River Rafting Adventures in Golden Colorado

  There are some adventures I take with Jimmie I swear I will never take again. River rafting is one of them. About 29 years ago we decided to show a friend visiting from England a good time and take him river rafting on the American River. We heard that was a fun place to raft. We went to Costco and bought ourselves a 50 dollar pool raft. This should work well. We drove past Sacramento to look for a good spot to begin our adventure. We  stopped at a little market to ask the best spot to put in. They said chili bar on the south fork of the American river. Your going to need life jackets though. Oh those didn’t come with our pool raft. Fortunately they sold the cheap fluffy orange ones that you tie on the front. No buckles or anything like that. . Are you sure this is a good idea? Jimmie was like “yes its fine, come on”.  So per my usual I followed him on this adventure. We blew up our pool raft and tied on our “life vests” and headed down the river. There was steep canyon walls on both sides so once we headed down river there was no turning back. I was committed with no way out.

  I saw ahead of us some other rafters but these guys were in very professional looking kayaks with helmets and very secure life vests. I heard a sound in the distance. A roaring sound. The first rapid was called the meat grinder. What the heck? I didn’t know that till later. The raft started picking up speed and I was getting very nervous. Soon we were headed down the meat grinder and I was screaming and praying and thought I was definitely going to die. “I only dog paddle” you know. The pool float filled with water so we took the meat grinder half floating half sinking. There was no going back, like I said canyon walls on both sides. The guys were loving it. I was terrified.  We survived the first rapid and were able to pull over and access the damages of our floaty. Multiple holes. Some kayakers had duck tape. What kind of place is this? These guys traveled with duck tape. I think the only supply we brought was beer.  I am pretty sure they thought we were completely insane and said some prayers for us. The rapids we took in that Costco pool float were called the rock garden,  triple threat,  trouble maker, old scary,  dead mans drop,  ending with Satans cesspool. One of the plastic oars was gone almost immediately so we took those rapids with one oar. Come to find out these were class III and IIV rapids. I barely swim as it is and am terrified of water. I was just about in tears the whole day.  

  Thank goodness on Satans cesspool I was finally able to get out and walk around. I had survived and I stood on the rock and watched Jimmie and his friend ride down it hooting and hollering the whole time. We all lived but I never wanted to raft again.

  So here we are in beautiful Golden Colorado. We got a spot at Clear Creek Rv resort right in town. When I called I asked about the creek and they told me were right on a creek and its a great “tubing area”.  Okay, tubing. I like the sound of that. Not rafting but tubing. We found out we could rent tubes for about 25 bucks but Jimmie always the miser suggested we buy our own so we can use them over and over and save money. Target only had left a giant floating sloth and a floating leaf. So we bought one of each. 

  Clear creek is beautiful. The weather is hot and the water is perfect. Lots of people were safely floating down the rapids in their tubes having a grand time. Me and My sloth climbed in the river and headed down. It was incredibly fun. The first bigger rapid I hit I think I suffered PTSD. It was probably a 1 foot waterfall but to me it may as well have been Niagara Falls. I flipped over but I quickly popped up. My heart was beating like crazy and I am pretty sure I was the only one on the whole creek who let out screams over each “rapid” but I eventually loosened up. We ended up rafting it three times. By the third time me and that sloth were just showing the creek whose boss. We had so much fun!

  Today I feel like I have been hit by a truck. Not sure how that was so hard on my body but I feel 100 years old. A few places we really liked in Golden were the Golden Mill, Its like a food court with microbrews and cocktails and lots of yummy treats. The ice cream at the Happy Cones was a little taste of Heaven. Also We really enjoyed Woodys Pizza. We didn’t have the pizza but the strawberry jalapeño margarita was great, and so was the salad and chicken sandwich but the cauliflower “wings” were my favorite. 

  Colorado is just a beautiful place. So many outdoor adventures to be had. If you love mountains, rivers, blue skies, thunder storms and the most amazing chirping sound of katydids in the trees this is the place to come.

