Durango and Silverton

This sign is the entrance to the RV park we stayed at during our Durango expedition.  It was situated right on the Animas River, about 15 miles outside of downtown Durango.

The Animas River looked a lot like the Rio Grande in South Fork.  Doesn't this picture look similar to the Rio Grande?  I took this photo right across from our campsite--just like in South Fork!

Here's another shot of the river, on a different day, with the sun reflecting off the river and the surrounding trees.

Here's our rig set up under a nice canopy of trees which, by the way, obstructed our satellite reception.  This only became disturbing to Gary when the Stanley Cup Playoffs were in progress.  Thankfully, Danny & Robin let him watch the last minutes of one of the games so he was quite relieved!

We went to downtown Durango for dinner two nights and tried out two different Mexican restaurants.  Some things are just so predictable, aren't they?  Like us and Mexican food, for sure!  Here is a picture of the Strater Hotel which is on the main drag in town just about right in the middle of town.  This is just another of many old, historic towns in Colorado.  Love these towns!

Here are Danny and Gary, studiously studying the map getting ready for our day trip to Silverton. 



The drive to Silverton was beautiful, and we went over a number of high passes.  Gary was initially thinking we would drive home this route because Wolf Pass was so high.  However, Wolf Pass didn't hold a candle to the passes we traveled over to get to Silverton.  He quickly realized it would have been a HUGE mistake taking this alternate way back to Canon City!  We passed this waterfall right by the side of the road on our way there.

Here comes a history lesson!

When you visit Silverton, a National Historic Landmark, you step back in history. The Old Town Square invites you to browse shops filled with Old West charm and rare antiques. Visit the Grand Imperial Hotel, built in 1882--a perfect example of Victorian architecture. The atmosphere may have provided the setting for several Western movies, not only to take advantage of the historic look, but to capture the splendorous mountain magic as well.

Silverton is part of the Sun Juan Skyway (with the Million Dollar Highway connecting Silverton to Ouray), home to Animas Forks and the Alpine Loop, the summer destination for the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train ride, a recreational paradise in winter for snowmobiling, skiing, sledding, ice skating, ice climbing, and ice fishing; and in summer for rafting, backcountry touring, Jeeping, ATV and OHV riding, fishing, hiking, biking, rafting, horseback riding, hunting and camping.  Secluded at 9,318 feet, a visit to Silverton is a perfect combination of supreme natural beauty and magnificent Victorian charm.

Gold was discovered in Silverton in 1860. The greatest boom in the area was construction of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (aka the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad) in 1882. By that time, there were seven towns, including Animas Forms which is now a well-visited ghost town in the summer.

Silverton's main business section was built in the late 1800s. Unlike many other mining towns, Silverton never experienced a major fire, and most of the buildings are still standing. The "other side" of town was centered on Blair Street. At one time this notorious street was home to forty saloons and brothels. Almost half of these buildings are still standing today.

Silverton is now the only town left in San Juan County. Its year-round population of approximately 600 is supported by tourism rather than mining. People from all over the globe come to see the magnificent scenery and to experience the rich history of the area.

 

The pink BBQ place in the photo just above is where we ate lunch.  It boasted a visit by Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.  However, Guy actually visited their other location, not this one in Silverton!  We still had a good BBQ lunch!

 

It was a good thing we brought our sweatshirts with us.  The weather up at that elevation was quite chilly and as you can see from the photos it was overcast and cloudy,

 

On our way back, the weather had improved somewhat allowing us these fantastic photos of the magnificent mountain scenery.

 

 

 

We stopped at an overlook on our way back and took a group photo.  Left to right:  Judy, Gary, Danny, and Robin.  Sadie is in front but unfortunately you can't see the Burton's little dog, Sophie.  Notice we all have our sweatshirts on!

Back at the campground, Robin is taking time out to relax and play with her iPad.

 Danny is getting the BBQ ready for a dinner of hamburgers.

And this is their trailer brightly decorated with these lively lights in the shape of trailers!  So cute!

Tomorrow's adventure?  Mesa Verde National Park!  Stay tuned for some great photos of another amazing National Park!

 

John 12:44-47

And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.  He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.  I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness."

Driving to Durango

It's our first trip "out" since we've been in Canon City, CO.  We're traveling to Durango to meet up with our good friends, Danny & Robin, from Gardnerville, NV.  I feel like we almost forgot how to pull up camp and head out!  We switched out some hours with another Workamper couple (Buzz & Sandy) and headed out early Thursday afternoon to our stopping waypoint, South Fork.

