About six weeks ago, these hoomans got their second dose of vaccinations, and we hit the road to visit family. We hadn’t made the trip since October 2019. That last trip had been the first with our aging husky and our Casita trailer. We found the best route to travel with stops at Clayton Lake State Park and Gentry Creek Campground, make the trip more enjoyable; and we don’t feel like zombies when we arrive.
We park the Casita in Burns Park RV park, which is right in between Juniper’s great-grandma’s and grandparents’. This trip I also got to see my brother for the first time in about 5 years and meet my new niece! And saw my uncle, aunt and grandfather from CA & MT that we hadn’t seen in about 13yrs! If Juniper wasn’t with us in the Casita, she was hanging with Uncle Louie at Grandma & Grandpa’s.
And a week later, we made the same trek back the other way.
The new year brought a sad parting with our 15yo husky-malamute, Pakak, the pup, the last of our original pack of seven dogs. The house sat quiet and empty for about a week while we allowed ourselves some time. Having spent the last 18 years with a family of four husky-malamutes, we knew we wanted another husky or malamute, a sled dog, a northern breed. We also wanted another rescue dog, so we started looking around our local humane societies and Colorado based breed specific rescues.
Pakak on the Chama River, September 2020
We had every intent of adopting a slightly older dog. We were open to about 2-5 year olds, thinking they may have tougher times finding homes. Through Taysia Blue Husky Rescue, we ended up on the puppy list and within about a week of that, we were notified about and jumped on the opportunity to adopt Juniper.
Her name with her foster family was Olive. She was the only girl in a litter of five named after taco toppings: Pico, Guac, Salsa and Queso. We still had to wait two weeks for her to be old enough to pick up over a weekend haul to Kansas City, at the beginning of February, traversing precarious highways, in snow and freezing fog.
Juniper and her littermates, photos courtesy of Taysia Blue and their foster family
It was so worth it, and she’s been the perfect match. She sleeps in the car yet is adventurous. She loves all the people we meet. We need more experiences with dogs. She was introduced to other dogs in her foster family. The few she’s met around town, she has mostly ignored. She has slept through the night and been the easiest pup we’ve ever had to house-train. To celebrate a month with Juniper and four months since her birthday, we took advantage of a small spring-like window in the weather to camp on the Chama River.
I’ve written about this camping spot before and painted it. We usually seem to visit over shoulder seasons. When we’re lucky there are boaters to watch. This weekend our only nearby neighbors were geese and cows, although we did hear owls and coyotes.
Friday, March 5th
Playing in the snow in the driveway in the morning while Dad hooks up the trailer.
By the afternoon, we were soaking up the sun.
Saturday, March 6th
Evenings are for gathering around the campfire.
Sunday, March 7th
River walks and afternoon climbing. Mud puppy!
Monday, March 8th
A girl could get used to this.
Tuesday, March 9th
Wednesday, March 10th
CHOMP!
Juni turned 4 months old today, and we all celebrated with blueberry pancakes.
Thursday, March 11th
Friday, March 12th
Squeezed in one more nap in Mom’s lap and a few more stick chomps under the rabbit brush before we had to pack up and head home.
In my last camping post, I signed off with the intention of being Alaska bound this summer. That dream did not become reality this year. It is interesting to observe the twists and turns, the changes that life has laid before us as an alternative.
We knew it would be a monumental undertaking to be able to leave our normal routines and lives for a couple of months, and our desire to make that journey still burns. What really slowed us down was the repair work our Volkswagen needed. Hubby got the new engine going last October for his birthday trip to the Gila. When we got home, he decided to tear into the body work. After four months of winter shop hours, it was Spring and time to get out and enjoy the outdoors; yet the bus was only half finished by then. That’s when we realized we should shift our priorities and find another ‘vehicle’ to enjoy the gorgeous Summer the San Juans had in store.
July 2019 Latir Lakes, Costilla ParkJuly 2019 Latir Creek, Costilla Park
Hubby started researching options and as soon as he settled on a Casita, the best one showed up on craigslist for the right price and only an hour away in Durango. The original owners had bought it in 2012, and at ninety-one he was ready to let it go. We’ve gotten 5 trips in so far this year, with the longest being two weeks for my birthday. There are at least four more tentatively planned for this season.
June 2019 Palisade, Middle ForkJuly 2019 N. Beach CG on the Taylor RiverJuly 2019 N. Beach CG on the Taylor RiverColumbines outside Crested Butte
Recently, we were asked if we were going to give up our VW camping? No way. There are so many places the truck and trailer can’t go, more primitive camping options and it gets much better gas mileage. In our minds, the Casita has already paid for itself. Not only as a camper that we’ve enjoyed this Summer, but also as another small house when our septic was having problems in the main house or it was too hot to sleep in the loft. It’s always good to have options.
