Our drive from Page AZ to Durango CO was all on 2 lane road and continually uphill. Thankfully our slide did stay in but our truck threw a code again, again no power loss or any retardation of speed. As we entered CO we saw the Rockies in the distance, they were snow covered. We arrived at Alpen Rose RV Park mid afternoon, found directions to our site and started settling in. Alpen Rose has 2 sections, the older 30amp treed section behind the office and buildings, then there is the 50amp section which has regular, premium and big rig sites. We are in a regular pull thru site, we share the yard with our neighbors, we've set up on the part where the tree is. There's a small planting garden around the tree :) The park is located on the north side of Durango, across the street is the Durango Silverton Railroad Line. The train will be by 6 times a day, 3 up and 3 back.
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| site 93 |
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| view out the back window |
Being the slow season the office hours are split, 8-12 then 3-5, when the office reopened we headed over to introduce ourselves to Joan and Bob who have been managers here for 17 years. The office has been slammed with reservation requests, with Joan being the only one in the office she was thankful we were here so early. We arrived on a Wednesday and offered to start work on Friday. I've been getting reacquainted with Campgro-und Master and Dave has been learning about the mechanics of the park. By month's end we are open 8-12 and 1-5, still need a few more couples to work the office and maintenance, hopefully those who are suppose to show do so. By the end of the month we had 3 couple doing what we do, need 3 more.
We are on a 2 on 4 off schedule, on our days off we are trying to learn the area.
We've taken a ride up to Silverton, another 2500'+ higher in elevation than Durango. Too cold to do much more than take in the beauty as we rode in our warm truck.
Not too much going on in Silverton yet, deserted streets and closed businesses, soon though the place will be jumping.
The Animas River runs through Durango, there is the Animas River Walk Trail which is over 7 miles from end to end. Every rotation off we've been doing segments of it to help acclimate ourselves to the elevation. One day we started at the north end then walked about 3.5 miles south, turned around and walked back to the truck, another day we picked the trail up where we had stopped and continued it to the end and then back to the truck. Then there was the day we biked the whole thing. All in all I did better than I thought I would and only had to get off once on the steepest incline. Nice to work some different muscles once in awhile.
Once it dried up we tried a few hikes the first being Falls Creek Loop Trail which was much nicer than walking around the campground. If you do the exterior roads in the campground and loop around it's only 1/4 mile, will take a lot of laps to make up my daily 7 miles that I'm not getting. Not a lot of scenery on the trail but it was nice just the same. There is a longer loop off of this trail that we'll try another time.
Once it dried up we tried a few hikes the first being Falls Creek Loop Trail which was much nicer than walking around the campground. If you do the exterior roads in the campground and loop around it's only 1/4 mile, will take a lot of laps to make up my daily 7 miles that I'm not getting. Not a lot of scenery on the trail but it was nice just the same. There is a longer loop off of this trail that we'll try another time.
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| We interrupted this robin's bath |
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| Didn't see one snake in the desert but here in CO on the trail we finally did |
We've started to check out the local breweries and eateries. Our first afternoon in town we ended up at Carver Brewing where Dave enjoyed a flight and I enjoyed their root beer.
We did try Animas Brewery but Dave didn't care for their beers so we won't be going back. They don't make their own root beer so another strike for them.
We've been to Steamworks Brewery, the food was good and Dave enjoyed most of the beers. Good food and draft root beer for me, a great way to end a walking tour of Durango. For Dave he likes Carver Brewing best, I know where we'll be returning to soon.
We've been to Steamworks Brewery, the food was good and Dave enjoyed most of the beers. Good food and draft root beer for me, a great way to end a walking tour of Durango. For Dave he likes Carver Brewing best, I know where we'll be returning to soon.
We headed out one evening for Chinese, we tried the Mongolian Grill where the food was good but the service was lacking. We might give them another try, though there is another Chinese place that gets good reviews. We went to Fiesta Mexican for my birthday, on the 25th. Having had some great Mexican between AZ and TX we found Fiesta to be lacking in flavor, we'll try another Mexican place next time.
