Category Archives: Alpine Coach

Steep Grades and Flaming Gorge

The trailer was packed and ready to go Wednesday evening, so we were able to get a relatively early start on Thursday. We pulled out of the James M. Robb Colorado River State Park around 9:30am. We headed back west on I-70 about five miles before exiting onto CO139 north. The road surface quality and condition was variable on this road – downright bumpy at times. This highway took us over Douglas Pass, more than 8,200 feet above sea level – not especially high by Colorado standards. But, we climbed through some very steep grades along the way.

At the little town of Rangely, we hit CO64 and headed northwest. At the town of Dinosaur, we hit US40 and entered Utah shortly after that. This took us to Vernal where we found US191 north again. North of Vernal US191 has some of the steepest grades we’ve encountered. The road sign stated 8% grade and 10 switchbacks over four miles. I think they understated the grades. I had to keep a close eye on road speed and engine coolant temperatures as we climbed up through steep switchbacks on a narrow roadway. Donna snapped a few pictures from the passenger seat trying to capture the rugged terrain.

The highway below us after we climbed up a series of switchbacks

We made a steep ascent from the road below

We were traveling through the Ashley National Forest in the Uintah mountain range. We made a rapid descent into the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

Closer look at the reservoir with the bridge we would cross on the east end by the dam

The Flaming Gorge Reservoir was created when a dam and hydroelectric power station was completed on the Green River in 1964. The reservoir straddles the Utah-Wyoming border and covers over 42,000 acres. It’s at an elevation of 6,040 feet above sea level. Traveling over the mountains, we saw several mule deer along the roadway around here.

View of Green River as we crossed the Flaming Gorge Reservoir bridge

The road surface on US191 improved dramatically once we crossed the Wyoming border. Once we were in Wyoming, we saw antelope in the fields by the highway. I can honestly say I’ve never traveled in Wyoming without seeing antelope. The highway brought us to I-80 about five miles west of Rock Springs. We found the Sweetwater Events Complex. The RV campground was nearly empty. I paid for three nights with full hook-ups and 50 amp service. With my Escapees membership, the discounted rate was $27.80/night.

Car races were scheduled at the small dirt oval on the far side of the complex on Friday night and Saturday night. The grounds are large enough that the race track is too far away for us to hear the cars. That’s a good thing – the races were scheduled to run from 7pm to 11pm. On Friday, several rigs came in with race car trailers and set up near us.

Donna took a 15-mile bike ride Friday morning. Her Strava app, which tracks her rides and provides statistics, showed her as Queen of the Hill. She made a climb on one portion of her ride faster than any other female Strava rider recorded there. After her ride, we took a drive in Midget-San to the town of Green River. It’s about 17 miles west of Rock Springs. It was warm – the temperature reached the low 80s. Green River has a population of about 12,000 – making it half the size of Rock Springs. Green River is located on the north bank of – you guessed it – the Green River.

We stopped at Taco Time and got lunch to go – a chicken fiesta salad for Donna and a chicken soft taco for me. We took our lunch to the Expedition Island Park in town. This park is on a small island in the Green River. It was clean, well-kept and a lovely place to sit at a covered table and eat lunch. To drive onto the island, we crossed a one-lane bridge into the parking area. As we approached the bridge, we saw a deer standing at the far end. As we drove across, the deer hopped down to the river and splashed its way downstream.

South side of the island looking down stream at the pedestrian bridge

North side of the island looking downstream at the one-lane bridge

Looking upriver from the one-lane bridge

Remember what I said about not hearing the car races? What we did hear was the aftermath. The racers with RVs near us came back to their rigs after the races ended at 11pm and the party was on. They were very noisy well past 3am!

Speaking of racing, the Formula One season is finally underway. The pandemic had it shut down. This is the latest start to the season ever for Formula One. I watched the qualifying from Austria this morning and I’ll record the race tomorrow morning.

Donna made chicken with peppers and tomatoes over quinoa pasta for Thursday night’s dinner. It was simple dish and very tasty.

Chicken with peppers and tomatoes over pasta served with broccoli

Last night, we had cheeseburgers made from the ground beef/bacon patties we bought from the Ower’s farm. Excellent burgers!

The weather here is abundant sunshine with the temperature forecast to hit the mid-80s. I’ll start packing the trailer later this afternoon and load Midget-San. Tomorrow we’ll head out to Pocatello, Idaho where we’ll continue to have warm weather.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Cortez to Fruita

We had our last games of pickleball in Cortez Monday morning. The wind really kicked up and we were off the courts by 10:30am. We had fun playing there and met some great people. I got the trailer cleaned up and organized in the afternoon, but I left the grill out which meant I didn’t secure Donna’s bike because it would block me from stowing the grill.

The Weber Q was needed to grill steaks Monday evening. I grilled the New York strip angus steaks we bought from the Ower’s farm. They were great!

Tuesday morning I had to finish packing the trailer and do all of the usual disconnecting. I also took the filter elements out of our two-stage water filter canisters – it was time for replacement. I pulled out of our site before loading the Midget – the slope at the rear of the site would make the rear ramp open at too steep of an angle. It was almost 11am by the time we hit the road.

Our route took us northwest on US491 into Utah. At Monticello, we turned north on US191. We went away from the high mountain pines and drove through sagebrush and sandstone country. About 40 miles south of Moab, Donna snapped a couple of photos of an interesting sandstone feature as we drove by.

Traffic was very light until we reached Moab. We were there back in 2014, but it’s really grown since then. There were plenty of new businesses and condominium or apartment buildings. There was also a lot of construction going on. People were on all of the sidewalks. I’m afraid the tourism success will eventually kill the charm of Moab if it hasn’t already done so.

We continued north from Moab on US191 and hit I-70 a couple of miles west of Thompson Springs. From Thompson Springs to Fruita, Colorado, there are no services. That’s a 62-mile stretch of interstate without a gas station or convenience store. There are a few exits from the interstate presumably for ranch or utility access, but they are all marked “No Services.” It seems strange to have such a large area with no businesses.

