To Lake City and the Alpine Loop

Went touring today up to Lake City.  Left the Rio Grande River valley and went north over Spring Creek Pass and then Slumgullion Pass to the village of Lake City. Took the gravel Alpine Loop road out of town about 20 miles until it turned into a jeep/ATV road and then turned around.  Past old mines, waterfalls, ghost towns, and gorgeous mountain vistas.  Went back to Lake City for lunch in the Restless Spirits Saloon and then another 20 miles or so on another scenic road parralleling the rushing Henley Creek with views of Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn Peeks, both "14ers."

Stop on the road to Lake City viewing Brown Lake Wildlife Area with a glimpse of the Rio Grande Pyramid (that little peak in the distance) where the Rio Grande River headwaters are located.

Lone buck lingering in the woods. Almost missed seeing him!

I did get out of the car occasionally!

 

Everything I need

Here I am, sitting in the morning sun, in my "nest," with my coffee and my IPad.  I want for nothing!

Will went out for a hike this morning to try to find another waterfall.  He has been biking too.  Great place to road bike in this valley.  Lots of options, he can find plenty of elevation changes if he wants a challenge but also some long slow inclines where he can get some miles in.

Surgery today

   Very impressed with the care and concern this morning at San Luis Valley Hospital in Alamosa.  We had to leave the campground in the dark to get there for my 6:30 check in time.  Was actually a nice sunrise drive, even spied a couple of elk near the road.  Got right in, checked in, prepped, blood drawn, hooked up, IV's in, anesthesised, and into surgery by 7:30.   I had general anesthesia but slso a nerve bock where they disturbed the nerve on the back of my knee that deadened my leg from the knee down which means I have no pain what so ever.  This should start to wear off around midnight tonight so will have to see how it feels tomorrow! But, he also sent me home with drugs that you can be sure I will use if I need them.  We were back at the RV by 12:30.  

  I now have a 4 inch titanium plate srewed to the bone at the sight of the fracture just above my ankle. Again I am wrapped and splinted with a fiberglass half cast from just below my knee to my toes.  Instructions to ice and elevate and lay low for couple of days so surgery site heals.  Then the doctors said I could begin to put wait on it as pain allows!   That is amazing to me!  We will be moving slowly, for sure, no rush here.

  If you happen to be in the area, stop in for a visit!  Will says you can help him cook. . .or clean. . .or get groceries. . .or do laundry. . . or whatever.  He's doing it all, bless his heart.

  And thanks you everyone, for your thoughts, words of encouragement, and your prayers.  I truly felt them.  Praise God.

Taking it easy in Creede

I have been mostly planted in my comfy chair with my leg elevated and Will waiting on my every wish.  Sometimes I move outside or to the table but most comfortably I stay in my "nest."  Will fixed up the back seat of the car  so I can sit back there also with my foot up.  We drove up out of town for a look over the town and the valley.

Thats the Rio Grande working its way thru the Valley.

Colorado wild flowers just getting a good start.

We found a spectacular waterfall just off the road.  Lot's to see from the car windows.

I suddenly have a huge appreciation of ADA trails.  

Mountain Vista RV Park

We moved to a very nice RV Park outside of Creede.  It has all the ammenities that we need so this is where we will hold up for a while.  We are staying until after the 4th of July for sure and then might decide to go somewhere else.  

This is the view out the front door and even better views at the other end of park.  Rio Grande River is within walking distance, for those of us who might be walking.  

 Creede is something like 8000 ft so cool (cold) nights where we pull the blankets out but wonderfully warm sunny days.  However, mountain showers are never far away, especially in the afternoons.  I can see that it is raining on the peaks in the west right now.  Valley is quiet and clear so far.

  Will went into town to the local clinic/search-and-rescue office (tells you where we are, too) and asked to rent a wheel chair and they gave him one to use for as long as we need it with just his signature.  Small town hospitality.

Surgery sceduled.

We were able to get into see the Orthopedic Specialist in Alamosa--now about 50 miles from where we are camped.  Nice people, very sympathetic, more x-rays.  Question is how badly is the ligament damaged.  With bone broken on one side and ligament badly torn on the other, my ankle is very unstable and without surgery I would have to be off of it a lot longer and chance of re-injury higher.  They are going to put a metal piece along the bone to secure it and stabilize my ankle.  Now we need to wait a couple of days to allow swelling to go down some as surgery will have its own heeling issues. Sceduled for Friday morning, early, in Alamosa.

