Silverton, Colorado

We stopped here for 2 hours on our journey along the million dollar highway (route 550).  Silverton is an old mining town.  The town now is loaded with jewelry and novelty shops along with restaurants and saloons.  If you take the train, you are bussed into town from the train station and picked up several hours later for the return trip to Durango.  We left Durango as the train was departing and arrived in Silverton just before the train.  Aggie purchased a wrist watch with a gorgeous multi-stone band made by the Zuni Indians.  Highway 550 is not for the faint hearted, as the road is narrow, steep, and windey; and many drop offs with no barrier.  I had cut my steering wheel to its maximum to negotiate some of the sharp curves.  Life is an adventure!

Mesa Verde National Park

We dedicated one day to tour this park.  Dog's are not allowed on any trails so Buddy was left to protect our motorhome.  We stopped at the highest point of the park and walked up a path to a fire tower which is used to detect forest fires in the whole area.  You can see 4 states from this point.  This park is located near 4 corners where four states (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and

Colorado) adjoin.  It was unstaffed at the time we visited it.  We took a free shuttle which dropped us off at trail heads to visit cliff dwellings and pit houses that the local Indian's built for shelter.  The Park Service has built aluminum structures surrounding the pit houses to protect them from the winter climate and animals.  We took the self guided tour through the pit houses as most passengers on the shuttle were on a paid tour of the cliff dwellings with a ranger.  We could have walked to one of the cliff dwellings at the end of the day, but we were tired from all the walking and it was quite hot, in the 90"s. 

Morefield Campground

We arrived here on July 23 for 3 nights and is located inside the Mesa Verde National Park.  No need to make reservations here as there were many open sites, unless you need full hookups which they did not have many of those and they were booked.  Our site was relatively level on gravel with cut grass surrounding our site.  The sites were spread out nicely.  The sites are first come, first served; so you can select any open site which we like.  We had satellite reception, but no cell service.  Deer visited our campground daily.  Camping fees were a little high at $26 per night, but we were able to get half off with our Senior America the Beautiful Pass.  There is also an additional $15 entrance fee to the park which allows you 7 continuous days.  They did have fresh water and dump station at entrance of campground.  I rate this campground F***.

We took a day trip to Durango one day to re-stock our groceries.  The downtown area had a lot of unique shops, but I was not up to walking around town today.  You can catch a train ride up the hill to Silverton from here, but we were going through there after leaving Mesa Verde on our way to Gunnison.  We did wander through a few residential neighborhoods.  Could not find any high end homes here.  As it turns out we should have been looking about 40 miles east to Pagosa Springs.  We did stop in a cute town just east of Mesa Verde National Park called Mangos.  We poked into the shops on the one block where all the art shops were located.  We spotted a beautiful beveled glass mirror framed with solid polished stone created by a local artist.  Aggie would like to replace our large mirror in the master bath with two individual mirrors and these would fit the bill, but I have more pressing needs for $1000 at this time.

The next day we toured the park.  (a separate post)

The Grand Canyon

On July 22, we toured the south rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.  The north rim of the canyon is 10 miles across from the south rim, and the Colorado River carves right through it.  The Colorado River starts it's journey in Colorado and winds it way through the Grand Canyon and continues all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.  Be prepared for some spectacular views and variable weather patterns.  The south rim is located at the 7000 foot level and temperatures can vary widely and thunderstorms are not uncommon. 

Parking inside the park can be challenging.  Some areas inside the park can only be accessed via the free bus shuttle which you can catch throughout the park.  We opted to drive ourselves as Buddy was with us.  Dogs are not allowed in any of the visitor centers or museums.

We enjoyed touring the Tusayan Museum and Ruin near the East Entrance.  Indians lived here many years ago and evidence of their living shelters were visible.

TEN-X Campground

Arrived here on July 20 and is located just 5 miles south of the south entrance of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.  I found this national forest campground on my I-phone app called campwhere.  The sites are huge, with about 1/2 acre per site and long 100 foot pull through drives.  We had a fire pit and table and so many tree's that we could not get satellite TV reception.  We arrived early afternoon and the campground was full; good thing I made reservations on reserveusa.com.  Shortly after arriving we were treated to a sight of 3 elk just behind our site.  Two of them had huge racks of antlers (about 6 feet wide) that they had to twist their neck to walk through the trees.  One night we were treated to a thunder and lightning show that lasted at least 4 hours.  I paid $5 per night for three nights plus a $9 reservation fee.  We got a 50% discount on nightly camping due to senior discount.  Although there were no water hookups, electricity, or dump station; I rate this park F****. 

We took a day trip from this campground to Williams, Az. about 50 miles south.  They advertised a hamfest at the fairgrounds, so we figured they would roast a pig or something.  It turns out that it was a ham radio festival and it ended the day before we went there.  We did bring home some BBQ pulled pork from one of the restaurants in town which was very good.  If you are interested in route 66 memorabilla, this is your place. 

We watched a 35 minute IMAX movie on the Grand Canyon which was very interesting, a little pricey at $12 admission per person, but well worth it.  You can see this at a city just 3 miles south of the entrance to the park.  You can also catch helecopter & airplane rides from this city and several hotels and restaurants here also.

We also took a full day touring the Grand Canyon one day(a separate post).  Although I have seen the Grand Canyon better than 6 times I never tire of it's grandeur. 

2013 RV Trip

On July 18, 2013, we are setting out for a 6 week trip.  Our first stop in Emerald Cove Resort on the Colorado River for two very toasty days.  We arrived at 2:30 PM and outside temperatures were 112 degrees.  Took the dog for a walk with doggy boots on,

to protect his paws from the hot asphalt roads.  At 11:30 PM it had cooled down to a balmy 103 degrees.  We stayed inside the RV most of the day and evening.  Be sure to get 50 amp service to run both air conditioners this time of the year.  We did observe a family of burrow's in the park only 100 feet from our rig.  Next stop is the Grand Canyon, then on to Mesa Verde, then Gunnison, then Arches National Park, then Salt Lake City, Ut., and then to our favorite campground Fallen Leaf in Lake Tahoe, and down to Carmel, Ca., and maybe a stop at Pismo Beach before heading home.

Smart Meter Update

I attended one of the 3 scheduled CPUC meetings in San Clemente to register my complaints.  There were about 100 people at this meeting.  Most were concerned about the healh side effects of the electrical waves generated by the meter.  I was mostly concerned with my esculating electric bills from the way they calculated the base units.  They have re-calculated my previous bills and issued me a credit.  I am now getting all my alloted units at the lower tier rate now.  I am still not happy about not getting meter readings, but I will monitor them once per year to ensure they are not trying to charge me for units I did not use.