Category Archives: Colorado

Motion is Lotion

We had a fairly quiet night at the Ute Mountain Casino truck lot Saturday night. There was a truck with refrigeration unit that ran a generator all night. To me, it’s just white noise and I don’t pay much attention to it, but for Donna, it’s bothersome. We had a leisurely breakfast at the casino restaurant – we were in no hurry as we were only 11 miles away from Cortez.

We checked in at La Mesa RV Park in Cortez, Colorado around 12:30pm. There was a camp host expecting us and he directed us to site 9. After backing into the site, I confirmed Dish Network satellite reception before setting up. I wasn’t going to stay for a month in a site with no satellite reception. We set up without any issues and I was done in plenty of time to watch the Moto GP race from France at 3:30pm.

Our site backs up to the car wash at the Speedway gas station next door. This can be a little noisy during the daytime, but we haven’t heard anyone at the car wash after dark. When we checked in, I asked about Shiree, whether she still spends much time here at the park. Shiree and her husband, Ames, own this park and one in Springerville, Arizona. The camp host gave us some bad news.

He said Shiree wasn’t doing well. In February, she had some dental work done which involved removing a tooth with an old filling. Apparently, mercury leaked from the old filling and poisoned her. She’s not able to get around on her own and is undergoing chelation treatment to remove the metal. We’re hoping she makes a full recovery.

Over the last week, I’ve been complaining about a sore right knee. I had surgery on this knee about 35 years ago. I injured it in a ski accident on Mount Hood in Oregon. I had a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial meniscus. At that time, the surgeon told me he had to trim the torn meniscus as it wouldn’t regenerate. Over time, he thought this might lead to arthritis from bone on bone contact. I was thinking it might have finally caught up with me.

But then a curious thing happened. On Wednesday morning, I went with Donna to the pickleball courts. The soreness had improved so I thought I would give it go with a compression sleeve over my knee. After a few games, I didn’t feel any soreness at all. I thought it would be sore later in the day, but it didn’t happen.

Thursday morning we went back to the pickleball courts. I had the compression sleeve over my knee again, but wasn’t experiencing any pain. I played several games pain free and my knee remains pain free now. I don’t know how to explain it – maybe there’s something to the adage “Motion is lotion” and my knee is well lubricated again.

Pickleball courts at Centennial Park in town

They have six courts at the park and a group of players that show up regularly. We were invited to sign up for a tournament a week from Saturday, which we did. The tournament format is basically a round robin with individual scores tracked. I’m curious to see what group they put Donna and me in – we’ll see how they rate our level of play.

Wednesday afternoon we drove out to Mancos – a little town about 17 miles east of Cortez. The locals pronounce it MAN-cuss. After a couple of wrong turns we found the Mancos Brewing Company and stopped in for a couple of beers on their outdoor patio. They have several good brews on tap.

Other than pickleball, we’ve had a quiet week. I had one small project. The inlet to our canister water filter system was leaking. The inlet has a hose fitting swaged onto a 3/4″ pipe thread. Over time, it had worn where the hose fitting rotates on the 3/4″ pipe threaded into the plastic canister. I couldn’t find a direct replacement, but the hardware store had a short 3/4″ pipe threaded on both ends with the threads oriented correctly to add a hose fitting to it. So I bought those and figured I had it made.

I came home, shut the water off and removed the old fitting. Then I found I had barely enough teflon tape to put one wrap on the pipe threads. I put it back together and it leaked! I made another run into town for a $1.50 roll of teflon tape. This time I double wrapped the threads and put it back together. No leaks at the filter. Job done or so I thought.

Later I saw the area near the filters was still wet. Now the end fitting on our fresh water hose was leaking. I don’t remember how old the hose is, but I suspect we’ve had it for at least five years. I ordered a new drinking water hose from Amazon – it should be delivered today.

Today won’t be a good day for outdoor projects though. After having daily temperatures of 70 to 80 degrees, we have wind and rain today and the thermometer is only expected to reach 62 degrees.

I had another package delivered yesterday. I knew I would come across something that I needed, but left behind in Mesa. I tried to set up my Yaesu FT3DR handheld transceiver to work the local repeaters – one on a mountain top out side of Mancos and the other up in Dolores. But I didn’t have the cable to connect the radio to my laptop to program it. I ordered one from DX Engineering and it was delivered yesterday – but it was the wrong cable. I phoned them and we sorted out which cable I actually need and I shipped the wrong cable back to them. I should have the correct cable in a few days.

I’ll close with a couple of dinner plates. Wednesday, Donna grilled chicken that she simply seasoned with salt and pepper. She made creamed spinach and a baked spud to go with it.

Delicious chicken thigh and wing with creamed spinach and baked potato

Yesterday she marinated a pork tenderloin with her mojo marinade. I sliced garlic for the marinade. Donna asked for thin slices but I made them a little thicker than she usually does. She wondered how that would affect her recipe. It turned out to be an improvement – having the garlic 1-2mm thick added texture with no loss of flavor versus slicing it paper thin.

