Deer From Dale's Veranda

We were sitting on Dale's veranda, after a lovely supper of our own making, and visiting about what a wonderful day we had.  "We" included, Sandy and Allen Clark, two of the dearest folks we have ever met, Dale Hannegrefs, whose praises we continue to sing, and Lance and myself: a motley crew, I might add.

Sandy spied two little deer foraging for tender grasses on a little strip of exposed vegetation in the river that runs along Dales property. Actually, the little river is the headwaters of the mighty Rio Grande, but here it is a little river.  These deer aid us no never-mind, until Sandy alerted all of us to their close proximity and I scrambled for my camera.  I don't know how wildlife know when they have been "made" but they immediately waded into the water and took their leave of us!

Can you imagine what a terrific backyard view Dale has?

There were two deer here but they separated before I got my camera rolling so I couldn't get them

both together.  

This doe was still wading and the water was getting deeper! 

This doe is the second doe who waded out into the water after the first one.

They eventually crossed tot he other side and were away!

Woods and River RV Park, Del Norte, Colorado

The Woods and River RV Park is a picturesque, slightly primitive RV Park, with zero amenities, but a terrific cottonwood lined riverfront and wide open grassy RV spaces.  It has great tenting areas along the river and under the cottonwoods, and full hook ups for RV's in the grassy area.  I am surprised that there are any spaces available at all because it is one of the prettiest Parks we have stayed at so far in our travels.  It is cheap to stay here with the Little House and we are so glad we have a whole month in this place.   We pay $388 including electricity, which suits us far better than up the road at The Mountain View RV park and Resort in Creede.

Another beautiful place!

Get a load of this pretty spot!  This is between the river and the RV spaces.  I can't get enough of this scenery.  Yesterday I saw a little buck and two does, bounding around along the riverbank..  It was like something out of Snow White, or Bambi!  I couldn't get to my camera soon enough to snap a pic for you all to see.

On the right is a biffy with actual flushing toilets.

I can't get enough of the beauty of this place.  It is only about 1/3 of a mile to town and it is a nice walk.  The town of Del Norte is a struggling, little, one-traffic-signal joint to stop and fill up with gas, eat a little something and then head on down the road.  There are a few sad store fronts, that are closed more than they are open, and look like they need a bit of paint and repairs, but mainly they need customers.  The locals run to Monty (Monte Vista) or Alamosa for their stuff.  All over town are hastily posted signs that read Spend Local, Shop Local.   It is a Catch 22 like in all small towns.  If there were more stuff and services, the locals would shop locally, and if more locals would shop locally, there would be more stuff and services.

Del Note is a good town, and I like it very much!

Magnificent Toadstool

Yesterday my husband brought me a beautiful toadstool and I was enormously delighted to be presented with such a fine specimen of natural beauty. Some women get flowers... and me, I get a toadstool, but that says more about me than it does about this sweet gift.  I like this kind of thing!   I think, however that it is a poisonous variety, so it got me thinking...hmmm.

Amanita Muscaria

 Here's the info I found on wikipedia.

 The quintessential toadstool, it is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually red mushroom, one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture. Although classified as poisonous, reports of human deaths resulting from its ingestion are extremely rare. After parboiling—which weakens its toxicity and breaks down the mushroom's psychoactive substances—it is eaten in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. 

I thought this was interesting, how such a beautiful thing could be poisonous!   However, I enjoyed it for about 36 hours, until I had my fill of gazing at it and it had become wilted and tired looking.  I wrapped it in newspaper and threw it out.

Thanks, Lance for thinking of me as you and Dale roamed the wilderness!  

Some Changes to the Little House - This is a little dull but photos are coming!

Living in a tiny space poses a few unique challenges. (We live in a 22 ft Nash Travel Trailer, my husband and I, no pets.)  so, to make it more liveable we have made a few adjustments and/or additions, subtractions, and alterations.

1.  New awning sunblocker - We maximized the functionality of our awning by the addition of a sunblocker shade.  this is simply a curtain-type shade that hooksonto the edge of the awning, when it is extended, and hangs straight down to the ground.  What this does for us is it creates a shaded area under our awning, provides outdoor living in the rain, creates more living space which we find super valuable, and it looks cool.  Besides, all the big boys have them and I wanted one too.  So, I went to RV accessory websites and priced them,  Ouch.  I went to Ebay and found a new one, still in the package for half of the price!  My kind of deal!  So I bought it, Lance easily and quickly installed it, and here it is!   We found it really needed deflappers, and guy wires to make it very stable in the high winds.   We have had rain, rain , rain here in Southern Colorado and it is holding up beautifully. I will take some photos to show you what I mean stabilizing it. I love this sunblocker  and highly recommend it.    PHOTO

2.  We continue to weed out the stuff we need, versus the stuff we think we need.  When we first took off  RV-ing, we brought too much stuff with us.  I took my best guess but still took too much.  Living in our RV for 6 months now has given me some new perspective.  I could cull my whole LH (Little House) and rid myself of all the superfluous stuff but I am having too much fun to do it all in one sitting.  But, I cull as I go.  The things that I am letting go of  are excess kitchen linens.  I do far less dishes because I cook less than I thought I would.  It doesn't make sense to cook too much.  the kitchen in the LH is not designed for cooking three complex meals per day.  We still eat well, but we cook more simply.  We eat more raw stuff.  (Blog fodder for another day.)  the upshot is that we do less cooking, so we need less dish cloths, tea towels and etc.

