East Bound and Down, Another Short Post

Lubbock I will say is somewhat of an enigma, the topography is grim, as the saying goes, "it is so flat you can watch your dog run away for a week".  But on the other hand, it has a small town feel, everything you can think of is available, lots of restaurants, shopping, etc, maybe because of the university, and has perhaps the best grocery store we've ever been to, H.E.B.  And of course, our daughter Kelly and SIL Brian live there.

They just bought a house, very nice, has a stellar back yard, in fact sitting out there you could be anywhere you want, green grass, big deciduous trees, quiet, shaded, awesome!

We had a whirlwind visit, Jan got her hair done, we both got our flu shots, ran numerous other errands but most of all we got to visit, smoke cigars with Brian, and be spoiled by Kelly's incredible dinners.

The dinners started with Thai Coconut Shrimp Curry.

Followed by incredible short ribs with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts.

All topped off with Brazilian Fish Stew or Moqueca!

Wowser, right?

But the time came when we had to say good bye and head east, a good time was had by all.

Quick Update From Lubbock, TX

We pulled into Taos and the next day Karen, Jan's sister arrived.  We had a whirlwind visit with HH's everyday.  Out for lunch several days, and the dinners, wow.  Jan cooked one, delicious pork and sauerkraut, then Karen hit it out of the park with Greek lamb meatballs with Green Goddess sauce, we even got to see Cynthia, then we capped it off by going out to dinner to a favorite restaurant, Medley which has the absolute best french fries in the world!

We had a great visit, tried very hard to save the world, and I'm afraid to say we didn't even scratch the surface.  Times are trying right now folks.

It dawned on me I neglected to insert a few pics, rectified now:-)

Beef street tacos

Fish street tacos

Medley's steak frite

Amazing lamb chops

The fantastic fries!

Karen and Cynthia

Then on to Lubbock to visit our daughter Kelly and S-I-L Brian and see their new house.

This will be the pivot point where we officially turn and head East, in years past we dreaded this moment, but honestly this year we are looking forward to returning.

I'll catch up later and let you know what's up.

A Pleasant Week in Durango at a New Campground

We have been staying at the same campground in Durango for years, in fact it goes back to the late 90's, hate to say that since it makes me feel even older:-)  More recently due to changes in management and several other items we had been more and more disappointed.  No I'm not going to name it, if it's important you can look back through previous posts and find it.  We had reservations there in fact when we learned of this new park south of the city called Durango Ranch RV Resort, so we cancelled those and made a reservation here.  The owners are 5th generation ranchers that go back to the late 1800's, and I guess they decided to carve out a small area and give it a go with a campground.  They did a lot of good things, large sites, all full hookup and 50 amp, easy to get around, community grill and gathering area, hot tub, laundry, etc.  Very accommodating, dark at night and quiet.  We highly recommend it.

So we got settled in, had cocktails and had a homemade fish dinner.

Jan's favorite hike is north of Durango, Spud Lake, she went solo the last 2 times and without me the last 3.  It had started to kick my butt, so I begged off.  We compromised this time and got up and left early as our new location added about 30 minutes to the ride.  I decided I would go at my own pace as far as I desired and hoped to make it at least to an overlook about 1/4 of the way in.  Jan went on her own.  It was a gorgeous cool day, crystal clear.

Jan leaving me in the dust

She was still at the overlook when I got there, took a selfie to prove it:-)

That's Purgatory Ski Resort in the background

So very soon Jan disappeared and I steadily walked along.  Took a few pics along the way.

All was well so I kept on going, meanwhile Jan had already arrived at the lake and took some pics of her own.

Then lo and behold I came on the scene before she left, feeling good and very happy with myself, amazing what losing 45 pounds will do for you.

And of course, another selfie to prove it.

What a nice day!

We tried a new restaurant for lunch and were very pleased, just a small place on the edge of a parking lot but delicious!  Akami.

Salmon poke

Pork belly buns

And a salmon, tuna, and crab poke

We have a favorite pizza place there, Fired Up, so we went for lunch the next day.

