Jiggling......Again With The Jello

June 1-17, 2018

On June 1st we got out for our next hike. Just 1/2 mile up the road behind Alpen Rose is an access point to the San Juan National Forest. We headed out to find the waterfall and trails, the trails we took are part of the trail system we hiked early on in our stay. 

As we were almost off the trail guest from the rv park were hiking up, they commented on the smoke behind us. This smoke would soon become the 416 Wildfire and would impact on our lives. They have not determined the cause of the fire. The Durango Silverton Railroad shut down indefinitely and they closed the San Juan Forest to all activities. 

On June 3rd our friends Mike & Liz arrived at Alpen Rose. We first met Mike & Liz on our AK caravan in 2016 and last saw them on the AL Gulf Coast in April 2017.

We had to work a few days so we left them to their own devices but once we were off it was time to get out on some jeep trails. Our first drive was in the Vallecito Lake area on Middle Road. Beautiful scenery in the Rocky Mountains.

Due to the 416 Fire the road north of Durango, US 550, is down to one lane (8am-6pm) and sometimes closes depending on winds and where the fire is. Any time the road is open pilot cars are mandatory, much of the area 5 miles north of us has been evacuated. We wanted to do the San Juan Scenic Byway, a 240 mile loop, so up and on the road so we can be some of the first through the fire area. Police pilot cars take 10 vehicles at a time, with enough escorts to take 50+ vehicles at a time. 

Conversation on the front porch every afternoon was about the fire, all the while managers are encouraging us to leave when we felt uncomfortable. There are more cancellations than reservations, the park's occupancy rate has dropped, the park is mainly made of workampers, evacuees and a few who came despite the fire. On June 9th mandatory evacuations are only a mile up the road, the smoke came into the valley in the evenings permeating the rv, ash would be on everything in the morning, smoke settled into the valley and remained until later in the day. A few days after the start of the fire we started doing some prep in case of evacuation, on the 9th we moved into full travel mode. On the 10th we let the managers know we were relocating 55 miles to the south and we'd keep an eye on the fire and head back when things cleared up. 

After 90 minute ride, along with Mike and Liz, we were settling at the San Juan County Fairgrounds-McGee Park in Farmington NM. 500 sites, $30/night 50amp and water, some sites are 30amp only, dump station on site, 24 hour security that was present. It worked well especially considering what was in the area. 

Our neighbor for our stay; we didn't see here as we were backing into our site but soon learned she was there. We all came to an understanding and we enjoyed checking on her from inside the rv. 

We did some tourist things while in Farmington. One day we took a ride to 4 Corners since Liz and Mike had never been there, we've been there a few times over the years.

2018 Mike & Liz

2004 Our son Tom

Took a jeep ride near Farmington looking for arches.

Tomorrow, Friday the 15th,  Mike & Liz head on and we will hang out here through Father's Day. We had a great time with Mike & Liz and look forward to more good times when we see them in FL this winter. 

We'll not only celebrate Father's Day but our 33rd wedding anniversary is the 15th and Dave's birthday is the 17th. Always a fun time of the year.

416 Fire Time Line Pictures 6/1-6/9

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To date no lives have been lost and no structures burned. Many thanks to the firefighters who worked tirelessly.

For a variety of reasons we've decided not to go back to Alpen Rose and to find a position somewhere else. We've put out inquiries at UT State Parks, Laramie County CO and COE IA where we saw they might be needing help. Meanwhile we've made reservations in UT to carry us through 4th of July. 

Until next time...

Enjoying Life in Colorado

May 1-31, 2018

5-5-2013 our first rolling home

May 1st was our 5 year full time rv'ing anniversary. As we look back over the last 5 years we feel so grateful to be living this wonderful lifestyle. We've visited so many beautiful places, tasted some awesome foods and beer in Dave's case, reconnected with friends and family, met so many great people and have made some amazing friendships in the RV community. We've towed over 45,000 miles and stayed at countless awesome places, there are still so many places to visit that we see no end in site of this lifestyle. A lifestyle that allows us to spend time in such beautiful places that we've only dreamed of visiting. Thanks to all of you who have made this such an amazing time in our lives. Absolutely NO REGRETS!!!

4-14-2018 our current rolling home

Speaking of amazing places, we are enjoying our time living in Durango for the summer. Since we are living here for the summer we are pacing ourselves in exploring the area. We have friends coming in June so we'll be doing a lot of the tourist things. Unfortunately my walking is suffering, on work days I don't move much, on off days if we're not hiking I sure don't feel like walking around the park 20+ times to get my 7 miles a day in. Averaging in between 4 and 5 miles a day, 

Our work days go be quickly, the early part of the month we were getting the park ready for the season, Memorail Day weekend we were hopping, a Newmar rally on the 31st, more rallies and caravans are scheduled every month. Before we know it October will be here. 

