9-13-15-16-2013 Winding down the trip, home in Texas

9-14-2013 Santa Fe to Texas

It rained all night after arriving in Santa Fe. Since the storms were still rumbling around, we decided to stay put and spent the day Saturday resting and working on the blog. 

We did accomplish a few things but did not achieve what we had set out to do that day. There is always tomorrow.

9-15-2013 Our First and Last

We got a late start on Sunday but knew that we would be under Texas skies that night. We were planning to travel about 300 miles that day but ended up piling up over 440 before we came to rest in a picnic area for our Last night on the road and our First night back in Texas.

First we were heading to Plainview, then to Lubbock, but could not find the RV Park, so continued on. Now Texas is big with lots of wide open spaces and not many RV parks in between when you’re out in west Texas.

We settled in at a road side park just before sunset.  We had a beautiful view of the sunset (which by far is the best part of the day for us) from our elevated parking spot.  Quite frankly, we had not had too many opportunities to see many sunsets on this trip; we were either deep in a mountain valley or the sun never set.  The park was not situated right on the road so the noise for the highway was not too bad.

We toasted our return of Texas and reflected back on the many days that we had been away.  It was a bitter sweet moment for us, we have really enjoyed our time together and the many wonderful site and experiences that we had encountered.  Being away from our family and friends and our normal surroundings was at times very difficult.  You knew that you could not be there to help if needed, so the feeling of helplessness was something that you had to work through.

To smell the sweet Texas air (when we were not next to a feed lot) and see the open prairies, Longhorns grazing in the field, wind generators and oil pumps bobbing up and down, we knew that our journey would soon be over.

After a few drinks and a good supper we settled in for the night.  As we laid our heads upon our pillows and gazed out the window, we could see the beautiful starlit sky and the constellation Orion.  We heard the sounds of the coyotes howling, and said a few prayers thanking God for our safe return to our home land.

9-16-2013 Our final day on the road

We had just over 200 miles to travel to the house and we were not going to set the world on fire to get there.  Bob decided he needed a haircut and we began gathering up a few things we had stuffed throughout the RV.  We pulled out the clippers and trimmed up Bob’s hair right there on the side the road. I believe that Sharon could have hung out a sign open for business and made some gas money cutting hair. We had several good old Texas boys honking the horn as they passed by.

When we started this trip 113 days ago, we decided to take mostly back roads and avoid the interstate highways.  In fact, we traveled less than 1000 miles on interstate highways. We really enjoyed the sites and many little towns that we passed through. You get to see so much more as you travel.  We arrived at home 7 minutes after the time we had departed 113 days earlier. When we parked the RV in the driveway, we had driven 10,402 miles and had spent over 275 hours on the road driving. We used 1500 gallons of gas, 2 oil changes and came home on the same set of tires on both vehicles. No flat tires. The windshields on both vehicle are chipped and cracked and several chips in the paint. Oh, but what memories.

We've decided we were going to ease back into our home life and not get in a rush to get the RV unpacked and ready to put away.  After being on the road for that long of period of time we have a different view on the world, as well as the hustle and bustle we were use to. After all, we lived quite comfortable in a 33 ft RV that provided us with all we needed. (We did miss the washer and dryer.)  But, do we really need all the other “stuff” that we had accumulated over the years? There are so many “things” to take care of and to maintain.  Quite frankly, it was a little scary returning home and very overwhelming.

While we were off on our journey we had several repairs done on the house, windows replaced, some interior and exterior painting.  You always have these expectations of what should be accomplished and how everything would be just so.  I had cautioned Sharon to set the bar a little lower and be happy with a 80 to 90 percent satisfaction rating, knowing that things would be taken care of differently when we were not there.  We were pleasantly surprised that the lawn was green, plants still alive and the pool full of water.  The doors were locked and the furniture was still is the same place as when we left it.  All in all 90 percent would be a good number.

This trip would not have been successful had a lot of other people not picked up the slack while we were gone.  Sharon’s mom handled all the mail and paid the bills, sometimes twice but they were paid.  We still had all the essentials we needed lights, air conditioning (a mere 97 degrees when we arrived home), water and nothing had been repossessed.  Scotty had become an expert on proper pool care and Elizabeth would stop occasionally and give us a run down on the condition of the house.  Amber kept the house cleaner scheduled and working as well as handling Scott’s business needs.  Our lawn care guy showed up every week and the lawn looked kept.

We drove our insurance gal crazy (Debbie Hughes) with a variety of challenges with house issues, car accidents and a few business concerns.  She was a trooper and we really appreciate all that she did for us.

We had several personal issues we had to handle while on the road such as selling a building, investment challenges after selling the building and personal law suits that took a cadre of attorneys to figure out.  But in the end, it all worked out and we were able to complete our adventure of a life time or two.