Yummy!

We followed that up with a nice ride.

The following day was windy, rainy, and very cool, we grabbed lunch at another favorite, James Ranch and then headed up the mountain to Molas Pass and Andrews Lake.  Even had some snow and sleet on the windshield.  Still pretty though.

Went by Haviland Lake on the way back, the last time we were there it was completely empty as they were repairing the dam.  All better now!

After we got back Jan made an awesome spicy shrimp noodle salad for dinner.

Then we lost a whole day, very windy, gusting over 30, cool, not out of the low 40's, so we hunkered down, watched a movie and chilled all day, made soup for dinner, actually very nice once in awhile.

That brought us to our last day and we had liked Akami so much we went back for another lunch, and it was just as good.

Pork ramen

Shrimp tempura udon noodle

Calamari appetizer

We took another ride around, ran a few errands and called it a day.

Off to Taos the next morning, beautiful ride to Taos Monte Bello Rv Park, one of our regulars, and very close and handy to visit Karen, Jan's sister.

We were driving as the annular eclipse was happening right over us, we did get a glimpse of it now and then, but we had neglected to get the special glasses, but we managed to get a pretty good idea of it.  We stopped at an overlook for coffee near the Brazos Summit, the highest paved road in NM, 10,481".

And then into our site in Taos.

Back to Our Regular Programming--Our "Secret" Boondocking Spot

We left Montrose fairly early for our 120 mile trek to our spot.  There is major road construction on Hwy 50 east of Montrose that was advertising 1-2 hour delays.  With such a short day, we told ourselves we didn't care and would just roll with the punches no matter what happened.  We had actually talked about routing around it but it would add well over 100 miles to the day.  There was another detour we could have taken but it would require driving along the north edge of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, in my opinion one of the absolute scariest canyons anywhere to include the Grand Canyon, it is shear and oh so deep and scares the crap out of me especially when you are driving that road, Rte 92 with no guard rails, narrow and right on the side of the canyon.  Anyway we decided to take whatever came.  We have been across Hwy 50 from Montrose to Gunnison many times, there is one section that goes through a small canyon and winds around a bit and that is where most of the construction was taking place, in addition there was some near the bridge that goes over Blue Mesa Reservoir.  So 30 miles later we entered the construction and man were we living right, just as we came up to the end of the line of traffic we started through!

It was slow, but we never completely stopped in the 5 miles of construction, it was narrow and rough in places, but we never stopped, it was dusty and muddy in places, but we never stopped, get the idea?  Then it was over and we came out eventually near Blue Mesa Reservoir which had quite a bit of water in it compared to years past.

Our drive would take us south on Rte 149 through Lake City, CO and up and over Slumgullion Pass at 11,530', and the distinction of being the steepest paved grade in the state of Colorado at 9.5%.  It is just a little scary but very doable and that's from scaredy-cat me:-)  We have done this route perhaps 20 times in all the years we've been traveling.  That snow that came in a few days before combined with the intensity of the aspens made this particular drive the most spectacular Jan and I can ever remember, it was truly amazing and although we tried hard to capture the beauty with photos, it can only give you an idea of how magnificent it truly was.

As we climbed the pass, what is this stuff?

And then over the top and the other side!

And then into our spot for the next 3 days, mostly chilling, enjoying the surroundings, long walks, no fishing unfortunately, and of course celebrating our anniversary, right where we wanted to be.

It was 22 degrees the first morning, 26 the next and 25 our last morning.  But it went up to 65 or so in the afternoon, and clear as a bell each day!

The falls were a nice 1 1/4 mile walk away
and if you look real hard you can see our coach

All by ourselves:-)

We did take a little ride around the area.

The headwaters of the Rio Grande

We celebrated our anniversary!

God gave us quite a backdrop

Then to cap it off just as it was getting dark, we had a quick visitor.

So we called it a day and a complete success and moved down the road to Durango to a new campground.