The campground was nice and shady (I love shady sites except when they interfere with our satellite dish, of course!).

And it was right on the Rio Grande River!  The Rio Grande has its origin near South Fork in the San Juan Mountains and flows from southwestern Colorado all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.  It is 1,885 miles long forming part of the border between Texas and Mexico.  In Mexico, the river is known as Rio Bravo del Norte and is basically unnavigable except near its mouth.  Which is now often reduced to a trickle there by drought and the drawing off of water upstream.

Below, we're standing by the river's edge which was right across the lane from our campsite.  Once again, Sadie is giving you a butt-shot!  By now I think she's famous for them.

Although we did not have a campsite right on the river, we took advantage of this empty site to get a photo of me, Sadie and the river.

Leaving South Fork the next morning we started the last leg of our journey to Durango.  The San Isabel National Forest is beautiful country as you can see from these passenger seat shots.  The windshield was dirty from all the bugs and debris so that's why you see all those spots, but that was not going to deter me from showing you all the scenic sites along the way.

We had to climb up over Wolf Pass to get to Durango.  You'll see the elevation in a picture below so I won't divulge that right now, but from the snow in the picture below you know we were definitely getting up there in elevation.

Okay, now you can see the elevation at Wolf Creek Pass ... 10,857 feet!  We are also (once again) crossing the Continental Divide. This is probably our fourth or fifth crossing of The Great Divide since we started our travels almost a year ago (June 15, 2013 was our first day on the road!).

To give you an idea of how high we were, you can see the road in two parts in this photo with the closest being in the lower right corner and then a thin strip of road you can barely see in the lower left corner of the photo.  It was quite a trip down from the summit and we knew we were going to have to drive back over on our way back home.

We also passed Chimney Rock National Monument on our way to Durango and were able to get a fairly good photo of it from the car.

 

History Lesson: 

Chimney Rock National Monument protects a 1000-year-old community once inhabited by the Ancestral Puebloans. Four ancient structures have been excavated and stabilized for public viewing. They include the 44-foot diameter Great Kiva, the Pit House, a multi-room dwelling, and the Chacoan Great House Pueblo. Many unexcavated structures are also visible on the tour and within the Monument.  It is considered a place of mystery, a sacred place, a celestial observatory and seasonal calendar for the Ancestral Puebloans. Chimney Rock is a place of unparalleled natural beauty sitting on a high mesa at the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains within the San Juan National Forest between Durango and Pagosa Springs.   The Monument encompasses 4,726 acres, preserving hundreds of prehistoric sites that dot the landscape around the twin spires known as Chimney Rock and Companion Rock.

The photo below of Chimney Rock I pulled from the Internet.

 

Next stop?  More beautiful Colorado country and Durango, Colorado.

Psalms 18:2-3

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

The Life of a Workamper

By now you're probably wondering, "What's it like to be a Workamper?"  I can only tell you about our first experience which may or may not be similar to other's experiences or to our next experience.  I think we got pretty lucky (although I don't believe in luck, just God's divine providence) and selected the perfect place for our first experience.  Here we are with the Welcome Bear in front of the Mountain View RV Resort office entrance.

What is it that makes it perfect, you ask (I thought you'd never ask!)?

First, we work two days (10-hour days) and then are off four days!  Who can't like that?  Having four days off at a time provides us with ample opportunity and time to visit the surrounding areas and even take off for short "vacations" (uhhhh, do we need a vacation since we're on permanent vacation???  Heck yeah!).  And from our recent blogs you know that we have been traveling around to the local areas and enjoying the scenery immensely.

Second, it's so simple even a caveman could do it!  There are times when it is sloooooooooow (and I do mean slooooooooooow) and the day drags on, but I've been creating things to do.  I have not lost my "kaizen" spirit (for those of you who aren't in the Toyota "know", Kaizen means continuous improvement) since I left Toyota.  I'm always looking for ways to do things easier and better.  One thing we did fairly early on is I asked Carter if we could have a rubber stamp made instead of writing the information on every reservation.  He readily agreed and we created it online and got it within five days.  That has really made it easier for all of us in the office because it is also like a "road map" listing the four things we have to do with each reservation and we just check each one as we complete it. 