Dave got a chance to look at the slide motor, he appeared to have found the problem and has fixed it :)
We've tried all the grocery stores, miss my Fry's and HEB :(
April flew by and before we knew it we'd been here a month. In May we head to Colorado Springs to see our son Tom. The park will be getting busier as the days go by, at the end of the month we have 2 rallies going on in the park, it's going to get crazy.
I've been working on our reservations for next winter and getting our travel plans in order. We will leave Port Aransas TX on 2/1/19 and arrive in Johnson VT on 5/23/19, by way of FL. I've made lots of reservations but still more to go.
The crab apples have started blooming, the grass is getting green but there's still snow in the mountains.
April flew by and before we knew it we'd been here a month. In May we head to Colorado Springs to see our son Tom. The park will be getting busier as the days go by, at the end of the month we have 2 rallies going on in the park, it's going to get crazy.
I've been working on our reservations for next winter and getting our travel plans in order. We will leave Port Aransas TX on 2/1/19 and arrive in Johnson VT on 5/23/19, by way of FL. I've made lots of reservations but still more to go.
Port Aransas TX to Johnson VT 2/1/2019-5/23/2019
1) Spring
Creek Park Tomball TX 2/1/19 for 3 nights
2)
Martin Dies JR State Park Jasper TX 2/4/19
for 3 nights reserved
3)
Poche’s RV Park Beaux
Bridge LA 2/7/19 for 3 nights
reserved
reserved
4)
Buccaneer State Park Waveland MS 2/10/19
for 4 nights
reserved
reserved
5)
Meaher State Park Spanish Fort AL 2/14/19 for 7 nights
reserved
reserved
6) Topsail Hill State Park Santa Rosa FL 2/21/19
for 4 nights
reserved
reserved
7)
Eastbank COE Bainbridge
GA 2/25/19 for 2 nights
8)
Quigley’s Citrus
Springs FL 2/27/19 for 4 nights
9) Hillsborough River State Park Thonotosassa FL 3/3/19 for 5 nights
reserved
reserved
10)
Ortona South COE Moore
Haven FL 3/8/19 for 6 nights
11)
Easterlin Park Campground Oakland Park FL 3/14/19
for 4 nights
reserved
reserved
12)
Bill Frederick Park-Turkey Lake Orlando FL 3/18/19
for 5 nights
reserved
reserved
13)
Quigley’s itrus
Springs FL 3/27/19 for 4 nights
14)
Reed Bingham State Park Adel GA 3/31/19 for 3 nights
reserved
reserved
15)
Moduc COE Moduc
SC 4/3/19 for 3
nights
16)
Cheraw State Park Cheraw SC 4/6/19
for 3 nights reserved
17)
Farm County Campground Williamston NC 4/9/19
for 1 night
18)
Oregon Inlet Nags
Head NC 4/10/19 for 7
nights
19)
Falls Lake SRA/Holly Point Wake Forest NC 4/17/19 for 3 nights
20)
Stone Mountain State Park Roaring Gap NC 4/20/19
for 2 nights
21) West Virginia Fair Grounds Fairlea WV 4/22/19
for 3 nights
22) Natural Chimneys Regional Park Mount Solon MD 4/25/19
for 3 nights
23)
Cherry Hill Park College
Park MD 4/28/19 for 7 nights
reserved
reserved
24)
Lums Pond State Park Bear DE 5/5/19
for 3 nights
25) Old Cedar Campground Monroeville NJ 5/8/19 for 1 nights
26)
Sylvan Lake Beach Park Beekman NY 5/9/19
for 4 nights
27) Grandview Campresort Moodus CT 5/13/19 for 4 nights
28)
Fisherman’s State Park Narragansett RI 5/17/19
for 5 nights
29)
Travelers Woods Bernardston
MA 5/22/19 for 1 night
30)
Maplewoods Campground Johnson VT 5/23/19-6/20/19 reserved
4515 miles and 114 nights-let us know if you'll be nearby
The crab apples have started blooming, the grass is getting green but there's still snow in the mountains.
Until next time....
