Well today was the day that we did it. We climbed the Dunes and honestly the long walk through the sand on the way to the base was harder to do at 8000 ft high than it was to actually climb the Dunes. At the base of the dunes is the Medano Creek. This time of year it is just a wide shallow trickle that we were able to cross without getting wet. Once we were up on the dunes there was a nice cool breeze. The sand was very fine and multi-colored, red, black and light sand color. Surprisingly once up there it was pretty stable if we stayed on the ridges of the dunes.
We were told the loose surface sand blows off the ridges and what is left is hard packed and relatively easy to walk on. The view was great and we could see our campground. The terrain up there was high ridges, and valleys in which small amounts of vegetation was actually growing.
We saw a storm approaching in the distance and came down off the Dune.
While walking in the park a little later we met a family with a pop up trailer that looked like it was the child of a Hummer very high, bright yellow with big tires. We stood and chatted for a while and they gave us a yellow squash from their garden at home. It was their son’s birthday and later in the evening brought a piece of blueberry Birthday Pie down to us at our campsite. What a surprise and what a delicious blueberry pie, berries the size of marbles.
The storm never materialized but it did cool off significantly. At this elevation it has never gone above the 80’s in the day with low humidity and down in the 50’s at night. We are still meeting very interesting people. This evening we met a man who has been traveling around the USA on his motorcycle for a year now and plans to continue for another year.
He is definitely a free spirit at 50 years of age he has only had seasonal jobs and has lived from Alaska working on crab boats to the Caribbean living on his own boat. His adventures provide great entertainment as we sat around our campfire tonight. His appearance does not lead one to identify his life style. He is clean cut, shaved and gives the appearance of an educated businessman. Very interesting to talk to.
Till tomorrow, Mom (Carol) and Chriss
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Continuing notes from the Dunes
We considered the possibility of changing campsites, possibly one on higher ground overlooking the sand dunes. We walked up the hill to find another couple also considering making a change. We soon entered into an interesting conversation with them and admired their young golden retriever. After giving it some thought we decided to stay right where we were nestled in some shade tree with nice privacy. I decided to take the garbage to the dump and inquired where it was. “down the road a bit:, etc” so I started out to find it was about ¼ mile up and down hills, at 8000 feet you really feel that. I will think twice before I do that again.
Today was laundry day. After a hand wash in the camp laundry sink. The Horstman laundry rope was strung up and in the hot sun and low humidity after 15 minutes our clothes were dry.
Later in the day a wind storm developed. Chriss and I tried to secure the awning with additional line. We had quite a web going before we decided to give up and retract the awning. At that point a young woman walked up to our campsite and asked if we had any duck tape. It seems their tent blew down and incurred some damage. They moved to a site near us trying to get out of the wind. They had three young children and we pitched in to help set up their tent which was a difficult task in all the wind, which continued well into the night along with some rain. Now the next monrning it is beautiful again. We had a visit from the park host and two very sociable park rangers who sat and chatted with us after helping us move our picnic table and admired our motorcycle.
Bye again, Mom (Carol) and Chriss
Today was laundry day. After a hand wash in the camp laundry sink. The Horstman laundry rope was strung up and in the hot sun and low humidity after 15 minutes our clothes were dry.
Later in the day a wind storm developed. Chriss and I tried to secure the awning with additional line. We had quite a web going before we decided to give up and retract the awning. At that point a young woman walked up to our campsite and asked if we had any duck tape. It seems their tent blew down and incurred some damage. They moved to a site near us trying to get out of the wind. They had three young children and we pitched in to help set up their tent which was a difficult task in all the wind, which continued well into the night along with some rain. Now the next monrning it is beautiful again. We had a visit from the park host and two very sociable park rangers who sat and chatted with us after helping us move our picnic table and admired our motorcycle.
Bye again, Mom (Carol) and Chriss
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Great Sand Dune National Park, CO
Hello again:
Happy Birthday to Cathy (Chriss's daughter)
We started driving today at about 12:30 or so driving west on route 160. Traveled less than 100 miles when we came across Great Sand Dunes National Park. It's about 30 miles of sand dunes that are about 750 feet high. Although I have some pictures, of course it doesn't really do it justice.
We can stay here for $7 a night (It pays to be a senior citizen). We'll stay for 5 days so we won't have to try and find a place during Labor Day weekend.
We're going to be out of touch for the next five days or so. I'll send an update when we can get online again.
Here's an updated map of our trip so far.