We checked in to the James M. Robb – Colorado River State Park. I made a reservation here a couple of weeks ago. The thing is, with the pandemic, we didn’t plan too far ahead for summer travel. We didn’t know what would be open or when. That meant I hadn’t planned for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. We got two nights here at James M. Robb then we’ll have to move on – the park is booked for the holiday weekend starting on Thursday night.

The park is right on the Colorado River. South of the park, across the river is the Colorado National Monument. We took a trip through the monument in 2014 and I posted pictures of some of the views in this post.

Site 6 at James M Robb Colorado River State Park

Our doorstep view of the Colorado National Monument

The sites here are equipped with nice metal picnic tables with steel roofs over them. I noticed the picnic tables were secured to metal rings in the ground. I think it’s a sad commentary when a state park has to secure picnic tables to deter thieves.

This morning Donna went out on her bike. She ended up making a 15-mile ride along the Colorado River. Here are a few photos she took on her ride.

Prairie dogs are common almost everywhere in Colorado

We would have liked to stay here longer – it’s a beautiful area and the state park is very nice. We’ll leave here tomorrow and head up to Rock Springs, Wyoming. I think it will be about a five-hour drive. We’ll stay at the fairgrounds – the Sweetwater Events Complex. They have 1,200 sites there and assured me we would have no problem getting a site.

It’s hot here today – lower 90s. Mid-90s are predicted here tomorrow, but Rock Springs will be 10 or 15 degrees cooler.

Ham and Eggs

Back on June 2nd, Donna and I made a trip over US160 to Durango, Colorado – about 50 miles from Cortez. The purpose of the trip was a stop at the Wells Fargo bank branch there – the only one within 150 miles of Cortez. Why make such a long drive to the bank? The purpose was to draw a couple of cashier’s checks to make the final distribution of the trust funds left by my step-dad, Ken Keller.

I had already taken care of all of his bills and filed his personal income taxes and a trust tax return. There wasn’t anything else left to do but make the distribution, close the trust account and dissolve the trust. Sounds simple enough, right?

I sent cashier’s checks via USPS Priority Mail to my sister in Florida and brother in California that afternoon. My brother sent me a text saying he received the check on the 5th. On the following Tuesday, the 9th, I tracked the mail to my sister. Tracking showed an exception alert on June 5th – the mail had to be forwarded. I didn’t know when I sent the check that my sister had moved from her apartment.

I kept trying to track the envelope, but no new information was showing. Finally, on the 17th, I opened a ticket online with USPS and spoke to a customer service representative. This person told me mot to worry, it takes time for forwarding and it was “in process.” I asked her where in the process it was. She couldn’t answer – she said it would have to go to Tallahassee, be tagged and re-sorted to its final destination in Jacksonville. I told her more than 10 business days had passed with no update. She again said it was “in process.”

I started getting e-mail tracking info on the 21st due to my online service request. It said the envelope was at the sorting facility at Gainesville, Florida. What? Then on the 22nd it said it was “in transit.” The next update said it left Jacksonville. Then it was “in transit” on the 23rd, 24th and 25th. Next it was shown as at the facility in Ybor City, Florida. What! That’s across the state from Jacksonville. I made a second online complaint and call with no satisfactory answer of what happened to the check. On the 27th, tracking said it arrived in Jacksonville, then on the same day, it said it departed Jacksonville today and than again arrived in Jacksonville.

Anyway, by Friday, the 26th I gave up on the USPS finding and delivering the check. I made an appointment and drove back to Durango. I needed to stop payment on the original cashier’s check and draw a new check. This was complicated by the fact I had closed the Wells Fargo account. After an hour of filling out forms, I had to pay a fee of $199.34 to issue the new check. This was for fraud insurance. The only way to avoid this was to wait for 90 days and the check would be voided and I could get a new one for $31.00. I paid the fee and got a new check, then stopped at FedEx to send it. No Priority Mail this time!

On Saturday morning, Donna and I drove up US491 north to County Road 15 – our destination was the Dolores Canyon Overlook. A gal we met at pickleball, Jan, told us about the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) field day. This is an event where ham radio operators set up portable equipment in the field to communicate. It’s the most popular annual ham radio event in the US and Canada – more than 35,000 ham radio enthusiasts participate.

Members of the local club, which includes Jan’s husband, Mike, set up at the Dolores Canyon Overlook. This is a remote location – more remote than I anticipated. Little did I know that when we left US491 and hit CR15, we would drive 15 miles of dirt and gravel road to reach the overlook. At one point, a few miles from the overlook we rounded a corner and saw two bears – a momma and a large cub. They ran away from us. There was a small pond nearby and I think they were there for water when we startled them.

I wanted to make the trip so I could learn more about ham radio operation. It’s a hobby I’ve had an interest in. Mike and another club member, Cap, filled me in with a lot of information about equipment and how I could set up in the motorhome. Mike told me about a trip he and his wife took with their teardrop trailer into remote northwest Canada. They were more than 100 miles from the nearest cell tower but were able to stay in touch with their family via ham radio.

Donna and Jan outside of the ham radio campers – check out the antennas

The Dolores Canyon is a deep gorge with the Dolores River running through it. From the campground area there’s a trail about a quarter of mile long to the overlook. The views are spectacular.

The overlook is on a narrow ridge. We walked a few yards away from the canyon and faced the flatland to the west. We could see the small town of Dove Creek.

Looking west – you can make out Dove Creek in the center

I’ve decided I want to join the ranks of amateur radio operators. I’m studying to take the exam for a technician license. I can take the exam in Everett, Washington on July 25th when we are there. A man needs a hobby and I haven’t taken up anything new in a while.

Saturday afternoon we had another interesting visit. We went to the Owers’ farm. We met Bob and Carolyn Ower at the Cortez Farmers’ Market where we bought beef from them. Bob told us about his hydroponic cattle feed system and invited us to check it out.

