“On the Road Again” Year 2

Preparation

Early in February, Jude and I were reviewing our summer nomad options, thinking where we wished to travel in our second summer of nomad travels.  We agreed that our previous summer of two weeks here and two weeks there across 15 states was an absolute adventure, but left us without a feeling of community.

We would meet interesting people and a day later they would leave or we would travel on.  We choose this summer to travel less often, stay longer in places with hopes of obtaining a deeper sense of the area’s character, and experience the rich diverseness of the people who live there.  All that remained was to put that plan into action.  Within minutes we were checking out volunteer.gov and recreation.gov websites – the best places we knew to start a search.

We acknowledged that in order to accomplish our new focus, we would seek out volunteer positions within state parks, wildlife refuges, national parks, etc.  We began the process of selection, inquiry and elimination.

Our first thoughts were of the wildlife refuge we discovered late in our previous summer’s travels in Minnesota. Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge was an absolutely beautiful (pristine and water-wealthy) wilderness in central Minnesota.  We picked up the phone…

Great News!  They were accepting volunteer applications for just one couple. Wow, we rushed off our application focusing on our skills and the thousands of community and organizational volunteer hours that we have contributed to so many organizations while we were in Tucson.   We were exhilarated and confident.

Later that month came the news.  While the Volunteer Coordinator found us very attractive, she chose another couple that had experience working in a state park.  I was crushed when I learned that their experience of cleaning toilets, fire pits and campsites trumped our vast volunteer efforts to help humanity. In order to obtain the best most desirable volunteer positions, we needed experience at that level! We began a new search focused on obtaining a new level of volunteer experience.

Jude is masterful when it comes to discovering options.  Within weeks, our plans were set.  We accepted a camp host position in Maryland for April, May, and June. The park had a couple cancel and had an immediate opening. Greenbrier State Park was nestled in the rolling hills north of Washington, DC.  Its close proximity to our nation’s capital was just perfect for exploration and immersion!

Because of our commitment ends in June, we set out to discover any options in Maine. Neither of us have ever been to that area and it just seemed that since we were in such close proximity, it was just natural to seek similar opportunities within the Maine State Parks system.

Soon, we received a call from the State of Maine.  They were looking for a couple to mow, clean and maintain a new day area on Branch Lake.  It was a new boat ramp that supplied public access to this popular fishing lake.

Whoa, you want me to clean around a day area that is on a lake in Maine?  Where I can go fishing and Jude can go kayaking anytime we desire?  Then they wanted to give us a free place to stay on top of that.  Never mind that it is practically next door to Acadia National Park. The accepting  “YES” stumbled over our tongues we were trying to get it out so fast!

Our summer was set!  We were going to stay longer, explore more, and have a sense of the community around where we were going to stay.  These early nomad travels are for the most part historical with our immersion into all that encompasses Washington DC with the Smithsonian, monuments, and the Capitol building!  Then just for good measure, be in such close proximity to all the National Battlefields of the Civil War! Then finish the summer on a lake in Maine!  I felt so lucky that I immediately went out and bought a lotto ticket!

Dash for Humanity

Unbelievably, our first season full-time RVing is almost done. Our time in Minnesota has ended.  We check the map and set the course for our scheduled rendezvous to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity in Silver City, New Mexico. What has taken us three months of northerly movement, we plan to unravel within the next four days.

We pass through North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas in our return to New Mexico. Jude jumped in and drove the coach for the first time.  She did a great job controlling the coach in a strong headwind that plagued our journey south.

We rested in Albuquerque for three days before making the dash to Silver City for our build.  On the way, we misread a sign and took the wrong highway.

A Rookie mistake

It was a back-road highway that was full of hairpin curves, steep hills and blistering accents complimented with narrow bridges, overhanging trees and rocky barrow pits.  In other words, a highway where no RV should ever venture forth! You should have seen the look from passing motorists as they glazed in bewilderment at the sight of our coach navigating this narrow winding pathway!

If we wondered about the engine power of our coach, this wrong turn expelled any doubt.  The Banks Power System we had installed at the start of our nomadic travels proved its hype.  Not only did the engine have the power to climb those long steep inclines but the stamina to slow our descents.  I was ecstatic at how easily this engine upgrade handled that highway challenge.  I was grateful for the insight to have the Banks Power System installed at the beginnings of our travels!

Nonetheless, we eventually arrived in Silver City ready for a completely different personal challenge.  We were joining other more experienced Habitat for Humanity Care-A-Vanners for the next two weeks to build a three-bedroom high efficiency home for a qualified Silver City family.

The lead team had built 25 Habitat homes, and we join three other couples plus a single RVer from Alaska to build this home.  I have operated many power tools but that experience was never focused on the total construction of a home.  Jude and I just hope to find supporting roles for these experienced builders.

Over the next two weeks, we find our experience very satisfying.  Even with our limited experience, we find ways to contribute.  For the first week, I focused on chores that others did not quickly volunteer for.  I loved to use the compressed air nail driver but as the demand for it increased, I relished that chore for more hand-it-up, to hold it and a few toss-ups and lifts in between.

Because of all our efforts, we put the construction nearly a month ahead of schedule. After two weeks, the home’s outside walls and roof were in place. It is amazing to see all the pieces and processes that literally must be in place before you can proceed with the next part of the construction.

The agency supervising the construction was ecstatic with the process as it is their very first time they have used Habitat for Humanity for a low-income housing build. And while that is special that they see that level of teamwork and tell us, but the really special part for Jude and I was getting to know the family who would move into this home and to watch the children lay claim to their bedrooms.

We leave Silver City and along with us is a new appreciation of the commitment of these teams of Habitat for Humanity Care-A-Vanners.  They come from all parts of our country, with all levels of backgrounds and construction expertise and focus on a project that means so much to people that would never have the financial resources to purchase a home. It is helps you see the bigger picture.  It is so humbling.