Another thing I started working on for Carter at the RV resort is getting him involved in promoting on the resort's Facebook page.  He really doesn't like computers so he basically ignored it for the most part.  Well, the Royal Gorge region has so much going on, so many activities and outdoor adventures you can participate in that I felt we needed to tie the RV resort into what's happening in the area.  I went to the Chamber of Commerce and picked up all kinds of literature and scoured the Internet for local activities.  Then I created a Word table listing the dates of all the events and all the outdoor activities which I called "General Posts" (such as zip-lining, rafting, helitours, fishing, etc.).  So, now about three to four weeks in advance of an event, we post it on the resort's FB page and let them know they should stay with us during their time in the area to enjoy the event.  I created the Word document in such a way that he can use it again next year and simply copy and paste the verbiage from the chart and change the dates when he pastes it into the FB page.  He is pretty excited about that.  Click on this link to check out their FB page Mountain View RV Resort and you'll see some of the events I created and posted.  While you're at it, why don't you "Like" us too?

Because he's figured out I'm a software "guru" (in his mind), he also has been asking me to make changes to some of the resort documents, which I'm more than happy to do as well as make signs and anything else he dreams up.  I've also asked him to show me how to make changes to some of the programs we use so that I don't need to ask him to help me each time.  One of my strengths is "Learner" so I love learning new things which in this business is a good thing!

My main front office duties include:  answering the phones, taking reservations from phone calls, pulling reservations off the Internet, cashiering, keeping the office area clean, neat, and tidy, restocking the refreshments, and any other office thing that may pop up.  I actually have to "radio" Gary to let him know when I need to have a potty break because we can't leave the phones unattended.  He is also responsible for bringing me my lunch when we're working ... what a guy!  Here I am in the front office with my walkie-talkie in hand.  See those cute marshmallow pens in the lower right-hand corner? 

My "weakest" task is the money.  I'm sure I've told you this before, but me watching over money is like asking the wolf to watch over the henhouse ... something bad is bound to happen! 

As I was saying before I got on my shortage tangent, I have to count the money each morning and evening when I'm on shift.  It totally freaks me out that I will be short and not be able to account for it! And it finally did :(  I was $10 short in the cash drawer recently.  I think someone gave me $50 and I though they gave me $60 so when I made change I gave them $10 too much.  They never said anything and happily went on their way.  Me, I had to cough up $10 out of my wallet to make it come out right.  you can bet I'll be looking more closely at the bills so I am more accurate!

I asked Carter to show me how to interpret the evening reports so I can check my own work.  That has helped me out considerably because he would come back 3-4 days later and ask me a question about something?*#!  Look it, I'm over 60.  What's he thinking?  Is he believing I'm going to have great recall and give him all the details?  NOT!!  So now I can peruse the reports, make notes on anything that needs an explanation and then if there's a question later I'll be able to answer it ... I hope!

As you noticed (with the walkie-talkie in my hand) we communicate via walkie-talkies.  Gary gave us "handles".  I'm in the office so my handle is "Dog House" and his handle is "Red Dog 1".  He heard (and then remembered because it's irrelevant trivia) these handles from some war movie he saw once.  Go figure!

While I'm in the office all day, Gary is basically outdoors completing all his assignments which are on a check list.  His responsibilities include cleaning the park restrooms and bath (shower) house (and checking their cleanliness hourly), keeping the front and rear patios free of leaves and bird poop, getting the mail, checking campsites prior to guest check-in, escorting guests to their campsites, cleaning the campsite tables while the guests are getting their rigs set up, checking campsites after guests depart, and he gets to do most of this while running around in a golf cart, which I think he thinks is totally cool!

While we both have "free" time, I am stuck indoors so most of my free time I'm either reading, working on my personal computer, or dreaming up something inside that should be done--like reorganizing the literature rack!  Gary, on the other hand, can spend some of his free time in the RV, walking Sadie, and sometimes taking a nap. 

Below is part of the retail area that is just to the right of the front desk area.  They have RV picture frames and RV Christmas ornaments (second shelf from the top), wine bottle toppers (third shelf from the top, left side and displayed on two wine bottle right below), RV salt and pepper shakers (third shelf to the right of the wine bottle toppers), and some great bear items including bath soap holder, salt and pepper shakers and wine bottle holder (all on the bottom shelf).  Then there's the "mandatory" red neck wine glasses!  Really some cute stuff and we've been selling it fairly well.