Bob and Carolyn raise angus cattle on their farm. They used to breed and raise the cattle themselves. They started with good stock from Montrose, Colorado. Raising your own stock is a lot of work. You constantly have logistical challenges of separating bulls from cows and tending pregnant cows and dealing with calves. They’ve changed their operation now to buying young steers from Montrose and raising them for 18 months. They start with genetically sound cattle and by providing proper nutrition they produce quality beef.

The cows eat grass in the field and their diet is supplemented with hay for roughage and barley for dense nutrition. They sprout the barley in a hydroponic system that’s capable of producing 250 lbs. of barley per day. It takes six days to go from seed to feed with this system.

Seeds in front bins germinating – barley sprouts in the rear

Trays on the bottom left will be ready for feed the next day

My photo of the nearly finished product is a bit off – I think I had an issue with the UV lights. The hydroponic trays do not contain any dirt or mulch. The nutrients for the seedlings is in the water and the barley roots mat together making the tray of barley into a single unit much like sod (without any dirt). The cattle happily munch the entire mat of barley.

We went out to the back field where the cattle were. Bob brought some treats – actually they were horse treats that I think were made from apples – and the cows moved out the shade of a tree across the field to come to us for treats.

They have seven steers currently and some are about ready for processing. The largest of them is about 1,100 lbs and Bob said they gain about three pounds per day. They have five more young steers coming on Tuesday.

We also toured Carolyn’s garden and greenhouse. She grows vegetables which they sell at the farmers’ market.

Bob told me the greenhouse grows vegetables year ’round – even in the cold of winter. Carolyn also raises chickens for eggs as well as a few fryers. Different breeds of chicken produce different colored eggs. The color of the egg doesn’t affect the flavor – they all taste like eggs. Farm fresh eggs do seem a little creamier and richer though.

Looks like Easter, but these are naturally colored eggs

We really enjoyed our tour of a working farm. Bob and Carolyn also happen to be licensed ham radio operators and are members of the same club with Mike and Cap. Bob is thinking about writing a book about his approach to raising cattle and sustainable small-farm operations. Donna gave him a few tips and ideas.

After our dusty road trip, I went over Midget-San with a California duster last night. This morning I got serious and gave it a good cleaning with Meguiar’s Ultimate Waterless Wash and Wax. Looking good now.

After I had a couple of lunches of pulled pork sandwiches, Donna came up with a dish for the remaining leftover pulled pork. She made piggy mac which is baked macaroni and cheese with pulled pork! It was tasty and Donna thought it tasted like comfort food from a good food truck!

I’ll start organizing the trailer this afternoon. Tomorrow, after pickleball in the morning, I’ll get us 80% ready to roll. Tuesday we’ll head out and go up US491 into Utah where we’ll take US191 north to I-70 and head back east to Fruita, Colorado for a couple of days. We don’t expect any weather issues and by Tuesday it’s supposed to be cooler than the 90 degree heat we’ve been having – Tuesday’s high is forecast as 78 degrees.

Telluride and Pork Butt

We skipped pickleball on Tuesday and took a scenic drive instead. We headed north on CO145 through Dolores. Our plan was to drive up to Telluride – a 75-mile jaunt over high mountains along the Dolores River. We left at 9:30am. The highway was quiet with very few cars going our way. The scenery was spectacular.

Both sides of the road had colorful rocky bluffs covered with pine trees and stands of aspen trees. In places, whole hillsides were filled with aspens, presumably where fire had consumed the conifers and the aspens replaced them. There were open alpine meadows along the river. Donna took a few photos from the passenger seat.

We topped out around 10,200 feet above sea level at Lizard Head Pass. I have to say, the Nissan A15 engine and five-speed transmission in Midget-San is a great match. We cruised up the mountains without skipping a beat. I’m amazed at how well the Weber DGV carburetor performs at altitude.

After reaching the summit, the highway drops down into a box canyon where Telluride is located. The town is at an elevation of 8,750 feet above sea level. The town is a typical Old West tourist destination with trendy shops and overpriced eateries. We parked on the main drag which is Colorado Avenue and found a kiosk to pay the $1.50/hour parking fee.

One lane of Colorado Avenue was closed through the downtown district – it had barricades protecting picnic tables for take-out food and social distancing. Masks were mandatory indoors.

The big draw to Telluride is the ski resort in the winter. In the summertime, mountain biking and hiking brings tourists.

Ski run and gondola at Mountain Village from downtown Telluride

We ordered lunch at The Butcher and Baker – a popular deli-type restaurant on Colorado Avenue. We sat at a picnic table in the shade behind the restaurant. The food was good, but as expected, it was pricey. A salad for Donna and a sandwich for me with no drinks came to $37.

Galloping Goose #4 was on display on the north side of the street by the courthouse. I wrote about the Galloping Goose of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad in this post.

We had our fill by 1:30pm and headed back. It was quite a climb out of Telluride to Lizard Head Pass. We pulled off at a scenic turnout with views of high mountain peaks. The tree line here is around 11,000 feet above sea level and the peaks held snow above the tree line.

Mount Wilson – 14,252 feet above sea level

I think that’s Groundhog Mountain in the center of the photo – 12,165 feet above sea level

Colorado State Route 145 winds through the San Juan National Forest from Telluride to about a mile east of Dolores. The drive was worth the trip to Telluride – I enjoyed the scenery more than the town.

Back in Cortez, it was 90 degrees – about 15 degrees warmer than Telluride. We went into town for a scoop of ice cream at Moose and More. They have excellent ice cream and some unique flavors. We’ll have to go back to try something adventuresome like their honey and cornbread ice cream.

Back at La Mesa RV Park, I prepped a pork butt we bought at Safeway. Pork butt doesn’t have anything to do with the south end of a northbound pig – the butt is the shoulder of the pig. So, why do they call it a butt? The story is the name comes from colonial times when hogs were raised and processed in the Boston area. New Englanders didn’t have much interest in this cut of meat. It was considered to be tough and nearly inedible. The meat packers put the shoulder cuts in a barrel called a butt and shipped the meat south. The southerners knew how to properly prepare the shoulder meat so it was tender and pulled pork was the result.

