May 13 to May 15, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010
There was sleet last night, it was nice this morning for awhile, then we got snow and rain and sunshine mixed together. Finally, it brightened up long enough for Joey and I to take another walk around the pond. The pond is fed by the San Juan River which was rushing along right next to it. Charlie took a couple of pictures and posted them. We left Pagosa Springs without visiting the big resort that has hot spring pools at several different temperatures. They say Oprah Winfrey likes to go there. Maybe next time. We drove north on Rt 160 through the San Juan National Forest. We stopped on Treasure Mountain at about 8,100 feet, and hiked up to Treasure Falls, a climb of about 200 feet (seemed like a lot more!) and about one-quarter mile one way. My hip was giving me a fit, but I just have to push through it. I don't want to do all our sightseeing from the car! I took my walking stick that I bought on our trip last year, and I was feeling better on the way back down. The falls were worth the climb. We stood on a bridge and looked up at the falls which made a straight 70 foot drop and then continued down another 20 feet over huge rocks, went under us, and on down to the road in a stream. It snowed on the way up to the falls, but by the time we were half way back to the van, the sun was out. Joey had gotten a little wet and muddy, but he was dry and dirty by the time we got back. Never mind, he really enjoyed it, except when we got to the falls and onto the bridge he shivered from either cold or fear and I had to pick him up. I cannot help but continue to compare Joey to Toby on this trip. It seemed like Toby really settled into our RV routine and I got the feeling he was thinking: 'Okay, this is how we are going to be living from now on, and it is fine with me'. He was shocked when we stopped at the Harrell's on the way home and David poked his head in the motor home. It was so funny! But Joey is anxious whenever I am out of his sight, and he definitely does not want to be left alone in the camper. He jumps out whenever possible, and kind of hunkers down and scrambles around as if he does not want to run away but does not want to be caught and put back inside either. We are keeping him on his routine of feeding and walks, and he has his bed (though it gets moved around a lot), but he is just way more attached to me than he was. Still, he is calm and friendly with everyone we meet (unlike Toby ever was!). We continued on Route 160 and climbed long steep mountains up to about 11,000 feet. There was snow on the trees and they were beautiful, but the road was narrow and dropped off at the edge with no railings. There were waterfalls above the road and tunnels with tight curves. One time we were on a 6 percent grade going down, and we were glad we had our new brakes on the van. The road followed a creek and went through canyons and up and down mountains. All in all it was very beautiful and exciting. Charlie of course got to deal with the road, and did not see as much of the scenery as I did. Still, he prefers to do the driving, so what can I do? We finally got down to 8,000 feet and it seemed to be flat most of the way through cattle country. We saw buffalo and could have gotten some buffalo jerky, but you know what Charlie thought of that! Oh well, I had buffalo once on a trip to Denver for NASA. We were making for Hooper, Colorado to spend a day or two back at the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool, but since it is closed on Thursday we decided to stay at a Passport America campground on the way. It is the Blanca RV Park in Blanca, CO. Not much to speak of, but only $10 for PA members. We traveled 90 miles today, so that was good enough.

Friday, May 14, 2010
We went back on Rt 160 about 4 miles, and then got on the road to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We visited the park last year and hiked partway out to the dunes. This year we just looked around a little bit and got back on the road. We went west to a road that took us back to Rt 17 to the pool. We only traveled 45 miles today. The pool's RV park is all filled up, but we can dry camp here tonight. We parked in the lot near the pool all day instead of way out in the camping area. We left Joey in the camper, much to his disappointment, because it was too cold to have him outdoors for a long time. We had a good time swimming and sitting in the sun though I was bundled up because of the sun and the cold. Whenever we have been here during the week at least two bus loads of school children have been brought in during the day. Today there were very young ones, and then young teens. I enjoyed watching them play, but they did take over the pool, so we took a break. The clouds rolled in and it rained and thundered and the buses left. I took a nap in the camper and Charlie took his computer into the pool area so he could plug it in and get on the internet for awhile. The weather cleared up, and I brought Joey in after a couple of hours to see what he was up too. Joey got a lot of attention, not many people realize that you can bring dogs there. One young man came over to pet Joey and to show me a picture of his dog that he is missing. Several adults, children, and even a toddler just had to pet him. He licked them all. Charlie bought some fresh tomatoes at their little store and mixed them up with some chicken and pasta on the gas stove. We don't have the microwave tonight since we don't have electricity, except from our house battery. The pool is open until 10pm but we had had enough, plus the older teens took over in the evening! We watched a movie on the computer from Netflix called 'Outsourced'. It is unusual, and I really enjoyed it. Charlie had seen it and it is a favorite of his. I recommend watching it with the subtitles turned on, or it could just be the sound on my computer. Whatever, I need to watch/hear it again.

Saturday, May 15, 2010
The pool opened at 9am just for adults to swim laps for an hour. It was so quiet and peaceful. The morning temperature was probably down in the 40's, but in the sun it felt like the upper 50's. Steam was rising from the pool and it felt wonderful. I swam the whole hour and Charlie swam most of it. We decided to stay tonight when Charlie learned that a campsite with full hook up is available. The day warmed up enough that I got Joey in his stroller and sat with him by the pool for a couple of hours, and I went back in swimming too. I had to stay in Joey's sight while I was in the pool, or the stroller would start rockin' and rollin', and he would start barkin'! At lunchtime I went back to the camper which Charlie had moved to our spot and gotten hooked up. He had been on the phone with David almost the whole time. Our cell phones don't work here so Charlie reactivated his Skype account and he uses it through his computer. Not a good connection, but better than nothing. We had lunch and headed back to the pool until about 3pm when we had all had enough. Joey is sleeping the rest of the day away. So, our nephew David is in China and he says he has been drinking sewage water all day to build up his immune system. Ummmm....we thought we were having an adventure and living dangerously....