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Sunday, July 22, 2018

Rocky Mountain High in July 2018 (part 1)

Looks like Big Bertha and The Taj-Mah-Hauler are heading for another adventure.
We have to make a trip back to Arizona and clean out our storage shed since we have sold the property so we are embarking on a little trip.

The summer trip has been planned for awhile to go to Colorado and explore some areas so when we knew we had to clear out the shed we decided to combine the two.

Our friends, Pat & Heike Garrett, will be joining us in Colorado in a few days, but for the first week we will be winging it by ourselves.

Sunday July 15th we get up bright and early and set our sites for Santa Rosa, NM.
I have to say we have made this trip quite a few times, and it is really not exciting.
Our stay tonight will be at the Santa Rosa RV Park.
We get all set up and decide to go and try dinner at one of the local spots I saw as we drove in.
The Mexican food platter at The Silver Moon Restaurant was quite tasty.
There just so happened to have a Dairy Queen right across the street, so you guessed it, we had a blizzard for desert!
By the time we got back to the park it had filled up quite a bit with overnight travelers.
Goodnight world....for tomorrow we go to Pie Town!





July 16th  Monday

We have heard our friends talk about the little town of Pie Town New Mexico and since we aren't in a big hurry to get to Arizona, looks like today will be our day to make it there.

The ride was nice.
Our altitude climbed quite a bit today...so that makes for a lot cooler temperature than what we have been having in Oklahoma.
Not a bad idea!
Pie Town, NM....have you ever been there....well, all I can say, is don't blink or you will miss it....LOL
We pull into the Pie-O-Neer Pie shop and quickly find that they are closed on Monday.
Not to spoil our day, we just drive a little further to the west and come upon The Gatherin Place.
Greeted by the owner, telling us that we don't have to leave our dog out in the truck as he has set up an area just for the puppies.
Thanks for the offer, but Miss Bronco will be just fine sitting in the truck...she doesn't mind one bit!

As we enter the little store we walk into what seems to be the baking area.
There are a couple of ladies covered in flour making cut outs in the flour to make the pies that look quite appealing.
We go into the restaurant area and meet the cook and the waitress.
The owner tells us that the steak and eggs are also on the menu all day long.





I noticed the Green Chili Stew and decide that is what I would like to eat.
Chuck gets the Chicken Pot Pie.
The food was quite outstanding and left no room in our bellies for us to eat the much talked about pies they have for sale.




The case of pies has every flavor a person could want.
We decide to take a couple of pies to go and make our choices.
I come out with a Caramel Apple....and Chuck gets a White Chocolate Cherry.
These will be great later on tonight!














Our destination for this day is the little town of Springerville, AZ.







The RV Park has been purchased by new owners in the last couple of years, and they are working on building it up.



As soon as we pulled in the park the host shows up and gets all our information and shows us where to park.
We are basically the only RV in the middle section of the lots.
There are about 6 other RV's scattered around the park and look like they are there for a longer time than we are.
The evening temperature is wonderful....and we were there for the late afternoon shower that the host told us had been happening quite a bit lately.
The almost 7000 ft. altitude was great.

The little park was very nice and clean and the newly laid rocks made for a nice level site.
Chuck found out about this RV Park from the owner when he was making our reservations in Cortez, CO....so glad we were able to stay here and give them some business.
We find out that there are no local TV stations and we will have to rely on the DISH, but not going to worry about it this evening as we have to get some rest so we can make our way to Florence, AZ tomorrow and beat the heat....crossing our fingers that we can get in and out of there quickly.




July 17th, Tuesday.



We are up and on our way by 7am Arizona time.
So glad we are able to leave the Taj-Mah-Hauler in Springerville and just drive Big Bertha to Florence today.
This should make things a little easier and less stressful.
The traffic is not bad at all and we make good time going through the Salt River Canyon.












We have loaded all we can load and are out of Desert Gardens by 11:10am.
Its a whoppin 94 degrees when we left and even though it is a "dry" heat....it was HOT!

We made it back to Springerville by 3pm.
Now to unload and pack all our stuff in the trailer so we can continue on to Colorado!
As we almost got everything unloaded we had to stop as we had a shower that decided to come by the area.
It didn't last too long and by 5:30pm we had everything in Taji and ready to find some food for dinner.
Our host had told me about the Booga Red's Restaurant, and I noticed it as we drove through town, so we decided to check it out.





