Summer of Fun: Chapter 1

Photo Credit goes to Hubby

This past weekend we took Uma (the RV) out for the first summer (or nearly summer) adventure.   I'd finished up work for the school year, and we had a stretch of a couple days on the calendar with nothing planned so off we went.

Our destination was Buena Vista, CO.   It's a small town at the base of the Collegiate Peaks and probably the place that should be credited with giving me the idea of buying an RV.   You see last summer I stayed in BV when friends were visiting.   We paid an exorbitant amount for one room in a Super 8 hotel.   OK, in their defense, it was high season and supply and demand factors in, but it was soon after that night's stay that the idea of owning an RV started to solidify in my head.   With an RV, we could enjoy freedom and flexibility with lower costs.

HAHA:   Lower costs, right....it'll be years of RV adventures before one can claim that as a truth...but just the same, we now own an RV and so off we go...

With it being a rather quick decision, we didn't spend a lot of time researching where to park for our trip.  Consulting a web app Allstays, we decided on Arkansas River RV Resort, a small campground just north of BV that offered full hook ups for a reasonable price ($31/night, full hook up)

The campground itself was well maintained although older.   Staff working was very pleasant and welcoming and our assigned camp site had natural shade and was pretty level.   It was a "back in" site but Hubby managed it just fine.

  The property was located pretty close to the highway, so at various times during our stay we experienced some distracting road noise.   As for amenities nothing to boast about:   We never were able to connect with the camp's WiFi and the shower house was clear across the campground so I opted to skip it in favor of using our shower within the RV.

Besides, we weren't there to hang out in the campground, we were there to explore this region and use this place as home base.

On Sunday, we took a trip over Independence Pass into Aspen.   I've been on this road several times before but in a side car?  Never...and Oh My, what an experience it was.

 Perfect riding conditions:   Clear blue skies, crispness to the air but not bitter cold (even at the summit).  Our trip up was early enough that traffic was minimal.   As we approached the summit, there were carloads of people unloading ski equipment, several vehicles that suggested it was actually a training day for the Aspen Alpine Rescue team.   We continued on towards Aspen.


 After you pass the summit, heading into town, there are several spots that reminded me of the roads in Ireland:   Narrow passage, nearly wide enough for one vehicle...again, the limited traffic was a blessing and Hubby handles these spots with determination and caution that left me with no worries on our part.

 We met up with a family friend, B for a brunch and coffee chat and soon headed out towards Maroon Bells.

 Can you believe I've lived in CO for 20 years, and never driven up to the Bells?  I think because during my previous visits, it was "in season" and the only way authorized up was to take the shuttle and ride with others.  Luckily, we arrived early season and drivers were allowed up to one of the nearby parking lots and then with a short walk, you could be in one of Colorado's most photographed places, the base of Maroon Bells.

With the snow capped peaks, I didn't really pick up on the maroon color, but if you look over your shoulder, there you can easily see how this area got its name;  both color and shape clearly match the name given.

After that, it was time to head back to the camp.   We made As we returned and settled in, thoughts of going out to photograph the sunset were dashed as the rain turned to hail, we were glad to know we'd gotten "home" before the weather turned ugly.

Monday was to have been another day of possible sight seeing but work kept Hubby busy most of the day.  

So, I did what I do best....I curled up with a good book and just chilled out.

Tuesday we headed back home, taking a slightly different route home with that seemed a little faster and ensured we had cell phone coverage the entire trip home since Hubby was technically working and needed to stay in touch with work things.

 All in all it was a lovely get away.   BV is a good place to base a short trip out of, but next time I think we can either try boondocking or look for a campground that is further away from the road.
 Apparently, this early in June, you need not worry about reserving a spot, plenty of areas to park an RV for a couple nights' stay.   Being new to the RV-glamping way of travel, these are the little things one learn's in the process I suppose.

I best wrap this up and post it, as fingers' crossed we will head out again real soon and explore more of this beautiful state we call home...

