Author: livingthedreamwithsallyandvic

We’ve been seeing a lot of beautiful places – there are three national parks and a state park near us. I mean within minutes of us. We’ve went to Dead Horse Point State Park ($20 entry fee) yesterday. All of these places have been drive through with pull outs for stopping and getting a better look.

Dead Horse Point State Park

A bit of a line to get in but totally worth it. Gorgeous scenery and the last place on the tour was an incomparable view of the Colorado River. The water was a little muddy but still… fantastic to see.

These photos are DHP and there are many but don’t miss the last one.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend !

We are boondocking in the desert in an area called Willow Springs. The scenery is Amazing! The colors! The rock formations! We haven’t seen anything like this before. Sedona was beautiful but this is bigger and there is more variety. We stopped at a rest area on the way here. It was created at the base of a giant red rock formation. Beautiful setting.

Since we are in the desert it gets pretty warm in the daytime and since this is the end of May, daytime highs are in the 80’s but it will cool off nicely at night. We are comfortable running our AC. Vic already has the wifi going. We’ve been having good luck until now with the T-mobile but today we are using AT&T.

We are staying here until Wednesday. Elevation is 4,025. I think it’s because we caught covid twice since our last trip out west but higher elevations do not agree with either of us.

On the way to Moab we stopped overnight at the parking lot of a defunct ski resort. It was a long climb off the main road on a rutted dirt road. We heard an elk bugling (it’s mating call). It’s amazing to me how far from civilization we are and there was a camper here already! What?!

We have internet (and fast) and cell service. Freezer is stocked. Plenty of bottled water.

We are staying at Durango Ranch RV Resort. It’s a ranch that has been in the family for over a hundred years. Two years ago they opened the campground of 19 sites. Tori and Tanner, a very cute young couple, run it. It is surrounded by fields of alfalfa. They put in a dog park, there’s an outdoor gathering place with a grill, a hot tub and a laundry.

We came here so we could get a local mobile RV repair guy to fix our propane heat. It needed a new circuit board and a fuse.

We are going to Utah tomorrow and see some or all of the five national parks in Utah. Arches, Canyon Land, Bryce, Zion, Monument Valley.

We went into town this morning and explored Batchelor’s Loop. A sign said 4 wheel drive is advised and they weren’t joking. We drove on a rough dirt road past abandoned mining buildings and a couple of abandoned miner’s houses. A fast moving stream ran alongside the road the whole way. No guard rails!

Creede is the last boom town. Silver was mined here for years until the US went to the gold standard. Ramona said the silver mined here is so pure it has to be alloyed before it can be made into jewelry.

We’ve really enjoyed our stay here. It’s been cold and sometimes cloudy and rainy. We use propane for heat. A couple of nights ago the heat wouldn’t come on. We’ve been using the heat aspect of our mini split AC unit. It has kept us warm but uses a lot of battery. We have someone scheduled to look at it in Durango on Sunday. We would have stayed longer if the heat wasn’t an issue.

We walked part of the town this morning and met Jake and Ramona, owners of several businesses. Ramona grew up here when her family moved here in 1973 and bought the grocery store. She makes jewelry and is the county commissioner. She also hunts game with a bow and arrow. An interesting woman.

We are on top of a mountain at about 8,000 ft and have 360 views. Here are some views.

May 15: From Bosque del Apache we drove about 2 hours to Santa Fe. We set up on the grounds of Elks Lodge #460, about 10 min from downtown. We grocery shopped at Smith’s and that was about it. Diesel was $4.49.

Vic was still getting over altitude sickness so we didn’t go into town. Luckily for me I was there several years ago with Geri and Charlotte. I would have enjoyed seeing it again and have to admit I was disappointed but that’s the way it goes.

Antonito, Colorado

Yesterday we came to Canon Bonito RV Park and Fisherman’s Club. What a gem this place is. Huge lots spaced far apart. Green leafed out trees everywhere. It’s popular with fishermen but the season starts after Memorial Day so it’s pretty quiet.

We decided to ride around and see the area. We saw a lot of broken down and abandoned buildings. The town has a post office, a police station, a social services center, 2 restaurants (both Mexican-American food) and 3 marijuana dispensaries. Remember marijuana is legal here. Half the buildings on Main St are boarded up. I don’t know how these people are surviving.

We picked up dinner from one of the restaurants. It was the best quesadillas I ever had. Go figure.

Today we go to Creede, Colorado.

There were too many photos to include them all on the last post. Here are the rest.

We were looking for diesel yesterday afternoon. Vic says this really is a one horse town. There is one gas station and it does not have diesel. We had to drive to the next town Socorro where diesel was $3.99 and regular was $3.59.

This is a chapel in this town, San Antonio, NM.

OK, I know I promised birds. We have lots of birds and some other animals too. Here we go!

The Gambel’s Quail don’t fly well, instead they scurry around so fast they may as well fly.

It’s hard to get close to these creatures but if you’ll forgive the phone video …

This wildlife refuge is only an hour from Valley of Fire so we had an easy drive. An older couple has been here a while (we think they live here), long enough to set out some bird seed blocks next to a little tree providing shade. Vic got very excited when he realized the set up and how many birds were coming in for food. He positioned the truck where he could take pictures without disturbing the birds and sat out there for an hour shooting.

Yesterday (May 13) was World Migratory Bird Day and we are in an ideal place to participate. Thank you Linda Tokarz for the tip!

This post is desert animals and flowers.

While we were in Lackland AFB and met Chuck, we learned about Weboost. It’s an antenna for increased internet and phone signal. It sure came in handy yesterday. We had a thunderstorm, not a very bad one but it knocked out our reception until Vic put the Weboost up.