At this time in the day, it was just nice to sit and relax for a bit.
The food was good and the margarita wasn't too bad either!


Back at the RV park I attempt to dial in some TV stations with the DISH....but the storms are messing with the reception....but we finally get satellite.

The daily call to DISH is such a pain, but I have to say the app the girl told me about to find the satellites was a big help.  (SatFinderLite)

The storms left us with a beautiful sunset this evening.









July 18th Wednesday.

We have a short hour and a half trip to our destination for tonight. 
We are staying in Lakeside, AZ at the Ponderosa RV Resort.



The ride to Lakeside was a really nice drive.
Our trip takes us into higher altitude.
Along the way we see areas that must really be bustling when it is winter.  
The ski trails are quite evident on the mountains.









We are at our destination by shortly after noon.  
When we pulled up to check in I was a bit skeptical of the place.
Lots of very tall pines.

It is a tight and quite snakey drive to our site, but we follow our leader!  
Oh man. Really.
Let me say it was a tight squeeze to get into the space.
We no more get parked and the neighbors next door come over and are asking Chuck all about the trailer.
They want to come over and see inside the rig.
But first lunch.
We finish a quick lunch and Chuck goes over to have the neighbors come over.
During the visit the skies get really dark and it opens up and pours.  
The neighbors decide to leave when the rain lets up a bit.




  
Now on to more pressing matters.  
We had a repair to do to the slide in the kitchen.
When we got parked I walked into the trailer and see that  the kitchen door had come open and stuff fell out.
I checked before I opened the slide but guess one of the glasses had fallen behind the slide and caused an issue.
We pulled the bottom wood piece off and sure enough there was a glass back there.
At least it was a quick fix but makes me realize I have to fix my new cabinet pull so it will close properly.

We have heard from Heike and Pat and they have made it to Sayre OK for the night.
The temp is like 104, and I am sure they will be wanting to get to higher country very soon.



For dinner we drove up the road a mile and got a burger.
The reason we stopped here is they had outdoor seating so we knew Miss Bronco could go with us.  
We get back to the rig just in time for another rain shower.
We lost the electricity for a short time but it came back on fairly quickly.

The plus to all this is that the temp is 64.






Just hope we are able to get out of this place in the morning. (switch the brain to worry mode)
Snug as a bug in a rug, with an emphasis on snug.....  :) 
Time to settle down for some sleep....or so I thought!  



July 19th, Thursday

Today is my dad's birthday.
He hasn't been with me for a very long time now, but I think of him often.

Happy Birthday in heaven daddy....I love you.

Image result for cartoon for lack of sleep
Just as I figured I didn’t sleep all night worrying about getting out of our site.
All I know is it is going to take some extremely good driving (Chuck I know you can do it) for us to get the Taj-Mah-Hauler out of this place.

We actually drew a crowd this morning as we attempt to exit the site.  Seems everyone knew it was going to be a bit taxing.
The owner came down to assist as well.
He told me to have Chuck keep backing up as the area would crest and start back down quickly.
Looks like he has had people in this situation before because by golly, he was right! 
With his words of wisdom we were able to get out of the trailer park.

Not sure that we would want to try this park again.
Checking it off the list!  


We are now heading towards Gallup NM.
What an easy day of driving.
We make it to American RV Park in Gallup by noon.
It was so nice to pull into this BIG park.
Stayed here before and knew what to expect.
They know how to accommodate "Big Rigs".
We are told that they have BBQ in the park this evening, so it looks like I escape cooking once again...Oh darn!  

We had a nice relaxing afternoon and before you know it it is dinner time.
The BBQ was quite tasty, and it looks like they have an ice cream social after dinner.

I walk down to get our ice cream.
Going to bring it back to the rig and eat it.
As I am in line, there are a few others waiting their turn.
The conversation came up as to where everyone was from.
One of the gentlemen said he was from Midwest City, OK.
We talked a bit and he says he and his wife saw our tags as we pulled into the park....seems he was behind us when we checked in.
The gentlemen also said he was going to Cortez, CO.
Thought that was kinda interesting.  

The ice cream was great....never have I seen such big scoops of it.
Just what the diet ordered...No Keto for me!  

Another day has come to an end and I think I may actually get some sleep tonight since I know we are going to have an easy time of getting out of the park.  

