Steamboat Springs, CO

Last year we met Mark and Susie through mutual friends and have returned for another visit. They have a log cabin that is incredible. And we're told all the animal heads on the walls sing and tell stories to each other every night. LOL.

Last year when we were here Tommy helped Mark with building a log garage. It was alot of fun cutting and milling the logs and placing them on top of each other and seeing the process up close and personal. This year Mark has finished the building part of it and is now placing siding on it. Tommy, once again, is helping. But not very much....these two guys laugh and play silly jokes on each other more than they work. Susie and I just sit back and supervise, something we both do best!


There have been 2 mountain lions found sleeping on the porch of a house that is only 3 houses away from here and alot of the neighbors have lambs and goats and I would hate to wake up one day and find out that they were attacked. But on the same hand, better them than me!


Roy and Kim live up the mountain from Mark and Susie and it just so happens while we are flying out to GA for Kyles graduation on Monday, Mark and Susie are flying out to the East coast also. Roy and Kim have volunteered to watch our animals while we are gone. The puppy in the pictures is Vladimir. He is a 15 week old Burmese Mountain Dog. Fully grown he will top out around 200lbs, but for now he is a bundle of cute fur. He will be Sire's playmate while we are gone.

Roy and Kim were trying to pick a color for their upstairs walls and purchased a bunch of sample colors. After a couple of weeks, with out a final decision made they decided to leave all the samples and created their own final outcome. It looks really cool.

A few minutes ago we received a phone call from Roy. Kim, who had been away, came home tonight and Sire did not want her in the house. Her house!! Its not fair to her or Roy to deal with the Sire's stress. Tommy will fly back to CO tomorrow and will miss Kyles graduation. I will take many, many pictures for him and clue him in on every detail.We cannot express thanks to Roy and Kim for volunteering to take care of our animals and are very sorry it did not work out with Sire.

 After dropping Tommy off at the airport tomorrow I will drive down to Columbia SC and meet up with Kaitlyn.  Thanks for reading.

A Week in Review

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Its been 10 days since I have blogged. Alot has happened and I have an enormous amount of pictures. I will break the blogs so you are not inundated. Where we were located we could not receive an Internet signal. Even with the Verizon Air Card. As of this past Wednesday we have arrived in Steamboat Springs, CO. The signal here is weak but at least we can access the web. I hope this blog works.

The first couple of pictures are of the new temporary housing unit, for all those who have not seen in it in person. I hope you can get an idea of what our traveling home is like. The part where the Polaris is (the garage) turns into a screened in patio when all the 'toys' are taken out. We use this room alot and the cats love to stare out the back screen all day.

After leaving Moab we headed to Grand Junction, CO. We stayed at a state park along the Colorado River. The first thing we were told when checking in was that they have seen two baby bear cubs roaming around looking for food and could not locate the mother. So beware! Great! I am starting to come to terms with these animals though, as long as I have Sire with me. He will warn me of anything lurking out there. He can smell them a mile away and stops dead in his tracks when he picks up a scent. I'm getting alittle better about it.

While at the park Tommy put a note and a dollar bill in a bottle and threw it in the river. The week prior we put 3 bottles in at Moab. We received 2 phones calls when they were found. We have not heard for my third one or Tommy's as of yet. The river is flowing at an incredible rate of speed. Kayak's and rafters are not permitted to ride for another week or so. The water levels are over all the banks because of the extreme snow melt. They have set records here this year and believe that some mountains will not melt at all this summer. 

While in Grand Junction I was sick for 3 days so we hung around camp and headed into town a couple of times. They have the weirdest street names I have ever seen before. Check out the pictures. Can you imagine telling a 5 or 6 year old to remember his address? Poor kid!

That's it for Grand Junction, not really alot to write about because I was under the weather. Next blog will be more interesting. Thanks for reading and have a good day.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Once again, we stole Gloria and Ivan for the day. Every time they have a day off we grab them. LOL

We left the RV Park around 11am and headed North to a trail call 7 Mile Rim. The off-road book stated it was difficult to moderate. Ivan drove his jeep and we the Polaris.

45 minutes into the trail the battery went dead on the camera so I missed alot of good shots. It was a great day of adventure. We were on the trails for  over 4 1/2 hours. On top of the rim we parked and walked around. It makes you feel as though you are on Mars. There is red sand, craters, lots of huge rocks and you can almost touch the sky. I laid down in one of the holes to show how big they were. Unfortunately, they did not come out well enough to post.