I need fewer bath towels.  2 each is loads.  I do laundry about every 10 days and we reuse our towels.  I got those towels that are  made of microfiber that the army uses, because they dry in a snap and they are durable, lightweight and take up about 25% of the space as regular towels. They are really cool.  A quick note about them:  they feel really weird at first because they dry so well that they stick to you when you towel off.  However, you are dry immediately, which is the point, no?

3.  If there is an item that can do double duty, it can come with us on the road.  If it is a one use item it has to stay home.  For example:  I use hand soap to lather up my legs before shaving.  No need or space for ladies shaving foam.  Also, in the kitchen, my sieve is my colander.  I cook bacon, grill sandwiches, and cook meats, and wieners on my George Foreman Grill.   I eat out of my small mixing bowls.  I scrub myself with worn out kitchen sponges, and they work great!  I have one, I say, one (1) notebook that has the spine sewn together, you know the cheapie Walmart kind that has the speckled card board cover, and I write everything in it.  I just checked and they are called composition note books.  Everything gets written there, even the things that I would have normally written on post its.  This way I don't have papers everywhere and I know where I can find it later.   This is a very valuable tip!  Try it!  You will like it!  After some info becomes obsolete I cross it off with one line through, so I can still read it if I need the info again, by chance, and if I don't need it I can easily page thru to the good stuff.  If a whole page is lined through, then I cris cross the page.  You can easily blow through a bunch of pages and quickly find what you are looking for.  Hot tip!

We truly have no room for anything that is a cute little chotsky.  I have no tabletop room whatsoever.  So, if anything is pretty for pretty's sake, it has to be taped to the wall.  I have a few pretty pictures taped to the cupboard doors.

4.  Speaking of cupboard doors, I have magnetic strips in a line on the inside of the cupboard doors, along the top.  I can stick pins, tacks, bobby pins, and etc in a safe place,  out of sight and where I can find them easily.  I also screwed in a few cup hook to the insides of the doors.  I can hang my ear buds,9 I have several pair,) charger cords, sunglasses,  keys, tire pressure gauge and etc.  this works well.  I hate having little things that i use constantly, hanging around with no place to put them.  I also put a calendar there inside my cupboard doors, photos of the grand kids, and useful that i am supposed to remember, like when to rotate the tires on the rig or family birthdays.  My LH looks tidier for it.    PHOTO

5.   Sleeping Arrangements - ours are pretty good but pretty spartan.  I have to admit that we sleep really well in the LH.  lance sleeps on the double bed, diagonally, and with a full complement of sheets, blanket and bedspread.  I sleep on the jackknife bed, that is a sofa by day.  I also sleep diagonally and have to make up my bed every night and fold all the bedding and jack knife it into a sofa again the moment I wake.  I cannot be a slob and take my time because we need  turn our bedroom into a living space again upon rising.  Oh, I alsmost forgot.  The twin size jersey sheets that you can buy at department stores, fit the jacknife bed.  Because they are stretchy, a twin fits size  fits the irregular shape perfectly.  One adjustment I have yet to make is that my bedding takes up too much space when it is all folded and stored under Lance's bed.  It requires about 3 square feet.  A friend told me about a goose down sleeping bag, but I think I will pick up my goose quilt with my flannel sheet.  I think that will be better.  As spartan as our arrangements sound, we sleep very well, like two logs.

6.  Our bathroom situation is less than perfect, but  still very workable.  When we are in a campsite we do small business in the LH, and big business in the restrooms at the park or campsite.  No big deal.  We use our bath tub for a place to store our dirty clothes, in a hamper, waiting for us to do laundry.  I also use a dishpan for my shoes.  I hate to have shoes all over the place because they are big and clunky, they should be on the floor (  you can't put them on the table or counters and I have no closet space) so I put them heel down and toe up in a dishpan.  It can hold 4 pair and I sit the whole works int he tub beside the hamper.  I shower at the campsite.  Or if  I need to use my own shower, it is simple to remove the hamper and dishpan, and replace it after I shower.  This works well to keep my living space tidy.      PHOTO

