Surviving the Heat

My oldest grandson, Xander, is 17 years old today. Wow! I hope he has a good day.

It's been almost a week since my last post, and nothing has changed as regards the weather. We are still in the midst of a long triple digit temperature spell, and most days are in the 103 to 105 degree range. When you go outside, it feels like you are in an oven, with heat radiating at you from all sides. The good news is that at least we enjoy low humidity. So, although it is hot, we don't have the uncomfortable damp feeling you get along the coast. Triple digit temps are forecast for the coming 7 days.

With the heat and lack of rainfall, Donna's beds have been drying up. The tall marigolds are holding their own, but the zinnias have really suffered. Donna has thinned out many of the plants. There is still some good color out there, but it definitely is fading, and fading fast. The desert plants, though, are doing well.

We don't get out much in this heat. If we do go out, we try to do so in the morning and get home before noon. It just isn't very pleasant outside.

Summer break is passing quickly. Schools in our area resume classes next week. Donna and I always look forward to this time of year. We enjoy seeing the kids back in school so that the restaurants, movie theaters, and other places we frequent are not as crowded.

And I always think back to former times as a new school year approaches. I remember fondly those times when I would prepare my classroom for a new crop of students. With the fall semester, there is always the excitement of new friendships, football, and approaching cool weather. It really is a wonderful time of year, and I'm thankful for the years I spent in education.

Stay cool, everyone!

Hot, Hot, Hot

Since our trip, it has been nothing but hot in our area. As I write this, we've had something like 10 straight days of triple digit temps, and the forecast for the next 7 days is the same. In fact, a week long heat advisory begins for us today. We've had no measurable rain in quite a while, so things are turning brown and the ground is cracking quite a bit. I need to get someplace cool!

Donna and I continue to follow our regular routines. We go to the gym 3 mornings a week, and we try to walk on the days we don't go to the gym. On most Saturday mornings, we get up early and go downtown to the Farmers' Market, located across the street from historic Fort Concho. The produce has been good so far this year, but with the heat, I'm sure most gardens are burning up now.

We also participate when we can in activities in our neighborhood. We are pretty regular attendees at the weekly bingo sessions, and I think we win our fair share of games. We will attend the big monthly dinner this week. Turnouts are usually pretty good at those dinners. The entertainment is decent, and it is a good opportunity to socialize with folks. Donna has started playing a new game at the clubhouse. I can't recall the name. I'm thankful for this, though; it gives me a few quiet hours at home alone at least one day each week. We've not made the bus for trips "off campus" lately as we've just been occupied otherwise when those events occur.

I'll leave you with a few pictures taken from around the neighborhood.

I call this photo "Moon Walker." Bottom center you'll see one of our neighbors walking along a tree lined street early one morning while the moon is still fairly high in the sky above him.

Here's another photo of the morning moon above a house with some lovely colors.

I snapped these 4 turkeys as they grazed in front of our New Hope Bible Church one morning. Notice how brown the grass is.

I don't see too many rabbits in our subdivision, but I came across these two jacks early one morning.

Annual Birthday Bash

Last Sunday, Donna and I drove up to Big Spring. Courtney and Michael (son-in-law) were giving their 3 boys a birthday party. As they did last year, they decided to have the party at the local bowling alley in Big Spring.

This is a good way to throw a birthday party. Everyone gets to bowl if they want to, there are arcade games to play, there is food available, and there is nothing to clean up. Sounds good to me. Donna and I even bowled a game this year. It was our first time to bowl in 35 or more years, I think. We enjoyed ourselves and plan to go to the lanes here in Angelo sometime and see how that goes. It's a good way to have fun.

Michael's side of the family showed up in force. His mother, step-father, both brothers, their wives, and their children all came out to have some family fun. Jensen turned 5 this summer, Camden 6, and old man Xander turned 17.

Jensen stayed pretty close to the cake all afternoon. That boy likes to eat.

Xander towering over Camden and Jensen. The lady on the left is Michael's mother, and that is Michael's younger brother Cody with his son and daughter on the right. 

Jensen and Camden. Look at that mischievous grin on Jensen's face. Makes you wonder what he is up to, doesn't it?

Daddy Michael helping the lads open their gifts. I think he wanted to play with their new toys, too. I hope he's better at playing with toys than he is bowling!

Gammaw Donna with oldest grandson, Xander.

Trip Reflections

In looking back at our trip, it's clear we enjoyed ourselves. We really like traveling, and we miss the days of dragging a trailer around the Southwest. But we learned some things this trip about traveling.