Workamping at Alpen Rose RV Park-Durango CO

We have 5 couples who cover the office and grounds and one local woman to help in the office. We work a 2 on 4 off schedule 8-5 with an hour off for lunch. There is another couple to cook breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, usually in around 6:30 and done about 10:30. There are usually 2 couples for breakfast duty and they rotate a 3 on 3 off schedule....anyone interested in helping out. There are 2 pizza cook couples, they take orders between 4 and 7:30, 3 on 3 off schedule. We receive our site-fhu-electric included, cable, wifi-great sometimes when the park isn't full, free propane, free laundry, free breakfast any day they are serving, discounted pizza and store items, pet wash once a week. So far this has been a great experience and we've been really happy with our decision to workamp here this summer. They stress customer service and do the best they can to accommodate everyone. Site numbers are not guaranteed here but they do their best to accommodate everyone's requests which can make for some challenging situations when you're trying to move folks around on Memorial Day weekend. With rallies coming up and the tourist season beginning it's going to get hopping, sure makes the work days go by quickly. We use the Campground Master program which is nice as it only took me a rotation and I was once again familiar with it. The other folks who work in the office this summer have had to learn the program, for awhile when I show up in the office on my day off, and the manager wasn't around, there would be a question or two for me, which in turn helped in my brushing up of the program. Dave spends the first part of his work day doing whatever maintenance needs to be done, by late morning the rv's start arriving he's off escorting folks to their site. He's gone through the park and repaired all the picnic tables, worked on cleaning the shop out and various other projects around the park as they arise. In Durango there is City Market (Kroger) and Albertsons for grocery stores, of course Walmart had a presence in Durango, along with Home Depot. We always talked about spending the summer in CO one day, that day has come and we're having a blast, two months down-it'll be October before we know it. 

Family Time

One of the perks of being in CO this summer is being sort of near our son Tom, COLO Springs is less than 6 hours away with some breathtaking scenery to go through on the way. Over Wolf Creek pass on US 160E to Del Norte and you have options on roads to take, all with in 30 minutes of each other. We will be trying them all over the course of the summer. We have decided not to pull the 5th wheel to COLO Springs this summer and instead use hotels. By the time you add it all up there's not much difference if we use something along La Quinta which so far has worked out. We found one that is less than 5 miles from Tom & Krystal's place, it's also convenient to my brother's home. 

On our first rotation off in May we headed to COLO Springs to see Tom & Krystal, we planned our visit to maximize their time off. After checking into the La Quinta on Garden of the Gods road we headed over to Tom & Krystal's place where we planned out our next few days. Over the course of the next few days we'd share meals, scenic drives, hikes and family time with them. Thanks again Tom for a wonderful belated Chinese birthday dinner and Krystal thanks for breakfast at the fantastic egg place. 

We all decided Breckenridge would be our destination on the one day both Tom and Krystal were off. The town is between seasons and it was relatively easy to get around but I'm sure at times bringing the dually downtown would be crazy. We enjoyed Saphire Point Overlook Trail a short .6 mile trail with some great views down into Breckenridge and Dillion Reservoir. 

We then tried to hike the Spruce Creek Trail which connected with a few other trails to make a nice loop. After sinking into snow up to the knees one too many times we called it a day and headed back to COLO Springs. 

Alvin-our granddog

Tom checking out a shelter...just in case

Another day we kept it a little more local to COLO Springs, we headed to Woodland Park where we tried the Catamount Falls Trail. We got a later start, 10'sh, than we usually do and the temps were getting warm. This trail has a lot of elevation gain in the beginning, I finally made it to the town overlook before having to call it a day. It was a great day out with our son and that's what most important. 

Favorite picture from visit

While exploring the local area we took a ride out to Vallecinto Lake, a beautiful small lake we hope to get the canoe out on later this summer. In 2002 a devastating wildfire went through the area, a local artisan has made carvings in 14 of the downed trees, tributes to a fallen firefighter, other firefighters that came to help and more. Next time we're up there we'll look for more of them. 

Haviland Lake Hike

About 8 miles north on US 550 is Havilend Lake SWA where there is camping, hiking, canoeing/kayaking and fishing. On this day we were there to hike the Haviland Lake Trail. Lots of elevation gain and poorly marked trail but great exercise and a wonderful day out hiking.

Million Dollar Highway & US 550

One morning we headed out to hike at Spud Lake near Silverton, a few miles in the road got real rough, we decided not to continue on it. Maybe we'll check it out when our friends are here with their jeep. 

Plan B was to drive to Ouray, the portion of US 550 from Silverton to Ouray is called the Million Dollar Highway and is a two lane narrow, curvy with steep grades highway that some folks choose to drive their RV on. Not something this girl wants to do, maybe to Silverton but not all the way to Ouray.

Great boondocking site just north of Silverton, will Dave convince me to hook up the house and take it there?

Back home at Alpen Rose

The month of May started with snow and ended with days in the 80's. We have friends arriving in the next few days then more joining us in a few weeks. Looks like June will fly by just as fast as May did. 

What a difference 6 weeks makes

Until next time...