Tomorrow we return to Arizona.  We have come full circle in our first summer of nomad travels. We have seen such wonders.  We have learned so much about the nuances of travel.  We will now return to old friends, settle down for a winter, and start planning our next adventure.

 

North Woods Minnesota

We enter Minnesota with enthusiasm of a returning hero!  We have spent part of our travels already around the Detroit Lakes area just a mere 50 miles from Fargo ND.  Eventually, we will travel back to Detroit Lake as it is our staging station for our appointment with Habitat for Humanity in Silver City, New Mexico!

The last Wisconsin town is Superior and its sister town Duluth which lays in Minnesota. Both are major port cities on the shores of Lake Superior. Both are very busy receiving domestic and international shipments.  Their skylines feature giant tall cranes, wide silos, docks and warehouses lining this Lake Superior bay.  After spending the past few weeks in the high canopy woods of Wisconsin, these industrial sights are an assault to our eyes but at the same moment interesting! It is amazing that all this industrialization flourishes on the edge of pristine wilderness all made possible by Lake Superior and its sister lakes connected to the Atlantic!

We turn North on to Highway 53.  I am sure that it acquired its numerical designation due that it has 53 stoplights before one can clear the Duluth metropolitan area. Finally, suburbs gave way to forest.  We are headed to the Northern Woods!

We skirt by International Falls! The city is called “The Ice Box of America.”  It is named because it is the city that regularly records the lowest temperature in America. I remember it only because when International Falls wasn’t the city with the lowest temperature, it was my long-time home Jackson, Wyoming!

The city has another claim on fame.  In the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon show, the pair’s home was Frostbite Falls, a direct reference to International Falls!  I silently symphonize with all the frozen citizens living in and around International Falls. I am grateful to have escaped freezer burn!

As we continue North, it is somewhat amazing to see how much fishing means to the local economies.  We pass hundreds of vehicle-towed boats scurrying to their destination boat ramp on one of the thousands of lakes located in the north woods! It is satisfying knowing that people with the same passion I carry for fishing supporting vast areas!

Nearly every town on the route has several tackle stores, all supplying everything an angler could need. Several towns announce their town boundaries with giant fish statues.  Orr was the home of the Giant Bluegill & Baudette was the Walleye Capital of the World. There are hundreds of hotels, inns and resorts catering to anglers, all proclaiming they are the best at helping anglers catch Northern Pike, Walleye, and Pan fish.  Make no mistake: Walleye is King in Northern Minnesota!

People believe fishing is a summer event, but it is easy to see that fishing and its related industries drive these economies year around.  There are lines of ice shanties & huts stored on lakeshores waiting for the hard water season.  I have known that fishing generates a lot more revenue than golf in the United States.  To see that expression in a local economy is impressive!

Near Ely and Tower MN is Bear Head Lake State Park!  This park was voted America’s favorite park in 2010.  I can see how it acquired its fame. It is a beautiful northern lake with dark clear water that is completely ringed with Spruce, Birch & Balsam trees. The forest is alive with sounds from Woodpeckers, Pine Squirrels and Chipmunks which is welcome after the sounds of silence that dominated the Wisconsin canopy forests!

The whole area around the State Park is heavily wooded that is sporadically sprinkled with bogs. The bogs are called the Pickle Jar environment.  In a normal forest, trees, branches, and leaves fall to the ground and decay, thus returning their nutrients back to the soil and available for the living plants and trees. It is a cycle that is self-perpetuating.

A bog‘s environment is 180 degrees opposite. Its high-water table is acidic which inhibits decay.  Dead matter then continues to accumulate and ultimately forms peat moss. Peat moss is the jar’s lid and this layer of peat moss effectively seals the wetlands and eliminates decay by denying sunlight and oxygen to dead plant matter.

With no decay, nutrients are not readily available, so the trees and shrubs that grow there appear stunted and arrested.  Even in death, the Spruce trees look like skinny small stalagmites silhouetted against the sky! This gives the bogs an eerie look where death is captured in permanent frame straight out of a B-rated horror film.

Because to this lack of available nutrients, the bogs are a place where small plants have become carnivorous, evolving ingenious ways of capturing insects to help supply their nutritional needs!  The Pitcher Plant, the tiny Sundews and the Bladderwort all have develop strategies of catching insects to supply their nutrients.  It was very interesting reading about their methods of attracting hapless insects to feed themselves because of living in a harsh environment. Kind of makes you wonder about life on other planets and how they could evolve and survive in severe climates.

Ely is the jumping off point for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area that encompasses 1.1 million square acres, 5,000 lakes, and is the largest wilderness area west of the Mississippi River!  This area is so vast and connected by water ways and short portages that adventurists can explore this totally pristine area through Northern Minnesota all the way into Canada.  The most efficient mode of travel through the thousands of lakes is done by the canoe or kayak. Also, to keep the area pristine and limit the footprint of humanity on the area, only a small number of travel permits are issued every year. Understand that it would require a lifetime to explore every possible waterway. WOW! I wonder how many fishing lures would be needed on such a commitment!

Ely is also the headquarters for both the International Wolf Center and the North American Bear Centers.  Both are state of the art study centers for biologist, scientists and state management officials who are committed to determining how to establish best practices and policies for both these full-time residents of the Minnesota north woods.

Their interpretive centers, informational films and audio presentations were great and help us understand more about these often-maligned animals.  We discovered that study methods for the two species have evolved into learning how much both animals contribute to the natural order of the entire ecosystem rather than just shooting them with tranquilizers, weighing and measuring them.

