Month: March 2016

Grand Teton/Yellowstone

We are only 10 miles North of Jackson Hole so we have made several trips into town, we rode our bikes in one day, the way in was easy, the way back was almost all up hill, and some parts were very steep.  We found The Jackson Hole Buffalo Meat Company; they have elk, and buffalo steaks, ground meat, jerky, and some other cuts.  We bought a double elk chop, and I cooked it slow with a little smoke on our jumbo joe Webber kettle.  It turned out unbelievably delicious, it was better than any beef I have ever had.  I went back yesterday and got some ground buffalo meat, and we made buffalo chili, it turned out very good as well.

Pia and I took the road outside the campground and headed east to a Lower Slide Lake, we intended to kayak and fish the lake, when we got there the wind was so high we decided not to even take the kayaks off of the jeep.  We kept going and came to a closed campground on the river and got out to fish.  We tried a couple of spots, no luck.  The last spot we tried I was casting, and Pia was walking back to the jeep when I heard her yell.  I caught her with a fly right in the neck.  It was buried deep enough that I could not get it out.  We headed back to camp, about 45 minute drive after two shots of tequila for her and one for me, I performed surgery, and removed the fly.  Pia was a good sport and was not mad at me at all.  I am so glad it was not a worse situation.   We also took a float from Jackson Lake Dam down the Snake River to the Pacific Creek, take out.  There is a company up here Snake River Shuttle, who will drive your vehicle from your launch point, down river to your take out.  When you reach your destination, your car is waiting for you, it is a cool service.  We did not land any fish but I had two break off.  I have found out I am using too light of line for these “Snake River Fine Spotted Cutthroat Trout, I am going to make some adjustments and we are going to float a part of the river South of town.  I believe this is the same section that I fished a few years ago when I was up here on a promotional trip with some customers.  These fish hit big foam fly’s like a freight train, Pia is getting frustrated and wants some fresh fish, so I better get this figured out.

We think we have finally gotten rid of our unwanted hitch hikers, the pack rat was inside our table when we arrived at Gros Ventre, I pulled the table out of the bay and he ran off into the sage brush.  I think we may have survived the invasion.

July 10, 2015, we floated the Snake River yesterday from South Park, to Pritchard the water was faster than the section that we floated last week.  The fishing was tough, I caught one fish, and Pia did not get any.  We spoke to a guide at the pullout, he had two customers with him and they only got 3 fish.  Should have been here last week we were catching 35 to 40 fish each trip.  Those are famous words that every fisherman has heard, “You Should Have Been Here Yesterday”.  Anyway we have had good fishing on this trip so far, we just could not get anything done in Wyoming.  In the words of the late great Jim Croce “Isn’t that the way they say it goes”

The Million Dollar Highway Colorado 550

We packed up Sunday morning and headed North up Hwy 550 the “million dollar highway”.  We   videoed the whole trip on the GoPro, I will edit that and put it on our You Tube Channel at some point.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwT5YPNLWv_v3UiwNQ8_R1A.  We have shot a lot of video, so I have a lot of editing work to do.  The drive to Silverton was not bad; we had done it in the jeep so we felt pretty confident.  It is good road and has a shoulder, and is wide enough.  From Silverton to Ouray is a different story, everyone told us we would be on the inside which is better.  As we headed out of Silverton the road seemed the same for a while, it then became narrower and the shoulder would come and go, the outside edge of the road had damage in places where there was no shoulder and sunk slightly below the road grade.  Pia and I kept saying why did they tell us we would be on the inside, because we were not.  We took our time and pulled off several times to let the cars behind us go by.  As we got up into the higher elevations it started sleeting, which made us more nervous of course.  As we went over Red Mountain Pass the scenery took our breath away, the color, shear rock faces, the height of the mountains was magnificent.  They call this area Little Switzerland, or the American Alps, and for good reason.  Here is where the road is very narrow, with rock out cropping’s on the inside and 1,000 foot drop off on the other.  In this area descending into Ouray we were on the inside.  The switch backs are in some places doubled, the bus handled it fine, I did not need to cross the yellow stripe into the oncoming lane, which was one of the things I was concerned about.  We did not meet any large trucks, RV’s, or Busses on the very narrow stretches, I could see where on some of those blind curves that could be dicey.  We took it very slow, and steady it was well worth it to experience such a spectacular drive.

It is Sunday morning June 14, we have been on our trip for a month, it is strange how time flows differently when you travel, and especially knowing that we are not on a vacation, worried about returning to work.    This is a life style that is to me the ultimate retirement, Pia and I both want to keep doing this as long as we are able.

 

Anacortes, WA

Tuesday morning August 18, 2015 we said our goodbye’s and headed North to Port Townsend, we had a 12:30 reservation on the ferry to Whidbey Island.  We arrived at the ferry dock early about 11:15 and found out that one of the ferries was out of service.  It was a good thing that we arrived early, because of our reservation we were able to get on the 12:30 boat.  It is about a 35 minute crossing to Fort Casey, and then about another 30 miles to Fidalgo Island, and the Fidalgo Bay RV resort.