Steamboat Springs and the Rodeo

  After our road side shower we headed into  SteamBoat Springs not knowing what to expect. The town looked cute and we decided to drive to the end of town before making any decisions. We heard some cheering and turned right to discover a rodeo in full swing. I have never been to a rodeo, but Colorado seems like the place. If you are going to go to a Rodeo this would be it. Its got to be Colorado or Texas to be the real deal. Now I’m a horse person, I have loved them since I can remember. I was a little girl living in Oregon probably 6 or 7 years old and my parents best friends had two horses, Lacey and Ginger. I would do anything to be with them. I always dreamed of having my own horse but coming from a family with five children we were lucky the dog survived, we ate everything else. 

  Fast forward several years later and we owned our own horse. Jimmie one day bought  a cowboy hat, the next week he bought boots and I am pretty sure the next week he came home and declared he bought a horse. I was like What? That’s been my life long dream. We had Dee Dee a few years and we took her to Tahoe with us. That was one of the best memories of my life, riding my own horse through the Tahoe forest all alone in the warm summer sun. It was unforgettable moments I will always remember. But it didn’t last long, two babies later and it was just too much, Jimmie had long lost interest and it was in the best interest of Dee Dee to let her go to a home she would get the attention she deserved. 

   A few years later we found ourselves living in Washoe Valley between Reno Nevada and Carson City.  We bought a cute little house with a horse barn, so of course when the neighbors behind us sold their horses it only made sense to buy them and put them in our barn. They were two sweet guys and they were easy keepers for the most part. I was busy with 3 kids so I would only ride them around the back pasture but I was content with that. Eventually it made sense to sell them also because I was so busy being a mom.

  Eventually we ended up in grass valley Ca and the kids were older. I suddenly had this urge to pursue this life long love of horses. I started riding again with a woman who was willing to train me in her style of horsemanship in exchange for helping care for her brood of horses. It was an exciting opportunity and I jumped at the chance. I was riding all these beautiful young quarter horses and learning so much from her. Getting on these horses in a big arena bare back and just feeling them move under me, gently asking them to move yet learning to be a little bossy when needed. That’s the part I always struggle with. 

  I took Jimmie down to the ranch, I wanted to show him how happy I was in the company of my four legged friends. I was convinced if he saw me he would agree we needed to own our own horse again. Instead I ended up with Cowboy taking off with me and I did a Superman off the back of him and landed straight on my face. Broke my cheek bone, my nose and had a gnarly concussion. That backfired.

  Somehow I couldn’t give it up. I just could not let go of the dream. I ended up leasing a little horse named Rio. The first time I rode her I was so petrified, but she was so kind. She knew I was scared and she took care of me. In time I convinced Jimmie I needed her in my life. My dear daddy had died and she was my consolation. I had kids to take care of, a life to live. Grief was something I did not want to take time for. It was so painful. But when I would go and be at the ranch my brain would stop. It was finally quiet. The only place I would not be constantly thinking. Grief exasperated this life long struggle with a brain that just won’t leave me alone. When I would get on Rio every thought in my mind would disappear. Just the beating of her hooves, that is all I could hear. It was soothing, magical, peaceful. It was my happy place.

  We ended up moving to Santa Cruz and she came with me. We had 4 years of bliss together. We overcame challenges, I conquered fears, I gained confidence and independence. It was my respite from a busy life. A quiet place I would go where I would put music on and just be present in the moment. I got comfortable riding bareback. I would canter around the track, let go of the reigns for a moment, close my eyes, spread my arms out and smile so wide I felt my face could break. It was the ultimate happy place for me.

  One day on a trail ride it all ended. I was riding with a friend, just the two of us. It was the first cold day in the fall. She felt frisky. I did not turn her out first like I should have. We were having a great ride in the hills above Santa Cruz. It was a sunny cool crisp day. Perfection. We were doing a fast trot through a open meadow area. We rounded a corner and the trail closed into a small grove of trees, I was behind Joyce and I pulled the reigns back to slow Rio down. Without any warning, at least that I could tell, she bucked. Her back legs flew up and I flew off. I remember the sensation of flying through the air. I was afraid she would step on me so I tried to cradle my head. She jumped out of the way trying not to step on me. I hit the hard ground. It was November 2018 and we had no rain. The ground was like concrete. I felt a snap. A sharp pain sudden and fierce, then nothing . Nothing. I sat for a few moments. I tried to move and couldn’t. I thought maybe I might be paralyzed. I played out my life in my head. Wheel chair from here on out. I quickly accepted the idea actually weirdly enough. Now I had to decide what to do now. I tried to move again. I wiggled my toes. I thought if I can wiggle my toes I am not paralyzed. I think I smiled. I managed to roll over and use my elbows to drag myself a few feet to the grass. I hoped I could give it a little time maybe I was just badly bruised?  Nope, I couldn’t get up from that spot. No way was I going to be able to ride my horse down off that mountain. 