It was the high tourist season in Colorado, and I don't think we want to go back there again this time of year -- at least, not to the really popular areas. I-25 from the New Mexico line up to Pueblo and over to Canon City was fine, but once into the real mountains, the roads seemed to be jam packed and people were everywhere. The great thing about retirement is you can pick the time when you go places, and we'll be more selective in the future. I love it when kids are in school.

We also learned we really don't like traveling in hot, hot weather. And it was really hot during our trip, especially in Texas and New Mexico. We're getting soft, I suppose, but that happens with a little bit of age. So once again, we'll be a bit more selective of when we travel.

One of several pronghorns we saw along NM 247 east of Corona. Notice how sun parched the landscape is. It was over 100 degrees in this part of New Mexico during our trip.

Both of us were bothered by the high altitude this time. In the past, it bothered me more than Donna, but this time we were both affected. Our sinuses bled almost the whole time we were in Cripple Creek, and I just seemed to be a bit more tired. I guess that happens when you go from just under 2,000 feet elevation to almost 10,000 feet elevation in 2 days.

Looking west from Wilkerson Pass in Colorado. We spent 4 days at 9,600 feet.

We passed quite a few state parks in Colorado and New Mexico. They called to us. We wished we were full-timing in an RV so we could just pull in for a few days or even a week at each one and explore. Those were good times. Wonder if we could still do it?

We had some good food. The first part of our trip was somewhat lackluster. We don't find the food in Cripple Creek to be what we crave. Oh, the food is fine, but we always want something a bit more exotic or more along the lines of our regular diets. Cripple Creek is largely meat and Mexican. Both are fine in moderation, but it's nice to have some other choices. We ate a couple of meals at Baja Billy's in Bronco Billy's, and they were fine. Our best meal in Cripple Creek was at Dynamite Dick's across the street in the Midnight Rose Casino. We both enjoyed the Fettuccine Alfredo there.

Once we left Cripple Creek, we enjoyed the food more, starting in Santa Fe. We discovered a place there last year called The Shed. I wrote about our meal there last September in an item entitled, "Ah, Santa Fe." You can refer to it as we enjoyed the very same meal this time around. We find the enchiladas there to be wonderful, and the hordes of people waiting in line with us feel the same way. It's worth a stop if you are adventurous and like to try new food.

In Roswell, we were craving something a bit different. On our way to the UFO Museum, we noticed a nice looking Italian restaurant, Pasta Cafe Italian Bistro. We decided to give it a try on our way back to the hotel. Donna enjoyed spaghetti and meatballs, which is her standard at Italian restaurants. I experimented with manicotti bolognese. Both entrees were quite good in our very humble opinions, and the salads and bread were also excellent. We'd be happy to stop there again when in Roswell.

On our last day, we stopped at K-Bob's in Lamesa. We've eaten at this particular restaurant off and on over the years since 1984 when we first moved to tiny Wellman, about 40 miles north and west of Lamesa. We've enjoyed other K-Bob's over the years, but this has been one of our favorites. Now, this isn't a fancy big city steak house chain; K-Bob's just serves a good steak at a decent price in a very comfortable setting with usually good service. Just the kind of place the old woman and I like. Donna had a nice little steak while I tried a rib-eye steak sandwich. Good food.

So, that catches me up on the trip. Now in a couple or so days I'll get around to some other things that have been going on.

Santa Fe, Roswell, and Home

Note: The activities below occurred on Monday, July 15, Tuesday, July 16, and Wednesday, July 17.

After 4 nights in Cripple Creek, we left early Monday morning and made our way to Santa Fe. We had decided to take 2 nights on our return trip home. This would give us the chance to see some new country.

We followed our customary route from Cripple Creek to Pueblo. Most people would probably go to Colorado Springs from Cripple Creek, then down I-25, but we prefer going through Canon City. The map below shows the 2 routes. Our route is a mere 1.4 miles longer, but it involves far fewer headaches. And we think the scenery is much prettier.

2 routes from Cripple Creek to Pueblo.

We stopped for breakfast in Canon City at the local McDonalds, then stopped at a Walmart Neighborhood market on the southwest side of Pueblo for gas. Now we were ready to hop on I-25 for the nearly 300 mile trek to Santa Fe.

We made a brief restroom break at a rest area just north of Trinidad, a coffee break at the McDonalds in Raton, and another restroom break at an interstate rest area closer to Santa Fe. It was more or less an uneventful trip.