7.  THE BEST ALTERATION WE MADE TO THE LH!   You know what a kitchen looks like in a trailer.  They are all the same, and mine is tidier than most because I see to it that it is!  What we found is that Lance and I are so big that we have to stand sideways to pass each other in the kitchen area, between our stove and the kitchen dinette.  Our LH has the dinette that is actually two very uncomfortable right angle bench that face each other with a tiny table in between - you know what I mean, the kind that the table flops down and fits between the benches, and the back cushions remove to flat and make a mattress?  Well, this is not very workable for us, because we are tall and big folks. We don't need a bed for midgets, at least not in the foreseeable future.   So we took the table out and cut it off on the wall side by about 5.5 inches, and reattached it to the wall in a permanent fashion.   And it doesn't wobble anymore.  The improvement made a huge difference.  Now we can pass by one another with ease, and I can now reach to the back of the cupboards that are over the table.  Lance could always reach this space but I couldn't.  I used to ask him to put the stuff away that belongs there, and he is happy to do it but he is no good at it.  All the stuff has to be just so, nested together and in the "right" way so it will all fit.  Now it is better.  Much better!  In fact, I will reiterate!  It is flaming awesome!  I love it so much!        PHOTO

Texans

Oh Texans!  So much can be said about them, so I will say a little, since this is my blog, and I have an opinion! Tuddy-dut!

We parked our rig in the Mountain Views RV Park and Resort, but we may as well have parked it in Texas, in fact, to quote Bugs Bunny, we thought we may have taken a wong toyn in Albukoikee!  Nope, we were in Creede, Colorado, about three hours south west of Denver, up in the high Rocky Mountains!

So, why is half of Texas here, RV-ing in Creede?  Well, there are several answers.  One reply I received when asking a lady from Texas that very question said, and this is a direct quote including her Texas accent, "Texas use' ta own Colarada, ya know!"  Well, that explains everything!  Her brash answer succinctly sums up the Texas attitude around here.  They feel they "used to own it" and so they claim some kind of convoluted entitlement even now. (What actually happened in a nutshell is that the Republic of Texas included what is now part of Colorado, but that all changed after the war of 1846.)

Another answer, which I think is more accurate,  is that Texas is bleedin' hot in the summer, and the senior citizens with dough and an RV get out of there and head for higher country.  The ones who choose Creede are the ones that wish to avoid the incredibly high mountain passes in every direction, except to hed for the San Luis Valley. It provides a route that is easier to drive in a half a million dollar Class A Diesel Pusher.  The roads into Colorado from the south are tricky, and tough, to say the least.  We know because we survived the Wolf Creek pass, at 27 miles per hour in first gear, all the way up!

Big 4 wheeler, bigger truck, and biggest Rig!

Back to Texans!  They have always summered here, since before there was a Texas and before there was a Colorado.  When people  are too hot they find ways of getting to cooler climes. The attitude of the Texans here is that  Colorado is a quaint and sleepy little back woods state located conveniently in Texas's back yard and made for Texan's enjoyment.

 In the spring, after the main melt in rural Colorado, here they come with their brightly colored, super turbo 4 wheelers, secured on to matching trailers, and pulled behind  mammoth motor-homes.  Their clear intent is to buzz all over John Denver's country roads and get their Rocky Mountain high, until the temperatures fall and  time to head south, to the cooler weather in the Lone Star State. And some of them have been coming here all their lives!  It is unlike anything I have ever witness before in such magnitude:  how one group of people can feel so entitled to overwhelm another. (Sadly, this happens all the time in our country and all over the globe. ) The people of Creed, and I imagine all the small Colorado towns,  have come to rely on the Texans  spend their money and breath life into their diminishing economies of southern Colorado.  So, it ain't all bad and it seems to be the only option, unless of course the silver market recovers.

Creede is a great example of this.  It is a mining town that hasn't mined since 1985 and so now must rely on tourism to keep afloat.  and it seems to be working...barely.  Creede has some economic issues and is experiencing many difficulties, but the locals are fiercely loyal to their town and they will tough it out in their mountain home any way they can.  After all,  it is Creede we are talking about.  And Creed is a fine place.

I love it too.

Wildlife Photos

Here are the photos of note, taken while we were camped in Creede, and Del Norte, in southern Colorado


This young Big Horn Sheep was sitting on the side of the narrow road, on the steep slope, lower than road level and we drove by, Lance spotted him, and we continued 25 yds farther and stopped the car.  We  crept back so we would not scare him away, and to our amazement this little sheep was all by himself and as curious about us as we were about him.  He came right up to us and,  since our friend Dale was wearing a sheep colored shirt, he felt like he and Dale were kin.  We were delighted that he seemed to have no fear, and our inclination was to hold out our hand.    All three of us were spellbound.  We froze to encourage him to stay so close, so I could take some photos.  He stood within a couple of yards of us, sizing us up, and slowly determined that we were not his kind, and we had nothing for him.
 

The little sheep left the road and went down the embankment and settled in a sunny spot about 25 yards away.  I took a dozen photos of him and he was a very tolerant subject indeed. He went on about his business of sitting int he sun.

Soon, we were the ones to leave as we had a whole lot more fun to do before calling it a day!






