We arrived in lake City on the 6th. Spent the weekend catching up with Victor and Charlotte, Ron and Loretta and Jim and Selena. Monday I left for Tucson to pick up the ATV.
Left early Monday morning. Sky was clear and the air fresh. As I turned onto US 285, I began to notice a fog in the mountains to my left. It was not to the top but settled in just below the peaks. Strange. It was not until later that I realized t was smoke!
Made it to Tucson in one day, arriving at Walmart about 5:30pm, to pickup prescriptions we had ordered. I told the clerk, that I had set a new record for driving the farthest to pickup prescriptions at a Walmart! 772 miles. He had a shocked look on his face!
My abode for the night was V&C’s house in Desert Pueblo. It was 95 inside when I went in. Turned the swamp coolers on and before long the temps were dropping!
Being an early riser, I went to McDonald’s for breakfast and ate inside to wait for someone to be at the gate of Rincon, so I could get in. Arrived at gate around 7:30 am, but no one was there, so I preceded to use the key pad to have the gate open. No response, but someone did go in the other side to open the gate and I was able to follow them in. Drove in picked up the ATV and started my journey back to Lake City.
I could not drive as fast with the trailer hooked on. Set the cruise at 60 and made good progress. Nearing Santa Fe I began to see a column of smoke rising ahead of me.
On the way down I got off off the interstate at the cutoff to Silver City and noticed the road was closed. Later I found out there was a fire North of Silver City called “Silver” This smoke column was probably Thompson Ridge in NM. There were three fires. Thompson Ridge, Jaroso, Tres Lagunas, as well as the Silver fire.
This is a few from Applebee’s, Large Column of smoke. I looked at Wunderground maps and saw that there were 2 fires in the direction that I was heading. One on my right and one on my left. Now I knew why there was smoke in the valleys along US 285. I stayed at the Comfort Inn that night.
Arrived back at the Falls around 1:30pm.
The next day, while preparing the ATV for a ride the next day, I started the “Beast” and discovered the fuel empty light was on! Strange, as I never let the fuel get that low. Even the gauge showed nothing. Hmmmm. When I got to Rincon, I had to take the cover off. Loretta had sown a piece of rope to the bottom to secure the cover underneath the ATV. That had not been undone. So I am lead to believe that the gas was siphoned out while parked at the Comfort Inn in Santa Fe.
Our first ride was to American Basin, along the trail to the top of Cinnamon Pass. It was too early for the flowers to be in bloom, but they were starting. A last minute decision to go to the top was made, however after getting there, we did not stay long as it was windy and cold! So down we went!
Loretta and I spent last week (mornings) working VBS at the First Baptist Church. I was th Geek adviser and Loretta helped serve snacks. we had about 35 kids that came to learn about Paul.
Our next ride was the Big one! around the Alpine Loop. Dave and Theresa White, Sterling and Rosie Bacun and Bob and Greta Dittmer came up from the Howard area to visit with us. We took a short ride when they arrived, up to Round top.
The ride around Alpine Loop was great! We stopped often to show our visitors the beauty of the area. We had lunch at Animas Forks, a historic mining town nestled in a beautiful valley in the mountains. Snow was still on the mountains and along the trail. Total mileage was 57.4 miles. It was cold and windy atop both passes! Didn’t stay long!
Tuesday, Ron and Loretta, Rosie , Greta and Loretta and I went up Nellie Creel Trail. This was a short, but rocky trail (4 miles) to the UnCompagne Trail head. This was Rosie’s first time driving the atv on a trail. Bob and Sterling stayed back to fish. Rosie did a great job and Loretta2 did a fantastic job riding to the top. The waterfall was running full and provide great pictures.
At the top it was picture time for the 4 girls! They look like bandits ! The trail was dusty and they all wore handkerchiefs over their noses.
Some more info about the fires. To the south of us is Creede and South Fork. Both towns have been threatened by the wildfires. South Fork has been evacuated for a week now, Creede is under preevacuation. Which means be ready to move out.
This what we saw from the church! This is the Papoose fire. It is located just below our friends Gay and Andy’s beautiful log house. Fortunately there is a river and wetlands below them. Also they have done prevention clean up of and burnable material around their house. The fire as of today has not destroyed any structures. It is over 80,000 acres in size! The main road 149, is closed from Creede to South Fork and the road over Wolf Creek pass is closed as well.
So that is what has been happening in our world! How about yours. I do have a page called This and That if you would like to contribute. Just email me your story.
Happy Trails