  Long story short, paramedics picked me up and put me on a board. They tied me in the back of a pick up truck and drove me down to wilder ranch where an ambulance was waiting. They thought I had hurt muscles in my back. Any movement or jolts from the truck ride caused me to sweat and scream in agony I had never experienced before. I was embarrassed because they thought it was a pulled muscle. As it turned out I had broken 5 vertebrae. My dream had come to and end. It was a scary and terribly painful experience but there was some positives. I had never really had an accident before. Its not something you want to set out to do but you sure find out how loved you are. My best friends all showed up at my house to look after me and encourage me. I had this new found appreciation for movement. I knew one day I would recover and I would not take the simple act of walking for granted. 

  I recently sold my sweet Rio. It was bittersweet. She had been a comfort to me for so many years. She was my friend when I needed a quiet space for my overly active brain. She gave me some of the fondest memories of my life. Trotting in the hills on sunny spring days I was living my dream,  but in the end,  it just made sense for me to let it go. I started riding again and I still enjoy it very much but the passion I once had for riding was gone. It was replaced by a constant awareness that at any moment life can change in an instant. A bird or a deer jumps out,  another horse spooks and I could come flying off again and not be so lucky next time.  She went to an amazing life long home where she will spend her days like a princess. The commitment of horse ownership does not blend well with the traveling van life. I know in my heart it was the right decision. 
Back to the rodeo. Put me around horses and I am still the giddy little girl who is nuts about horses. I am fascinated by cowboys and Indians. I always have been. So when we rolled into Steam boat Colorado and we heard the cheering and the announcer of a rodeo I thought this is perfect timing. I have never been to a rodeo. We got there just as the last few cowboys were chasing the little calf’s around the arena. The poor little baby cows would run for their lives and the cowboys would lasso  them, quickly jump off, tackle them to the ground and tie them up. I loved watching their amazing horses who knew exactly what to do next. They would back up and drag the baby cows. After I watched a few helpless calves get tackled down like this I found my self rooting for the calves,  RUN RUN …. 

Next up was the barrel racing cow girls. We stood near the gate where the horses would wait to run out around the barrels. It was so exciting!!  I know enough about horses to tell which ones were going to really kick ass in the arena. The ones with the crazy eyes. One horse in  particular was a huge muscular beast with a half black face that looked like a Indian war horse. He came into the gate area breathing smoke like a dragon, he bounced around this way and that way and the pretty girl who rode him fearlessly did what she could to hold him back, the bell rang and they were off like a bolt of lightning. He had a job to do and he fired around those barrels so fast then back through the gate where we stood kicking up mud into our whiskey and cokes. I felt such a rush watching this! Some horses I knew were just not cut out for this work because they had kind eyes. You could tell they aimed to please and did the best they could but they just didn’t have that little look of crazy evil eye the others had. One little paint horse went in the gate and even though the horse was much smaller than the others I saw the look. Crazy horse.  That little paint bolted around the arena and flew by like a little train. ‘They won with a 16.3 second ride as I recall. 

  I was almost shaky with excitement the whole time. The fearlessness of those cowgirls I admire so much. I had to laugh at myself when I thought of me and Rio “barrel racing” around the arena at home, a fast trot at best. She was so good to me. She had to be bored to tears half of the time we spent together. At one point the Rodeo announcer said “ there’s two kinds of riders those that have fallen off and those that will” I had to smile to myself a little because though Ill never be the cowgirl of my childhood dreams I was by the rodeo announcers own words a “rider”. I have taken 3 spills, 2 that ended with me in the hospital one just left bruises but I got right back on and rode all three times. I think that makes me a not very good rider but a rider none the less and if that is the best I can be Ill take it. Like so many other things in life its fear that can hold one back. I loved what horsemanship taught me. Don’t be afraid to try new things, don’t worry about being the best or better than anyone for that matter. It can apply  in many areas of life,  art for instance. Another hobby ( a much safer one) I enjoy. My frustration with art is I don’t have the patience to be technical like my mom and brother. My art has always been sloppy and so I have put down the paint brush to busy comparing my self to others. But what a shame, The fear of making bad art will remove the hope of ever making good art. I just need to pick up the brush again. Get back in the saddle. Do my personal best. 