On another day we saw a few Marmots.  These little fellows are very cute and seem huggable.  They are not friendly, and if they get skittish they jump into their burrow just like a prairie dog, which I am sure they are related to in some way.  They are kind of like a badger, sort of beaver-ish too.  They are so cute!  When they retreat, they scamper along with bowed front legs, and they fling their short tail wildly in circles, round and round as they go!  They are stinking cute!

Cute little guy,I wish you could see the tail going in circles!

Over the course of a few weeks we also saw several moose,  one at a time,  feeding in the grass near streams or ponds.  They are ungainly creatures with long gangling legs, a bulbous nose and a short body.  They have antlers that point skyward, and their hair is a very dark brown, surprisingly dark brown: so brown it can only be a moose!  (That is what I look for when looking for moose!)  In spite of  looking as though they are made of spare parts, moose are very beautiful and I never give up hope in looking for them and am delighted when I actually spot one.  They are rare, or should I say, they are not easy to find, or maybe they are plentiful around here and it is me who is rarely in moose country! Probably the latter.

And we saw plenty of  sheep!  Big Horn Sheep!  I wish my dad was alive to tell him about all my adventures.  He would have sat for as long as it took to hear all of my stories of my terrific days in Colorado.  I am in my element here!  The Boonies!  Why was I not a mountain man? (I digress.) 

 These sheep were standing on the roadway, and Dale slowed his rig so I could scramble with my camera.  These lambs and ewes were taking off quickly.

 These sheep were quite far away and I had to zoom in to see them far up on the hillside.  We watched them  for quite a few minutes but they were on the move and clipping along the steep and rocky terrain with amazing sure-footedness.  They have no problem getting around up there, even the little lambs.  There are folks that think these are goats,  because of the goat-like look of them.  I too thought they were goats, but mountain goats have  snow white, shaggier hair and are much more spectacular, with their black, pointy horns. These little sheep are scruffy and beige...oh, nothing is sadder than to be beige animal, unless it is to be a scruffy beige animal, and these were.  A sad looking little lot they were.  But, such is sheepness!   My friend Dale is the final say on these matters.  He knows everything.

More sheep

  

These fine fellows are rams.  They are quite spectacular with their white rumps and their curling horns.  Wow!   What a sight.  Sorry these photos are blurry.  I had to zoom in to get this shot and when you zoom, all is magnified and so any little movements are also magnified, hence the blurriness.  I will get better though.

Here is Dale.  He is a very dear and generous man.  Lance and I have him to thank for the terrific 30 days we spent in Creede!  He was wonderful to take us up in the boondocks, the tops of the mountains, and show us many of the peculiarities of Creede and the area.  Thank you Dale, so so much for everything!

Notice the sheep colored shirt Dale is wearing!  Love him!

Stars Over Creede

  Here is a small water color painting.  I was attempting try painting that I could finish in just one

sitting, as I have such limited space in the Little House to have my painting stuff all over the place!

I have made this painting about 6 times, trying to get the right look!  I am learning lots about watercolors!  As you can see I named this one Over the Rockies, because I have not perfected the horizon of Creede yet.   This painting lives as our daughter Heidi's house in Denver.   I will post the other paintings as I get better at posting!

The Mason's Big Neon Sign

I was driving home from Creede to Del Norte, and was keeping a eye out for an interesting subject for a night-time photo, to practice my photography skills.  The southern Colorado skies are very dramatic, as well as the weather, scenery and etc.; plenty of great photography opportunities.

Suddenly, I happened onto these unique neon signs, on the hillside, in the darkness.  They stood out like a pair of lighthouses in a dark harbor! My guess is that they are about 20' X 20' and are about 400 yards off the highway!  

MASONS, MASONS, MASONS!  (Would you imagine there were masons around here?  Why don't they put up a sign somewhere?  Like neon, on the hillside, above the lodge?)

The obvious question is, what are these signs for?  Do they attract Masons?  Do they indicate where the lodge is?  I would think that if one belonged to the secret society of the masons, then one would know where to find more Masons,  or am I all washed up?  I don't pretend to know one thing about them, but I think they have rockin' signs on the hillside over the lodge!  Kind of a point of interest marking an otherwise blase ride into South Fork from Creede.

Wow!  These were huge!  The only way they could be more splashy and brash would be if they were flashing on and off!  Now that I have suggested it, maybe they will be flashing the next time I drive by!  (I hope I am not offending any Masons!)

and....I TOOK A PHOTO IN THE DARK!  Hooray!  I am learning to be a better photographer!

This is the Top of the World

Here is a photo of the top of the Rocky Mountains.  A wonderful friend, Dale Hannegrefs,

This is Lance on the left and Dale on the right. 

took us in his four-wheel drive pickup for an all-day trip along Engineer Pass, American Basin and Cinnamon Pass.  We started in Lake City, Colorado and followed the alpine Loop.  It was nothing short of breathtaking!