Both centers had small tracts of land that housed resident animals in a natural wooded world that imitated their natural environment.  I liked both observational sites as it provided excellent opportunities to acquire photos of animals that would be difficult to obtain in the wild. I got some great photos of wolves and bears doing wolf and bear things.  I observed a huge male Black bear in the lake with his nose underwater blowing bubbles. That was priceless!

Both Ely & Tower featured a small grocery chain called Zup’s.  They were tiny compared to our usual Wal-Mart grocery haunts, but on further inspection, we discovered that they were renowned for their hand-crafted sausages and brats.

We studied all the numerous choices and decided on Spicy Porchetta and a smoked sausage.  After charcoal grilling the Porchetta, we discovered that their reputation was spot on!  Wow, they were delicious!  We beat a hasty return to Zup’s to restock! Yummy, Yummy!

After a short time in Bear Head Lake State Park, we packed and moved even more North to Zippel Bay State Park on the shores of Lake of the Woods.  We glided past fields of sunflowers, alfalfa and wild grass. The endless corn fields of our southern travels have bowed and surrendered to the shorter northern growing season.

Our route swings us parallel to the Rainey River.  It is a wide river and looking across its width you can see Canada. We were excited to gaze into another country just by looking across the river. Our excitement ended when our phones suddenly believed that we were now traveling in Canada.  Our Verizon service ceased and our smart phones went silent.  Stumped at what had happened, we frantically searched for a health care attendant for our phones.

We found a Radio Shack and they informed us that many phones suffer that same malady and they are busy everyday helping people re-establish service.  We took our place in line.

At Zippel Bay, I had hoped to venture out on Lake of the Woods to fish for the lake’s tremendous Walleye population.  Unfortunately, a strong late summer storm sent even the most seasoned boaters to shore.  I spend some time there talking to anglers coming off this massive Canadian Shield Lake. It was enjoyable talking to them because no matter how much each angler is a stranger to each other, fishing is a universal language and once spoken, every person becomes a friend.

The conversations are good-natured and generally filled with laughter and jokes.  Quite often information is shared that helps a person like me who is totally inexperienced in the nuances of catching this elusive game fish.  I have always been generous with my expertise and I appreciate when another angler returns theirs.

We have reached the northern most point in our travels. Amazing! We look backwards now and formulate our plans to eventually return to our starting point in Arizona.  Our first stop on the return is Detroit Lakes.  This resort destination is a natural for us with its proximity to 400 lakes appealing to Jude’s love of kayaking and mine of fishing.  We love the area as it is somewhat civilized but bordered by pristine backwoods, lakes and trails.

As we travel south, we are re-introduced to the endless corn fields.  However, they are changed.  When first seen, they were a pleasing visual experience with their stocks waving in the southern breezes and the light reflecting off their leaves.  Now the fields are brown with maturity and stand rigid awaiting their inevitable harvest. I feel somehow attached from watching their growth throughout our nomadic travels. Now their maturity reminds me that our summer wanderings will follow the increasing number of Canada Geese V’s headed south.

Detroit Lakes greets us with north winds and cooler temperatures than our first visit.  We graduate from shorts to jeans and vests.  I ask our campground host when the area gets its first snow.  “Anytime, now,” was the short reply.  We check on the Weather App on our phones.

Fishing has a seasonal approach.  Each season has its unique set of parameters. Following those general guidelines creates a greater chance to catch them! With the shorter days and cooler mornings, the fish suddenly realize that the numbing cold winter days are coming. Imagine getting into the shower and just when you are washing off, the hot water goes missing!  That sudden rush of air into your lungs is like the fish’s urgency to prepare for their long winter hibernation. They need to increase their calorie intake to store fat that will sustain them until spring.

That urgency creates fabulous fishing and I am ready to take advantage of that urgency.  I have selected one lake out of the hundreds available here in western Minnesota.  When you see Bald Eagles, Ospreys and King Fishers making their home there, I instinctively know that this body of water is a fertile fishery.

What remains is a search among through and along all the lake’s structure to find those fish that are willing to strike. I believe it is not the catching fish that drives me but the search for them that is the main stimuli. With a few hours, I locate fish and over the next two weeks, I refine my approach and enjoy the best fishing of my nomad travels this summer.  Fall fishing is the best!

The Dacotahs

Dacotah is a Native American word for “friend.”

After achieving our legal requirements for South Dakota residency, voter registration, re-establishing Medicare coverage and plethora of sight-seeing tours around the Black Hills, we headed out into the vastness of the rolling prairies that lay from Rapid City in western South Dakota to the eastern city of Sioux City.

The Coach now travels along easier without the long grinding steep inclines so common in Colorado, Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota.  We make good time as we follow Inter-State 90 towards the Lake Cochrane Recreational area run by the South Dakota Parks Department.  This allowed us to make several stops along the way for points of interest.

We stopped in Wall Drug. I have seen their bumper stickers on cars as long as I can remember! Well, it is the biggest commercial entity I have seen outside of Yellowstone. There were stall and more stalls, selling everything from sports pennants, rubber tomahawks, and high priced Western prints to a hundred different formulations of fudge flavors.  We partook of the fudge settling on a combination of peanut butter and dark chocolate! YUM!

The next stop along the I-90 Corridor was the Corn Palace.  It is called the Madison Square Garden of the Mid-West.  It is an arena that features concerts, theatre plays, comedians, magic acts and most importantly, basketball games for the local high schools.  Its Taj Mahal type towers, all its outer and inner mural panels are totally constructed of different colored corn cobs cut and shaped into scenes.  These scenes change in variety and complexity twice a year.  I marveled at the mural’s depth and scope. This is different and neat, but I wondered how one becomes a corn cob mural artist.