  The rodeo was a great date night and steam boat springs was a perfect place for my first rodeo. 

  The next day we rode bikes to a  beautiful botanical garden. As we rode along the river we saw these little public mineral springs. Now apparently you can visit strawberry springs I think its called and pay 20 bucks to soak in the mineral pools and word has it its awesome, but we couldn’t get a reservation and Jimmie is all about saving twenty bucks. So after having our lunch on the park grass we rode over to the stinkiest pool of water we could find. Funny how no locals were using this on such a nice day? The smell was that sulfur rotten egg fart smell. At first I thought it was the out houses that lined the street for the big bike race going on. Nope it was that water we were about to soak in. They had built a little deck so you could sit there and contemplate what you were about to climb into. Black floaty weird things accumulated in one corner of the pool. They were unidentifiable. We assumed maybe leaves and debris that  were transformed by the minerals into there own life form. There were two big springs in which the water bubbled up from under the ground. I sat on the deck and drank some nice Greek  white wine to gather a little liquid courage. Soon we were both soaking in the stinky rotting leaf pond. It felt pretty good actually. There was a sign that told us the Indians used to bring there horses here to soak before a war. They felt it would give them power. Early settlers would soak here to cure ailments like arthritis and skin conditions. I just hope we don’t get any skin conditions after our soak. Another new adventure another memory that will be ingrained with that unforgettable smell. A side point our skin felt wonderful after.

  Colorado weather is so incredible to me. It was hot and sunny for our soak then out of nowhere this wind kicks up. Thunder clouds rolled in and it started raining. We road our bikes back to the camper to get dry but when I got there Jimmie wasn’t right behind me. A few moments later he rolled up and told me he found a break in the fence for the finish line of the bike race. Its the world east biggest gravel bike race from what we were told. 144 miles. People come from all over the world equipped with fancy bikes and those ultra manly revealing bike shorts. They finish the race covered in mud and exhausted from there long journey and here comes Jimmie my crazy husband in his trunks,  no shirt, Beatles music blaring,  a bike basket with a wine bottle on his rickety old beach cruiser through the finish line. He said the crowds went nuts cheering him on. No one seemed to mine his good humor.  The announcer said “look at that 144 miles on a beach cruiser!” I love him so much for his fun silly side that is fearless. He may not wear a cowboy hat or those skin tight wranglers like a cowboy but he has no fear in life. He approaches life with the fun and fearlessness of a bull rider and I love him for it

Boon-docking challenges…

   So boon docking is when you sleep in your van and dont pay for a campground. This comes with the challenge of where to shower? To be clear the travato is equipped with a shower but it’s really small and rather inconvenient. You have to button up this shower curtain around it and it’s a tiny space to wash all your bits. It works but its a pain in the rear. So one thing we have adapted to is showering out the back. We look for a quiet spot where no one can see us and open the back doors and quickly shower hoping no-one drives up. You have to conserve water since the water tank is very small. This means a military type shower where you wet yourself, turn the water up, stand naked in the elements, then hose off as quickly as possible both for the sake of water and the sake of shame dare someone pull up to you at the wrong time. 

  I’m getting used to it. I hate to be dirty so I do what I have to do. But Murphy’s law is that as soon as it is my turn a cloud covers the warm sun and suddenly a stiff breeze comes up. How this happens every time is beyond me. At least we haven’t had any people stumble upon us. That would be bad.

From Sundance Utah to Steamboat Colorado

    We had a hard time leaving Sundance, it was spectacular. We parked on the side of the road on what seemed like a remote mountain but couldn’t sleep because cars kept zipping by us all night. We couldn’t figure out what so many people were doing on this road in the middle of the night, so at some point Jimmie drove down the mountain to the trail head parking lot and decided we might get some sleep there and it would be safer. All night long cars full  of people came and went and I couldn’t figure it out.. why? Does anyone sleep around here? We woke up early and hit the trail to Stewart Cascade falls. . Come to find out this parking lot is the trail head  to climb the highest peak in Utah. Its a 13 mile hike and takes several hours. To avoid the blistering midday heat people start out at all sorts of crazy hours and head out in groups with flash lights. That is a pretty cool thing and I’m glad to know my interrupted sleep at least resulted in an adventure for others. Our plan was to wake up early and do the 4 mile cascade waterfall hike and even though these sleepless hikers kept us up all night we were still somehow up bright and early and the hike was certainly good enough for me. We stood under the falls and the coldest water I have ever felt rained over me. We just missed out on seeing a moose drinking just below the very falls we were in, we were told by some other hikers. It was still a great way to start the day.