There are 52 peaks in Colorado that are approximately 14,500 ft high!  We were there, looking out across the expanse, and looking these peaks right in the eyes!

This is the steepest hillside!  I think this kind of road is called a shelf road.  One side goes straight up the mountain and one side goes straight down, and down and down into the valley 1500 or 2000 ft below!  It was scary, no, terrifying to ride on the downhill side of the truck. I loved to look down and squeal with fear!   Sometimes while looking out the window, I could not see the road  beneath the truck!  Or the bottom of the canyon, for that matter!  It was very thrilling!   Dale is an old hand at these roads and a very cool driver! The stick you see is a marker used to tell where the road is when it is covered with 25' of snow.

Even though this was June 25th, there was a surprising amount of snow.  The weather was glorious and warm enough for T-shirts. It is a very thrill to look at these peaks in the distance and to realize that we are the same altitude as they.  Mankind is insignificant indeed!

Camping Chic - How to Look Better on Less

As I have explained in previous posts, I live in a small space, a 22 ft RV to be exact, and sometimes  I don’t have electricity.  My water usage has to be limited to what I can carry in my holding tank and by the proximity of potable water.  I sometimes go days without an available shower (I will explain later,) let alone a blow dryer!  But am I piggish about my person?  Nope, I am too smart and resourceful for piggishness!  You see, I and my husband, Lance, travel around the National Parks and Forests, and place a priority on FUN!   This lifestyle, unfortunately , is not conducive to preening and primping; but it can still happen with a little brains, ingenuity, and planning!  Of course, even the word pretty is an illusion, and subjective at best, and everyone has a different idea of what looking good really means. Being clean and neat has fewer definitions.   House dwellers, with all the comforts of home have differing standards; some are neat-nicks and some are, well…  slobs about their personal toilette!

Over the last few weeks I have learned a few things regarding looking good under adverse conditions, or should I say, staving off the inevitable ugliness as much as possible.  I am willing to share my regimen because, although I have many strikes against me from the my choice of lifestyle, and a dearth of beauty products, I can overcome many tough beauty challenges.  At the very least, with the following suggestions, anyone can minimize the pain of the ugliest of ducklings.

Starting from head to toe:

• Wash your hair when it is dirty!  If you don’t have much water, or if sometimes you have no water at all to shampoo your grease ball hair, minimize the difficulty by having less hair in the first place.

  

  You get the idea!  Short!

  Get your hair cut to a super short cut!  Simply get over the impractical idea that your hair has to look a certain way.  It doesn’t!  Also, nobody on earth gives a darn about your hair!  This is a sad truth, so admit it.  Do what is practical to be clean and neat.  The key is a good, super short hair cut.  Don't take me so literally as to buy clippers and give yourself a crew cut.  I don’t mean to be that practical, but get a cute woman’s haircut. I like a bit of sideburns.   This haircut works OK without a blow dryer, so don’t settle for a kind-a-short haircut because then you'll be tied to a blow-dryer, and if you have no blow dryer, a kind-a-short hair cut looks the shitz!  You know when a short haircut grows out just a little bit and gets flat on top?  You want to put off  this problem as long as possible, so just get a super short 'do in the first place.  Then get a little mousse or gel to shape it if you want to, but the priority is that it needs to look good au natural!  That is the first thing!  In short (pun) your hair cut needs to look good without the use of a blow dryer and it needs to be able to shampoo in ½ gallon of water! Period.

The benefits of this kind of haircut are legion.  You can wash it in a lake, sink, fish gut trough, or if  none of the above are available,  you can wear a cute hat, if you have a cute hat.

Here are my hats! 

Actually, it's a scarf tied around my head!

My favorite!

I don’t wear a regular baseball hat because that is what my husband does, and I can’t afford to like a man.  It is bad enough to have a super short haircut but a ball cap adds insult to injury and is not an asset to me.   I like the engineer style hat, like Che Guerra wore.

Another benefit is I can be fearless and wear a turban type thing.  The key to pulling this look off is to pretend it is the livin’ end and that you look fantastic.  And, by the way, that is The 
Secret to looking good anyway.  (You can get away with iffy fashion statements if you do it them with confidence.  This is a recurring theme, so take note.)