Closer to Sioux City, the high plains prairies with their open range pastures turned without protest into fields of endless corn and soy bean fields. Each field is the same as the last in a seemingly endless progression of bright green leaves waving in the southern breezes. They remind me of a sea with rolling waves that shimmer and shine with the changing light.  It is a pleasant visual experience.

Here along the inter-state medians and shoulder areas are mowed.  I quickly realized that the adjacent landowners are mowing them and collecting the cuttings into four-foot high round bales. What seems to be present is cooperation between the state and the landowners.  When I asked about the practice at a local station they told me it is necessary to help protect the highway travelers from deer crossings, that without those cuttings, deer would just suddenly appear, and you can guess the rest.  It must work as there are absolutely no dead dear carcasses along any of the highways and it gives highway systems a total look of being manicured, almost estate-like!

We find Lake Cochrane Recreational Area to be the most rural place we have stayed so far!  Jude reports to me that there will be no Interstate noise here.  I laugh as we have had our brushes with Colorado RV Parks that are close to the constant rumble of interstate travelers.

The Recreational area features two lakes. Cochrane is a large body of water with its twin lake called Oliver right next door.  This presence of two bodies of water makes it very convenient for me to fish and the warm temperatures and humidity made it possible to fish at night.

I forgot how pleasant it is to fish at that time.  The rural nature allowed a really nice view of the Milky Way and all the stars present on a New Moon.  The shore line has limited access places and was almost entirely wooded with mature Oaks and Cottonwoods.  Among the trees and bushes is an old friend that I have not seen since my Army enlistment days at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri…Fire Flies!

There is a sentiment of peace with the gentle winds, the star-lit skies punctuated with the occasional shooting star, the sounds of the nocturnal animals and then the on and off bursts of light from the fire flies.  Nice, really nice, and oh, did I mention the fishing? Blazing!!!

The bass were eager to cooperate and throughout the evening, I caught nearly thirty bass. This was just the icing on the cake of a wonderful summer evening. Within my stay around the Cochrane and Lake Oliver area, I had a very successful fishing adventure with numerous catches of Large Mouth Bass, Walleye and Northern Pike.  One Walleye measured over 20” and one Northern measured in at 33 inches.  Wow!! I am grateful for my nomad travels. What fisherman could not like this!

One thing I have always said about quality involved fisherman is that they are the first witness to water and environmental issues.  They notice things going on negatively and are involved with trying to create better fishing and that includes the environment where fish live. I was going to be a witness. It was during an afternoon fishing on Lake Oliver, I noticed an animal in the shoreline bushes.

It looked like a beaver and I wondered how a beaver lived here as I never noticed the presence of a domed stick beaver house anywhere in the two lakes.  I sit motionless in my float tube and studied the large brown animal.  I guessed it to be nearly 10-15 pounds and watched it stripping the bark and leaves from a bush.  I waited until it turned to see if I could see the flat tail and positively identify it as a beaver. It eventually turns.  No flat tail!  This animal has the tail of a rat!

So here was an animal that looked like a beaver but was not. It was way too large to be a Muskrat.  That could only mean one thing.  I believed I was watching a Nutria. They are an invasive species from South America.  They are a large rodent and do considerable damage to waterway shorelines and dams by digging their denning burrows.  Where they are common in such states as Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, and other southern states, their Game & Fish Departments have full time employees who do nothing else but attempt to eradicate the Nutria.

Their ability for frequent litters and few animals that can help control them; they are a serious problem where they are found.  But this is South Dakota, a very harsh climate in the winter with snow and ice.  How could this animal be so far north?

I quickly go to the internet to make sure…Wow!! There is no doubt.  The Nutria in the images section are a dead ringer for what I saw on the shoreline.

I seek out the Park staff and report my sighting.  They quickly report the incident to the South Dakota Department of Fish & Game.  The very next morning, a game warden comes and interviews me concerning my discovery along the shoreline of Oliver Lake. I report to him the where and when, size and everything else I can remember!

He says that they are taking the report very seriously and are mobilizing a team within the Department to arrive and find the reported critter as they are fully aware of the destructive nature of the Nutria on aquatic environments.  I am happy that I was able to report such a threat to the authorities, but I would have no closure on this as we were leaving the recreation area and traveling north and east to the Detroit Lake Area in Minnesota the next day.

Corn Palace Image courtesy of Sean Jackson via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Land of 10,000 Lakes

Again, the traveling is easier as we move north into North Dakota and then east into Minnesota toward the Detroit Lake.  This area is near Fargo and touts 400 lakes in the surrounding area.  Are you kidding me? This is a fisherman’s dream!  I can’t wait to explore.

A quick trip to the local tackle store for information effectively narrows the number of lakes that fit my requirements.  The number one lake was named Little Cormorant Lake.  It is even close to our parking space at Forest Hills Golf & RV Resort, a Coast to Coast resort. My first visit was an early morning excursion.  As I quietly paddle up a shoreline, I hear the call of Loons.

These calls are the epitome of wilderness.  Their haunting Tremolo and Yodel calls take me back to my fishing days with my dear friend Paul Bruun.  These birds, although rarer in our Wyoming home than here where it is the Minnesota state bird, were our accepted good fishing charm.  We always said that where the loons are, that is where the fish are and that is where we should fish. These calls this morning take me to a pleasant place with a forever friend.  I am grateful!

Staying in our Coast to Coast RV site is a perk for our purchased membership in the Colorado River Resorts.  That membership allows us to stay in Coast to Coast resorts for free. Well not technically as we had to put out the original purchase price for the membership.  There are restrictions and Jude is getting to be a master at their navigation.  Jude’s skills greatly help reduce our nomad traveling cost.