Fisher's Peak, just south of Trinidad, CO. The peak is 9,633 feet high. Photo taken from Interestate rest area just north of Trinidad. Raton Pass is to the right of the peak.

Once through Raton Pass, the scenery changed noticeably. Sure, mountains were always in the background, especially towards the west. But now there were broad stretches of flat plains with few trees. The driving was easy, and there wasn't that much traffic as you can see in the pictures posted below. We enjoyed it after all those days of the up and down driving in the mountains. It was nice to put the cruise control on 70 mph and just move along at a steady pace.

I-25 in New Mexico south of Raton.

Wagon Mound Butte in center of picture. It was a noted landmark on the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail. The mesa stands 6,930 feet.

Near the end of the trip, we cut through Glorietta Pass at an elevation of 7500 feet. It paled in comparison to the passes we had been through earlier on our trip. For history buffs, this was the site of an important Civil War battle between Confederate troops out of Texas and Union volunteers from Colorado and California. This battle more or less ended all attempts by the Confederacy to take New Mexico as well as other objectives in the west.

Once in Santa Fe, we headed to the Plaza, found a parking place, and enjoyed a late lunch at The Shed. I'll talk more about that in another post. After lunch, we found our hotel and enjoyed a comfortable room. After 4 nights at Bronco Billy's, it was nice to be in a modern room again, with modern conveniences. Guess we're getting spoiled in our old age.

The next morning (Tuesday, July 16), we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. We were in no hurry, as our destination today was Roswell. Now, had we gone directly to Roswell, we could have been there in just over 3 hours, but I had a more circuitous route in mind; after all, we were playing tourist now.

From Santa Fe, we traveled almost due south along NM 14, otherwise known as the Turquoise Trail, which is a National Scenic Byway. The road snakes south through the foothills between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, dipping into a few old and interesting towns along the way, such as Madrid and Los Cerrillos. Much of the movie Wild Hogs was filmed in Madrid. The movie starred John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William Macy.

Church in historic Los Cerrillos.

Highway through Madrid

It was a Tuesday, so not much was happening much in the little towns. Besides, we were a bit early. I'm sure those places don't come alive until at least noon or so. But the countryside was interesting.

Highway south of Madrid

From the Turquoise Trail, we worked our way south to Edgewood on I-40. We were now out of the mountains, though we would dip into some hilly areas from time to time. After a brief stop in Edgewood, we began working our way through remote areas. There are some long stretches in this area where there are few houses. There was one 80 mile stretch where we passed through only one small town. If you omit that town, I bet we didn't see 20 other cars along that stretch, and probably not that many houses. And the land was so dry. Those folks could really use some rain. But I like these open spaces.

Desolate stretch of Highway 42 between Willard and Corona. 

Wind turbines on mesa along highway

Pronghorn along Highway 247 east of Corona. This is close to the "alien" crash site of Roswell fame. Those are the Capitan Mountains in the background. They reach over 10,000 feet.

When we reached Roswell, we went straight to the International UFO Museum and Research Center, located downtown. It was a busy place. In fact, all of Roswell was bustling. I can't say much about the museum. I wasn't that impressed. The museum attempts to make a case for an alien crash there in 1947. However, there is no hard evidence to support their claims of an alien visitation, though there are plenty of accounts making such claims. Still, if you like this sort of stuff, you need to make a stop. We have passed through Roswell numerous times over the years, and we have always said that we need to stop and go through the museum. Well, we finally did. One more item off our list of things to see and do!

Part of the timeline in the museum, explaining the events over a period of a week or so.

No matter where she goes, Donna seems to to find folks she has much in common with.

One of my favorite sci-fi movies is The Day the Earth Stood Still. Here is a reproduction of the robot from that movie.

We then had a great lunch and checked into our hotel. Our last night on the road.

We timed our leaving from Roswell on Wednesday so that we could have lunch at K-Bobs in Lamesa. We took US 380 east for just over 100 miles to Plains, Texas, then turned south on Texas 214 for 15 or so miles to Denver City. Again, we were just traveling through areas we had never traveled before, or had not been through in a long time.

After a brief break at the McDonald's in Denver City, we headed east on Texas 83 for 42 miles to Welch. This took us through places like Seagraves, Loop, and Welch that we were familiar with from our days in tiny Wellman. It was good to see the country again.

After a relaxing lunch at K-Bobs (more about that in a separate post), we headed south on familiar US 87 through Big Spring and then finally San Angelo. It was good to be home again after a long week of traveling.

