5/21/13 Ridgway State Park, CO

We’ve muttled through camp hosting not really knowing what we’re doing for several days now.  We had training/orientation Saturday and Sunday.  So now being armed with much information we are ready to tackle Memorial Day weekend.  There are a lot of reservations for this weekend so it should be interesting.   Our days off are Tuesday and Wednesday.  Other camp host will cover our area and we will cover theirs when they are off.  I have to say the one thing I don’t like about Colorado and Texas State Parks is that they charge to camp and charge an additional day use fee.  Electric sites are $22 and FHU are $26 then you have to buy a day use permit to put in your vehicle, that makes one night $29 to $33 depending on the hookup you have.  Pricey.  Campers are often angry because they didn’t know they have to also pay the $7 day use fee.  Can’t say I blame them.  Seems they could roll that into the camp site fee.  But you do have the option of paying $70 for an annual permit.  Saves you money if you camp more than 2 weeks a year at Colorado State Parks.  After we work 40 hours they will give us a free annual pass.

I have worked at the visitor’s center twice now.  They sell a lot of licenses.  Fishing license, hunting, boat and ATV titles and registrations, different types of camping permits depending on your age, military status, disability, etc.  It all gets very confusing.  They also rent group event areas, boat slips (they have a marina) and dry storage.  Yikes, a lot to remember.  All reservations are made online or by phone with Reserve America.  They charge another $10 to make those reservations, but you can’t call the park to make the reservations directly.  Geez, more money.   I was hoping to get experience with reservation software to add to my resume.  So far I’m not liking working at the visitors center much.  Although I do get to meet a lot of the staff and rangers that way.  I would feel disconnected from the Park if I didn't get to know the staff and volunteers.  Yesterday I got to go around with the head Park Ranger to post reservation permits on sites.  She’s a very nice young woman who’s very passionate about her job.  It was a beautiful day and got me out of the office for awhile. 

I look around and see the beautiful mountains with taller snow capped mountains in the background, the turquoise water of Ridgway Reservoir and can’t believe it’s real.  It looks like a painting I could just reach out and touch.  For wildlife we have a lot of deer and chipmunks in the park, a few rabbits and a bear was spotted in our loop of the park a few days ago.  And lots of blue birds that are just gorgeous.  Today we're off work and will make a trip into Montrose to shop and see what we can get into.  

5/13/13 Ridgway State Park, CO

Well we knew it had to happen.  We left our beautiful spot on New Mexico’s BLM land and stayed one night in Aztec, NM not far from Angel Peak Rec. Area.  This gave us a chance to dump and take LONG showers.  The next day we headed to Ridgway State Park only 160 miles away but a 4+ hour drive given the mountains and our slow way of travel.  Our route took us up the Million Dollar Highway with beautiful scenery, long winding mountainous roads up to 10,000 feet, up & down, then finally 7,000 at Ridgway State Park.  Andy the Park Ranger gave us lots of information then we got settled into our site #98 in the Elk Ridge Campground.  It’s up on a hill with a lot of pine and juniper trees.  Not much of a view but shade.  The lower campground has nice views of the mountains but no trees or shade.  The sun is rather hot in the afternoon with cool mornings and evenings.  There are 3 separate campgrounds here, we’re the only camp host’s in our Loop.  There are few campers but no one in our loop yet.  Norm & I washed the camper and truck today.  It was thick with New Mexico’s desert dust.  There is a laundry facility here. That’s where I spent the majority of yesterday getting caught up on laundry while Norm dusted the inside of the camper.  We’re getting all settled in.  Training/orientation is on Saturday and Sunday.  I am required to work 1 day a week at the visitor’s center while Norm gets beach duty.  Hmmmmm……how fair is that.  Norm gets bikini watch while I deal with campers all day. 

We drove our golf cart all over the campground today getting oriented with the place.  Cooked breakfast out on the camp stove and ate outside a few times.  It sure is nice here.  Each site has a nice large concrete pad with a large plastic coated metal picnic table and fire pit.  We've been looking over the volunteer manual and goodies they supplied us with (radios, brochures for campers, etc.).  We’ll probably run into Montrose 30 miles away to get the oil changed in the truck and pick up a few groceries.    