That leaves more funds to go on adventures and see the surrounding countryside.   Our first adventure is Itasca Park.  The lake that the park surrounds is the headwaters for the Mississippi River. It is cool that a mere wading stream becomes the major American river.  It drains over 51 percent of the country and it travels nearly 2600 miles before it drains into the Gulf of Mexico; it takes a drop of water 90 days to travel that distance.

I am reminded that I have stood at the headwaters of Green River, the Snake and the Yellowstone River all within my home state of Wyoming.  Wyoming is like an island in the United States and all rivers originated there and flow out.  No rivers flow into the state.

The Yellowstone is the major tributary of the Missouri and it is the major tributary to the Mississippi.  The Snake River is the major tributary to the Columbia and the Green River is the main tributary to the Colorado River.  Thus, Wyoming is a major contributor to four important river systems.  The only system originating in Wyoming that I have not been to is the Platte.  It is the major tributary to the Rio Grande.

I am blessed with such an acquired list.  I can honestly say that every headwater originates in very beautiful places. Itasca is no different just a little more accessible than the Wyoming River starts.

It is a very different experience driving here in Minnesota.  It is hard to imagine all this water especially after years in sunbaked Arizona where the mere trickle of water is a novelty.  Here it is the common almost at every bend in the road.

I realized that I am haunted by water.  I cannot pass the myriad of lakes and ponds without wondering what angling opportunities exist there, what monsters live there and how I would catch them.  With all these bodies of water, my mind is very busy. Whew!

Other ventures into the Minnesota countryside included a beautiful state park, called Maplewood.  It was adorned with beautiful tree lined driving paths, groomed picnic areas and vistas of seven lakes within its borders.  It has a history of being one of Minnesota’s first ski areas with multiple rope tows.

We see Minnesota with all of its summer greenness and it is not apparent that these beautiful lakes and surrounding country are very snow bound and frozen most of the winter!  I learned that living in Wyoming if you did not find something to do outside in the winter, you would not endure. I am sure it is the same here.

We pack tonight, July 27th, and tomorrow make the longest drive we have had this summer season, pushing towards Lake Michigan.  In Milwaukie, we will send our 13-year old traveling companion, Mia, home to California.  We have enjoyed having her share our adventures and have already started making plans for our time with her next summer.

Wisconsin hints at a total adventure with travels up towards Sturgeon Bay and through the northern limits of both Wisconsin and Minnesota.  This area is called the boundary waters. I think I hear the Loon calling!

Colorado Fire & Smoke

Jude and I headed west towards the Colorado Front range.  It was great to see the trees again after spending more than a week on the Colorado Plains.  My mind skipped to the French Trappers who after leaving the East Coast of the Americas and encountering the vastness, utter openness of the Great Plains were very happy when they beheld the Rockies and their trees.  That is why most states north of New Mexico have towns named Du Bois or more specifically “the Trees.”

We had reservations at a Coast to Coast Resort just a little north of Colorado Springs.  When we were close, I noticed the elevation at 7000 feet.  That meant we climbed steadily off the plains with an elevation of 3700 feet.

I noticed the RV’s engine as it was working a little harder climbing up the hills to Monument Colorado.  Our camping site was on the side of a treed knoll but it was not far from the constant rumbling of I-25.  I could hear other engines working hard to reach the crests and peaks of the I-25 corridor.

Colorado Springs is green.  It is a welcome treat for the eye from the endless brown of eastern Arizona, New Mexico and southern Colorado.  Jude and I could not help to just jump in the HHR Toad and take a short drive through lush green pastures settled among rolling foothills at the sunset on Highway 105.  It was a pleasant drive counting the various shades of green as they progressed up the sharp inclines of the Rocky Mountains!

The next day was cool and windy.  Again, I have never seen such a constant weather factor.  Since we entered Colorado, the wind was beyond breezy, bordering on gale force some days.  I remembered the carriage of tents in Lake Hasty campground when the winds struck with a vengeance one night.

Undeterred, we made plans to visit the Air Force Academy.  We could see the gleaming structures nestled up again the mountains but as we entered the entrance gate, the sparkle of the buildings was augmented by our closeness.  Our eyes could not escape the draw of the spired Chapel.

We arrived at the Visitor’s center where we explored all the niches and corners with all their information panels and displays.  At the movie outlining the progression of cadets, I thought they kind of played down the six-week break down period.  I remember my long ago entry into Officer’s Candidate School. I’m still not sure how the U.S. Military still gets away with that elevation of hazing while it is taboo in joining most any other organization.

After the visitor’s center, it was a short walk to the Cadets Chapel. Jude and I were not prepared for the total majesty with this part of the Air Force Academy.  As with others who were in the chapel, our eyes were drawn upward to the lighting effects present at the top of the chapel. Once there, then our eyes followed the side panels downward to the chapel floor.  All around was this royal blue hue that gave the chapel an elegance that I have never experienced from any other chapel, church or any other place of worship I have visited.  It was definitely the highlight of our visit to the Air Force Academy campus.

Within the next week, we mustered several driving adventures. One was to the top of Pike’s Peak.  It is the highest point of earth I have attained, a whopping 14,000+ elevation.  We did not experience any shortness of breath, so we wondered around looking in the distance in every direction.  It was hard to judge just how far in actual miles you could see as the distance was so far away it was just a vague outline of purple especially to the north, west and south. I could see now what inspired Katharine Lee Bates to pen the Classic American song, “America the Beautiful” after visiting Pike’s Peak and especially the part about “purple mountain majesties.”

On another drive, we traveled up Highway 24 and explored three other Colorado State Parks.  Jude and I have started to develop an affinity for State Parks.  They have great services, are in beautiful locations, have friendly staff and great supporting communities. Today we were visiting Eleven Mile Reservoir, Spiny Mountain and Mueller to check out possibilities of a future stay.