• I have olive skin and am of a certain age, so I have dry skin, tending toward wrinkles, and I tan super easily.  I just spent a month in Arizona and noticed that Arizona ladies look brown and wrinkled.  They also look happy and healthy.  For me, I like to be tanned but want to avoid the alligatoring of my skin.  I use a sun block if I know I will have an  my face exposed.  Everyday I wear a foundation with sunscreen, as a matter of course, and then I wear a hat for obvious shade, but also that my poor nose doesn’t turn into a brown fig!   I already have freckles and sun damage on my cheeks so I don’t want to make it worse.  As far as smile lines and crows feet go, who really cares? Nobody.
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• Wear earrings. (See first photo)  All too frequently, the best thing a girl has going is pretty ears, so if this is the case, go with it.  Allowing empty ear holes is a waste of a good opportunity to spruce up a little!  Cute, yet tasteful earrings are a must. Wear minimal ones, or even diamond studs.  They are a nice touch and always terrific!  Do not wear big, gobby, cheap and flashy earrings. (No shoulder dusters. They never look great, they just look cheap.)   The key is to be streamlined and tasteful, and with your short hairdo, stud earrings look great. 
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• Wear colors that look good on you.  It is great to have the camper chic style a la REI or Cabela’s, but if you don’t look good in beige, don’t do beige, or camouflage, or the like.  I am a Winter color girl,  WEBSITE and being such I look washed out and wan, like I am going to die, if I wear beige near my face.  So, when getting dirty and grimy is unavoidable, don’t make it worse by wearing something that you look crappy in in the first place.  Grime happens so the right color looks better grimy than the wrong color.  It  really is very easy to look good, even in your play clothes.  I personally think the  well-worn- out look is a good look,  as long as it is in good repair and is worn out from honest wear, from actually living the life!
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• Make sure your pants fit!  Buy the right size and wear a belt.  Belts with some stretch look good and they hold your pants up, which makes the butt fit and keeps the crotch from sagging.  Who says that you have to wear baggy play clothes?  Make sure your pants are long enough if they are supposed to be long!  Fit is so important! I am a too fat chick, and fat looks like fat no matter how slim (pun) you slice it, so I can admit it and get over it!  I make sure my clothes fit so that I am sure to look like a too-fat lady in nice fitting clothes.  I don’t want to look like a fat lady in wiener skins! Come on ladies!  By the right size!  And while we are toughing on touchy subjects, a quick aside: If you are a man with man-boobs, do everybody a favor and wear a shirt!
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• I love my red hiking boots!  Enough said! 

  

  I neglected to clean the dust off them before I took the photo!  These are Teva Rika Peak

• I almost always wear a necklace, and I make it a chunky one for outdoors.  It looks stupid to be seriously overdressed, but I like to have on a piece of jewelry simply because it is girlish. 
  
  And I  can’t afford not to look girlish since I am big and strong naturally, with course dark hair, have a square jaw and rather strong features.  And then when I get grungy, and sunburned on top of all of that I begin looking like the man next door…so I try to do the girlish things that don’t cramp my fun. ( I would never wear high heels camping  That is for bimbos.)
• I try to keep my hands looking nice.  Nails filed and trimmed, wear a ring or five, and light nail polish if I have the time.  Light looks better when it is chipped and showing some wear and so looks better far longer than a darker colored polish. 
  
  
  
  
  
  I always keep polish on my toes, because again, it is feminine and I have pretty toes. Tee-hee!  Go bright on toes because I think it is pretty to have red peeping out of your sandals.  Dirty feet scream  that I am dirty all over so I make sure to wash my feet in a bucket every night.  I grease my feet with heavy Eucerin cream before bed so that my feet are soft.  I hate cracked heels and they look like trailer trash.
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• Wet ones or baby wipes are good for washing everything when in a pinch.  Hot weather and tromping around outdoors, and pottying in less than perfect circumstances, call for wipes.  They are discreet and invaluable.  I am not a pottying snob and will never let a bodily function come between me and a fun time so, be prepared by stowing a few in a zip lock and throw them in the backpack.
• 
  
• Use lotion so that your skin stays nice.  Don’t get dry and flaky.  Wash in a bucket of warm water with a mild soap and get mostly clean.  I read a book called Glass Castles, and the protagonist says that one of the important things her mother taught her was that you can get mostly clean in a cup of water.  I agree, but I like at least a half gallon.  I will pack that much with me if I have to.  Um, underarm deodorant, chap stick and tooth brush too.  I never wear mascara in the boonies, because it is just too hard to get off without making black raccoon eyes.  I can’t afford to have black under my eyes, and it never looks good when it gets wet and runs down my cheeks.  I feel it is too much hassle and I pay too big a price for black eyelashes, when roaming outdoors in the sticks. 
• My guilty pleasure: I have a Mio rotary facial scrubber  under the sink in my RV.  I use it to keep my face clean and exfoliated and my elbows and knees soft... when I have electricity.

So, in a nutshell, this is my standard toilette and what can do to stave off the uglies.   I get a few compliments and quite a few favorable comments.   I still want my husband to think I look snappy if I can't  be gorgeous.  I am just vain enough to be tickled when someone says that I look good in my grubbies.  It is worth the few concessions it takes.

Cool artist's studio in Lake City, CO

I am so envious!  This is the coolest art studio ever!

I love this roof!  I am certain when it is in bloom it is magnificent!  The lady is cleaning out and  planting flowers in the garden in the foreground and the artist himself was inside painting the 

walls.   They are getting ready for the tourist season  (summer) in Lake City, CO. 

Lake City is an artsy little mining town, similar to Creede, only more remote!