 Angel Peak Rec Area, our beautiful boondocking spot in N.M.

 Our campsite at Ridgway State Park

Our campsite

 A scenic view just a short walk from camp overlooking Ridgway Resevoir

Snow on the mountains in a distance

5/7/13 Angel Peak, NM

We sure are liking this beautiful boondocking spot here in Northern New Mexico.  The weather has been very nice, chilly at night but warming up nice in the afternoon.  Although we did have one night the wind blew so hard I thought we would topple over into the canyon.  Luckily the wind died down and is not suppose to get that bad again while we’re here, according to accuweather.  I think we picked a good time of year to camp without hookups.  We would like to stay until Monday.  That would mean 10 days of camping here.  But we will have to drive the truck into town (20 miles to Bloomfield, NM) for water.  Not sure how much we have in the freshwater tank since the sensors don’t work worth a darn.  But we’ll also need drinking water and gasoline for the generator. We have the satellite set up and turn on the generator in the evening to watch TV and recharge all our toys (phones, jetpack aircard, kindle, cameras).  This is boondocking at its best that’s for sure. 

I am experiencing mild altitude sickness.  Shortness of breath, unable to sleep much.  We’re at almost 7,000 feet which is what we’ll be at in Colorado this summer. I read that altitude sickness usually happens at 8,000 feet and above.  Hopefully I’ll get used to it and start feeling better.  Trying to drink lots of water and rest. 

I’m surprised we haven’t heard coyotes here at night.  There doesn’t seem to be any wildlife other than a few birds.  And not many of them.  I did see a little cotton tail bunny this morning. 

Here’s pics of the sunset over the canyon:

5/3/13 Angel Peak Recreation Area, NM

With a lot of BLM land in New Mexico I searched high and low for a free spot to dry camp for several days, or a week since we don’t have to report to our summer Colorado jobs until mid May.  We left Albuquerque this morning and drove about 160 miles north to Angel Peak Recreation Area near Farmington, NM.  After calling the BLM office in Farmington and confirming the road conditions with a Park Ranger we determined it the perfect place to boondock.  

Boy is it ever a slice of heaven on earth!

Our campsite

 Our view of the Canyon

Our view of Angel Peak 

5/2/13 Albuquerque, NM

We spent two days visiting with Norm’s childhood friend Marc and his sweet mom at their lovely home in Albuquerque.  One day Marc took us to tour the Petroglyph National Monument.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.  We enjoyed a few hikes around the Petroglyphs.  On top of one of the Mesa’s we had a gorgeous view of Albuquerque.  And what interesting images carved on the lava rocks.  Afterward Marc took us on a drive through Old Town Albuquerque.  We’ll have to plan a trip back there to walk around the shops next time we’re in the area.  Kathryn cooked us another delicious meal when we returned home.  We fell in love with Albuquerque.  Beautiful views, mountains all around including beautiful views from Marc’s back yard.  Wow.  We can’t wait to return.  

4/27/13 Tulsa, OK

We spent the day with Norm’s brother Al and SIL Pat.  They had a wonderful day planned for us with a tour of the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa and lunch at the nice café with a view right there at the museum.  What a nice western art museum.  We enjoyed it immensely.  Afterward all of us had dinner at PF Changs where we met up with our beautiful niece Allison, her cute son Trip and his dad David.  It was so good to see the three of them.  Wish we could have had a bit more time, but I sure enjoyed the time we had.  So glad I got to sit by Allison during dinner. I had the best time talking with her.

We stayed overnight at a Flying J in Tulsa, OK that night then headed toward Albuquerque, NM the next day.  We drove as far as Foss Lake State Park in the Oklahoma Panhandle for an overnight stay.  Then on another 200 or so miles to stay the night in Vega, Tx at Walnut RV Park.  We made it to Albuquerque, NM on Wednesday