Barrel names – the butt is in the lower row second from left

The shoulder was called the Boston Butt. Eventually it morphed into pork butt.

I dry-rubbed the butt and wrapped it in cling wrap and refrigerated it. Wednesday after we played pickleball in the morning, I set the Traeger to 225 degrees and started smoking 3 pounds of pork butt. This cut has several muscle ends and connective tissues (collagen). To make it tender requires slow cooking until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 195-205 degrees. This is much like smoking a brisket – I detailed that process in this post.

I figured about four and half hours would do it for 3 pounds of pork, but I was wrong. It took over six hours to reach 200 degrees. At that point, I double-wrapped it tightly with aluminum foil, then put two towels around it and placed it in a small cooler. This held the meat at high temperature without an external heat source which would dry it out at that point. It rested in the cooler for a little over an hour.

Smoked pork butt trussed with butcher twine

I used a fork to pull the meat apart. It came apart easily.

Donna made mashed potatoes (with skin) and fresh green beans. We served the pulled pork with Stubb’s Hickory-Bourbon BBQ Sauce.

We have a lot of leftover pulled pork and Donna’s coming up with ideas to use it.

She came up with a new dish on Monday night – she made a scallop saute with fresh tomatoes and zucchini served over homemade lemon-pepper egg noodles she bought from a local vendor at the farmers’ market.

The temperature has reached the low 90s every day this week and is forecast to continue for the next few days. We’re running the air conditioners every afternoon. This weekend, I’ll start reorganizing the trailer in preparation for our move to Fruita next Tuesday.

Water Projects

It seems like there was a lot going on over the weekend. I got a couple of things done that have been on my “to do” list for too long. First of all, on Friday I gave the exterior of Midget-San the full treatment. I’ve never been one to put much stake into products that claim to make wondrous results with little or no effort. If it seems to good to be true, it probably doesn’t work.

Awhile back, I was talking to guy at a car show. His car had a very shiny finish – the paint was glassy looking. He told me he never washes it with soap and water and had never put a water hose to it. He only used spray-on – wipe-off type cleansers that cleaned and shined the paint and also protected it. Really?

Well, in the year we’ve had Midget-San, I’ve never washed it with soap and water and haven’t put a water hose to it. First, I clean the exterior with Meguiar’s Ultimate Waterless Wash and Wax. I spray a small amount on and wipe it with a microfiber cloth, then buff with a clean, dry microfiber cloth. It works great! I met Barry Meguiar once, a real car enthusiast. He seemed a bit like a used car salesman with a white belt and matching white leather shoes, but he was a really nice guy. He no longer owns the company – 3M bought it – but I think he’s still involved with sales and distribution.

About every six weeks or so, I follow up with a ceramic spray coating that really makes the paint pop, leaves a hard, protective coating and fills minor scuffs and scratches. It’s super easy – the same as applying the Meguiar’s. I use Mother’s CMX Ceramic Coating.

Saturday was the Summer Solstice. This is the day when the sun is at its northernmost point in the sky and marks the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere. It’s also the day with the longest period of sunlight – from now until December 21st, the period of sunlight will decrease daily.

Donna and I started out Saturday with another visit to the Cortez Farmers’ Market. We had a few items on our shopping list and found what we wanted there. The little square where the market is held has murals on the sides of some of the buildings there.

We decided to take a little drive after we left the market. We first stopped at Denny Lake on the east side of town. There’s a small park there and a trail around the lake that Donna has walked a few times.

We went east again on US160 and turned north at County Road 29 to get to Totten Reservoir. Totten Reservoir is much larger than Denny Lake and is a popular fishing spot.

We saw people splashing in the water and cooling off there. Continuing east on US160, we stopped at the McElmo Creek Flume overlook. A flume is defined as an artificial channel conveying water. In this case, the flume is a wooden channel bringing water from the Highline Ditch to irrigate land in the valley. The water came from the Dolores River. This path of water is no longer in use – it’s been replaced by the Towaoc-Highline Canal.

That concluded our tour for the day.

Sunday was Father’s Day. I didn’t celebrate it with anything special. I did get to another project that I’d put off long enough. The stainless steel double kitchen sink in our Alpine Coach is mounted beneath the Karadon countertop. To do this, they glued 3/4″ x 3/4″ lengths of wood under the countertop alongside of the sink opening so mounting tabs could be screwed in place in the wood.

Five years ago, I repaired the mounting by cleaning and re-gluing the wood. Well, cracks in the caulking around the sink was a sure sign that the wood mounts had worked loose again. Pounding down roads like US191 north of St. Johns will do that.

I scraped the old glue residue from the wood and countertop. Then I spritzed it with water to moisten the area before I glued the wood back in place. The expanding Gorilla glue I used is catalyzed by moisture – you need to dampen the contact surfaces to set the adhesive. Then I applied glue and braced the wood tightly against the countertop.

Before I did that, I spent about an hour removing the old caulking from around the sink and cleaning the surfaces. Once I had the sink mounts braced in place, I set about caulking the sink. Surface preparation is key when doing this type of work. Cleaning out the old caulk and cleaning the surface with rubbing alcohol did the trick.

While I had everything out of the cabinet under the sink, I replaced the filter on our purified water faucet. We use water from this faucet for making coffee and cooking. This filter is anti-bacterial (KDF) and is supposed to be good for 1,500 gallons. We average less than a gallon a day with it. Changing this filter is more difficult than it looks. It’s a long reach to the back of the cabinet.

Our regular fresh water supply is also filtered by a two-stage canister system.

Later, Donna and I went to Wild Edge Brewing Collective to meet up with an old high school buddy, Rocco Gerardi and his wife, Edita. I think the last time we were together was in 1982 or ’83. We had fun catching up over a couple of beers at a sidewalk table. I failed to get a photo though.

Donna made a couple of new dishes for dinner over the past week. There was grilled lemon-garlic chicken with garlic scapes served with fresh corn-on-the-cob.

And we each enjoyed a very thick pork chop from the Safeway store here in Cortez made from a recipe called “The Best Juicy Skillet Pork Chops.” It was very juicy and flavorful!