Thanks to my son Tom for typing as I dictated last night’s blog to him at his home in NJ. We have no hook ups at the park but I will write a 5 day blog to send out when I can. This is a beautiful spot in spite of not having electrical or water hook ups. We run the generator to charge batteries but would not be very well thought of in the park if we ran it all the time. So we haul water in jugs and are very conservative with the use of the power. But in spite of that are very pleased with our site. Have chatted with many people from all over the USA they just stop and chat as they walk by if we are outside and we do the same. Last evening we met a young lady named Clair with her dog Ellie, she was kind enough to offer to take a picture of us and then we took a picture of her and Ellie too. Last night we went for a walk after dark, and this place gives DARK a whole new meaning. This whole trip has been a series of “WOWs” one wonderful scene after another. Last night’s walk was another one, I saw more stars out than ever before and the milkyway was very visible in the night sky. I even saw a couple of shooting stars. We just sat in our chair in the middle of the trail in front of our camper where our view was the best, away from any lights from the rest rooms. Unfortunately, we scared one of our fellow camper to death when he was walking up the trail. This same person almost bumped into another walking camper and since he also had heard the snoring thought he might have hit a bear and gave out quite an OHHH when they met. We all giggled. It was that dark. We also heard some snoring and were seriously wondering if a bear was near by when we realized that another camper near by had gone to bed early and was snoring very loudly, much to our relief. His poor wife, or maybe it was the wife..
Each night at 7:00 PM they have a lecture in an amphitheater regarding some facet of the park. Last night it was about weeds that grow on the dunes, we missed it but will go tonight and listen to a different topic.
Today we plan to investigate our surroundings. Not far from our campsite there is a trail down to the dunes and we plan to try it out soon. So I will return later and continue.
Bye for now, Carol & Chriss.
Happy Birthday to Cathy (Chriss's daughter)
We started driving today at about 12:30 or so driving west on route 160. Traveled less than 100 miles when we came across Great Sand Dunes National Park. It's about 30 miles of sand dunes that are about 750 feet high. Although I have some pictures, of course it doesn't really do it justice.
We can stay here for $7 a night (It pays to be a senior citizen). We'll stay for 5 days so we won't have to try and find a place during Labor Day weekend.
We're going to be out of touch for the next five days or so. I'll send an update when we can get online again.
Here's an updated map of our trip so far.
Thanks to my son Tom for typing as I dictated last night’s blog to him at his home in NJ. We have no hook ups at the park but I will write a 5 day blog to send out when I can. This is a beautiful spot in spite of not having electrical or water hook ups. We run the generator to charge batteries but would not be very well thought of in the park if we ran it all the time. So we haul water in jugs and are very conservative with the use of the power. But in spite of that are very pleased with our site. Have chatted with many people from all over the USA they just stop and chat as they walk by if we are outside and we do the same. Last evening we met a young lady named Clair with her dog Ellie, she was kind enough to offer to take a picture of us and then we took a picture of her and Ellie too. Last night we went for a walk after dark, and this place gives DARK a whole new meaning. This whole trip has been a series of “WOWs” one wonderful scene after another. Last night’s walk was another one, I saw more stars out than ever before and the milkyway was very visible in the night sky. I even saw a couple of shooting stars. We just sat in our chair in the middle of the trail in front of our camper where our view was the best, away from any lights from the rest rooms. Unfortunately, we scared one of our fellow camper to death when he was walking up the trail. This same person almost bumped into another walking camper and since he also had heard the snoring thought he might have hit a bear and gave out quite an OHHH when they met. We all giggled. It was that dark. We also heard some snoring and were seriously wondering if a bear was near by when we realized that another camper near by had gone to bed early and was snoring very loudly, much to our relief. His poor wife, or maybe it was the wife..
Each night at 7:00 PM they have a lecture in an amphitheater regarding some facet of the park. Last night it was about weeds that grow on the dunes, we missed it but will go tonight and listen to a different topic.
Today we plan to investigate our surroundings. Not far from our campsite there is a trail down to the dunes and we plan to try it out soon. So I will return later and continue.
Bye for now, Carol & Chriss.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Lathrop State Park, Co
Hello again with more notes from the road and a Happy Birthday to Chris (Chriss's son-in-law).