We liked Eleven Mile Reservoir as it was on a high plateau, offered trophy fishing for trout, and its remoteness.  Camping there would be like a grand safari as the nearest grocery store was close to 20 miles away and was more like a garage, beer, liquor and convenience store and would certainly not have the items a regular grocery store would carry. But what an adventure with plenty to see, fish and explore.  We would just have to herd our Mirada up the steep grades of a Rocky Mountain pass, not impossible, just slow.

We also stopped at the last gold rush in the lower United States.  It was at Cripple Creek and its wealth attracted thousands of men who developed the phrase, “Pike’s Peak or Bust.”  It was a story of every gold discovery, men who made fortunes, men who lost fortunes and those individuals who did not do either but came anyway!

There was also the Florescent National Fossil Bed Monument.  We got there late in the day and only had just a few minutes to view the exhibits of fossilized insects, red wood tree stumps and plant leaves, along with dinosaur’s bones.  This is one of the most prolific fossil beds ever found in America and the local citizens pushed to have it preserved from commercialization. Perhaps another time, we could wonder the trails to see more of the monument.

On our way home, we started to notice our next experience in Colorado.  There was a huge smoke plume on the horizon.  As we dropped down to Colorado Springs, this smoke plume was gigantic, and it actually was very close to our camping site in Monument.

The Black Forest fire is located mere miles from our location.  Its power was fueled by the dry bug tree infected pine forest fanned by 20 to 40 mile winds that was devouring residence after residence in this Colorado Springs wooded suburb.

You could actually see the puffs of black smoke on the horizon.  These were a dead give-away of some person’s home exploding.  This fire was a monster and headed our way.  We were glued to the TV and learned of the hurried evacuations by thousands of people (38K), the fear on the unpredictability of the fire, the contributions of high wind and low humidity and the army of firefighters ascending on it.  We went to a fitful sleep as helicopters and tankers continued their drops at night over the campground.  We were hoping not to hear that the campground was ordered to evacuate in the middle of the night!

The next morning we learned that the RV camp site was just on the outside edge of pre-evacuation.  Jude and I weighed our options.  We were scheduled not to leave it for three days, but the concern of possible evacuation and the increasing air quality made our decision for us!

We left Colorado Springs and headed north!  We had reservations at a State Park called St. Vrain but not for three more days. But because we were displaced by the fire, they opened up a camp host site until our reservations matured!

We continued to follow the Black Forest Fire near Colorado Springs.  It burned 14,000 acres and destroyed nearly 500 homes before fire fighters could defend a fire line.  It was a heartbreak thinking of those home owners who lost everything.  Jude and I are grateful that all we had to do was pack up a few belongings and move our home out of harm’s way!

St. Vrain State Park is a series of ponds.  They hold the usual suspects of Canada Geese, White Pelicans, Cormorants, Red Wing Blackbirds, Killdeers and assorted ducks but they also had several nesting Ospreys.   We see them hunting the ponds for Trout, Bass, Crappie, and Carp!  They dive feet first and make a huge explosion on top of the water trying to grab their intended prey.   I have always wanted to capture the moment on camera as they dive in the water from high but talk about timing. One might wait years to get on such moment let alone have one in focus.

I decided to concentrate my photographs to the open area species such as Western and Eastern Kingbirds, the Western Meadow Lark and especially the Horned Lark. Since they were accustomed to campers, they were very willing to pose.  I have included a few photos of their posing.

One of the reasons we made reservations is so that we can pick up Jude’s Granddaughter Mia.  She is flying into Denver and the park is just a few miles north of the airport.  Having a 13-year old for five weeks in our RV should be an experience for all!

After we picked her up, we drove the toad to Rocky Mountain National Park for a day’s visit. Similar to Pike’s Peak, there was a highway to a really high pass with a grand view!  It was spectacular driving through the canyons up past the tree line. It reminded me of the many times I wandered above the trees in my Wyoming home.  Maybe that’s why Forget-Me-Nots grow there.

Then the next day, we packed and organized the RV and headed to South Dakota to do our residency programs with some tentative plans to spend the 4th of July at Mt. Rushmore.

Rocky Mountain High

We traveled north out of Albuquerque on I-25.  Its steep grades and climbs held our traveling time down.  Our next destination was Trinidad State Park just inside the Colorado Line!

Our camp site was made for a tent camper, so it set up some challenges to fit in our 31 foot coach.

Those years of truck driving experience as a Beer Distributor paid dividends as with just some back and forth adjustments we were able to find the best angle that we could find the best coach position to get it to level.  Our replaced leveling motor preformed handsomely, and it was just a short time that we were settled in and ready to explore, and fish!

Trinidad Lake is held captive by the drought that seems to have no state boundaries.  The ranger reported it was down about half way, but I noticed its waters were clear most likely direct from the towering Rockies off in the Westerly direction that still held their wintery snow caps!  Maybe some of that snow pack will find its way to this shinning blue Gem of a lake!

Just as we began to make plans, Jude became victim to an intestinal bug. I stood by offering condolences and sympathy while symptoms peaked and waned.  Jude is the healthiest person I have ever known and when she goes down, it is rare but that being said, it is that health and the resilience it provides that soon had her feeling fine and ready to explore our new surroundings.

highway of legends

We took a drive on what was called the Highway of Legends.  It traveled west of Trinidad for a while passing through old turn-of-the-20th-century  coal producing towns that provided fuel for the railroads that were the arteries for the newly blossoming Industrial Revolution sweeping America and the world!

Suddenly we were in the Front Range climbing higher and higher past geological formation such as the Dakota Wall that rose vertically for over two hundred feet.  We did not know that this formation was a totally unique feature of the Rocky Mountain and was present throughout its traverse as the spine of America!