The weather has been hot and dry with temperatures around 90 degrees and humidity in the low teens. Really. The temperature right now is 90 and the humidity is 13%! The forecast calls for more of the same in the next several days.

Galloping Goose

It was too windy on Tuesday to play pickleball. We’ve had warm, dry weather and gusty winds – a bad circumstance for fire danger. Two fires have been burning since lightning strikes ignited them last Saturday. On Sunday, I saw a small helicopter flying overhead. It was apparently being used to fight the fires. The smaller fire was northeast of Dolores and we could see and smell smoke from that fire when we played pickleball on Monday. This fire is called the Loading Pen Fire and appears to be contained.

The other fire is between Mancos and Durango and it’s called the East Canyon Fire. On Tuesday, I saw a large Chinook helicopter outfitted to carry water or fire suppressant flying directly over us at La Mesa RV Park in Cortez, Colorado. Presumably it was heading to the Cortez airport for refueling. I don’t understand why the powers that be used a small helicopter initially and only brought out the big unit when the fire grew to 1,100 acres and people had to evacuate. I understand it’s less costly to operate the smaller helicopter, but if it’s not able to contain the fire and then you have to bring out the big aircraft, what have you saved? The big Chinook flew over about an hour ago, so it’s still in service fighting the fire.

Donna and I did our weekly grocery run at Safeway on Tuesday. Safeway has the better meat selections – they have meat cutters onsite – while the City Market seems to have better produce. We bought a couple of very nice looking beef filet mignon steaks to grill. I also bought a lean top round cut for London broil to use for jerky. I’m still tweaking my jerky recipe and it’s really good! I prepped the jerky and had it marinating in the refrigerator Tuesday afternoon. While we were going through the produce section of the store, I saw a variety of fruit that cracked me up – they looked like the animations I’ve seen of the Wuhan coronavirus. It’s called kiwano, sometimes referred to as horned melon.

I mentioned in my last post about the rough night Ozark the cat had over the weekend. I’m happy to report she’s recovering with no sign of infection and not limping. I’m not sure if her nails will regenerate normally – time will tell.

Ozark the cat resting and recovering with Donna

We played pickleball Wednesday morning, hitting the courts at 8am and played for two hours. When we came home, I started smoking the jerky on the Traeger smoker/grill. I pulled the jerky from the smoker at 2pm. After cleaning up, we drove up to Dolores – a little over 10 miles northeast of here. We wanted to check out the train museum and the farmers’ market they have from 4pm to 7pm on Wednesdays.

The train museum turned out to be closed due to the pandemic. I shot a photo of the Galloping Goose in front of the museum. The Galloping Goose is one of seven railcars made by the Rio Grande Southern Railroad (RGS) in the 1930s. Six of them are still around. These railcars were originally designed to haul mail. The RGS was financially strapped at the time and it was too costly to run steam engines to haul mail. So they developed what they called “motors” from modified automobiles – Buick and Pierce Arrow.

The motor in Dolores is Galloping Goose number five. It was re-bodied with a Wayne bus body in 1945 and the power unit upgraded to a war surplus GMC engine. In 1950, RGS lost the mail contract – it was more efficient to use road carriers by then. RGS modified four of the motors by cutting windows in the compartment and installing seating and put them into service as tourist rides – this is when the Galloping Goose name was added to the railcars. Goose number five was restored in 1998 and runs occasionally on the Cumbres and Toltec Line (we saw a steam engine on that line in New Mexico – pics here) and on the Durango and Silverton tourist line.

We left the museum and walked along Central Avenue. Dolores is an old western town in a narrow gulch along the Dolores River. The town was established in 1900 and was serviced by the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. There are only three or four east-west roads in the town which is about one and a half miles long and only a quarter of mile wide (north-south).

Typical building on Central Ave, Dolores

The farmers’ market was next to the museum in Flanders Park behind City Hall. It was small but we enjoyed walking through and picking out a few items – mostly farm fresh produce and also some homemade salsa.

Fresh produce at Dolores farmers’ market

After we returned from the trip to Dolores, I grilled the filet mignon we bought at Safeway on the Weber Q. I had already cleaned the grill grates on the Weber with the pumice bricks I mentioned in my last post.

Donna made baked potatoes and steamed fresh broccoli from the farmers’ market. Farm fresh broccoli is head and shoulders above the broccoli we typically find at the supermarkets. She also sauteed mushrooms and onions to go with the filets.

Our plans are coming together for us to make our way up to the northwest when we leave here at the end of the month. We plan to visit my oldest daughter’s family in western Washington – by the way, yesterday was Alana’s birthday. I must be really getting old – my daughter turned 40 years old!

There’s no sign of rain in the long-range forecast. The temperatures should reach the mid-80s through the weekend, then we’ll see daily highs in the 90s next week.

Saturday Night’s Alright

We had quite a weekend here in Cortez, Colorado. On Saturday morning, Donna and I went into town for the Cortez Farmers’ Market. The market is open on Saturdays from 7:30am to 11am. It just opened last week. We didn’t make it there until 10am, but they still had a lot of items on offer and shoppers as well. Everyone was good about social distancing and masks were worn by just about everyone there.

Donna found a few items on her shopping list – and a few that weren’t on the list, including a bag of blue popcorn. When we left, we headed south on Oak Street, which became County Road 25. We were just driving and enjoying the scenery in Midget-San with the top down. It looked like Road 25 would take us to the mountains south of town.

Before we reached the mountains, the road turned to the east. It was a nice drive with houses well-spaced on ranch land. I saw a guy outside of his barn give us a quizzical look as we passed by. I assumed he didn’t see many old British sports cars out here. Half a mile later, I understood his look. A gate blocked the road with a sign saying “Landfill Closed.” This road dead-ended at the county landfill. No wonder he thought it was odd for us to be going this way in a small car.

Despite the long range weather forecast calling for sunny weather, a thunderstorm moved into the area after we returned to La Mesa RV Park. We had a few raindrops and gusty winds. A few RVs pulled into the park for an overnight stay.