  After a very scenic drive we finally found the ugly part of Utah. There were some towns that I wouldn’t want to stop for gas in unless I absolutely had to. The nicest architecture was an old trailer that didn’t have a wrecking yard of old cars and trash. I guess every state has these towns somewhere. We kept driving and stumbled upon the Quarry Exhibit Hall Dinosaur monument. It was very cool. The paleontologist who discovered the dinosaurs here in 1909 had the foresight to recommend preserving a part of the mountain side and building a museum around it for future generations. So you can actually see the real bones in the side of the mountain. I am no dinosaur enthusiast by any means but it was definitely worth seeing. If dinosaurs are your thing, this would be the Disneyland of dinosaurs. 

  We just crossed over into Colorado and just over the border was a dispensary called Dino treats. It had a big dinosaur in front. We didn’t stop but it cracked me up. We’re definitely not in conservative Utah anymore. I suspect the Colorado dinosaurs have more giggles than the Utah ones. 

  The wind is picking up, time for me to buckle back up.

A few more words about Utah

   Even though you can get some very tasty cocktails, the conservative nature of the place changes things up a bit. We are pretty sure they measure the alcohol so you only get 1 ounce in each drink. Jimmie tried to order a Mai Tai and the waitress told us those are not allowed here because they have too much alcohol. So certain drinks must be banned. Interesting. I haven’t ordered a Long Island ice tea since I turned 21, it didn’t end well for me, but I think if you tried to order a Long Island ice tea here you’d go straight to Utah hell.

  With that said its kind of nice to enjoy such tasty libations and not have them so strong. Sundance was a magical place, we loved it and the people working here were all so sweet. Jimmie survived his zip lining expedition. He said it was awesome. I enjoyed my quiet time chilling in the travato writing my thoughts and we met up after at the owl bar for some tasty weak margaritas and the best dang corn dog in the world.

  Also I forgot to add the sunflowers grow wild here. They are everywhere on the side of the road just sharing their joyful little bits of sunshine adding this little magical pop of color in this majestic mountain setting. So so pretty. 

Park city and Sundance….

  We arrived late Monday night in Park City. Jimmie was so tired driving he just took an exit and parked in a neighborhood. He climbed back in bed and we were both out for the night. One thing we love about our travato is the ability to park and sleep just about anywhere. With a big trailer or RV it’s a lot harder to do that. Also this travato is not only small, and I don’t want to sound snobby, but its just classy enough people don’t assume your homeless people sleeping in it. Although I understand many do live full time in their campers now and I have to tell you its not a bad life. A few years back we bought a camper van from my brother that was a converted old Red Cross transport bus. It was very rustic, lets call it that. I loved the thing! I had so many fond memories of my brother taking me in it and we would park on the beach and eat popcorn and drink whiskey. He decided to sell it to us for 2,500 bucks. We thought it would be a cool thing to have in Santa Cruz so we headed up to Oregon to bring it home. There was one caveat we didn’t consider, well actually there was quit a few things we didn’t consider,  one was that it ran on propane instead of gas. In Oregon people apparently use a lot more propane so its easy to find and fairly cheap. Once we crossed the California border it was harder and harder to find and this bus of ours guzzled up the propane like a thirsty sailor guzzles beer. Not only was the propane hard to find but it was extremely expensive. There was another problem, when we left Oregon it was pouring. I mean a torrential down pour, Noah’s ark kind of rain. Jon Jon, my brother, said “well the bus doesn’t like cold  so I keep this hair dryer handy and use it on high and point it here toward the propane, to warm up the propane”. Does that sound safe even? So every time we stopped our van it apparently got cold and wouldn’t start. Apparently the hair dryer trick only worked for Jon Jon. The ride back was stressful to say the least. Jimmie was ranting the whole ten hour drive home “this is the stupidest thing I have ever done”. We decided to park at Walmart in Ukiah because campers can stay there for free. Again the van wouldn’t start back up. As Jimmie was standing in the pouring rain trying not to loose his crap completely a woman in her hippie bus parked next to us started to vomit all over the parking lot. The look on Jimmies face was one I will never forget. We slept in Walmart that night with the homeless people contemplating the wisdom of the decision. I always held out hope for the bus but it just never worked out for us. 