To Cripple Creek and Beyond

We spent 4 nights at Bronco Billy's in Cripple Creek, from Thursday, July 11 until Monday, July 15. Donna had a good time, but then, Donna has a good time anywhere the booze flows and there are slot machines. And the old girl did well this time. She came home with more money than she went with. I didn't have much luck, so I didn't play much. If the cards aren't falling right, then I know to find something else to do. I had 2 good Tony Hillerman books with me, so I was able to do quite a bit of reading.

The weather in Cripple Creek during our stay was delightful. Nightly lows were in the 50s, and I think they dipped into the 40s a couple of nights. Daily highs were in the 70s. It rained almost everyday while we were there, usually in the late afternoon. The rains were brief, but they cooled off any chance of rising temps. It was quite nice.

Bronco Billy's recently acquired an old shop at the end of the block, so they now own almost that entire block. There are still 2 stores, I believe, that they don't own. The new property has been turned into what they called the Christmas Casino. We enjoyed our time there, and Donna did most of her playing there. It is decorated in a Christmas theme 365 days a year. They play a mix of Christmas music and other music, and the scent of cinnamon fills the air. Rooms are located upstairs, and we think if we go back, we will try to stay there. If you want to experience Christmas in July, then Bronco Billy's Christmas Casino is the place to be.

We usually play a bit at the Double Eagle while in Cripple Creek. We strolled down there the second day we were in town, but we were disappointed to see that they had removed all the good video poker games. Well, they won't be getting any more of my money.

I won't show any pictures of the place; I've done that in previous posts. For those who are interested, you can look back at these entries:

• "Cripple Creek, Colorado" (May 2017)
• "Cripple Creek, Second Time Around" (September 2017)
• "Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad" (October 2017)
• "Cripple Creek, September 2018"

We don't know at this time if we will go back. It is a long trip to Cripple Creek, and the altitude really bothered both of us this time. We miss our trips to Nevada, so we might plan a trip out there soon. We'll see.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Note: We visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park on Thursday, July 11, 2019.

Great Sand Dunes National Park is not one of the better known parks in the national parks system. It certainly doesn't get the attention of Yosemite, Arches, or some of the other better known parks scattered around the country. And there doesn't seem to be as much to do at this park as at other parks in the national park system. For example, there are only 20 miles or so of hiking trails in the park.

But most people come to the park because of the sand, and there is a great deal of that. The sand is the real claim to fame for this park. It contains the tallest sand dunes in North America, reaching about 750 feet in height. When you look at pictures of the sand dunes nestled in front of the mountains, they may not appear that tall, but keep in mind that the mountains in the background reach about 12,000 feet or so.

Dunes don't look high, but those are some tall mountains behind them.

Good picture of end of dunes with mountains in background. Note the trees in right side of picture.

Sand related activities are extremely popular in the park, including sand boarding and sand sledding. Other activities are available, though, including hiking, backpacking, 4 wheel drive adventures, bike riding, and horseback riding, among others. Surprisingly, water activities are also available in Medano Creek.

Donna out back of the visitor center.

Donna and I did not spend too much time at the park. For one thing, we had other places we wanted to be later in the day. But we also follow a blog by an RVer who had recently visited the park, and he mentioned how bad the mosquitoes were in the park. As we drove through a couple of campgrounds, we saw just how bad they were. Even driving by, we could see the huge skeeters buzzing around people. In some places, people were constantly waving their hands and arms and shaking their legs to deter the bothersome pests. At one stop, one got in our car, and it was huge, the size of a small hummingbird, it seemed. Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit, but the little rascal was larger than what we are used to.

We did stop for a brief visit at the visitor center. When visiting parks, that is always the best place to start. From there, we drove all the paved roads of the park, including the Pinon Flats campgrounds. Sites are pretty close together, and there is not enough room for large rigs. There is quite a bit of shade in the area, though, and that is always nice. I was amazed at a few of the trailers I saw. How they wedged those rigs into some of those tight sites is beyond me; they are certainly better drivers than I am.

We wanted to explore the area around the creek, but as we drove through the parking lot, we saw the mosquitoes carrying off a few small children, so we decided against that. So, with a long trek still ahead of us, we decided to exit the park and continue our trek to Cripple Creek.

This picture shows the creek running at the base of the dunes. 

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you should be able to make out the people just above the green area on the far side of the creek in center of picture. This will give you an idea of just how tall the dunes are.