This morning stated out with more tire problems. Seems there were two holes. Only one got patched at Walmart. We asked at the campground and found a place in Trinidad that would fix our flat tire. although it took a long time we had friendly service at J&M tire by Mark and Randy and then we could continue on with our journey. We followed route 12 in a loop from Trinidad campground just outside of Walensburg CO, to Lahtrop State Park, CO. Route 12 is probably the most scenic road we have traveled in a long time. It started out in the mountains and just went higher. But the amazing part of it was the rocks. The rocks weren't actually mountains, but rather walls with places that you could see through. These walls were incredibly high. I have stood next to skyscrapers and didn't feel the incredible size that these rocks gave me. They just went straight up and up and up... Some of the walls looked like they were carefully stacked in place by man or machine, but nature put them there. Our highest peak today was 9,975 feet according to signs and our GPS. There were mostly fir trees on the mountains and what looked like white-barked birch trees, but were actually Aspens. We also passed a few pristine lakes. Blue and Bear Lake, Monument Lake and North Lake. All in places that made it look like an artist painted the scene. I will say one thing, the rangers were not very friendly, however, the front-desk people in every place we have been were extremely nice, usually went out of their way to help.
Tonight we are safely tucked into a state-run campground, more expensive than the national parks, but clean and nice.
Good night.
Love, Mom (Carol) and Chriss.
This morning stated out with more tire problems. Seems there were two holes. Only one got patched at Walmart. We asked at the campground and found a place in Trinidad that would fix our flat tire. although it took a long time we had friendly service at J&M tire by Mark and Randy and then we could continue on with our journey. We followed route 12 in a loop from Trinidad campground just outside of Walensburg CO, to Lahtrop State Park, CO. Route 12 is probably the most scenic road we have traveled in a long time. It started out in the mountains and just went higher. But the amazing part of it was the rocks. The rocks weren't actually mountains, but rather walls with places that you could see through. These walls were incredibly high. I have stood next to skyscrapers and didn't feel the incredible size that these rocks gave me. They just went straight up and up and up... Some of the walls looked like they were carefully stacked in place by man or machine, but nature put them there. Our highest peak today was 9,975 feet according to signs and our GPS. There were mostly fir trees on the mountains and what looked like white-barked birch trees, but were actually Aspens. We also passed a few pristine lakes. Blue and Bear Lake, Monument Lake and North Lake. All in places that made it look like an artist painted the scene. I will say one thing, the rangers were not very friendly, however, the front-desk people in every place we have been were extremely nice, usually went out of their way to help.
Tonight we are safely tucked into a state-run campground, more expensive than the national parks, but clean and nice.
Good night.
Love, Mom (Carol) and Chriss.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Trinidad Lake Campground
Hello again:
Well today we finally started making progress again. We left Corral Campground (Temp 92)after a very nice stay and they even had WiFi for me. Got our tire fixed quickly at Dalhart Consumer Fuel in Dalhart, Tx by Migual whose brother George helped us out yesterday and told us to come back today, both very nice young men, friendly, and polite and prompt. Then off we went westward still very warm sunny weather. Very interesting terrain as we traveled from Texas to New Mexico. We saw mostly farm land planted in circles with watering equipment on wheels that circled within the field attached to a well in the center and these things were Huge! There were many grain silos for storing the crops and trains to transport the crops to sell. Those Texans are right everything here is BIG the fields, crops, the silos even the small towns had super wide main streets (five lanes in one town). While were enjoying the scenery in New Mexico we weren’t aware at how much we had climbed in altitude because the terrain appeared flat as far as we could see. To our amazement we were at 7030 ft at one point and except for some ear popping we didn’t even know it. We were higher in New Mexico at 7030 feet than we were in the mountains on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Mt. Mitchell which is 6800 feet. While we were admiring the scenery the clouds began to gather and it started to rain part way though NM. These clouds were big and nasty looking but only rained with a little lightning, but they sure did look threatening. Then we crossed into Colorado and the hills and scenery changed amazingly fast, high rocky mountains with mostly evergreens, very pretty. We looked to our left and partway up a mountain on a ledge were two very large black bears.. We checked our Good Sam campground book and found Trinidad Lake Campground in a State Park. Virginia who checked us in to our campsite was very helpful and so pleasant to deal with. We have a nice site and met our neighbors the Andrews family David and Karla and their children, Alyse, Kayla, Ethan, Seth, and Abby. What a nice family, a pleasure to be around. The boys made a camp fire and they invited us over for their specialty “campfire cakes” which were absolutely yummy. Special grilling pans to hold buttered bread (top and bottom) with a cherry pie filling, held over the fire until toasty and warm. Now that is a campfire treat! David showed Chriss his telescope and set it up to see Jupiter with its rings and 5 of its moons. The outside temperature at 12:00 midnight is 62 and we were wearing sweaters and sweat pants to keep warm and it is time to call it a day. A nice warm bed sounds very tempting.