  The only other voyage we had in that bus was to Costa Noa, a beautiful glamping spot south of San Fransisco. I pulled my vintage 1957 Kencraft trailer and my friend Diane drove the van behind me. When we pulled up the lady who worked in the little hut where you check in came out waving her finger. “Oh NO NO NO. WHAT IS THAT?” I said “that is my camper van”. Long story short they wouldn’t even let us park it in our camp sight. Diane heard a lady walk by with her little daughter and ask “mommy what is that?” She answered “that’s despicable”. After that we called our van the despicable beast. Since when did camping get so snobby?

  Anyhow, in our  travato we get away with a lot more. We can sleep pretty much wherever. Our inside joke is we only stay at the finest hotels. We love to enjoy a nice dinner or maybe a visit to a spa and then climb in to our little rolling fort for the night.

  Back to Utah. This is what got me on this tangent. We woke up in a very ritzy neighborhood. We never linger and we don’t park directly in front of peoples homes, unless were to tired to know the difference. We try our best to be respectful in our vagabond adventures, but love the freedom and flexibility that comes with this van. Something we  never had in the despicable beast. 

  Park City is truly beautiful. It’s one of the cleanest cities I have ever come across in the states. It definitely reminded us of Switzerland and gives any other ski resort towns I have been to a run for their money. We found the Park City Rv resort and got a spot right on a lovely little creek with a grassy green area to park our chairs. Park city has a charming downtown Main st. area with great shops and restaurants. We ate breakfast at the Eating Establishment. It was very good, but the service left a lot to be desired. We noticed most places lacked customer service for the most part, but that’s what you sometimes get in a resort area. The town itself was a lot of fun to walk around with many art galleries and eye candy architecture. I always thought of Utah as kind of a dry state and wasn’t expecting to find one of the best whiskey bars I have personally been too. High West distillery had really incredible cocktails. I had the Josepa  which was made with double rye/Jamaican rum/ Fernet Branco/ coconut/pineapple /beet/mezcal and habanero. Nothing better than an artistically designed cocktail. 

  Jimmie found one of those escape room places. We have never done that before so we thought it would be fun to try. The room was set up like a mine. We were told we had one hour to escape or we would run out of air. We had to find clues and solve puzzles in order to unlock ourselves and escape to the other room. After a while we found a hidden door to another room full of more puzzles to solve. Jimmie was totally in to it. There was a screen and we knew we were being watched so we could ask for clues. I kept asking for clues and Jimmie kept accusing me of cheating. The room had props, like old lanterns, lunch boxes and a bottle of whiskey glued to a table. After about half an hour I started getting a bit bored and decided if my life depended on it I’d never solve all these problems and unlock all these locks. If this were real I’d say my prayers then drink that whiskey and lay down and go to sleep. Good thing I have Jimmie around and his brains. We still died in that room even with all my “cheating”. It was a fun team building experience for a couple who has been married 30 years.

  We also did a hike up to Bloods lake. I am not sure why it is called that although hiking in such high altitude I did feel like I could die. It was worth it and the scenery was breathtaking.

  After leaving park city we took the scenic route to Sundance. I can’t get over how clean and beautiful Utah is. It’s a nature lovers dream here. There is no shortage of rivers, lakes, fishing, boating, hiking, biking and skiing. The mountains are dramatic and so green and healthy looking, especially knowing there is such a drought everywhere. While driving you could spend a whole day photographing old barns. You don’t see any run down houses with extra cars around. Everything is pristine. They must shoo those people out of town. 

  Sundance is a stunning resort. There’s lots to do here even in summer. As I write this Jimmie is zip lining down the mountain. I was not in the least bit interested. I hate heights and don’t understand the idea of paying money to be scared. I am sure this will be an experience he never will forget. They said you go like 65-70 miles an hour 500 ft above ground down an 8,000 foot mountain. It is the 3rd longest zip line in the US and the biggest elevation drop in the US. No thanks. I went shopping in the Sundance general store. They have the coolest art studio where you can take silversmith classes and make your own ring. I wish I would have know about that sooner.