Later, Donna and I watched a few episodes of “Shooter” on NetFlix. Before we went to bed, I opened the door and took a look outside to confirm the trailer was locked, then I locked up and went to bed. I fell asleep right away, but Donna said she heard a brief cat fight before she went to sleep.

When we got up Sunday morning, Donna asked if I’d seen Ozark the cat. I hadn’t. She said Ozark never came to bed with her – she usually sleeps next to Donna. Then she heard a cat meowing. It sounded like Ozark and the sound appeared to be coming from outside. Sure enough, Ozark spent the night outside – she was in the generator compartment at the front of the coach. This is only the third time she has left the coach on her own in the last five years. She must have darted out when I checked if the trailer was locked the night before. She was happy to come to Donna and get back inside. She went straight to her food bowl.

Later, we noticed her licking her paws and saw she had injuries. A couple of nails were pulled from her back paws. I irrigated them with hydrogen peroxide while Donna held her and she was okay with it. We’ll have to keep a close eye on her for any sign of infection. I guess Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting!

Our neighbor was getting ready to leave as Donna went out to look for Ozark. She told Donna that a bobcat had come into the park – they saw it come from the field behind us. We don’t know if Ozark tangled with the bobcat or she got into it with another cat that roams the park.

Donna went for a bike ride and followed the six-mile route out to the county landfill. She came back through town and learned that the Wild Edge Brewing Collective was opening for business at 3pm. They set up five tables on the sidewalk – well-spaced – and required masks when ordering or not at a table. We went there to enjoy the fresh air and a cold one or two in the late afternoon.

While Donna was on her bike ride, I cleaned the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker-grill. I removed the ash from the fire pot and bottom of the pit. Then I used a grill brick to clean the grill grates. I bought a three-pack of grill bricks from Amazon. These bricks are made from pumice and measure about 2-3/4″ x 4″ and 1-3/4 deep. I found this to be a very handy size and easy to use.

Although the pumice bricks are porous and somewhat soft, they are a bit brittle. When I removed the plastic covering, I saw a crack in the brick. A chunk came off one corner. Gently scrubbing back and forth with the brick created grooves where it contacted the grill grates. This soon made the brick “wrap around” the grates to clean the sides. I was able to hold the brick at an angle and use the groove closest to the end to clean further down the sides and under the grate. It was really easy and effective – I’m sold on this method of cleaning the grill. I should mention that I did this with the grill cold. The Traeger has ceramic coated grates and the pumice didn’t leave a scratch.

Grooves in the grill brick – note broken piece from the corner

I should easily get half a dozen or more cleanings from one brick. I bought a pack of three. I’ll keep this one for the Traeger and dedicate one for the Weber Q and have one left over.

Since yesterday was National Bourbon Day, I poured a dram of Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon after dinner. Then opened a bottle of 1792 Bourbon while we watched another two episodes of “Shooter.” The series is a little disappointing – it gets less believable as each episode unfolds. It’s too bad – the books and the original movie were good.

If the weather guessers have it right, we should expect a windy day tomorrow and highs in the mid to upper 80s this week with no rain in the forecast.

Mesa Verde

The rain moved out of the area Saturday afternoon and once again, we had clear blue skies. The week began with cooler temperatures with daily highs around 70 degrees. There were strong winds on Monday and Tuesday with gusts up to 40mph. The wind settled down by Wednesday and the temperatures got warmer – we hit 80 on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, Donna and I drove east on US160 about 8 miles to the entrance of Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park was established on 52,485 acres of land in 1906. Currently, the park is only partially open with no guided tours, museums or shops open. We took the driving tour of Chapin Mesa and made several stops at point of interest.

Our first stop was at the Montezuma Valley overlook.

Montezuma Valley overlook – view west-northwest to Cortez and beyond

The ridge to the north of the overlook is called The Knife Edge.

The Knife Edge – people on the trail in the lower left of the photo provide scale

Our next stop was the highest point in Mesa Verde National Park – Park Point Overlook – where a fire lookout tower was located.

On a clear day, the visibility from the lookout tower is said to be 100 miles!

Looking northeast from Park Point – that’s Knife Edge in the upper-center of the photo

The road surface in the park was smooth pavement and speed limits ranged from 25mph to 45mph. About 10 miles in, the road forked. We stayed left which kept us on Chapin Mesa. Going right takes you to Wetherill Mesa. There was very little traffic and we ended up seeing the same three or four cars at each stop along the way.

Our next stop was at Spruce Tree Terrace. We thought we would hike down the trail for a self-guided tour of the cliff dwellings there, but a short way down the trail, we found it to be closed.

The cliff dwellings were built by shaping sandstone into blocks and stacking them. These were made in the 12th century. The area was abandoned after a series of severe and prolonged droughts. Around 1285, the inhabitants moved south to New Mexico and Arizona.

These appear to be storage structures next to the Spruce Tree House on the right and left – center of the photo

From there, we drove the six-mile Cliff Palace Loop and stopped to view the Cliff Palace.

Again, the trail was closed so we couldn’t hike down to the ruins, we could only view them from a point above. Usually they have a ranger-guided hike that requires tickets to get down to the dwellings and climb four ladders for up-close viewing. We had covered about 20 miles at this point and spent over two hours in the park. And it was getting hot! It was time to head back.

Instead of going back to La Mesa RV Park, we went east on US160 to the little town of Mancos. We stopped for lunch there at Hamburger Haven. They were open for take-out and we both opted for the diced green chili and cheese burger. We found a picnic table in the shade in the park next to Hamburger Haven and dined al fresco. The burgers weren’t up to the standard set by Blake’s in Albuquerque, but it was a good choice nonetheless.

We played pickleball in town three days this week. Other than that, our activity has been limited to grocery shopping and grilling. Donna had a couple of writing assignments to complete and did a live webinar on Wednesday evening. I’ve been reading a lot and puffing on a daily cigar.

Donna grilled honey-sriracha chicken again on Saturday and served it with grilled zucchini spears and cauliflower mash this time.