Here is a link to Lake City.

http://www.lakecity.com/

Click and take a look!  I could live here if it wasn't so darn high!

Random Artwork on Riverwalk, Creede

Lance and I took a walk in to the town of Creede from our RV Park, only about 3 miles round trip, just to get a little badly needed exercise.  We were delighted to see these random acts of artwork along the trail.  It looks like someone simply painted these few rocks and placed them about every hundred yards along the river walk.

I love it when someone waxes creative and then shares with everyone!

And these were under water!  I am happy they photographed well.

Here are some shoes gracing a storefront on mainstreet.  I guess one could call it art!

Mountain Views at the Rivers Edge RV Park and RV Resort

This is home until July 2, 2015 -

Critique:

It is very beautiful here at this park.  This is the entrance and look at the lovely rainbow!  Yes it is rainy this time of year.

This RV park has two parts: The resort area has spectacular lots for sale and they are
Be-au-tiful, along the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Because they are owned and not rented, the folks with he mammoth RV's worth 100's of thousands of dollars, maybe a million, have spaces here with they modify to there liking, with hot tubs, outdoor bars, elaborate landscaping and the like.  It is amazing and certainly out of our league!

After checking in at the passcode secured gate,  you drive the above promenade to the office to formally check in.  The "haves" are quickly winnowed from the "have-nots"  (meaning us) and we made our way to the RV Park area, which is much more run of the mill RV fare.  We have a graveled space, with full hook-ups, reliable internet, and access to laundry, showers, and clubhouse.

There are pros and cons to this place, like all places.

Pros:  Great scenery, great clubhouse with tables, pool table, events and activities.  The laundry room is ultra clean and modern with plenty of machines.

The grounds are great, even splendid on the RV Resort side.  The whole place is very secure and well run. Post office boxes to receive your mail.  Fully staffed office!

Cons:  Man is it expensive!  We pay $525.00 plus electricity, and the washers and dryers are 2 bucks each!  Ouch!  And, we get the distinct feeling that we are on the wrong side of the tracks.  It is obvious!  It reminds me of the Carol Burnett sketch where she is the flight attendant on a commercial airline, and Harvey Corman is an upper crust rich guy in first class, and Tim Conway is John Doe   in coach.  I am certain that you, dear Reader, can imagine the hilarious antics that that famous  threesome could enact given that set-up!  Somehow I feel a bit like Tim Conway!  Maybe it is just me, probably is.  It does come to mind though!  Each day, every minute,

That said, I am enjoying our stay here in this park!  Would I recommend it?  Certainly, but only to wealthy  strangers to whom appearances mean everything .

Now that I having said that, Lance disagrees.  He doesn't give it a thought and thinks that we with smaller rigs, are parked far fromt he office to give the impression that they are  very full and have a busy park.  Maybe somewhere in between  is where the truth lies.  Probably is.

Here's the link: you decide and let me know with a comment!
http://www.mountainviewsrv.com/

Freemon's ( Most Excellent Burgers)

 When asking the locals about the what to do and see in Creede, Colorado, the first thing they say is The Reportory Theater, and the next thing they mention is Freemon's.  We will hit the theater next week, but this week we decided to try out Freemon's and see for ourselves just why Freemon's is a must see destination spot around the area.

Freemon's is located on highway 149, about 16 miles away from Creede, and on the way to North Clear Creek Falls (fodder for another blog.)  At first we drove right because there was no sign indicating we had arrived, and we didn't know what we were looking for.  Off to the side of the road was a low slung log building, with a front porch and plant steps.  On the screen door were posters, flyers and announcements for every yard sale, funeral and fundraiser for miles around, but the door was open in welcome and we went in.

 Inside the place was abuzz with activity.  A line of a dozen or so locals were waiting to order from the menu on the wall which bore only a few choice;, hamburgers, cheeseburgers and  beer battered or waffle fries.  I think there was a grilled chicken option for the discriminating diner!  There were folksy people crowded around the handful of tables, all chatting and guffawing as if they all knew each other, and they likely did.  It was a very home town establishment.  

   

Here is a random table of locals.  These guys were on their way up to the Falls  and had to stop for a burger.  They loved that I took their photo!

This is my bacon cheeseburger! I took a bite before I remembered to photograph it.   It had a toasted and buttered bun, the good kind like you get from Costco,  a large patty well cooked, bacon, lettuce, tomato slice, pickles and a mess of fried onions.  The fries were especially good, but I don't know why...they just were!

This is the front porch that was devoid of people due to rain.  It would be wonderful in the sun!

Freeman's also sells a few groceries, mainly milk, eggs, bread,  and match's; that kind of thing.  There was also the predictable shelves of handicraft items, made by the locals that appeared to be in little demand.  Obviously the good burgers were the draw.      

On the way back from the Falls, we made a return stop at Freemon's for ice cream,  They are known for their good ice cream.