  Well we are having a wonderful time and were just getting started. We have no real agenda, just going where the wind blows. Or wherever the wind blows the smoke away. 

Day 1 … heading east

   Driving through eastern Oregon was very beautiful. The forests looked surprisingly healthy considering the drought and the thick smoke in the air. After climbing a mountain the landscape changed into open valleys with cattle ranches surrounded by the mountains in the back. The meadows had rivers winding through them and seemed to keep the ground surprisingly green. The cows were all grazing on fresh grass and there were many healthy looking babies. Then the land morphed into a high desert area. It’s still beautiful, when you look out you think at first you aren’t seeing much, but if you really look you see deep red, purple, yellow, and gold all layered beautifully. 

  We found a nice pull out with a picnic table and I made our first dinner. I have been excited about creating the best meals I can on the road. I brought my cast iron skillet and fried up a rib eye steak with mushrooms, sautéed onions, spinach and Rogue creamery blue cheese ( which won worlds best cheese 2 years ago, and is made right in Central Point, Oregon). I topped it off with a little truffle salt. Yes I travel with truffle salt. It was great and took about 15 minutes to put together. We put new speakers on the van so we had my favorite French play list going. We even danced in the woods after. We are terrible dancers but It was fun. I took a picture of us dinning and just then a giant horrifying looking bug flew toward me. Made a pretty funny picture.

  We drove a few more hours in the dark and were in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the south eastern tip of Oregon. A two lane road with no cars for miles. We pulled off on the side of road. The most incredible view of the stars was above us. I can’t even remember the last time I looked at the sky and saw so many stars. It was completely silent and dark. Beautiful. I woke up to Jimmie at 3:30 in morning, who wanted to wake up and star gaze some more. Next thing i know he’s blaring music and dancing in his undies looking for falling stars. I am not a person who likes to be woken up. In fact, I am pretty sure I have resorted to violence in the past when I have been woke up in the middle of night, but I couldn’t be mad at him, he finally settled into vacation mode. The man works harder than anyone I know and he is finally relaxing and if he needed to wake me up to sing along to Sweet Caroline with him and count falling stars then I was going to roll with it. I put the fly killing assault weapon we travel with down and got up and stared at the stars with him for a while. 

  Day 1 and already some memories were made. Memories that If I get old or sick I can look back on and smile, because I stared at the stars one night while Singing Sweet Caroline next to Jimmie dancing in his undies.

We left home about 10 days ago with mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension. I have never not seen my kids for 2 months. Life at home is pretty great too. Part of me wanted to say never mind. But I knew I couldn’t do that, we may never have the chance again. The first few nights were spent with a few of our closest friends who spoiled us with anniversary dinners. We then headed to Oregon to spend time with my mom. I hadn’t seen her in over a year because of COVID. We had a great week with her. She is such a crazy fun old lady who doesn’t seem old at all. She is 79 years old and she hauls bricks around her property to build random fire pits and BBQ’s. She climbs ladders to paint the house, she climbs trees with chain saws to prune them. She got on this camera kick a few years ago and bought about 100 of them. So whatever you are doing anywhere in the house or on the property your being recorded. A few years ago my sister looked on her cameras to check on her and found that she had climbed a ladder to do something on this trailer parked in front of the house. Her feet then couldn’t find the ladder and she was on her belly. She looked like she was swimming on the roof of the trailer. I think Judy had to call someone to help her down. Her knew kick is Amazon Alexa. She must have 50 of them. So first think in morning she tells it to play classic western music on all devices. Good thing the neighbors are kind because at 7:00am Willie Nelson or Dolly Parton is blaring for the whole mountain to hear. It kind of has an amusement park feel but sleeping in is not an option. 

  She has over the years surrounded the house with ponds. The big one in front is quite nice with a waterfall feature. We sat around a camp fire in front of her pond most nights, but the pond itself I find quite terrifying. She has many old huge koi fish which have suddenly became very fertile apparently because there are literally thousands of babies swimming around. Anything in such quantity is somewhat disgusting to me for some reason. The water is a thick green color. You can’t see the koi or any of the other various creatures she has put in there. Only the thousands of babies that swim near the top. There’s big bull frogs and turtles and snakes and whatever other kind of creatures she finds, she sticks them in this pond. I am not sure what kind of eco system she has created but I am pretty sure there’s some weird crap in there.  