On Sunday, Donna cooked up a favorite we haven’t had since we hit the road – lomo saltado which is a Peruvian dish made with flank steak. It’s delicious, but the picture wasn’t so great. I had mixed lighting and should have closed the window blind.

Donna fixed another old favorite – New Mexico style pork chili verde served over lightly fried corn tortillas and topped with a fried egg.

Last night, she tried another foil-wrapped grill recipe – salmon with another honey sriracha glaze. Foil wrapping fish has a disadvantage though – it’s easy to overcook the fish as it’s hard to judge when to take it off of the grill. But it was good.

Honey-sriracha salmon with grilled bok choy

So, we continue to eat well here in Cortez, Colorado.

The forecast calls for daily highs in the upper 80s for the week ahead. We’ll be using the air conditioners no doubt. I don’t expect to see any rain and hopefully, we won’t have any more of the gusty winds.

It Could Have Been Worse

We were a little behind schedule Saturday morning – not that we have a real schedule to adhere to. But we wanted a reasonably early start to our travel day. We set 9am as a departure goal, but as I said, I got a little behind and we left Springerville RV Park at 9:20am. We wanted to get on the road as we had about five hours of driving time ahead, plus we would lose an hour when we entered Mountain Daylight Time at the New Mexico border.

We headed back west through town and hit the junction with US191 after a few miles. This took us north past Lyman Lake to the town of St. Johns. Continuing north past St. Johns, the road surface suddenly deteriorated. We hit a 10-mile stretch of whoop-de-dos that were spaced at an interval that had the suspension of the coach porpoising violently at times. I slowed to 50mph but it didn’t seem to matter. Maybe 35 would have been better – the posted speed limit was 65mph! And poor Ozark the cat – despite withholding food and giving her medication for car sickness, she got sick in her carrier.

We hit I-40 at Sanders, Arizona and headed east. I made a stop at the last Arizona exit – Greer Road. We went to Speedy’s Truck Stop to top up our tank. This is the first time I’ve bought fuel since December. Speedy’s is on Navajo Nation land and therefore the fuel is taxed at a different rate. Normally, the state of Arizona taxes diesel fuel at a rate of 51.4 cents per gallon. The Navajo Nation taxes diesel fuel at 25 cents per gallon with no state taxes paid. We paid $2.09/gallon and filled our tank – that’s the lowest price we’ve paid in the seven years we’ve been on the road.

At Gallup, we left I-40 at exit 20 and took US491 north through the Navajo Nation. New Mexico requires everyone to wear a face mask in public right now. Other than that, we didn’t encounter any restrictions or checkpoints. US491 was previously designated US666. It became known as the Devil’s Highway, so they changed the designation in 2003.

The terrain was interesting. There were sandstone cliffs near the Arizona-New Mexico border. As we traveled through the Navajo Nation, we found sage brush covered plains. Then, as we got closer to Shiprock, sandstone formations and spires rose out of the surrounding plains, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

The road surface was fairly good through the Navajo Nation. The Colorado border marked the end of Navajo land and the road surface improved dramatically.

With the time change, we arrived in Cortez at 3:30pm local time. The owners of La Mesa RV Park in Cortez are also the owners of Springerville RV Park – Ames and Cherie. Cherie sent Donna a text with a photo of the park sign and entrance. It wasn’t hard to find. She told us to take either site 34 – a long pull-through – or we could drop the trailer in site 24 at the back of the park, which is wide and a little quieter. The office wasn’t open when we pulled in.

I didn’t like the trees at site 24 so we opted for 34. The pull-through made it easy and I didn’t have to drop the trailer. It turned out the trees by the office – about 40 or 50 feet away from us are interfering with satellite reception. Darn! We’re at an elevation of about 6,200 feet above sea level here.

We were set up and settled in by 4:30pm. I found a horror story in the trailer though. Remember the violent porpoising north of St. Johns? Well, the trailer must have been really bouncing around. The bins stacked in the frame toward the front of trailer were thrown about. Donna’s bike rack was tossed out of place, but the bike was still upright and the rear wheels of the Midget were bounced out of the wheel chocks and moved about eight inches to the left! We were lucky though, nothing was damaged, it was just scary looking.

I straightened out the trailer, then took a break and puffed a cigar. There were thunderstorms in the area with wind gusts at times, so I sat inside the trailer and read a book as I puffed away. Very relaxing. Donna had her weekly virtual happy hour with her family.

On Sunday morning, Donna and I did a little exploring. We drove Midget-San through town and found pickleball courts at Centennial Park. The outdoor courts are open for singles play only, no doubles. From there, we drove north on Dolores Road – CO145 – to the Canyon of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum. It was closed. We continued on to McPhee Reservoir. This reservoir is the largest lake in the San Juan National Forest and the fifth largest in Colorado. It’s surrounded by mostly public land and offers camping, boating, fishing and many hiking trails. Donna snapped a couple of photos as we toured the area in the Midget.

The reservoir sits at an elevation of 6,930 feet above sea level. We also took a drive through the town of Dolores and found a scenic road that rises through the forest above town to some trailheads. There’s also a riverwalk trail along the Dolores River on the south side of town.

Later, Donna rode her bicycle to City Market – a grocery store affiliated with Kroger – a couple of miles from the park. There’s also a Safeway store and a Walmart supercenter in town. Plenty of grocery shopping options. Sunday afternoon I met Cherie and paid for a one-month stay here. The monthly rate is $550 plus electricity at 15 cents/kWh – so it’s about $20/day. Springerville was only $400/month but electricity there is higher at 25 cents/kWh. Our total cost there was $501 – or about $17/day.

We had a couple of brief thundershowers yesterday and last night. It looks like we should remain dry today and tomorrow, but the temperatures will be warmer than usual with upper 80s to 90 degrees in the forecast for the next few days. I’m not complaining though.