   Worse places ro recover than the mountains of Colorado.  We are going to move to a campground in town in Creede that has more ammenities.  And wait it out.  Where I can sit with my leg elevated and iced and make the best of it.  I have really no pain.  After the initial incident which of course, hurt a whole lot!  I am being well taken care of, Will is most attentive.  You know he would be.

  I am learning that crutches are hard!  Definite trick to them. A motor home works pretty well as It is pretty compact and I can reach things from my "nest."

A broken fibula

Things can change in the blink of an eye.  We stopped along the road to read a sign board and I slipped on some loose sand.  There was a bit of an incline and my right foot went flying while my body crunched down on my left foot--in a direction the body does not naturally go.  Imediate pain, immediate swelling, hurried to get ice on it.  Hoped it was a bad sprain but a trip to emergency room 30 miles away and exrays confirmed it was a broken fibula (small bone in the leg) and probably torn cartledge.  Sent me off with a splint, crutchs, instructions to put no weight on it, and an appointment with Orthopedic specialist as soon as I can get in.  Unfortunatly, it is the weekend so have to wait until Monday to even get the appointment confirmed.  Don't know what is next but for now I have my leg elevated and not moving much.  

As long as I don't move, it does not hurt, so thankful for that.  So, Will has become my caregiver. . .and everything else!

On the road to Creede.

We did find a fun place to stop for a few days at a National Forest campground north of South Fork, Colorado on the road to Creede, right on the Rio Grand River.  Just by chance, there was one open campsite, and we think it is the best one.  Nice open site good for our solar but still in the woods, with the river crashing by out our front door.  No hookups, of course and no cell signal but we can probably live with that for a couple of days.  Not sure when this post will show up, however.

We are on the scenic road that is called "the Silver Thread" and driving around the off roads is a treat. Lots of ooohhs, and aaahhhs.  Lots of mining history here, deserted and dilapidated mine works dot the mountains--rich silver strikes were made here.  The Comstock Mine in Creede closed in the 80's, reopened in 2006 but finally closed for the last time last year.

Some guy bought the Last Chance Mine north of Creede and has turned it into a museum.  He has lots of work to do as it all looks pretty junky and dilapidated but he has good intentions and it was pretty fun digging around and looking at all the old stuff.

The mountain town of Creede is obviously thriving with the usual gift shops, galleries and restaurants.

Nice drive out to the Rio Grande Reservoir.  The river of same has its headwaters on the other side of this huge reservoir.  There was a fire here apparently last year and is especially evident near the reservoir. 

Sad to see miles and miles of blackened wilderness, however green is already showing up as the undergrowth is already coming back.

 

 

An evening soak at Pagosa Springs

A day near Pagosa Springs, Colorado to get a few groceries and of course spend the evening at the hot springs here.  There are a couple of choices in town but we like the original spa, right along the San Juan River that offers 15 or so different mineral pools of various temperatures. You start out cool and then get toasty in the really hot pools.

We are going up into the Colorado mountains now to try to find a campsight in a Natinal Forest where we can sit for a day or two.  Doubtful we will have cell service.

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

 

We did the train today.  We have done this one before maybe 5 or 6 years ago but it was so much fun.  This time our ticket included a luxury bus ride on a scenic hiway to Antonito in Colorado that took a little over an hour.  There we boarded the historic steam train and rode the rails back to Chama in New Mexico.  We had good seats in the restored rail cars but we both spent most of the day outside in the open car watching the scenery go by.  The highest point on the route is over 10,000 feet so it is spectacular.  The engineering feat for 1880 was quite something as at one point the grade was 4% as it snaked its way up over the mountain range.  It also includes a stop about half way where we all exit the train at an old section town of Osier, Colorado and are offered a hot noon meal.