We arrived at the resort which sits on the bay just 2 ½ miles south of Anacortes, WA.  This is a very popular place and we have a spot looking out of the front windshield looking over the bay.  Anacortes is a neat little town that was once the salmon canning capital of the Northwest.  Now it is a ship building town, with tourism a major part of the economy.  There is still a lot of commercial fishing and crabbing that goes on here.

We took a whale watching tour one evening and were able to watch a pod of Orca’s for several hours up in the San Juan Islands.  I have always wanted to charter a sail boat here, and spend a week exploring the San Juan’s.  It was one of those things I had hoped to do with my mom and dad, but we never got to do.  These islands are so beautiful and unique; I would like to spend more time here someday.

Pia and I were doing some sightseeing and headed around the island, we got out at deception pass to look down from the bridge which is quite a spectacular view.  We saw a large number of people on the shoreline, I looked through the binoculars and saw they were all fishing.  We had two poles with us so we decided to check it out.  On the South side of the pass is the state park, we decided to get the annual pass and headed down to the shoreline.  We spent an hour or so fishing and saw some people bring in a few fish, but we had no luck.  The next day we decided to try again and timed it to where we got there about 2 hours before high tide.  We were not there very long before Pia hooked a pink salmon, her first ever.  It was a nice fish which we enjoyed for dinner the next day.  I did not get a bite.

San Juan River, NM

Saturday June 6, 2015, it has been a week and a half since I made the last entry.  We have been quite busy.  We spent 4 nights in Navaho Dam, NM on the San Juan River.  We arrived on Wednesday and I took Pia to the river’s edge at the Pump House area and taught her how to cast a fly rod.  She did pretty well so the next morning we headed back to the Pump House and spend most of the day fishing.  We caught and kept 5 rainbow trout.  We ate them for dinner and they were delicious.   Friday we fished again, we started at Texas Hole and moved up the river to the Kiddie Hole, it was crowded with people, and we did not hook any fish.  This area is catch and release only.  There are a lot of big trout in this area, but they are harder to catch.  We ended up going back to the Pump House and caught seven trout that we kept.  Saturday I went alone back up to Texas Hole and worked my way up stream to a wide open area of slow moving water.  I finally got a nice 16” trout, and then caught another one on the way back down stream heading back to the car.  That first fish will go on YouTube when we get back home.  We met an 87 year old gentleman camping at Abe’s RV Park.  John lives full time in his 5th Wheel trailer.  He winters in Arizona, and then works his way back in the spring to Montana for the summer.  He is an expert fly fisherman, and a very interesting man.  He stays here for about a month, and left early Sunday morning heading to Montana, which will take him about a day and a half.  I hope I am able to keep doing this at his age.

Durango, CO

We packed up Sunday and headed North to Durango, CO..  I always get a little thrill when I cross into Colorado, it has always been one of my favorite places.  We have been camped at United RV park, just North of Durango on Hwy 550.  The Durango-Silverton narrow gauge train passes right through the campground in front of our bus.  We took the train on Tuesday up to Silverton and back, it was a perfect day, lots of sun and had a great time.  This is the 3rd or 4th time I have ridded the train, it is always a thrilling way to travel through the mountains.  On Monday while we were exploring Durango I found a book with 165 4×4 trails in the State of Colorado, that brought a smile to my face.  So I picked a few trails in the area and bought the National Geographic topographical maps that cover the areas. I have always wanted to Jeep in the mountains, but never had the opportunity before.

Wednesday we made our first jeep trip up the mountains to Kennebec pass.  It was thrilling the pass is at 11,600 feet, it is a very rough road the last 4 or 5 miles.  The jeep handled it fine, the old mining road up to the top had just been ploughed, and the snow piled up on each side of the road was about 4’ high.  It was a stunning view at the top.  We had such a good time that on Thursday we headed up past Silverton, and on to Animas Forks.  This is an old mining town that has been preserved by the forest service.  It is a ghost town and you can go into many of the old cabins, and buildings.  We decided to go on up to Cinnamon Pass.  We had to cross an old wooden bridge very short but looked 100 years old.  We then headed up the trail.  It was very challenging in places but the jeep handled it just fine.  Pia was nervous in a few spots, but she was thrilled once we reached the top at 12,640 ft.  We laid out a blanket and had lunch, the view was unbelievable.   We stayed about an hour or so and headed back down, we got back to the bus about 5:45 just in time to see the last train go by returning from Silverton.  Tomorrow we head up the million dollar highway 550 to Ouray.  This is a tricky highway especially from Silverton to Ouray, many hairpin turns, and steep grades; it will be exciting in the motor home.