We traveled over a 10,000-foot pass.  I remembered that is was well over a decade ago that my travels in Wyoming and its neighbor states took me that high. Jude and I both noticed the pressure difference but our slow ascent in altitude over the past month spared us any altitude adjustment problems such as headache or fatigue.

The highway wandered through summer homes built by their owners to effectively escape whatever urban confines their winter residences held.  They ranged from the anointed to simple in style but my mind could not stop thinking of the drought and seeing these dream homes completely surrounded by bug infested forests.

The Legends Highway found its way back to I-25 but not until it wondered through golf courses, bedroom communities, and resorts dotting the eastern front range.  It was a pleasurable journey of a hundred miles where we were blessed with a plethora of Juniper and Pine foothills, dotted with small Alpine lakes fed by snow melt and framed by crystal blue skies against snow-capped towering mountains!

One look at Trinidad Lake led me to believe that the Rainbow Trout that lived there would seldom see hand-flies from anglers. They would be fed a never-ending menu of green, yellow, garlic Power baits by its visiting anglers.  I pulled my fly tying box and in a short time produced a dozen Double Renegades flies.

Rattle Snake Kindgom

I tie one fly on my fly rod and headed in the direction to the lake near the campground. I ended up scrambling down a steep bluff to the water’s edge.  All the time going down bouncing from rock outcropping to another, I was thinking that I may very well be in Rattle Snake kingdom, but the water called!

A dozen casts produced a scrappy Rainbow!  In Quick succession, four more Trout followed.  We feasted on fresh trout that evening.

The next morning when we were on a Trinidad State Park sponsored bird walking tour, we came across a coiled Western Diamondback Rattle Snake sunning itself in the morning sun!!  The very area I bounced down the previous evening was indeed snake kingdom and that forays off steep rocky inclines was not really the smartest thing to do!  I revised quickly how to present a fly to those willing Rainbows.

Our sea eagle fold-cat (“the meal ticket”)

One of the toys we have is a Sea Eagle Inflatable Pontoon style Fold Cat boat with a  Minkota 30 pound thrust motor.  It is equipped with two seats and is quite comfortable and very stable.  It was a perfect platform for Jude’s continuing fishing lessons.

As an adult, Jude has never caught a fish.  As her mentor, I hoped to use that comfortable boat and fly rod to catch her first fish.  It is always special when a beginning angler can say that their first fish caught was on a fly.

We set out early the next morning.  Within a few hundred yards, Jude’s first fish was a reality.  We released it and I was proud of her.  I went on to catch more trout and some Walleye that I was targeting.  I had always heard that they were excellent table fare. We found that they were as we had them grilled on coals that evening.  There is nothing like fresh fish.

The next morning, we were moving on deeper into Colorado but since Memorial Day weekend was upon us and that traditional mile marker of summer meant everyone with a trailer, tent or coach was out seeking what we were seeking. Adventure!

We found eight days at another Colorado State Park named John Martin and thanked our lucky stars as it only had one reservation left when we called.  We packed the coach and set off again.  There is something thrilling about being able to do that.

We found our spot at the Lake Hasty (just below John Martin Dam) to be outside the rows of shady spots nestled with rows of Cottonwood trees at the Lake Hasty Campground.  With temperatures pushing 10 degrees above normal at 87, we knew that without some quick action, our coach’s air conditioning would run 24 hours a day.

We contacted the staff with hope of moving to a more benign spot.  We just happened to inquire at the same time a Ranger was at the front desk.  He knew exactly what to do.  He okayed us to stay in the Camp Host spot that was adjacent to the Lake and blessed with shade most of the day!  Jude and I realized that through constant checking with reservation staff, we could benefit when often online reservations present a different situation.

After visiting a local tackle store, we went armed to the lake with that local insight to catch two species that I had little experience with in my history of fishing. One was called a Wiper (a hybrid between a Striped Bass and a White Bass) and a Crappie.

Jude had become fond of my ultra-lite spinning rod I had that featured 4-pound test line. When I was a professional fisherman, I used that rod to win over $1500.  It just catches big fish being that it presents lures in such a finesse way.  Well, two days in a row, she caught the largest fish. One was over five pounds.  Not bad for four-pound test line.  She is on her way as an angler!

The one thing I can say about this part of Colorado which is in the southeast corner is that the wind does blow and blow hard.  Two evenings in our stay at the Campground had winds that I estimated to be over 50 mph and wiped out at least a dozen tents.  I am not sure any tent could make it those gale winds.

Being from Wyoming, I have some experience with wind, but I am used to wind that comes and goes. The wind here is constant.  I can tell you that wind of that duration and intensity is hard to sleep through in our coach.  A couple times I told Jude that we needed wind tie-downs that mobile home owners use.  I laughed but those gusts shook our coach pretty good.  It also limited our boating/fishing to just a few hours in the morning because the wind would come up and literally blow us off the water.

miller migration

In Arizona, I was always surprised at insect migrations that would suddenly occur.  Tarantula, Sphinx Moths, Praying Mantis, Lubber Head Grasshoppers were some of the insects I noticed in Arizona. After spending one night in the campground, I moved one of our camp chairs and between 30 and 40 little Millers flew out!  Over the next few days, we noticed more and more Millers/Moths in the RV.

I quickly realized that they could not have traveled into the coach in the number that was present primarily through the door.  They were in fact coming up from underneath the coach. They would seek refuge from the wind and daylight by roosting in the sanctuary that the Mirada provided.  When it became dark, they would climb up through the smallest spaces or cracks and enter the coach and then flutter about trying to escape the coach’s cabin.  We were constantly trying to keep them under control inside the camper.  There is something annoying when you are watching TV and a Moth is crawling or fluttering on the screen.