Carter is also a licensed contractor and has his other (contractor's) business is in the Springs.  He bought the RV resort thinking ahead to retirement.  When he's here, he lives in his Class A motorhome which is here permanently.  He's made some great changes to the resort.  One of the best is the cement pads he poured at most of the campsites.  These are our "deluxe" sites.  Our standard sites are all gravel (no cement pad).  The majority of the sites have full hookups.  Here is a very recent aerial shot of the park that his buddy at the Helitours company did for him. The park was at capacity that weekend (which is different from the "normal") because of an RV club rally.  Our rig isn't in the park because we were off gallivanting around in Durango with our good friends from Gardnerville.

Here's a picture of the back patio and small grassy area.  Gary's favorite bunny rabbits hang out here a lot.  He is watching the babies grow up right in front of his eyes.  There are lots of bunnies this year and Carter is threatening to ... well, you know!

Carter did all the construction on the brick built-in BBQ (right underneath the patio cover which he also made) and the nice water feature which you can't really see (it's behind the tree on the left side of the photo just to the left of the open door).  The poppies were blooming and it really looked very nice and colorful the day I took the photo.

Here's a photo of the front porch on the right-side of the main entrance.  Sometimes when it's really slow I'll sit out here or out back (see next photo).

This is the other place I might hang out when it's really slow in the office and I've completed all the little tasks I can dream up.  There are three birdhouses and one hummingbird feeder in that tree right behind the fence.  We have Orioles in the area but I never have my camera when I see them.  I am committed to getting a photo of an Oriole, though!

There are a total of three couples and one older, single guy working as Workampers at this resort.  The single guy, Jim, is in his 70s and he is mostly responsible for weed abatement (full time job), maintenance odd jobs, and anything that Carter comes up with.  Jim is actually taking off in July because he wants to travel instead of being grounded this summer.  I think this is either his third or fourth year here.  He winters in Texas and works at an RV resort there as well.

So, have you been dreaming about being a fulltime RVer, traveling around like a free bird after you retire?  Check out the Workamping website www.workamper.com then click on the "Join/Renew" button on the left side and then click on "Dreamer".  That should get you started on your own personal journey. 

However, we definitely recommend you travel around and see the sites before starting Workamping!  You need to fulfill some Wanderlust before you ground yourself in the summers.  There will always be Workamping assignments (there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds), but you won't always have the time to travel in the summer if you start too soon.  We are selecting states that we didn't get to in our four months of traveling on the west coast. We did get to one corner of Montana, but there's still so much we haven't seen in that big sky state.

To end this blog, I thought it was appropriate to include a picture of a recent sunset here in Canon City.  Some nights we have amazing sunsets like the one below and then some nights we don't.  I love to catch them when we have them!

 

Psalms 116:5-6

Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
Yes, our God is compassionate.
The LORD preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.

Westcliff and Bishop's Castle

 

It's one of our days off and we decided to take a short trip to visit one of the many historic small communities in this area.  We chose Westcliff which is in the Wet River Valley.  The Wet River Valley is nestled between the Wet River Mountains and the soaring peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (which are the snow-topped peaks you can see in some of our campground photographs).  Gary talked to one of the other Workampers here at Mountain View and he told Gary that the town of Westcliff practically empties out in the winter because the temperatures can get well below zero.  The low last winter was -17, but it's been reported to get even colder than that sometimes!  During our visit (thankfully) it was a beautiful day in the low 80s.

The drive to Westcliff had amazing, beautiful scenery.  We had gorgeous views of the Sangre de Cristos from the road.  Look how lush and verdant the area is from recent rains.  You definitely know it's springtime in the Rockies!

Westcliff is just one of many small communities in southern Colorado.  This is a picture of the main drag in town.

 Just off to the right at the end of the block above, the restaurant has this great fence skirting the outdoor patio.  We're talking western (yeehaw) towns here!

 The main street also has a few beautiful bronze sculptures scattered about.  Here's just two of them.  The first one is the cowboy reading with his boots off and we featured Sadie as part of that photo opportunity.

 The second bronze features both Sadie and me!  What you can't really see in this photo is the detail on this guy's shoes so I cropped the photo and focused on his shoes--wingtips.  Such a striking feature of the bronze sculpture.

