MAY 7-12, 2007--ON THE ROAD TO ALASKA AT LAST!

MAY 7-12

It was a very expensive 10 days. (Have you priced 6 truck tires to go on a motorhome lately?) I finally got my act together and departed ABQ May 7th, headed north on I-25. Met up with Roberta Cox just north of Santa Fe and we continued north. We will be traveling together—2 single women, 2 motorhomes, 1 cat (Zia)—the next 4 months on a dream trip to Alaska and return. We both drive Winnebago products. Roberta has a new Itasca Suncruiser and I drive a Winnebago Journey. Both rigs are 36 feet long with multiple slide outs. We have been planning the trip for several months—nearly a year in fact—and I find it hard to believe we are actually underway.

As I said earlier, I departed ABQ on the 7th and we drove to Colorado City, CO (south of Pueblo) that afternoon. The next day we drove on to Golden, CO, where we met up with a mutual friend, Gary Simmons, who was parked at an RV park there while working in Denver. Had a nice visit with Gary the afternoon we arrived. Roberta stayed on a couple more nights while I went over to my nephew’s (Paul) place near Bennett, CO, for a couple of nights. I had a wonderful visit with Paul, Jenn, Lexi, and Connor which included seeing Lexi play soccer on a 4, 5, and 6 year old team. Connor (almost 2) thought it was great sport to help me park and level the RV. They were all gone on Thursday which gave me an opportunity to finish a project I’d been working on for WIT Tours for over 1 ½ years. It is sure nice to have a “wrap” on that project. I departed Paul’s Friday, May 11, and hooked up, once again, with Roberta on I-25 north of Denver. (Thanks Paul and Jenn for the hospitality and very nice visit during a VERY busy week for you.) Our destination was River View RV Park west of Loveland, CO, at the mouth of the Thompson River Canyon. This is a very nice campground situated on the river with lots of large old trees, birds, etc. We drove a “toad” (car towed behind our motorhome) to Estes Park and watched a coyote walking through a group of elk. A couple of elk seemed to be charged with keeping the coyote at an appropriate distance and moving on—they walked about 50 feet behind him all the while he was in the open field with them. The coyote then went into some small trees and circled back across the road where an elk once again picked him up and kept him moving on while walking a short distance behind. It was fascinating to watch. We probably saw 200 head of elk in Moraine Park that evening. The next day we met up with a cousin, Lee Hartland, and his wife Jan for lunch and a visit in Estes Park. It was very nice to see them once again. Roberta and I on drove to Rocky Mountain National Park (N.P.) in the afternoon—the road was not yet plowed over the pass so we could only explore the east side. We saw a lot of elk, a couple of marmots, deer, chipmunks, and 13 head of bighorn sheep that were right along the road as we drove through the Thompson River Canyon in the evening. The sheep were grazing and close enough to photograph easily.




One of the Bighorn Sheep east of Estes Park







This evening is our last in CO for this trip as we continue north tomorrow.

Roberta's Itasca Suncruiser on the left, My Winnebago Journey on the right at Lander, WY

January-April 2007 Ramblings

This is my first posting to the new blog site. I hope you will find news of Zia, my cat, and my adventures interesting.

To bring you up to date, Mother and I drove from SD to NM after Christmas where we picked up the motorhome and began a 4 month odyssey around AZ, southeastern CA, and southern NM. We saw several friends along the way in addition to seeing both new and old familiar places. New experiences included "doing Quartzsite" for Mom (she doesn't care to return); seeing the London Bridge at Lake Havasu City, AZ, as well as the Nellie B Saloon outside Parker, AZ, and the hospital bed races at Oatman, AZ (what a find that town was!). I also introduced Mom to a couple of my favorite parks in AZ where we enjoyed quail and migrating birds come through our campsite. We parked at Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus, NM, for 2 months while I volunteered for the park. Numerous friends came to visit and stay at the park while we were there and it was fun to visit with folks in the relaxed atmosphere of my favorite NM park. Columbus is 3 miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border, so we had a few trips to the Pink Store in Palomas for meals and shopping. One highlight of that particular period was a van trip with several friends to Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua,. We stopped at the Paquime ruins at Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, which were very impressive as was the first-rate visitor center. We stopped at three homes in Mata Ortiz where we looked at locally-made pottery—and we bought some, of course. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing so hard that day that we were not able to observe potters at work. There is a longstanding strong cultural connection between the potters at Mata Ortiz and U.S. Pueblo Indians as well as other southwestern Native Americans which shows in their art work. Mother went back to SD in mid-April with my nieces, Nicki and Heather, who drove down to get her and Molly, her cat. I think Zia was very happy to have the coach back to herself again! Soon it was time to leave Pancho Villa. I departed April 25th just as the park was really beginning to blossom with cacti and wildflowers in bloom. I must plan to stay into May at a later time.

From Pancho Villa I drove to Albuquerque where I stayed about 10 days to have the coach and Zia checked out prior to departing on a four month drive to Alaska. I will continue with my progress on a later posting.