last night, just in time for dinner and a beer. As we drove into the main street area, we noticed part of the street was blocked off and a band was playing. Apparently it is Fiesta Days this weekend, which is a rodeo event. The band was playing and we had just missed the pie auction, dang! We had some really good pizza and some local beer. Delicious!

Mike is getting some work done today. We're going to go explore the downtown area later in the day. It is about 76 degrees outside and breezy. Talk about a big change from a few days ago.

We're going to hit Mesa Verde National Park and do some mountain biking at Purgatory Ski area later this weekend. It should be fun!

On the way to Durango, CO

This morning we left Elephant Butte, NM and headed north towards Durango, CO. Yesterday, after leaving Balmorhea, we noticed that the Even Brake, an assisted braking system for the Jeep when it is being towed, was not working properly. This is our second Even Brake. The first one broke during the drive from Alabama. We stopped in Albuquerque at Camping World to exchange it. The customer service person was so slow that it took almost 2 hours to complete this relatively simple process. UGHHH!

We hit a little thunderstorm after leaving Albuquerque. The scenery was beautiful. We crossed the continental divide at about 7380 feet above sea level. The motorhome did great with the long, slow climb. Unfortunatly, our average gas mileage did not do so well. When we stopped to fill gas, the price was $3.14!!!!!!
We will be at a KOA in Durango until Monday.

Elephant Butte, NM

Last night we went to McDonald Observatory and saw some far off stars and galaxies. It was very cool! Got back to the RV around 2am so we slept in this morning. Mike is finishing up some work before we pack up and head to Elephant Butte, NM where we will stay overnight. Elephant Butte Lake is the largest lake in New Mexico, just FYI.

The photo is some scenery on the drive out to the observatory. Even though it looked a little cloudy, the night was clear and the stars were amazing!

San Solomon Springs

We snorkeled all over the spring-fed pool. It was really neat! Tons of little fish and catfish. Here are a few photos. I will definitely be back some time.

Balmorhea State Park

This morning we headed west on I-10 and made it to Balmorhea State Park in the late afternoon. I even drove for a few hours! I don't know, I still haven't quite got the hang of it, I had to drive a little slower than Mike but I stayed in my lane and we made it.

If you have ever been through west Texas, you know that there isn't much out here. We stopped to fill gas at some little gas station in the middle of nowhere and we paid $3.24/gallon!

Balmorhea State Park is known for "the world's largest spring-fed swimming pool- that cover 1.75 acres and stays at 76-78 degrees year round". It felt awesome yesterday afternoon after spending time in the desert heat. It's really clear and up to 25 feet in some spots. We're going to stay tomorrow and swim some more. The high temp is supposed to be around 100 degrees. In the evening, we are going to drive to the McDonald Observatory (one of the world's leading centers for astronomical research) for a "special viewing party" on the 36 inch telescope. Now, it's not the 82 inch or the 107 inch, but I think it's going to be fantastic! Hope the clear skies hold out!

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/parkguide/rgn_bb_004.phtml
http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/

Almost ready to go

The motorhome was back in the shop yesterday. Almost everything is fixed. The driver door panel was cracked and a new one was ordered. When it arrived, the new door was in worse condition than the one we already have. I guess it was damaged in shipping. So rather than waiting around another week, they are going to order us another one and hold it until we are back around this way. That means we will be free to leave on our trip as early as Monday morning (after the service center opens.)

We are visiting family again this weekend and trying to tie up a few loose ends before we head out west. I guess I need to plot some kind of course this weekend. At least for the first few days of our trip.

Alignment

We are still in Boerne waiting for parts to arrive. I made it back from Chicago Sunday night. Steve went to a conference during the days and mom and I shopped and saw the sights. We had a great time! I was worn out and ready to come home by Sunday. There were a million people everywhere. Traffic was bumper to bumper even on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. While I was gone, Mike visited with his Dad and went to the lake.

This morning we got up bright and early so that we could take the RV to an alignment shop on the other side of San Antonio. We were going to leave before rush hour but weren’t able to because we were locked onto the dealership lot until 7am. This was our first drive in the RV after the popping noise had been fixed and Mike said it drove great. I am so glad! We got the alignment checked and the shop adjusted the track bar for us. They did a nice job and it was reasonably priced too.