Our Mountain Goat
Downtown Ouray
Silverton Durango Narrow Gage
Kennebec Pass
On Top of the World

 

 

Memorial Day in Sante Fe

Today is Memorial Day 2015, we have been here in Santa Fe since Thursday.  With the severe weather all over Texas, and Eastern New Mexico we decided to push through and get to Santa Fe.  It was a wise choice as the weather here has been very nice.  Warm days and cool nights, that is the kind of summer weather I like.  We spent the first two days poking around the shops and churches of Santa Fe.  Santa Fe is a very cool town albeit a little on the touristy side.

Saturday we headed down to Madrid on the turquoise trail (Hwy 14) toward Albuquerque.  Madrid was a mining town, coal, copper, turquoise, some gold, and silver.  It became a ghost town when the coal played out.  Now it is artist colony, and there are a lot of interesting characters, cool shops, and a couple of restaurants.   We did a little shopping, ate lunch at the Hollar restaurant which is next door to Maggie’s Dinner (which is now a tee shirt shop) of the movie Wild Hogs fame.  The food was very good, and there was an old cowboy singing and playing guitar who was great.  He reminded us of our friend Jerry, who we met at Cedar Key, very similar voice.

On the way back we wanted to check out Cerrillos, a small historic village.  We came across Broken Saddle Riding Co.; decided to take an hour trail ride.  We were standing around talking to the owner Harrold and getting situated; I kept looking at the group of people who had just come back from a ride, and one man in particular.  Harrold noticed me looking and said do you know who that is, I said I think that is the guy from Longmier the A& E television show.   He said it was and do you want to meet him, so we did.  Pia and I got a picture with him.  He and a number of the cast had just gone on a ride together.  I asked why they were in New Mexico, and found out that although the show is set in Wyoming, it is filmed here in New Mexico, and Robert Taylor who plays Longmier, lives in Santa Fe.

Once we were mounted off we went, Pia and I, and a guide.  We were riding along, and the guide was telling us about the area, and pointing out things of interest.  As we started to get to know him, it came out that he grew up in New Mexico, but went to high school in Conroe, TX.  He graduated the year after me, and lived in River Plantation.  We did not know or at least remember each other, but we did know some of the same people, and he dated one of our neighbor’s daughters.  The farther we travel, and the more we see, the smaller the world seems to get.

Grand Mesa, Colorado

It is Friday morning about 4:40 am, Pia and I woke up about 3:00 to sit out and see the stars, that lasted about 30 seconds, and we came back in the bus.  Naturally I could not really get back to sleep, so here I sit.  We have been on the Grand Mesa since Sunday, we are dry camping, which means we have no hooks ups at all.  The bus holds 74 gallons of fresh water and we were about full when we arrived.  We use the generator for an hour and a half every day to keep the batteries hot.  This is the longest we have dry camped, and it is working out fine.  It is 4:48 now and the dawn is creeping in from the East.

The Grand Mesa is a hidden gem; I have never stayed anywhere more beautiful than this campground.  There are over 300 lakes up here on the Mesa, almost all of them are stocked with trout.  When we arrived on Sunday we first stopped at the visitor center.  I was speaking to the forest ranger and buying a map of the area.  I told him we were headed over to Jumbo campground.  He suggested that we take a look at Ward Lake, which is ½ a mile from the center, before we head to Jumbo, he personally liked the campground better.  After a miss turn or two, and having to unhook the jeep so we could get turned around after going down the wrong road we arrived at the entrance to the campground.  We parked the bus on a turnout in front of the campground and took the jeep to have a look.  There is an upper loop that is heavily wood with ponderosa pines, very dark, and there is a lower loop that is much more open with a beautiful view of the lake.  We found a spot up on a hill overlooking the lake, and it is spectacular.

We are at 10,173 ft above sea level.  Ward Lake is an 85 acre lake, 72 feet deep, and the most azure blue color you can imagine.  Monday we kayaked, and fished the lake, which was stocked with 2,900 rainbow trout that same day.  We have done well fishing here and have been eating fish almost every night.  This is the highest, to the best of my memory, I have ever camped.  Today in Grand Junction, CO which is about 60 miles away, the high temp is forecast to be 95.  Our high up here is forecast to be just under 70.  We have no cell service, and no internet, which is nice for a change.  I was worried about this altitude, especially for Pia, but she is handling it well, and neither of us has shown any signs of altitude sickness.

We have seen quite a few mule deer, a ton of golden mantel squirrels, chipmunks, and quite a few marmots.  We have a weasel that runs around the campground looking in every hole in the ground for something.  Yesterday he found what I think was a mole, and seemed very pleased with himself.  We are still waiting to see a beaver, bear, and moose.  We did see elk in Ouray, but none here, I am not sure if they are up on the Mesa or not.  We did try fishing a beaver pond yesterday that is back behind the campground, after a long walk through very marshy ground, we came up empty, but it was interesting to see how amazing those beavers dams and houses are.

There are porcupines here we took an evening walk the other night, while sitting on a log a little off the trail, I looked back behind me, and there was a huge porcupine strolling down the trail.  He did not seem to be bothered by us at all, and I had no intention of giving him a reason to.