She grilled the pork last night and served it with sweet potato mash and French-cut green beans. We’ll use the leftovers to make street tacos for lunch today.

Mojo marinade pork tenderloin with sweet potato mash and French-cut green beans

*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!

Pine Trees and Petrified Forest

Packing the motorhome for a four-month road trip was harder than either of us imagined. I’m sure there will be situations where we say, “I wish I had brought XX along.” It’s a learning experience. Before, we traveled with all of our belongings. Now with the cargo trailer gone, we have to be more selective and there’s no reason to try to bring everything we own.

On Wednesday morning, Donna dropped me off at the 202 RV Valet storage facility, then she went grocery shopping. I moved our coach to the end of the row where there was a water spigot and hooked up our filtration and filled the fresh water tank. We planned to boondock for a few nights and I wanted a full fresh water tank. I didn’t take it back to our place at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort because the only water spigot there is located behind the house at the rear of the property – I would have needed about 75′ of hose.

By the time I filled the 100-gallon tank and drove the coach back to Viewpoint, it was 11am. I had to obtain a 48-hour parking pass to park the coach on the street by our park model home. We began the process of loading the coach right after lunch and worked until dark.

On Thursday morning, we continued the process. Just packing all of the pantry supplies, spice cabinet, refrigerated and frozen foods was a big chore. I also put the Midget up on jack stands and removed the front wheels – I put the wheels in the double-locked storage shed to make it very difficult for anyone to steal the car while we’re away. I loaded Donna’s bicycle in the bed of our Nissan Frontier – I had made a cable locking system for it. I also loaded the Sea Eagle inflatable kayak in the truck, then I assembled the tow bar.

It was nearly 2pm before we were ready to hook the truck up to the coach. Our neighbor came out to help. Honestly, although I appreciated him, I didn’t really want the help. It was the first time hooking up the truck and I wanted to do it methodically and check each step of the process. We got it done and headed out.

Our plans went awry within half a mile. I had driven down the 200 lane and had to make a right turn onto the main street of the park. The person living on the corner to my right had placed a large rock cairn on the corner of their property. Due to a large palm tree in the center median on the street, my ability to drive deep into the street before turning was limited. The truck right front wheel struck the rock cairn. I was stuck. I had to disconnect the truck and move it, then reposition the coach on the main street and reconnect the truck. Not a great start.

By then it was 100 degrees out and 98 degrees in the coach. I fired up the generator to run the roof air conditioner as we drove down the road. Our route took us over Usery Pass to Bush Highway and AZ87 (Beeline Highway). Did I mention it was very hot out?The climb to Payson had me watching the engine coolant temperature closely. Any time it went over 195 degrees, I slowed and geared down to keep the engine rpms up and the load lower. Payson is 5,000 feet above sea level.

From Payson, we took AZ260 east. A little more than halfway between Payson and Heber, we found the Mogollon Rim Visitor Center. By the way, Mogollon is often mispronounced. People say “Moh-geh-yon” but the Arizona State Historian says it should be pronounced “Muggy-yawn.” We parked at the visitor center briefly. Donna texted our friends, Mike and Jodi Hall. They preceded us to the area and were meeting up with Frank and Kelly Burk at a camping area about 15 miles into the Sitgreaves National Forest.

I unhooked the Nissan and Donna drove it across the highway to Rim Road, I followed in the coach as we entered the national forest. The road was wide and paved for the first few miles, then it was graveled dirt – the dirt was fine powder, almost talcum like. It was dusty!

We made it 12 miles into the forest and found the cutoff for the spur road where we were told they were planning to set up. I left the coach on the main road and we drove about a mile down the spur road before we decided it was no go for the coach. The road had sharp rocks and potholes that would be hard on the tires and cause the coach to sway excessively – I could imagine everything falling out of cabinets.

We found a nice camp site just off of the main road – I think it was Forest Service 300 road (FS300) at the FS76 spur. Unfortunately, there was no cell service so we couldn’t let the rest of the crew know where we were. We had a peaceful, quiet and very dark night in the woods. Most people don’t envision pine forests when they think of Arizona, but northern Arizona has them, especially on the rim. We were 7,880 feet above sea level. Donna heard a cow elk calling near our site.

We decided against hanging around and trying to find our friends – we weren’t sure we had the right cutoff road or if we did, how far down they might be. We moved out of there at 9am Friday morning. Donna had spent a full day cleaning the interior of the coach last weekend, but now everything had a layer of fine dust, Same for the Nissan. Once we neared the highway, we regained cell service and I had a voicemail from Frank. We were on the right spur road to find them, but they were 3 miles down – too far to go back and forth every day on a rutted, rocky road, even in the truck.