After checking email and posting this note, we’re going to the Guadalupe river to hang out and splash around. At noon, I saw a sign on the I-10 stating it was 100 degrees outside. This evening, more laundry awaits us. At least the “camping” is free while we’re stuck at the dealership.

Awaiting parts

We'll be in San Antonio for at least another week and a half waiting for parts. The upside is we're close to family and don't have to pay for our camping spot. The down side is our trip that it delays our trip. At least we'll have time to finish the last details of our entertainment center. Also, the butterflies are making a migration through the area, I think, because there are lots of them everywhere! It's a pretty site.

Killing time

More killing time…blah. Went down to the Guadalupe river this afternoon and spashed around in the water. Mike and I tried to make arrowheads out of the flint rocks. Ha!

We are spending the night in the RV tonight. Instead of in the “campground”, they plugged us in outside of the work bay so the RV is here ready for them to continue tomorrow. We only have 30amp power and if we trip the breaker, we can’t get inside to flip it back. So we would lose our power for the night. We are being very careful with power consumption tonight.

Tomorrow I am leaving for a trip to Chicago with my mom. We will be there over the weekend. Mike will be left to deal with the motorhome. I will not be able to post while I’m gone due to lack of computer.

Motorhome in the shop

Mike and I killed time today while the MH was in the shop. My aunt and cousin met us in San Antonio for lunch. I spent some of my birthday money from Mike’s relatives on a Manicure and Pedicure. Love those spa treatments.

The MH would need a few more days at the shop so we picked up the internet satellite and TV satellite adapter and went back over to my sisters. I have been looking on the RV.net forum for information on different routes people have taken and problem road conditions. There are posts on some of the areas we will be driving through. It seems like a great resource.

San Antonio

We broke camp again today. I don’t think we were any quicker. Mike drove the MH to a dealer outside of San Antonio so we could get the noisy spring replaced. Plus, we had a list of other little things that needed to be addressed. Such as a bedroom slide that doesn’t seal all the way. When we stopped outside of Dallas in the WalMart, we ran the generator. In the middle of the night we realized that our carbon monoxide level getting moderately high.

We arrived at the dealership, parked in the “campground” and plugged in the coach so that it could be worked on the next morning. Then we headed over to my sisters for the night. She just moved into a brand new house.

Catch-up

Well, my goal was to write one blog entry each day once we got on the road and I have fallen really far behind. The first few days of driving, I didn’t have internet access. I jotted down notes so that I could go back and create an entry for that day later. But now, I have fallen 8 days behind. It just takes too long to catch up. So today I’m going to sum up the last 8 days. Short and sweet. Mostly for my own memory later.

The first whole week we shot fireworks.

July 2- went to my family reunion. Later we met up with an electrician to quote a price for converting 30amp service to 50 amp service at my mom’s property.

July 3- Found out that the electrician’s quote was 3x as much as we thought it would be. Visited family. Went to Fuzzy’s corner for a beer.

July4- Spent the afternoon on a pontoon boat on the lake. Dinner with Mike’s family at The Farmhouse.

July 5- The Washer/Dryer is finally fixed

July 6- Sat out by the lake. Mike caught me a turtle. Dinner at the Bluebonnet café with Mike’s grandma.

July 7- Left The Edgewater. Packing up camp took 2x as long as we thought it would. Went to Fred town.

July 8- LBJ state park. Pool in the afternoon.

July 9- Live music. Dinner with my dad.

Family Reunion #1

Mike's family reunion was today. It was nice to meet new people and visit with the one's we haven't seen in awhile. Here is a photo with some of our family at the RV for a cook-out after the family reunion. Mike's dad brought us our first delivery of mail and our new Even Brake. Hopefully it works longer than the last one.

Mike and Phillip set up the satellite internet last night so now we have consistent internet access. Yeah! We had our first real rain while in the RV this afternoon. The satellite was still standing so that's a good sign. Some of Phillips family came over for a cook-out. We shot a few fireworks and had a nice time. I tried to do some laundry tonight and couldn't get the washer/dryer combo to work. We used it once in Huntsville and everything worked fine. I'm afraid we knocked something loose during the bumpy part of the drive here. We are going to call the service center on Monday, if their open during the holiday weekend.