Until then...see you on the road!

Deep in the Heart of Texas Recap

The stars at night, are big and bright....

However, on our first night in TX, we quickly realized that the canyon was  deep, and dark, with no pull through sites and more importantly no cell phone coverage.    While one could argue that the views were worth it,  and part of the concept of camping/glamping is to unplug from the trappings of technology,  I hadn't really thought it through (a common theme on this adventure I fear) and so I felt very guilty that we hadn't checked in with the Things before we descended into the base of Palo Duro Canyon for the night.     Yep, Mama Guilt was alive and well that first night of our trip.

The prairie sky is wide and high...

Not just the sky, but it seems the  entire state is wide, and we'd spend Day 2 on the road...passing Abilene and other lesser known towns, where the final destination was Austin.    We'd be chasing daylight, hoping to reach our destination before we lost daylight (another common theme of this trip).  

The Sage in Bloom, is like perfume...

While the sage didn't seem to be in bloom,there was plenty of  cedar pine pollen that had hubby and I reaching for the Flonase.  

 However, the purpose of this adventure wasn't really to experience the beauty of TX but instead, to reconnect with friends from our past.    And yes, that indeed turned out to be the sweetness of this road trip...

First up, was lunch in Brenham TX where we met my childhood friend, H.   We met way back in the mid '70s,  when my family had moved from GA back "home" to Wisconsin and H. lived in our neighborhood.   

These days, H. and her family call the Houston area home, where her hubby, J, works as a rocket scientist (seriously, he is!). It was good to meet both her boys and spend time catching up.

Next up, was dinner with a classmate from my Nurse Practitioner Days, A.

 In 1990, the Army saw fit to send me to  Fort Ord, CA where I would meet A. during my NP training.  This assignment was a time filled with lots of studying ( we crammed what usually takes 18 months to cover in just 6 short months), a fair amount of uncertainty (for it was just days into our studies when Iraq invaded Kuwait and the Army would start to send friends and colleagues over to the Gulf, there was a constant concern that instruction would be postponed and we too would deploy overseas.), and a forever friendship was formed.

Reminds me of, the one I love...

Our last visit would be with J and L.   J. and I met when she arrived at Ft. Bragg in the summer of 1988.   With us both being single nurses, we formed a fast friendship.   

I introduced J. to my neighbor, L.   Yep, you know where this story is going....After a few years of dating, J and L. got married in 1991.   Score one for Martha as the match maker!

 But that story doesn't end there.  It is now February 1994, and J and L were visiting me in MD, when L. asked if I minded if he invited his friend, Captain Chang over to a party I was having.  

 And well....the rest is history.   

Without a doubt, their friendship, does remind me of the one I love...

The Coyotes wail along the trail...

It wasn't a coyote wailing, but instead, Scarlett started to make an odd thumping sound as we returned from a day of sight-seeing.   With less than a mile to go to reach the safety of the campground, the thumping ceased and the engine seized.   

The cowboys cry Ki-yippee-yii..

Oh sure, there was probably a URAL dealer in TX that could assist with the assessment and repair of the troubled Scarlett.   But, we decided to cut our losses, and head home, having visited some of the friends we had hoped to see, and knowing that the other friends on the itinerary would understand the need to take the motorcycle back to our trusted mechanic at Unique Rides in Ft. Collins.

As the sun set on 2016, we realized that there are many more adventures for us to take in the coming year.  

As for this trip, yes, it was good to get away, and reconnect with some friends.   We took in a little bit of history, visiting both the birthplace of the TX republic and the birthplace of Admiral Nimitz in Fredricksburg, TX.  

 Anytime that Hubby and I have together is time well spent, but we both agreed, that camping/glamping in an urban setting just didn't feel right.

Too much traffic to navigate and we never experienced  that feeling of relaxation that we've enjoyed on our other adventures.