We really enjoyed doing the blog and taking pictures to record our memories and share with our friends. We had nearly 4,000 hits on the blog from many counties.  Those who visited the blog faithfully, we really enjoyed putting it together.  Between the 2 of us we took over 7,000 pictures.  Not all of them were keepers but that’s a lot of used up digits.  Our plans are to make a calendar and use the pictures to remind us of the great times and wonderful things we saw. We will be sending them out to our friends and families.

There were times we noted our concerns and displeasure with circumstances, world events and how things are viewed and exploited.  Thanks for listening.  We come home with much more appreciation for life and the real pursuit of happiness.  We are truly thankful for each other and the time that we had just being us. We realize that it takes two parts to make to one.  We have been truly blessed and appreciate what we have achieved together and individually.  You do not spend 113 days in a 33 ft RV with someone you don’t really love.

We look forward to spending time with our grandchildren.  Emorie has grown up so much while we were gone and Baby Relyea is due in November.  We look forward to our role as grandparents and will keep the family legacy alive and well.  They are the future.  We cannot truly insulate them from all that lies ahead, but maybe we can help them avoid the pitfalls that will delay them from achieving their goals and living their dreams.

We realize that the sunsets we will see in the future will not outnumber the ones we have already seen, but the ones we will see will be much more meaningful now that we know how to really enjoy them.

In order to predict your future you must first invent it!

Sometimes you just got to step out there and do it. We did!

      

 

  

9-11-12-13-2013 Colorado - Cousins and Aspen

We arrived in Palisades, CO, about noon and had a great time with Sharon’s cousin, Fern Spaulding and her daughter, Leslie.  It had been quite some time since their last visit so it took a lot of catching up.  In fact, we had so much fun (and good burgers and spice cake with fresh peaches!!) that we spent the night in the driveway and headed out the next morning.  Many of you may have heard Colorado was getting pounded with heavy rains in the eastern part of the state so we decided to drag our feet a little so the rain would move on.

 

Cake & peaches for breakfast!!  Yum!!

These flowers were from seeds from our grandmother's house.

Laughing is such fun!!

Sharon, Fern & Leslie

Our next stop would be Aspen. We've always been big John Denver fans, particularly Bob, and there is a sanctuary dedicated to him. We decided to take the long way to Aspen on counsel from cousin, Leslie.  You have to go over Independence Pass either going to or coming from Aspen. The pass is over 12,000 ft. She advised us to not take the RV over the pass because the road is very narrow.

 Now Bob didn't really take that too well and thought he could do it.  To take the long way would be another 50 miles and going over that Pass seemed to be the quicker way to get to the other side of the mountain.  There is a restriction of a max length of 35 ft per vehicle going over the pass.  Now we are 33 ft long so we have 2 ft to spare. We could unhook the car and both drive over the pass. Of course, Bob would take the lead and Sharon could follow.  The video would be spectacular as Bob and the RV plunge over the edge.  I’m sure Utube would love it.  We can do this--but we did not.

After some convincing and a few slaps alongside the head, Bob came to his senses (it must have been the thin air) and decided to take the long way. We found an RV site about 7 miles from Buena Vista where another of Sharon’s cousins lives and we would visit the next day.

By taking the long way, we drove on the Million Dollar Highway.  We had seen it from Amtrak last summer.

We had a quick lunch and headed up the Pass to Aspen.  Bob was still convinced that he could have gotten the RV over the Pass.  The first several miles on the highway were a piece of cake. After that, it was like a piece of spaghetti very narrow, windy and in some cases straight up and straighter down.  We reached the Pass and walked out to the point to check out what the world looked like at that elevation.  As we were admiring the view, we heard what seemed like race cars coming up the road.  Sure enough, there were about 30 Ferraris headed to Aspen.  There were several events planned in Aspen on the weekend and the Ferrari’s were part of them.  They stopped at the Pass for photo opts.  Timing is everything.  Can you image Bob blocking the highway with the RV, or better yet, backing down the highway so those Ferraris could get to Aspen?  Now if you own a Ferrari you got lots of money to spare, so pushing that RV over the edge would easily have been agreed upon.

See the Ferraris headed up the mountain?

It had been so quiet when I took the earlier picture of Bob.

He's a dork, but he's my dork!

We made it to Aspen in our humble little Equinox after stopping several times to admire the scenery and to thank God that we did not take the RV over the Pass.

Even though it had rained going over the Pass, the blue skies and sun came out when we got to Aspen, and we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon.  Sharon’s dad had helped build the original ski-T-lifts back in the 40’s so it had a special place in our hearts.  Cousin Fern had talked about when Dad lived with them while he was on the crew so those stories were fun to hear.

We spent some time at the John Denver Sanctuary, had a glass of wine at one of the local fancy restaurants and viewed the beautiful settings.  For those of you that have not been to Aspen lately, it’s a very high end kind of place.  It’s like going to Rodeo Dr. in Palm Springs, where the rich and famous come to relax and play.

Many of his songs/poems were engraved on stones.

So peaceful, thinking about the good times.

We made it back over the Pass and to Buena Vista in time to have dinner at one of the local Mexican restaurants and settled in for the evening.

Aren't the Aspens beautiful?

