These are the Days of our lives...

Today Mike with fishing with 4 other men up to a lake in the mountains. He caught the biggest fish of the day. A trout almost 17 inches. They also saw a moose on the way back. Mike got out of the truck and chased is up a hill to get a closer picture. With the high altitude and running, Mike thought he would need CPR.

It amazes me that the effect the high altitude makes on sealed packages. When you look at the packages in the grocery store, they are all puffed up. I bought marshmallows and chips. The cleaning squirt bottles under the sink in the motor home were empty when we arrive at South Fork. The first time I opened my squeeze bottle of mayo, it exploded all over me and the kitchen. High altitude does strange things. I still am out of breath if I walk fast.

When we arrived two weeks ago, most of the trees did not have any leaves. After the moisture we have had the trees are beginning to turn green. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see the lighter green line of trees. Those are Aspens. The Aspens at the bottom have not leafed out yet. The river is the Rio Grande. The river originates not too far from here.

Sunday afternoon the sun was out and it was beautiful. The neighbors stopped by while I was using Mike's knife to peel the bark off of my stick. Mike noticed that I was not even paying attention to the knife as I was cutting. Scarey. When they are dry, we will wood burn designs and the date on them. Now, I will need to go hiking to use the stick.

We went up a mountain road to cut down two little Aspen trees to make walking sticks. It is a tradition that the regular campers do every year. We went into Creede to the Ranger Station and got a permit. It was for three days and it had been snowing for two. So we had to brave the snow and forge up the mountain. We could only get about half way up. Mike and our friend, Mike, walked into the woods and found perfect little trees. The snow was about a foot deep. This picture above is probably about 9,000 feet looking down.

Mike's fire truck had snow and ice on it last night. It has been snowing for two days. It is wet and fluffy. I think it is wonderful. Those of you who know Mike Day are probably laughing. He never wanted to see snow again and his goal in life is to follow the sun. Look at the pictures on May 15th, our 2nd day here. It was a "freak" snow storm. They have been having an unusual winter and spring here. It is in the low 30's, but we are cozy and warm in the motor home. Perfect weather for chili. The neighbors are coming over tonight to play dominos. Last night, I took a picture looking south toward the mountain. If you click on the picture it will enlarge. You can see an outline of the mountain. This morning, you could see the wet snow on the pines. I think it is absolutely beautiful!

We went with Mike, Pat, David and Sharon on a drive. If you did not know where this water fall was, you would never know it was there. If you click on the picture, you will see a rainbow.

These are people from Oklahoma who have been coming to Cottonwood Cove every summer for years. They love to fish. This morning the men left at 7:00 am to go fishing. When they got to the mountain lake, they had to wait for the ice to melt so they could cast their line down a hole in the ice. Crazy. David and Sharon are on the left. Mike, is on the right. Pat, Mike's wife is not in the picture. As you know I love to eat! They invited us to share their fish with them. Pat made corn bread, Sharon fried potatoes with onions and I made baked beans. Eating outside looking at the mountains, with great people...who could ask for anything more? They are really neat people and we look forward to spending the summer with them. There will be several more couples that will be arriving next week. Let the fun begin!

Oh No, It is snowing. This is the first time that our motor home has seen snow. Mike is looking for a hospital to get his head examined. He tries to avoid cold weather. The horses loved the snow. We can watch them from the front of the motor home.

Wolf Creek Pass is over 10,000 feet in elevation. We had stayed an extra night in Cortez waiting for it to quit snowing in the pass. It was beautiful. You could see snow mobile tracks everywhere. This is a "snow shed" that is over the road to prevent snow from blocking the highway. If you click on the picture, you can see water running off of the roof.

Yesterday and today have been exciting...................... the pass that we need to cross to get to Durango is getting snow and possibly impassable. We decided to wait it out on this side of the pass. These pictures are of the storm. Did I tell you it is May 13th and it's snowing........... go figure!!!!!

I really missed being with my Mother and my childrent on Mother's Day. Mike took me on a hike and we had a picnic at a natural window in the rocks. Mike took the long way. He has no fear and climbed to the top of the rock formations. We had to walk along a ledge to get to the natural window in the rock. If you click on the picture, that little dot under the window is me.

This called Mexican Hat................. go figure! Spent most of the day in Monument Valley, Utah. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. All of the old cowboy movies were filmed here. It all is on Navaho Land and most of the roads are unimproved, that means you have to have a four wheel drive. The temps have been lower than what we are used to but are OK. Afraid we will soon be using the furnace............... can you believe that!!

This is a story that starts out innocent but travels down an ugly highway. This is the way that I remember it, Buffy has a clouded sense of adventure and probably would tell a little different story, but this is the actual story. Some of the names have been changed to protect the innocent, some of the names are actual to expose the guilty, but the accounts are all true, at least in my mind. There is this guy who thinks he was “born to ride” and usually invites some unsuspecting fool to “share” in his adventure. I am this fool. DAY ONE I knew we were in trouble when I said “It has been snowing in the higher elevations lately.” But I didn’t know that he didn’t want to acknowledge the FACTS and go on this adventure anyway. So off he goes to rent a motorcycle. Who in their right mind would rent this guy a brand new black 2008 Harley Classic with road pegs and a back rest. Didn’t they check his license and see he is from Silvis, Illinois. If I had any money invested in this Harley dealershi...