At the far end of town, was this panoramic view of the Sangre de Cristos.  I (unfortunately) forgot my camera for this day trip, so all these were taken with my phone (thank you, God, for camera phones!).  But, the video I took panning the mountains is too large for me to send via email so I have to figure out another way to download it to my computer.  I've tried downloading photos once before with no success, but I'll give it a try again.

After lunch (we had an excellent lunch at a bar and grille), Gary had the MOST AMAZING chili either of us has ever had at a restaurant.  They used shredded beef and chipotle chilis.  Honestly, we have never tasted chili that good before.  Gary was very happy with his lunch.  I had a steak salad which was also fantastic.  They make their own salad dressings, use only fresh romaine for their salads, and basically make all their own stuff.  Yum! Yum!  From Westcliff we headed towards Bishop Castle.  We had been told we needed to go there, so we did.

The drive over was through the San Isabel National Forest.  There are lovely stands of Aspens scattered throughout the evergreen hillsides and roadsides.  We are definitely planning this trip again in the autumn when the leaves are changing color.  It should be outstandingly colorful and beautiful.

 We also passed Bigelow Divide (or gap) which is at the summit of Hwy. 165 at an elevation of 9,350.  Originally we thought it was a crossing of the Continental Divide, but I couldn't find anything on the Internet to verify that so it just seems to be a summit in the San Isabel National Forest off the highway.

 Located right to the left of these photos were some Aspen trees.  I love the bark on Aspens.  It is just so lovely and reminds me of the trees I have for our miniature New England Village (which all happens to be in storage!).

Now, your obligatory history lesson on Bishop Castle because you may not have ever heard of it!

For 40 years, Jim Bishop has been building a castle on a mountainside in central Colorado. "Did it all myself, don't want any help," he says mechanically as he unloads a pile of rocks that he's hoisted to the 70-foot level on one of the castle towers.

Every year since 1969, Bishop has single-handedly gathered and set over 1000 tons of rock to create this stone and iron fortress in the middle of nowhere. Bishop calls it "a monument to hardworking people" and "America's biggest, one-man, physical project." "I always wanted a castle. Every man wants a castle,” Bishop continues, his voice a broken record, answering the same questions he's obviously been asked thousands of times before.

It hasn't been easy. For most of those 40 years Bishop was engaged in a running battle with Washington bureaucrats over the rocks that he used, which came from the San Isabel National Forest that surrounds the castle property. Bishop felt that they were his for the taking, the government wanted to charge him per truckload.

Another bone of contention that stuck in Bishop's craw belonged to the Colorado state Chamber of Commerce, which refused to list Bishop Castle as an attraction in its official tourism guides.

Happily, those angry years are in the past. Both Uncle Sam and the Colorado Chamber now recognize that Bishop's dementia concretia is marketable, and that he's transformed some heavy, unwanted rocks into pure tourism gold.

Bishop's goal is to complete his castle before he dies. He has no thought of slowing down. Although the castle is mostly a hollow shell of cemented rocks and ornamental ironwork (Jim Bishop's regular line of business), his future plans include a moat and a drawbridge, a roller coaster mounted on the castle's outer wall, a balcony big enough to hold an orchestra, and a second castle for Phoebe, his wife. (By 2005, Jim had added a large metal mesh dome on top of the castle, which rotates when visitors run in it.)

"I want to live as long as I can and keep building that castle bigger and bigger and bigger."

Now that you know what it is, here are some photos.  Some I took off the Internet because it's hard to get good photos of the top of the castle when it is a sunny day--too much light and glare.

This photo I snagged from the Internet.

 And this one, too!  It shows all three towers really well.

 

 Now, on to my camera phone photos.  Can you see the dragon's head coming out of the peaked roof?  We were told that he used to have a propane tank so that every once in awhile the dragon would breathe out fire!

 Gary at the main entrance. 

 Stairs going straight up.  I looked at those and said, "Heck no!"  Even looking at it made my stomach turn a little.

 

 They have this large, rustic chair sitting out front.  Couldn't pass up that photo opp! It was a bit of a climb up with my short legs, but I finally conquered it.

 The clouds had this beautiful effect that I had to catch.

 And, on our drive back to Canon City (we basically made a loop) we passed this ramshackle residence that was picture perfect.  How pastoral is that?

 

 Psalms 57:10-11  //  For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let Your glory be above all the earth.