As we crossed over Raton Pass (little wind and dry roads, oh thank-heavens!), we spotted our Colorado Mountains, 

And we realized, East or West, Home is always Best!

Until next time....May you always remember to get out there and EXPLORE....

Taken by Taos

$10 for parking?   Yep, that would be today's moment of impulsive decision making.   Unlike yesterday, today I had done a bit of research and  had picked out a place for lunch, had the directions all set with Waze, even confirmed they were open with  no reported construction projects that  would leave our poor GPS confused.

Sounds like we  were  all set for a meal time win, right?   Yeah, not quite,  as we approached the restaurant (located in the heart of downtown Taos), I called out to Hubby "better turn in there" as I spotted a parking lot.   Oh sure, I had spotted  a very spacious, supervised parking lot, to the tune of $10...only to walk a few blocks and find pretty decent street parking right near the restaurant.  

Thankfully, Hubby gave me only a wee bit of grief, as the place we picked out was a delicious hole-in-the-wall type restaurant with tasty eats and very affordably priced.

I think he was also in a rather forgiving mood, as the road trip to Taos was filled with several unexpected surprises.

First was our visit to the New Mexico Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  Built by a father, using his own money and doing much of the work himself, he set off to find  a way to honor the sacrifice of his son and his 15 teammates who were killed in 1968 in Vietnam.  The memorial is now part of the New Mexico state park system and located just around the bend from our campground.   The memorial park contains not only a well crafted and thoughtfully designed memorial chapel but also a small yet very well done museum.

*photo courtesy of Hubby 

From here, we would  hit the road  referred to as the Enchanted Loop with the objective being to visit Taos, eat lunch and do a bit of sight seeing along the way.    

As we approached Eagle's Nest (the first town you hit on the Enchanted Loop from Angel Fire), I looked up in the sky and sure enough, there was a soaring eagle!   I didn't even try to take a picture, instead just taking in this majestic sight!   

I found today's ride more "enchanting"  than the portion we rode yesterday.   I enjoyed the wider views, the taller pine trees (compared to the Pinyon pines of yesterday) and the rock walls that lined the canyon before heading south into Taos.

After lunch, we walked around the town for a bit.   While I was disappointed in the "tired" look of Taos (I was expecting more), I was pleasantly surprised when a woman called out to me "Martha, is that you?!"   Yep, a former collegue of mine from the high school where I worked for 6 years was also spending Fall Break in this area.   Wow!   Two Raptor sightings in one day!  (the school where I worked, the mascot is the Raptor).

We decided to skip a visit to the Taos Pueblo.   Again, the day was slipping away, and we knew that without the sun guiding our return trip, the ride would get rather chilly...that and the $16/person seemed a bit steep when neither one of us are huge fans of the Native American arts.   

We did make one last pit stop before heading back to our glamping campground:   The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge is one of the nation's highest bridges, rising some 650 feet above the Rio Grande River. I'd like to say it was impressive, but honestly, walking across the bridge, was a bit unsettling...the fact that there are phone booths with direct lines to suicide hotlines scattered across the path only add to my sense of feeling unsettled.

And now, here I sit, in the cozy comforts of Uma.    As for a glamping report, the bed sleeps fine, the furnace keeps us toasty warm at night, and overall, Goldilocks continues to find this type of exploring to be "just right".  :)

Exploring "The Town that Never was"

During our last big adventure, Hubby and I had agreed that on Sundays, we should either just chill out or use it as a day of travel, but without a doubt,we agreed to  avoid the more popular tourist locations.  You get the locals and the tourists, which even in the off season could amount to more people than we like to contend with that.

With that thought still lingering in the back of my mind, we agreed to skip a visit to Taos (the closest tourist attraction to our campground) and instead, decided to take off towards Los Alamos.    

The town of Los Alamos is perhaps best known for the role it played in the Manhattan Project,   In 1943, the government built a secret lab with a single purpose:  to develop the first atomic bomb.  As we were a nation at war, the location had to be top secret, thus earning Los Alamos the nickname of "the town that never was".