In the morning we stopped by Sharon’s cousins Barb & Ron Little,  and had a good visit and lunch.  Her cousin is renowned for her apple pies.  The day before we arrived in Buena Vista they had published an article in the local paper about her cousin’s delicious pies.  So when we arrived at the local café, it was like we were eating with a celebrity, everyone wanted to visit with her and get that secret recipe, nobody got that recipe- not even us.

Bear poop in their yard!! And they've had as many as 23 deer as well!!

After our visit we decided the situation in the Denver area (Sharon has a brother and another cousin with families she wanted to visit) was too risky for us to get in the mix so we headed for Santa Fe, NM. When her brother said, don’t come here, keep heading south, we knew that’s what we needed to do.  After checking the weather we felt we could make it to Santa Fe without getting caught in the flash flooding that was occurring throughout the area.  We arrived about sunset, found a place to park the RV and settled in for the evening.  We decided to stay in Santa Fe and extra day to let the rains move on. To the east of Santa Fe there were heavy rains and several cars had been washed off the highway. 

I love the way Santa Fe decorates their overpasses and retaining walls.

9-10-2013 Arches National Park, UT

After filling up with fuel and settling into our new RV site (not nearly as pretty as the state park or BLM site) we headed off to the visitor’s center at the Park. There was a park orientation movie that was very informative and got you really pumped up for the trip into the Park.

When we started into the park the weather was a little questionable with overcast skies and some rain.  In the orientation movie, they had talked about how water had created all of this, but was very rarely seen.  Surprise! We were there for the rain.   As the day progressed there were hints of blue sky and sunshine. This Park is a little overwhelming, so many sites to see.  In fact, we were scheduled to go to Canyonlands National Park, just 30 miles south of Arches NP, the next day, but were so exhausted by the time we finished at Arches, we decided to save Canyonlands for another time.

Because of the rain, we weren't able to see many of the really spectacular formations. The road through the park is only about 20 miles long with many turnouts.  But there is so much to see everywhere you turn.   The formations are not all right next to the turnouts so you have to hike, in some cases several miles to see them. Several of the roads were completely closed off because of slides, which made some of the sites a really long hike.  Needless to say we did not see all of them.  We did hike into several but definitely not all.  They warn you to take lots of water because it does get very hot in the desert.  (Like the old westerns!) The day we were there was somewhat cooler than normal and being overcast, we really enjoyed our time.  This park is very popular so lots of people were wandering around.  Finding parking at some of the sites was challenging.  hen, add a few tour buses along the way and let the fun begin.  You could spend several days exploring and hiking but one long day for us was plenty.  

Ham Rock

Sand Dune Arch

Salt Valley 

Balanced Rock

Fiery Furnace

Above and Below.  Looks like an elephant to me.

                                      

"Regular" overcast day picture.  Not as spectacular without his special lens. 

We always need a little flower color.

After returning to the RV we decided that we should plot our course for Colorado to visit some of Sharon’s cousins. Our next stop would be Palisades, Colorado and beyond.

9-9-2013 The Utah desert then on to Moab, UT

It was a very long day, about 380 miles to Moab.  Our educational stop for the day would be at Promontory, UT where the golden spike was driven in to unite the eastern railroad with the western railroad.  We would all now be one; away with the pony express, away with the wagon trains, away with the wide open plains.  

You know, when you're driving into the desert and all of a sudden, you come upon a lot of buildings, many of which are partially underground, wide roads are leading over the hills, and you think,"space aliens," no it's just the ATK propulsion laboratories for NASA.   Pretty cool once we looked it up, but looked pretty strange out there in the middle of the desert.  

After our side trip, we travelled mostly on the interstate so we could make some pretty good time.  We passed through Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo.   The traffic moved along quite well but we did not arrive to our destination until about 7:30 pm, just about the time the sun was going down and the rain was beginning.

Look quick again!!  The capital of Utah and the Great Salt Lake.

We had wanted to stay at the Dead Horse State Park, but by the time we got there, it was already filled up. (You can't make reservations at some state parks)  In the Utah desert, it was dark and we didn't know where to go from there, so we pulled into the parking lot at the visitor’s center, planning to stay there until morning.  At 10 pm the Ranger came knocking at the door and informed us that we could not stay at the center.  She suggested that we drive to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campgrounds about 8 miles down the road.  So we relocated to settle in for the rest of the night.  By the time we got there and found a spot we thought we could fit in, the rain was coming down very steady.  We had to disconnect the car to back into the site. There was no lighting at the park so we had to feel our way around. After leveling the RV we finally got to bed about 11:30. We had not driven at night in several months so we were a little tentative getting around.  But, the rain beating on the roof was very soothing and we really got a great night’s sleep.

We had been very excited when we entered the state park; the rock formations were beautiful. We did get to get a glimpse of a sunset on our arrival, too.  It made the sky look like it was on fire with hot lava.

We decided to find a place in Moab the next morning since we were very low on fuel and could not dry camp without having to run the generator.  No gas no generator.