Good night to all, love, Mom (Carol) & Chriss
Well today we finally started making progress again. We left Corral Campground (Temp 92)after a very nice stay and they even had WiFi for me. Got our tire fixed quickly at Dalhart Consumer Fuel in Dalhart, Tx by Migual whose brother George helped us out yesterday and told us to come back today, both very nice young men, friendly, and polite and prompt. Then off we went westward still very warm sunny weather. Very interesting terrain as we traveled from Texas to New Mexico. We saw mostly farm land planted in circles with watering equipment on wheels that circled within the field attached to a well in the center and these things were Huge! There were many grain silos for storing the crops and trains to transport the crops to sell. Those Texans are right everything here is BIG the fields, crops, the silos even the small towns had super wide main streets (five lanes in one town). While were enjoying the scenery in New Mexico we weren’t aware at how much we had climbed in altitude because the terrain appeared flat as far as we could see. To our amazement we were at 7030 ft at one point and except for some ear popping we didn’t even know it. We were higher in New Mexico at 7030 feet than we were in the mountains on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Mt. Mitchell which is 6800 feet. While we were admiring the scenery the clouds began to gather and it started to rain part way though NM. These clouds were big and nasty looking but only rained with a little lightning, but they sure did look threatening. Then we crossed into Colorado and the hills and scenery changed amazingly fast, high rocky mountains with mostly evergreens, very pretty. We looked to our left and partway up a mountain on a ledge were two very large black bears.. We checked our Good Sam campground book and found Trinidad Lake Campground in a State Park. Virginia who checked us in to our campsite was very helpful and so pleasant to deal with. We have a nice site and met our neighbors the Andrews family David and Karla and their children, Alyse, Kayla, Ethan, Seth, and Abby. What a nice family, a pleasure to be around. The boys made a camp fire and they invited us over for their specialty “campfire cakes” which were absolutely yummy. Special grilling pans to hold buttered bread (top and bottom) with a cherry pie filling, held over the fire until toasty and warm. Now that is a campfire treat! David showed Chriss his telescope and set it up to see Jupiter with its rings and 5 of its moons. The outside temperature at 12:00 midnight is 62 and we were wearing sweaters and sweat pants to keep warm and it is time to call it a day. A nice warm bed sounds very tempting.
Good night to all, love, Mom (Carol) & Chriss
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Delhart, TX
Hi To all, once more with more notes from the road:
After picking up our motorhome in Lawton, Ok, it has been quite adventure. To be honest today didn't exactly turn out as we expected.
We started off from Dumas, Tx with the best of intentions as we headed for NM and then to Mesa Verde in Co. We got thirty miles from our starting point and in Delhart, Tx when Chriss discover that a second rear tire on the motorcycle trailer had 2 nails in it and one was leaking air pretty quickly. It was Sunday afternoon and we found tire stores on our GPS but none were open. We talked to a man in his front yard who worked at one of the tire stores but it was closed and there was nothing he could do, he also recommended a campground which we saw but didn't feel it was safe to stay. We stopped at the local police station which also was the town jail and the woman we talked to was not very cooperative. She was the jail matron and really tough and didn't care to answer any questions. So a group of young people waiting to see an inmate suggested a place that turned out to be a local park and not an RV campground. In our travels to find it we came upon a large well drilling equipment garage with open doors and two young men working.
Chriss got out and went in to talk to them and came out with more directions to another campground and they also put more air in our tires so we could get there. So now we are hooked up in a very nice clean campground with WiFi, waiting for the tire store to open in the AM hoping that we have enough air in our tires to get there. The wife of the manager was very nice to us during check in.and oh yes, right after we checked in a train went by and she said it was just a 1/2 mile away but the whistle was loud and clear. So all in all we now have an all time record for distance traveled, 68 miles in two days. At this rate, please save our Christmas presents. Anyway we have better hope for tomorrow and will write again hopefully with good news.
Love, Mom (Carol) and Chriss
After picking up our motorhome in Lawton, Ok, it has been quite adventure. To be honest today didn't exactly turn out as we expected.