 

Hiking Simon Canyon

It was suppose to be a short one mile hike to see some 1700's Navajo Ruins but we made it really long by going up the canyon floor instead of the real trail ontop of the canyon wall.   We couldn't find anything that looked like ruins after we had gone what we thought had to be the distance so we turned around and came back. . .only to find the sign pointing us to the right trail! Was a nice morning for a hike and found an abundance of birds in the canyon.  Our destination was interesting once we got there.  A one room structure with roof somewhat intact on top of a rock.  Would have been a great lookout.

  Then in the afternoon we drove to the nearby town of Aztec to see some much older ruins that date back to the late 1000s to late 1200s.  These were ancestral Puebloan structures much like Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon.  

This is a national monument that does a great job of telling the story as much as they know and linking the history to modern pueblo Indians of the area.

There is tons of natural gas and oil drilling in this part of New Mexico.  Several companies are working in this area with pipelines, drill rigs, and natural gas platforms just all over the landscape.  Will said he has never seen so many white pickups. Huge gas and oil reserves here.

Navajo Lake

When we arrived in Gallup yesterday afternoon we noticed what looked like a huge thunder cloud in the distance north of town.  It got our attention because we rarely see cloud formations like that here.  The more we looked we realized that was not a cloud but smoke!  We soon found out that the strong south west winds that were pushing us across New Mexico were stoking a forest fire in the tinder-dry Chuska Mountains on the Navajo Nation.  I worried all night that it was going to cause us some problems as we traveled north, because our desired route was going to take us up hiway 491 toward Farmington and through the fire.  

  Well, as it turned out--as Will kept telling me--the actual fire was west of our road, the winds went down overnight so smoke went up rather than directly over the road as they would have yesterday.

It was all fine.  Fire, however, not so fine as continues to burn uncontained in wilderness area.

The plume was clearly visible.

Our destination was east of Farmington to Navajo Lake State Park.  Is a pretty desolate part of the state but is a dam on the San Juan River making it the second largest lake in New Mexico.  Part of the lake backs up all the way into Colorado.  We didn't have the best directions but we took some good guesses and found a nice campground with killer views over the lake.

Apparently this spot below the dam on the San Juan River is a world class trout fishing destination.  There were surely a lot of anglers out there and cars in the parking lot from at least 6 states.  

  

Happy Fathers Day

Will got a nice phone call from Shanghai this morning from Doug AND Steph to wish him a Happy Day.

And then they sent a picture of the two of them spending the day together.  Made his day!

We spent the morning at Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert.

Love the Painted Desert Inn, a restored national historic landmark that at one time was one of the Fred Harvey establishments and a popular stop on Route 66.

It had great views of the Painted Desert

Tonight in Gallup, New Mexico.  Went to the Court House Square to see their nightly show highlighting native American dancing and singing.  There is a show every summer night featuring talents from various tribes.  It was a good show.

Gone from Tucson

We moved slowly but surely yesterday to get the RV packed and ready to leave.  It has been 105degrees since we arrived home from Hawaii.  Think we will head for the mountains.  

Always a pleasure to go through Salt River Canyon on our way to Fool Hollow in Show Low, Az.

Unfortunatly the campground was full--guessing because its Fathers Day weekend.  So we keep going and stopped in Snowflake, Az which turned out to be an interesting place.  Lots of early Mormon history here.  Spent a couple of hours going through one of the several historic Mormon homes and hearing the story from a very knowledgable docent.  

This was the son of the original founder's home.  He had 9 children with his first wife who died a week after the house was finished, and 15 children with his second wife.  This was past the time poligamy was sanctioned in Arizona so he had one wife at a time.  Not so his father, who had 4 wives and I can't remember how many children.  He was a merchant, apparently did well in spite of having such a large family to support.  Interesting to us is the inordinate number of very large homes in Snowflake even today.  Also a beautiful Mormon temple here.

  And its cooler here!!

Great Mexican Restaurant here also.  Our docent recommended it and she was right.  I'd make the trip back for their salsa alone.  And great fish tacos.

 

Back yard is off limits

Got home and unpacked and found that our back yard is off limits. . .A skittish family of Gamble Quail want to hang around our patio.  I counted 7 little guys but not exactly sure how many.  Tried so hard to get a picture but they are so aware and scoot off in a second.  Love these little guys.

 

Well, they can have the back yard, and the patio.  We are packing the RV and getting ready to start our summer.  A few things to finish up and hopefully will leave in the morning.