Virtual Birthday

Our month-long stay in Springerville, Arizona is coming to an end. There’s so much to see around here, we’ll surely return as we didn’t get a chance to do and see all that we would like. The biggest attraction is all of the hiking trails and abundance of wildlife. I mentioned seeing bighorn sheep when we drove up to Lyman Lake State Park and antelope when we went to Show Low. I forgot to mention seeing elk on our trip back from Show Low in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.

It was an unusual sighting as it was mid-day and a group of half-a-dozen or so cow elk were running through a large meadow. The thing is, elk don’t run for pleasure or exercise. If they’re running, it’s because they’re spooked and they’re running from something. I couldn’t see anything chasing and I don’t know what spooked them.

On one of her bicycle rides, Donna came across five bull elk feeding in an enclosed horse pasture and snapped a photo.

On Tuesday morning, we drove to Eagar for groceries. Before we went to the store, we made a side trip to the Springerville Municipal Airport. This is a small town-owned airport located on 500 acres about a mile outside of downtown. It’s at an elevation of 7,055 feet above sea level and has a fairly long main runway. The main runway is runway 03/21 and it’s 8,422 feet long. Airplanes need to reach higher speeds to achieve lift in the thin atmosphere found at high elevations. With the temperature in the 70s, the density altitude on Tuesday was over 10,000 feet above sea level.

There weren’t many aircraft at the airport. We saw the only helicopter I’ve seen all month parked there.

I looked up the tail number of the helicopter – it’s registered to a corporation in Red Bluff, California. I have no idea what it’s doing here.

The airport facilities are modern and clean. The airport opened in 2013.

The main terminal building has a lobby, restrooms, meeting rooms and also houses the FBO offering fuel and maintenance services. We went in and looked around. We found an open conference room upstairs with a great view of the airport. Unfortunately, not much was going on except for a couple of private planes fueling up.

Cessna 172 and Cessna 150 fueling at the FBO

Lobby chandelier made from shed elk antlers

They had a plaque commemorating the responders to the Wallow fire. The Wallow fire originated in the White Mountains near Alpine on May 29, 2011. Over 538,000 acres burned before it was put out on July 8, 2011.

Wednesday was Donna’s birthday. We planned to take the kayak out to Lyman Lake, but I wasn’t feeling well Wednesday morning. I think something I ate didn’t agree with me. I had a rumbling stomach and low-grade fever. Donna decided on a hike instead. I drove her to a trailhead in Eagar. She hiked the Murray Basin Trail heading on a easterly course. She sent me a text from the trail saying she thought she would hit the US191 trail access point around 1pm. I picked her up there and we drove to the Sipe White Mountain Wildlife Area.

The Sipe White Mountain Wildlife Area covers 1,362 acres and is administered by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Wildlife found in the area include eagles, osprey, turkey, deer, elk, antelope, waterfowl, etc. We drove down the gravel access road but turned back after three miles because the road surface was rutted washboard and too rough for the MG Midget. It was also getting hot driving slowly in the sun.

Donna had a Zoom call with her sisters and other family members for her birthday. She asked for people to perform random acts of kindness in lieu of presents. I had a random act to report. On one of the Facebook groups, a soldier recently returned from deployment to Afghanistan asked for people to donate and send cigars to his friends still in Afghanistan. They enjoyed puffing a cigar whenever they could, but cigars are hard to come by there.

I needed to pare down the inventory in my humidor anyway. Over the past two years, my taste in cigars has evolved – this is not unusual. For the first year, I mostly puffed cigars with Connecticut shade-grown wrappers. These tend to be fairly mild and I enjoyed them. Nowadays, I rarely smoke a Connecticut shade-grown wrapper as I prefer a dark maduro or a Sumatra seed wrapper leaf on my cigars.

I donated cigars once before through a cigar shop to the Cigars for Warriors project. This time was different. I sent a package of 38 cigars directly to a soldier stationed in Forward Operating Base Dahlke in the Logar Province in eastern Afghanistan for him to share with his buddies.

As we expected, the number of RVs here in the Springerville RV Park thinned out after the Memorial Day weekend. Many left on Monday with the rest pulling out on Tuesday. We have an unobstructed view to the west now – and no wind break!

Last week, Donna grilled honey-sriracha chicken thighs and told me that was the only way she was going to grill chicken from then on. I said, “Right.” I knew she wouldn’t do that – she would have to try something new, it’s inevitable. She started this week with chicken piccata made from breast filets. To be fair, this isn’t a grill recipe.

Chicken piccata with Jasmine rice and grilled veggies

But, when she manned the grill on Thursday, what did she do? A new grill recipe with chicken thighs that had pesto inserted underneath the skin. It was very tasty.

Pesto-grilled chicken with grilled veggies and steamed green beans and cotija cheese crumbles

I started organizing the trailer Thursday. Today I did pre-flight checks on the coach – tire pressures, oil and coolant level. I also packed the Traeger and WeberQ and will secure Donna’s bike and load Midget-San. I won’t have much left to do before we pull out of here tomorrow morning. Our exit will be the easiest ever – our windshield view in front of the coach is the park exit to US60!

The daytime temperature peaked on Wednesday and Thursday at 80 degrees, but late Thursday afternoon, we could see thunderstorms to the north and west of us. An hour before sundown, it was raining in the mountains to the west while the sun rays shined through a hole in the cloud cover.

Rain in the mountains on the left, sunshine on the grasslands in the center

We had a few rain drops after sundown. Today it’s near 80 degrees and once again, there are thundershowers to the north and west of us. I’d like to get an early start tomorrow for our trip up to Cortez, Colorado. We plan to take US491 through the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation is on lockdown, but Ames, the park owner here, told me he has crossed it several times in the past few weeks. Once he was stopped at a check point, but when he told them he wasn’t going to stop until he reached Cortez, they let him through. That’s what I’m counting on, but I want an early start in case we have to find an alternate route.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Alpine Coach

Steep Grades and Flaming Gorge

Cortez to Fruita

Ham and Eggs

Telluride and Pork Butt

Water Projects

Galloping Goose

Saturday Night’s Alright

Mesa Verde

It Could Have Been Worse

Virtual Birthday

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