This little lady, Sarah has been working at Freemon's for 6 years.  She's  enjoyed her 50th wedding anniversary...and she is still scooping creamy ice cream and frying great hamburgers.  Freemon's was was definitely worth the drive.. 

Left Denver, arrived in Creede, Colorado

Since we have two grown children and their families in Denver, we stopped there and spent some time doing family oriented things.  so, back to the adventures.

We looked on the internet for places to park our RV near Denver and were sorely dssappointed.  What we find is that many RV parks do not have any internet presence and so cannot be found that way.  We called around off and on the several days, trying to plan our next move, and to plan for where to spend the 4th of July, the biggest summer vacation time of the year.  We were in for trouble.  There was nothing available anywhere near Denver and so by default, we arrived in Creede, Colorado.

What a happy surprise.  Creed is a little mining town southwest of Colorado Springs, up high (8800 feet) in the Rockies.  Man, it is beautiful!

A street corner in Creede

Lance always beats me to the punch in his emails, so I will attach an excerpt from him describing Creede, and I think you will get the idea clearly from him.

Mountain Views near Creede

Creede, CO is the county seat of Mineral County, and the only town of any size, with about 500 residents in the immediate vicinity.  There are 290 residents in the city proper.  It does not even have a county library, but it does have one of the highest rated repertory theaters in America!  People come from far and wide to attend the theater in Creede.  '

Creede also had, and still has, the richest vein of silver ever mined on earth.  There is a vein of silver here that is 30 feet wide and 10 miles long, that is currently not being mined because of the low price of silver.  The first five miles were mined between 1885 and 1985.  When the Hunt brothers tried to corner the market in silver it caused the market to collapse.  I talked at some length to a miner, or rather former miner, today nicknamed 'Brownie', a man of about 75 today, and he told me all about the silver vein as it is currently.  He said that he mined for 26 years, until Bunkie Hunt ruined the market, and he said that the silver assayed out at about 1,000 ounces of silver per ton!  Anna atsa' lotta silver, as the Italian man said.  The town at the north end funnels down between to 600' high precipices, and the road goes almost straight up.  This is where there commences at least 8 or 9 different mines, but can you imagine 10 more miles of silver in a vein 30 feet wide??  You are talking tens of millions of ounces of silver.  Brownie said, 'this whole mountain is basically loaded with silver'.

There is a loop you can drive, called 'Bachelor's loop', named for a ghost town above us here at about 10,500 feet.  Bachelor was the first town here, but it soon was determined that the current location of Creede was a better place for a town.  Anyway, the Bachelor's loop road goes about straight up, about one mile outside of town and a little stream flies down the canyon next to the dirt road.  So precipice, stream, nearly vertical road--about a 12% grade I would guess with loose gravel and dirt. We went to drive it yesterday in our Ford F-250 and right at the top the road takes an acute turn to the right, to continue up to the top of the mountain.  I made a little run at it twice, eased the gas in  second gear, and the truck simply did not have the traction!  It was like trying to climb a 12-13% grade, on steel ball-bearings with dirt all over them.  Just before the acute turn the truck would just start throwing gravel in all directions, lurch, and begin to slide sideways as it skated on those 'ballbearings'.

View from the road, near Creede

 

It was unnerving to say the least..  So now I have to back the truck down to a more level platform, so it is cramp the wheels as you go into reverse as the truck just sort of takes off wherever those ball bearings are rolling to, then jam the brakes and slide.  Well you get the idea.  I did this twice.  At that point we decided to turn around and go the other way on the loop which was much safer.

So, we went around to the west and came up the back side of the mountain, and it was much easier.  We went by Bob Ford's grave, well former grave, he got moved back to Missouri, but the reason they moved him is that after 1892 when he was shot, men kept coming over and peeing on his grave.  They hated him because he was known as a back shooter, he shot Jessie James in the back of the head when he wasn't looking, so the men here hated him and pissed all over his grave.  

Then on up to Bachelor, the ghost town where we saw a big ol' cow elk and a bunch of deer, and then on down to another mine that is being reconstructed for tours.  This place is trippy, when you park you stop very abruptly as you notice it is straight down for a very long ways, and way down below about a thousand feet I could see where I had just done my spinning out routine detailed above.  Cynthia just about hyperventilated on this one, and she did not like having that truck near the edge of the precipice, so I stopped ten feet back and put on the parking brake.  This mine still has an immense amount of amethyst, a semi-precious stone which is almost found with a vein of silver.  They had some jewelry there that had some real knock out stones.  Anyway, that mine will start guided tours in about two weeks so we will go back, and go down into the bowels of the earth… I guess.?  The guy guiding us around, we were the only people there, affirmed that there is still so much silver around here it beggars the imagination.

So, Creede is pretty neat.  A person could retire here, but the winters are 20 below, and snow, so it won't be me.  We sure have a great country though.  I am convinced that America has so much wealth left in it that we will never know just how much it really is.