  I've read a few historical novels that explained the rationale behind selecting this location for the project, so I found the drive into Los Alamos pretty impressive.   I imagined how the wives of the scientists must have felt, headed out to be with their husbands, but wondering what in the world they were in for?!   We now know that the activities would change the course of history...but back then, what were their thoughts?

  Yeah, the monkey in the side care has a lot of time to just let her mind drift off....

As we approached the town, we realized that poor Waze did not know that the main drag, Central Avenue, was closed.    As I was approaching the "hangy" (hungry and angry) state, I got a bit flustered  in trying to locate a restaurant that was open....in the end it all worked out.   Seems out here, Sunday is indeed a day of rest, as the top 2 restaurants mentioned on Trip Advisor were closed today.

  We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Pyramid Cafe, where the specialty is Greek and North African cuisine (see above, our options were limited)

After lunch, we  headed over to check out the small but well done Bradbury Science Museum.   While visitors can't actually visit the National Laboratory, this museum serves as an excellent summary of the work being done both past and present at the National Lab.    .

 Fat Man and Little Boy:   actually replicas of the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima...

We decided to pass on the walking tour of Los Alamos, where the National Park service has recently started to develop the Manhattan Project National Historic Park and will be restoring several of the properties and town buildings used during the Manhattan project.

Day light was wasting and we had a good 2 hr trip back in the side car...

Nope, Dad, we don't have the place quite to ourselves...but pretty darn close...

This is the view from the RV as I fixed dinner...

 ...while the kitchen is very small, I was able to successfully prepare my signature dish of beef-n-bok-choy.   So, I'm inclined to say in the words of Goldilocks, it's just right for us....

All in all, it was a great day of exploring our surroundings, riding in the side car, and was exactly what I had in mind when we decided to add the RV to our collection of toys!

Until next time...

RV there yet? Chapter 1

It's interesting how things sometimes unfold....almost too easily we wonder what have we missed?

I'm not sure when Hubby and I first started the conversation of buying an R.V.   I know that for awhile we had both looked at how to get me out on the road with him for his adventures.  He's got a pretty good gig in terms of being able to work 'where ever there is WiFi" but traveling on his own gets a bit lonely.

 The side car is a fun way to see the country  but it's not necessarily the most practical way to travel for longer range adventures.      We could tow it with my car, but then what?   Hotels could work but not really ideal (cost, availability, meals while on the road).    And while I rather like the idea of camping,  the traditional tent  approach conflicts with my princess ways (indoor plumbing is a must!) and some legitimate health issues (my rheumatoid arthritis is stable but let's not push it by having me sleep on a cot).  ....well, it just seemed like we should look into getting an RV.

And so in typical Chang fashion, once we'd thought it through, we didn't take long to put the plan into action.   A few weeks ago we purchased this 2006 Jayco Escapade RV.   She's  a 25 feet long Class C RV with about 20k miles.   The price point fit out budget and it all just felt right!

Her name is Umarang, or Uma for short.   As Thing 1 explained "she's like a boomerang, she'll make sure the URAL makes it back home".

This morning we headed out on our first real adventure (we'd done a couple short test trips, first at a KOA near where we bought it, and 2nd was with Hubby and Thing 1 at the state park located not far from our house).

 Yep, I even took to the wheel, driving Uma from just outside of Colorado Springs to this spot...

 The NRA's Whittington Center...

 we didn't stop and fire off a few rounds, we just changed drivers....

 Another couple hours on the road, and we found ourselves here....

The Angel Fire RV resort...

Let the fun begin....

So in answer to the opening question:   RV there yet?  

Yes, I believe we are, and I'm feeling pretty confident that this first trip is just the beginning of a whole new set of adventures for the Chang Gang!*

*well, minus the Things, it's Fall Break from school, but not from their respective jobs as courtesy clerks at local grocery stores!