The first point of interest we came upon was the Uranium Arch.  This arch is a result of water eroding rock in 2 different ways.The 1st being, ground water flowing down through the porous sandstone above, (the layer of the arch). However, it can not permeate the the finger-grained rock below, (the layer beneath the arch). So the water flows along the contact point almost horizontally. Its reaches the surface of this ledge to form a seep. Overtime, the seep carves a cave. (Where I am standing). The 2nd part to this amazing, naturally formed sculptor is the water trapped in the vertical joint freezes and thaws every winter. Consequently, expansion and contraction erodes the joint. This creates a fin that is isolated from the remaining rock. And an arch is born. Essentially, groundwater works horizontally while the freeze and thaw process has worked vertically to create this.

Enough science, although Mr Lucks, my 7th grade science teacher would be extremely proud that I actually did pay attention. LOL.

We came across several deeply drilled holes where Uranium was mined. Tommy dropped a rock and we all counted in 1-100's to see how far down it fell. 4/100s was the conclusion.

Because of the recent rains and winds the rocks were more exposed and made the trail a bit challenging. At one point we were at a 45 degree angle traveling along a rock. It was not fun.

After a while the trail got easier and turned into pink sand. That is the best part, when you can just cruise along looking all around you. Every turn is different. Every turn is beautiful.

Once again, after a day on the trail, we hit our favorite watering hole. The Moab Brewery. $.15 wings is a big draw!

Tomorrow is our last full day in Moab, UT until next year.  Once the terms and contracts are finalized, and agreed upon with the Travel Channel, Tommy and I have comprised a list of some of the places we want to film. Moab is 1st on our list.

Thanks so much for reading and have a wonderful day.

Ken's Lake

Monday, June 13, 2011

Today we drove up to Ken's Lake. It is only 6.5 miles away from our RV camp. Once there we opted to keep on driving up the trail to a place called Steel Bender Trail. Not a friendly 4x4 trail.

Ken's lake is made up of 2610 acres of an open water reservoir. The diverted water falls over rock ledges, and  down stream to channel into the lake, which is used for water storage.

Moab's Spanish Valley, where Ken's lake is located,  is 10 miles long. It is a collapsed salt anticline, which is the result of several geologic forces. Geologist state that this entire area was under water at-least 7 times. The rocks are made up of sand mixed with minerals from the sea...hence, sandstone.

We parked the truck and hiked the rest of the trail. We were so excited because Gloria and Ivan, our daily trail guides, have not been here before. At least that's what we thought while we were exploring.

The first thing we came upon was two holes in the rocks. Tommy and I separated on the paths and Sire and I went one way to explore and he the other. What Sire and I found was a cave. He found it first. He was inside it by the time I reached it. Oh, before I go any further, let me clue you in alittle....Tommy said we were going to Ken's Lake with Sire today.  A nice, relaxing, sitting around on the beach, watching him fetch - all afternoon. I had on white shorts and flip flops! NOT exactly hiking attire. I had taken off my flip flops and walked barefoot the entire time. It wasn't really that bad except for all the little spurs that are hidden in the sand that decided to attach themselves to my feet - constantly!

modern day petroglyphs

 

 

La Sal Mountains

very, very, very cooolllldddd water!! 100% snow melt.

can you see Sire? I was trying to get prospective.

So Sire and  I walk around this cave and around the rock and are having a great time. I am really happy he came with me as opposed to Tommy because if there was a wild animal around he would sense it and I would know to run. On the way back down the trail we hear Tommy calling us. We look UP! He is inside this cave about 80 feet  up in the rock. How he got there was a mystery.

Ken Lake

Can you see our truck and how very small it looks?

He told me how to negotiate my way up, and Sire and I joined him. The coolest thing about his cave was that it was an old movie set. The cave was covered in chicken wire and stucco to re create a natural cave. There were still lighting apparatus hanging from the ceilings. They had air brushed petroglyphs on the inside walls. I wonder what move was filmed here. It was awesome!  There were 10 different rooms to explore and each one was different.

When we got back to the truck we decided to walk up the really bad jeep trail. We only went about 1/2 mile because my feet were starting to get really sore. We found an arch on our travels and thought about Gloria and Ivan, once again, who did not see this place before. We were so excited to go home and tell them all about it. They seem to know every nook and cranny here in Moab. They have been coming here for over 20 years. Us -  2 years! Hopefully, many, many more!

 

 

Tommy and Sire walking down to the waterfall.

doesn't this look like a Chevy Commercial?

We did stop at the lake on the way down. AFTER Tommy decided to walk down the waterfall with Sire. 250  feet down, nothing but rock. I drove the truck down to the bottom to meet back up with them. They were successful. I was happy they made it. The water is all snow melt and is extremely cold and is running extremely fast! I was really worried about the boys but they did good.

Who knows whats on the schedule for tomorrow, but Thursday is another day with Gloria and Ivan. We plan on going jeeping.... stay tuned. Thanks for reading.