We spent two wonderful weeks in Durango, house-sitting at the Graves’. The house is only half a mile from downtown and an easy downhill walk to great stores, food and libations.
Bears were a bit concerning, though, always visiting when I wasn’t looking! Twice after it rained, muddy 🐾 were right beside the van. Once, I had to have been inside the van cleaning when one walked by! Thank goodness I didn’t see it! Those were some BIG paw prints!
We started out one morning to take a scenic drive to Telluride. About 40 minutes outside of Durango, a truck sped by. I couldn’t believe how bad the fumes from its exhaust were…or so I thought! A few minutes after the truck disappeared, I noticed how foggy it was getting inside the van.
We were five miles past Mancos and five miles before Cortez when we realized it wasn’t the truck exhaust—it was coming from our engine!
Amazingly, there was a community college parking lot right there in the middle of nowhere! Unfortunately, the only tow company we could find was back in Durango. Four hours later, and with a $550 tow bill, we were back in Durango. Fortunately, the tow company was also part of a vehicle repair shop, and they work on RVs. They had the repairs done in less than a week.
Dan and Angela had a Jeep in the garage that we could use, so we did eventually make it to Telluride and got to see the beginning of the aspens turning gold. It was incredible!
With the Dickmanns
One evening, we had drinks at the Speakeasy with Mark and Eva Dickmann. We had met them in Findlay at Bob and Annie’s daughter’s graduation in 2017. We enjoyed great conversation and will make a point of getting together again next spring when we’re back in Durango.
Dan and Angela returned from a great two weeks in Germany on Angela’s birthday. I fixed her a birthday dinner and cake, and Dan made Daneritas! It was a great way to end our time in Durango!
Dan and Angela Back Home
On Oct. 5, we headed to Albuquerque. Mimi and Bob Mihaly live there during the winter. Bob was still in Michigan, but Mimi was home, so we planned a visit with her. She took us to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which has been on our bucket list for a while.
What an amazing experience! There was an incredible drone light show at 5:30 a.m., the Balloon Glow at 6 a.m., and then 500 hot-air balloons started lifting off! It was absolutely amazing and such a wonderful experience!
On Oct. 7, we headed to Prescott, Arizona. We always spend at least one night there so we can visit my sister-in-law Jodi. Unfortunately, she was traveling home from her son’s in Illinois, so we didn’t get to see her this time.
We did get to have dinner with my childhood friend Carol and her husband, Roger! It’s always fun to catch up with them. Carol and I were friends from birth! Our moms were great friends, and we lived just a few houses away from each other for 10 years in Scottsburg, Indiana. We were born two weeks apart…she’s OLDER!
Carol and Roger
We lost touch when we moved to Findlay in 1966 but reconnected through Facebook. It’s so wonderful how natural and easy it has been to reconnect after so many years.
On Oct. 8, we headed to our favorite place in the desert: Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area. This is our fourth year coming here. Typically, we only stay for a week or two, but last year we decided we wanted to try living here for four or five months, so we bought a 24-foot RV trailer and stored it in Yuma for the summer.
Ron and Pat, who hiked the Colorado Trail with Tim, have been coming here from New Hampshire every October for 27 years. They arrived a week before us and were kind enough to drive Tim to Yuma and pull the RV to our site.
We are now set up for at least the next four months!
It has been pretty hot! It was over 100° the first few days, but it’s starting to get down into the 90s. We spend afternoons down at the reservoir, where there is some shade and it feels a lot cooler.
We are really enjoying the extra space in the bigger RV. We use the van for taking showers and driving into Yuma for groceries and necessities. We’ll also use the van as a guest bedroom when we have company.
Tim has set up a screen house with a table and chairs where I can do puzzles. I also have a solar oven for roasting meat and potatoes. The oven gets between 300° and 400° as long as I remember to keep it pointed directly at the sun!
We found someone selling a small trailer that we can pull behind the van. It’s set up with a 65-gallon “poop” tank, a 50-gallon clean-water tank and a macerator pump for emptying and filling the RV trailer’s tanks. Now we don’t have to borrow Ron’s truck to pull the RV trailer to the dump station.
We are all set up until we head to Tucson in February, where we’ll stay for two months.
I got interrupted Thursday before I could post this, so I’m adding a few more days of fun!
Chris and Deb drove their Minnie Winnie over from San Diego to see us. Deb wanted to see what we loved so much about the desert.
Well…she’s hooked!
I wasn’t sure she’d feel the same way I do about boondocking, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be back. We’ve played lots of cards and games, hiked, and joined Pat and Ron for bocce ball and Kubb, a Viking lawn game, in the afternoons.
Last night, we went to the base of a mountain near Yuma for the Howling at the Moon party! From October through April, the Yuma Veterans office puts on this fundraiser for two nights around every full moon. Great fun! Food trucks, merchandise and bands.
I think Deb and I had more fun than Tim and Chris! They didn’t howl when the moon peeked above the mountain, but of course Deb and I did!
They like it here enough that they’re staying an extra day.
So much fun having guests! They brought their own camper, but we have room for four more guests anytime.
Come on out and visit!