We then started to notice the birds.  Every day we would see birds line up on the campground’s bathroom, showers and laundry sidewalk.  What they were waiting for was the staff to sweep the interior rooms and then sweep the pile of moths outside.  It was like free food for the Western Kingbird, Robins and the Grackles. It was quite a scene watching the birds wait for the staff to open the door.

We spoke to the staff and they said that this was a mild year for the Millers!  Last year they were refunding people’s camping fees because of the thousands of the moths entering travel trailers, and when the owners would open a cabinet, hundreds of them would flutter out!

Jude and I are constantly reminded to the blessings that this life has.  The scenery, the fishing, the freedom and now we are blessed with only have five or ten moths a night and it was fun watching the birds line up for a buffet or chase the moths in a 20 mph wind!

Our version of ‘Centennial’

One thing that surprised us about this part of Colorado was the historical part it played in the development of the West.  The Arkansas River was once an International boundary for Spain, Mexico, France, the U.S., and Texas!  Kit Carson is buried here in his home at Boggsville.  The river was part of the Santa Fe Trail which eventually led to the statehood of New Mexico and Arizona.

I was impressed at Bent’s Fort, as every room was chocked full of authentic tools, buffalo robes, furniture, clothes and other authentic era artifacts. It really added to the experience and I have never seen a National Monument so authentically dressed.

We are off to the Denver area tomorrow, so back to civilization.

Finally! We are Full-Time RVers!!

we will never say it was easy but, indeed, we are full-time rvers!

In the final days before becoming full-time RVers, we had challenges on top of challenges. The biggest was the LaMesa dealer in Tucson. After our shakedown trip to Roper Lake State Park, we returned the RV for a number of things needing attention. We were promised a date and time to pick up the vehicle, but we encountered delay after delay on their part. We were finally down to only one day before we had to leave our house when we finally got possession, so it was a haphazard packing job, at best, and an impossible challenge at worst.

We will leave the Southwest tomorrow.  That part of our migration was delayed by the fact that we did not wish to proceed to the northern tier states too early to avoid some of their lingering cool spring temps, but little did we know that we were going to be completely held up by the failure of a major part on our motor home!

When we were visiting Bill Evans Lake, testing the limits of our ability to dry camp without the amenities of water, sewer and electrical hookups, the leveler motor on the RV failed to retract. Eventually, I was able to retract the levelers manually and proceed to Albuquerque.

Surprising Diagnosis

The diagnosis at the Camping World service center was delivered, short and curt.  Jude and I looked at each other and acknowledged that buying the most comprehensive insurance coverage had been a benefit after only a couple of weeks on the road.

Little did we know that the procedure for coverage (and how the insurance would do anything to get out of paying the entire amount) plus the availability of the part would completely obliterate our carefully laid out itinerary.

Wow! Who would know that since RV vehicles range from the very old that toil up a hill in a hundred years to the glossy new thousand horse power million-dollar diesel pusher, and that no manufacturer of RV parts keeps any kind of inventory?  They all built their respective parts to order!!  The time estimate to get the part manufactured and installed was jaw dropping, a minimum of two weeks and possibly longer since an insurance adjuster had to come to Camping World to validate their replacement diagnosis, and then oversee it every step of the way.

Jude and I accepted the sentence with silence and justified it with rationalizations that it was an opportunity to continue to adjust our coach to our expectations.  That list included peeling the old weather-cracked decals off the coach’s sides, using a high-quality rubbing compound, then polishing to restore the outside finish.

Our new TV was purchased with the mission to replace the old analog set that was as wide as it was deep.  The Orion set was the perfect size and allowed us to join the 21st century as far as high definition picture. Unfortunately, its sound system consisted of little speakers that faced backwards resulting in an excruciating low sound level even when turned completely up!  Finding and installing a sound bar was also on the list.

Servicing our generator was another item we needed to do so as the keep our options open when camping in a site that is dry or without amenities. This engine servicing joined other items such as installing latches on some of our cabinet doors designed to keep their contents contained when driving over the assorted road obstacles such as speed bumps that are determined to rock the coach side-to-side with sufficient force to completely empty a kitchen cabinet in 1.2 seconds!

Other items needing attention was the bicycle rack.  While the rack easily carried Jude’s 1960 Western Auto Galaxy Flyer, it was taxed when it was asked to also carry our ladder.  It definitely needed a Macgiver approach that would marry the bike and ladder and carry them with ease.

One by one these items were checked off until finally we woke up one morning and realized everything was done.  This came just one day before we were called by Camping World staff informing us to have our coach at their service entrance at 8am for leveler motor installation.  Yeah!

All work, no play? No way!

While this was a lot of work and required daily focus, we did have time to explore Los Alamos and the WWII Manhattan Project.  We explored several state monuments and two national monuments named Bandelier and Tent Rocks.  We also started each morning with a daily walk along the Rio Grande River, walking through its ancient towering Cottonwoods and scrub willows that provided subsistence and cover for many new species of birds that I had not seen before.

Being spring time, the Spotted Towee, The Cedar Waxwing, the Yellow Rumped Warbler, Canada Geese, Mountain Blue Bird and various species of shore birds all blessed us with their mating colors and display songs.

Tomorrow we take our repaired leveler motor northward into Colorado.  Our first stop is Trinidad Lake State Park.  We will stay there a couple of weeks.  Our new Sea Eagle inflatable “Fold Cat” boat will start to assume its duties to put us in position to catch their Rainbow and Brown trout, perhaps a few Bass or Crappie.

Now that our coach’s list was eliminated, the Sea Eagle will be the next focus for upgrading to our fishing preferences.  Since Jude has decided to learn to fish, there are additional demands for storage and comfort, but that is another story in our continuing nomadic journey.

Image courtesy of Joe Cross via Creative Commons License, some rights reserved.