We found another boondocking spot about 90 miles east at the entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park. There are free dry-camping sites at the Crystal Forest Museum and Gift Shop. We were set up there before noon and took the truck for drive into the national park. I have a lifetime America the Beautiful multi-agency senior pass. This got us into the park without paying fees – it’s usually $25 per car. The elevation there is 5,420 above sea level.

The petrified forest and painted desert are both part of the park. We stopped about a mile and a half into the park at the visitor center. There’s a hiking trail behind the center with lots of petrified tree trunk sections. Petrified wood is formed when trees are buried under silt for long periods of time – about 216 million years, give or take a few. The wood absorbs silica and other minerals as rain water percolates through the silt and quartz crystals bond with the cells of the tree – eventually making a replica of the organic tree material details in quartz form.

We drove through the park 26 miles to the north end, taking note of stops we wanted to make on the way back. The north end of the park has the Painted Desert Inn – a National Historic Landmark – and panoramic views of the Painted Desert. We stopped at Chinde Point where we we had a picnic lunch of the sandwiches Donna made.

Painted Desert view – the colors are somewhat washed out in the photo from the mid-day sun

Our next stop was at a place called teepees. The name comes from the shape of the hills formed from layers of sandstone there.

We made the driving loop at Blue Mesa. We didn’t hike much as I have a sore right knee. The last two times I played pickleball, I was rewarded with knee pain all afternoon. The pain persists now when I walk more than a few hundred yards – I’m not sure what’s up with that.

Blue Mesa is named for the layers of blue, purple and gray badlands that make up the area. Badlands aren’t just a place in the Dakotas – badlands describes an area void of vegetation with rock formations.

We made another stop and short walk to see Agate Bridge. This is a natural bridge formed from a petrified tree trunk. It was reinforced with concrete and people used to walk across it. Walking on it is forbidden now though.

We had another quiet night. The owner of the museum and gift shop doesn’t allow generators after 7pm or before 7:30am. Our Lifeline AGM house battery bank is holding up well – it hasn’t dropped below 12.5 volts at anytime on this trip.

We were on the road by 9am once again. We decided to head back to Cortez, Colorado. Donna talked to Shiree, the owner of La Mesa RV Park there and she could have a site for us on Sunday and we booked a month-long stay. The best route took us back through the national park, we exited at the north park entrance which loops back to I-40. We took I-40 about 20 miles east and hit US191 north. This took us through the west side of the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. It was much like the New Mexico route up US491, but with what appeared to be sparser population – not saying the New Mexico side is highly populated!

The road surface was great all the way to Chinde, where we had a little incident. I turned off the highway to get fuel at the Speedway station. Once I made the turn, I saw it was a trap. Getting to the pumps and back out of the station looked problematic. I looked at the GPS map and it showed the road I was on circling the station through a small neighborhood back to the highway.

I went down the block and turned right, then I saw the pavement ended a few hundred feet down the road where the road became a heavily rutted dirt road. If we had the cargo trailer behind us I would have just reversed back past the intersection we just came through and drove back to the highway. Towing a vehicle with four wheels down means no reversing. The castor angle of the front suspension would make the front wheel turn to full lock when you reverse and would result in a disaster. I had two choices – unhook the truck and get turned around – or continue slowly down the rutted lane. I opted for the latter and we made it out of there after a few choice words. Phew!

North of Chinle, the road surface deteriorated. It had whoops and rollers so bad that I had to slow to 45 mph on a road with a posted 65 mph speed limit. We eventually hit US160 and passed through Four Corners where we briefly drove through New Mexico and into Colorado. (The Four Corners Monument is currently closed due to COVID-19.) Our destination was the Ute Mountain Casino about 11 miles from Cortez. After about 250 miles of travel, we were ready to call it a day. We lost an hour as we’re now in Mountain Daylight Time. We dry camped for free once again in the casino truck lot – a large paved lot adjacent to the casino travel center. The Ute Mountain Casino sits at 5,880 feet above sea level.

This morning, we had cool temperatures – my phone app showed 40 degrees at 7am. The sun came over the mountain to the east of us and it warmed up quickly. We expect a high of 80 degrees today with the chance of a passing thundershower. We’ll gain a few hundred feet heading into Cortez and we’ll be about 6,200 feet above sea level.

I’ll close this post with a food picture. Last week I had to make my signature Memphis-style babyback ribs. I won’t be able make them again this summer – we’re traveling with just the Weber Q, no Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker-grill.

Memphis-style babyback ribs with green beans and sweet potato mash

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.

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.

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.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Colorado

Motion is Lotion

Pine Trees and Petrified Forest

Steep Grades and Flaming Gorge

Cortez to Fruita

Telluride and Pork Butt

Water Projects

Galloping Goose

Saturday Night’s Alright

Mesa Verde

It Could Have Been Worse

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