The plan is to meet up with Heike and Pat around 11am tomorrow in Gallup.
They are driving from Albuquerque and we will meet at a designated place and make our way to Cortez, CO.
July 20th, Friday

I guess Pat decided to pour the coals to their rig and we ended up meeting them a little earlier than discussed.
We love it when a plan comes together and by 10:30am we are together in a parking lot with Cortez, CO. on our minds.  
Now we are a pack...a pack of two...LOL



The roads across New Mexico were very rough.
The scenic view was wonderful.




The Little town of Shiprock had a breathtaking view of the ship rocks.





As soon as we cross into Colorado, the roads got a whole lot smoother.









One interesting thing we encountered along the way was a herd of sheep...they look as if they had gotten out of their fields and were grazing along the road side.
Thought about asking if they needed Bronco to get them back where they belonged, but she just didn't seem to be in the mood to herd today.









We will be staying at the La Mesa RV Park for a week
We get to Cortez and checked in by shortly after 1pm.
Shiree (the owner) was waiting for us.
She owned the other RV Park we stayed at in Springerville Az.

Not a large park and no pool but it was clean and a nice place to call home for a few days.
After we park the guys discuss Pat turning his bus around so we could have a buddy site.
We call and ask Shiree if she is OK with it, and she says "sure" and thanks for asking.
What a great idea as we can pull out our awnings and have plenty of shade all day long.




Have to say that we put the DISH out and had TV within minutes. 
A first for us in quite awhile.
Settled in and ready to get this little vacation started, but first Chuck has to work on a small project for Heike and Pat.
Chuck sets up a system to make their internet more secure on their rig.
They now officially have a private network for their Dutch Star.





Mexican food was on the agenda for dinner and while searching Yelp I found one that was close and the reviews were good.
One of the reviews mentioned a Cadillac margarita to die for so when we got to Tequila’s we bellied up to the bar and ordered one.
In our quest to find  that "perfect" margarita, I am thinking we have found the Holly Grail of all margarita's.  
We all decided the food was so-so but those margaritas were another thing altogether.
Back at the rigs we call it an evening.




By the way, the gentlemen that I spoke with the night before in Gallop, well, he is parked in our same RV Park.
He came by and said hello to us.
Small world, huh!  


Saturday July 21st

Being that it is the weekend, we decide to just hang around the rigs today and not mess with the tourist in the area.  

Heike and I go to the local Walmart and stock up on supplies.
The guys did a little maintenance on the rigs.
Chuck adjusted our axels in hopes to stop the wear and heating up we are getting on one of the tires.
We will know if it worked when we latch on and pull back to Oklahoma.
It was fairly warm during the day, 90’s, but with a nice breeze and low humidity we were pretty happy.
Pretty uneventful day.
We grilled burgers and hot links for dinner and just enjoyed visiting.


Image result for margaritaOne thing we learned was to make the Cadillac margarita the secret ingredient was Grand Mariner.
I had noticed a liquor store within walking distance so after dinner Heike and I walk over there to purchase this liquor.
Little did we know that this was a great big Liquor store and you know that we are just like kids in a candy shop.
I find our favorite Salvador's Margarita mix there so I have to stock up on it.  
Back at the rigs we attempt to make our own Cadillac Margarita by using the Salvador's mix and the Grand Mariner.  
I think we have found the secret to make our margaritas quite special.  
Yes, I know I am a snob about them, but they have to be just right for me to love them.  :)

Image result for sunday day of restSunday July 22nd
No exciting plans for today so we just kinda sat around.
Heike and I are planning to cook chicken wings and Brussels sprouts in our air fryers for dinner.
Another trip to Walmart for things we didn’t get the day before and back to watch the Nascar races on TV.
It was warm but with all the shade it was quite tolerable.
We cooked dinner outside and although Pat isn’t a lover of chicken he ate it.
I thought it was great.



Image result for dairy queenAfter dinner Chuck had mentioned Dairy Queen so Heike and I drove and got us BLIZZARDS .
Although the DQ was a little out of our comfort zone of one mile...LOL...we did it.
I would love to say that they were the best we have ever had, but Heike got the short end of the stick tonight.
Her Blizzard was quite runny.
It was more like soup than ice cream  :(



The guys have been discussing our plans for tomorrow, so looks like we are going to be "tourist" soon  :)

This week is over....tomorrow we tourist...










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