  Anyhow I love my mom. She is one of the most unique woman I have ever know. We had a great time. We then drove from Gold Beach Oregon to Central point where my sister and her kids live. It’s a beautiful drive along a sparkling clean river. We got out and swam. It was wonderful. So many times I have driven by and wanted to stop but didn’t because we were in a hurry. This time were in no hurry. We stopped off at Taylor’s meat market in Cave Junction, Oregon. It’s a neat place to stop so long as your not a vegan. I’m pretty sure this is the kind of place vegans have nightmares about but if you like a juicy steak, some sausage and some great jerky its the place to stop. We stocked up for our travels.

  The next two days we spent with my sister and her family. Again it had been way to long since I have seen them. We had a great time. I have always adored my nieces. Sadly, Mandy if you are reading this, as you know, you were out of town, but you were most definitely missed. The kids are great!  We played cards with them, Jimmie bought a gun that kills bugs with salt. 8 year old Ellie said in her squeaky little voice “uncle Jimmie can we blow things up with your salt rifle?” They ran around killing spiders and flies. Later Ellie said “lets tell scary stories so we can have scary nightmares” these kids cracked us up. Loved every minute. 

  Monday after meeting some old friends for lunch we were finally heading east..

Road trippin

  August 23 we celebrate 30 years of marriage. We have this special opportunity to travel for a few months. We love Europe and almost went there again but with the Delta virus taking over the world we didn’t want to get there and have everything shut down again. Actually we would have gone to Greece but I’m sure glad we didn’t since its sadly on fire right now. Driving cross country has always been a dream of mine so it seems the perfect opportunity. Last year we bought this little Winnebago travato van. We’ve had great little adventures in it so far but now we will be calling this van home for the next two months. I’m a vagabond at heart. There is no better way to commemorate 30 years of marriage than to lock ourselves up together in a tiny Rv for two months and see if we make it to 31. 

  Actually this passion for van life goes back to our early years. Our first car was a 1979 Volkswagen bus. After a few months of married life Jimmie said lets go on vacation ,I have 3 weeks paid vacation. I said “how are we going to do that? We have no money, like not even an extra 10$”. He said “that’s okay, I have a credit card”. Made perfect sense to an 18 and a 21 year old. So off we set in our van for a 3 week adventure. To this day we both think back on that trip as one of our fondest memories. We charged everything, even the cooler to store our food. We would buy canned chili beans and cook them over and open fire and it tasted like the best gourmet meal we ever had. We slept in our van and just cruised. We found ourselves on the Umpqua river in Oregon. We were hungry and we had a fishing pole. Jimmie hadn’t yet learned the art of sharing and he was hogging the fishing pole. The water was so crystal clear you could watch the fish come bite on his fish bait which was some sticky pink stuff we bought that attracts fish. He would impatiently try to pull the fish in but they kept getting away. So I rigged up a hook, a weight and some of that pink bait on the spool of fishing wire. I would cast it out and wait till the fish would swallow it good, then I would swing the line over my head. The poor fish would crash on the rock behind me and I’d finish him off on the rocks. Pretty soon we were both catching fish like crazy. After We had a plethora of trout we hiked back to our van. We stopped somewhere just down the road maybe for some butter or something and saw a sign that informed us only fly fishing was allowed. Not only that, but you could only catch and release the native fish. Our eyes got really big and we ate those native  fish up right quick so we didn’t have to bail ourselves out of jail with our credit card. I mean we already had smashed them on the rocks so we may as well eat them.

  Our favorite adventures are those in which we make it up as we go along. So our plans are really to have No plans. We hope to make it to Florida, but with world conditions as they are we know any plans could change at any point. Right now Florida is an epicenter of Covid, so we will keep an eye on that. The world is on fire or flooding or being banged up with golf ball sized hail. So we will do our best to stay safe, find joy in each day, make new friends and see some old friends on the way. I have had the best 30 years with Jimmie and my hope is these next few months will fill us both with minds and hearts full of good memories. At the end of life that’s what I’d want. Good memories, not things, just good memories.

   So let the travato travels begin!