We started off from Dumas, Tx with the best of intentions as we headed for NM and then to Mesa Verde in Co. We got thirty miles from our starting point and in Delhart, Tx when Chriss discover that a second rear tire on the motorcycle trailer had 2 nails in it and one was leaking air pretty quickly. It was Sunday afternoon and we found tire stores on our GPS but none were open. We talked to a man in his front yard who worked at one of the tire stores but it was closed and there was nothing he could do, he also recommended a campground which we saw but didn't feel it was safe to stay. We stopped at the local police station which also was the town jail and the woman we talked to was not very cooperative. She was the jail matron and really tough and didn't care to answer any questions. So a group of young people waiting to see an inmate suggested a place that turned out to be a local park and not an RV campground. In our travels to find it we came upon a large well drilling equipment garage with open doors and two young men working.
Chriss got out and went in to talk to them and came out with more directions to another campground and they also put more air in our tires so we could get there. So now we are hooked up in a very nice clean campground with WiFi, waiting for the tire store to open in the AM hoping that we have enough air in our tires to get there. The wife of the manager was very nice to us during check in.and oh yes, right after we checked in a train went by and she said it was just a 1/2 mile away but the whistle was loud and clear. So all in all we now have an all time record for distance traveled, 68 miles in two days. At this rate, please save our Christmas presents. Anyway we have better hope for tomorrow and will write again hopefully with good news.
Love, Mom (Carol) and Chriss
Notes from the parking lot - Dumas, TX
Hello again:
Well when it comes to progress westward, yesterday we made none! We had picked up a nail did get our trailer tire fixed and pick up a few things at Walmart but that was it. Actually we were very lucky to find a place to get it fixed. Our GPS’s gave us many suggestions but being Saturday afternoon they were all closed. We stopped by a Holiday Inn parking lot and I was able to pirate their internet and send my blog out. Please do not send the computer police. Then since I needed to stop at Walmart just down the street, that was our next stop and low and behold they had a tire and lube center. So while Chriss got the tire fixed by Tom, automobile service manager from Walmart in Dumas, Tx. I went shopping and he met me in the store when he was finished and said that at this time it was not a good idea to start out. So we decided to buy a nice steak and go back to our same camping area and have a nice dinner and start out the next day. There was a nice park area and a grill and picnic table so that is what we did. The camp area was full of RV’s and a man from Tx with a great memory and a large travel history talked for a long time about great places he had been in Co. and Tx. Wish we either had a recorder or a good memory because he went on for over and hour with very good intentions. By then it was dark and we crawled into our nest for the night. Today Sunday is a beautiful day outside temp in the 90’s with (as usual) a breeze. It is warm but tolerable. Right now Chriss is engineering a way to put up the inside antennae for the XM radio in the front window of the motorhome. We have more gadgets than we need. I wonder how the pioneers made it this far without an XM radio, a GPS, Cell Phones, laptop computer and blue rags. How did our forefathers do it? Anyway today’s news is more like notes from the parking lot than notes from the road, but it is all part of the ADVENTURE.. So be it.
More tomorrow.
Love, Mom (Carol) & Chriss
PS. Hurray the XM radio works, another Horstman engineering success.
Well when it comes to progress westward, yesterday we made none! We had picked up a nail did get our trailer tire fixed and pick up a few things at Walmart but that was it. Actually we were very lucky to find a place to get it fixed. Our GPS’s gave us many suggestions but being Saturday afternoon they were all closed. We stopped by a Holiday Inn parking lot and I was able to pirate their internet and send my blog out. Please do not send the computer police. Then since I needed to stop at Walmart just down the street, that was our next stop and low and behold they had a tire and lube center. So while Chriss got the tire fixed by Tom, automobile service manager from Walmart in Dumas, Tx. I went shopping and he met me in the store when he was finished and said that at this time it was not a good idea to start out. So we decided to buy a nice steak and go back to our same camping area and have a nice dinner and start out the next day. There was a nice park area and a grill and picnic table so that is what we did. The camp area was full of RV’s and a man from Tx with a great memory and a large travel history talked for a long time about great places he had been in Co. and Tx. Wish we either had a recorder or a good memory because he went on for over and hour with very good intentions. By then it was dark and we crawled into our nest for the night. Today Sunday is a beautiful day outside temp in the 90’s with (as usual) a breeze. It is warm but tolerable. Right now Chriss is engineering a way to put up the inside antennae for the XM radio in the front window of the motorhome. We have more gadgets than we need. I wonder how the pioneers made it this far without an XM radio, a GPS, Cell Phones, laptop computer and blue rags. How did our forefathers do it? Anyway today’s news is more like notes from the parking lot than notes from the road, but it is all part of the ADVENTURE.. So be it.
More tomorrow.
Love, Mom (Carol) & Chriss
PS. Hurray the XM radio works, another Horstman engineering success.
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