We intend to return to Silver City and hopefully visit our friends again in Bisbee this Fall. It will be with the Casita, while the bus waits patiently for the wheel of the year to turn inward again.
I’ll admit, I’ve been dragging my heels to make a post after my last one about fire season, lest I jinx us. We held our breath for an awful long time. Since I started writing this, the Camp Fire and other wildfires in California showed us that those fears can be well founded. Neighborhoods are not immune, and I know ours has a big forest, wild-land interface.
Seemed like we couldn’t go to town this Fall without coming home to a fire in the neighborhood (there were at least 3). From what we heard listening to the online radio traffic, seeing their response time, professionalism and talent, those fire crews and our local PFPD are amazing.
When the remnants of hurricane Rosa drifted our way in early October, we finally got a little relief, but the drought map still looked bad. I started to see the sprouts of weeds rejuvenate along the driveway, and the grasses I thought were goners began to emerge, just in time for frost. The Fall seemed somewhat mild and quick for the colors to peak. We stayed extremely busy with chores and projects in the transition between seasons this year.
Celebrating in the Gila
A lot of the work (not done by me) was to get the new engine in the bus, and get a few miles on it before we high-tailed it down to the Gila to celebrate hubby’s 40th. It was the slow-down, camping time we needed and exactly how he wanted to celebrate. We started the trip this time by meeting up with some friends at Snow Lake, where the best gift ever was the final custom fitting for some new bus awning accessories; and ended with working from the road for just one more week at our favorite cabins in Pinos Altos.
I don’t know why I haven’t written about the Gila yet? Maybe because I get bogged down in culling pictures from our trips, and then get distracted from writing the post to support them?
We were first introduced to the northern and easterly most parts of this National Forest during a series of winter-time, VW shenanigans in 2012 & 2013. Since then we’ve been drifting further and further south every year and have fallen in love with Silver City and the surrounding areas.
2013 Snow Lake
2015 Gila Cliff Dwellings
2018 Faywood Hot Springs
Since our first trip on our own in 2015, we’ve come back every year to camp, try new hot springs, and explore the forest and attractions like the WNMU museum’s collection of Mimbres pottery and the Gila Cliff Dwellings. There’s a lot of history, character and creativity here.
The bus and its new engine did great. There were a few hiccups but nothing that stopped us for very long or can’t be tuned/corrected. We barely made it home before snow covered the driveway. Now the bus is back in the garage and all of the camping interior and gear is removed and stowed. Hubby’s got her mostly torn down to the bare bones as he replaces some much needed rusted out body parts in preparation for next summer’s adventures.
Now that it’s been a year since we visited, I’m finally getting around to writing about our Chaco vacation that I mentioned in my last post about my Chimney Rock Workshop. I thought about making this post a series like I did for our Utah trip, but I didn’t have nearly as many photos to share.
Google maps shows Chaco Culture National Historical Park about 3 hours from us. Between the speed of the bus and some of the back roads we took, I think it took us more like 4-5 hrs. We’d reserved our campsite online, so all we had to do was check-in, set-up to watch the sunset, and make dinner. The first big cold snap of the season was moving through, and it felt like we practically had the Park to ourselves.
Camping at Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Saturday, we set out with the intention to hike the Pueblo Alto Trail which overlooks much of the Park. What we didn’t count on was that the ‘entrance’ to the trail was a pretty steep, almost bouldering, stairway to the top that our dog, Pakak did not want to climb once she’d gotten a few feet up it. We climbed back down and altered our destination to one of the furthest outliers within the Park, the Peñasco Blanco Trail. We were rewarded with solitude, and able to wander and wonder through the Petroglyph Trail. Turning around at the Supernova Pictograph site, made for an almost 6 mile hike. After a rest, we walked around Pueblo del Arroyo and called it a day. Back at the campsite, we set to baking garlic knots and cinnamon rolls for dinner, and spent some quality time B.S.ing with the friendly, Park Ranger.
Hiking out to the Supernova Pictograph
Sunday we awoke to 19 degrees and the bus blasted with snow. The winds were something we knew would be a factor, but they sure did blow through our bones during most of the day. Later in the day, once the bus thawed out, we took her for a drive to warm up. Some rodent, maybe a kangaroo rat, had crept into the bus and stowed a bunch of the dog food into the heater pipe. It sounded like one of those childhood push-popper toys that kinda looks like a vacuum. It spit out dog food into the floorboard for miles, and the heater still smells like it. We braved the wind to visit Chetro Ketl and the most important and studied site in the canyon, Pueblo Bonito. I was in awe just by it’s size. The dusting of snow was a real treat, too, as it added a new dimension to the landscape’s shadows and highlights.
Monday, we packed up and headed towards Abiquiu. Needing a break from the cold, we planned to hole up and thaw out at the Abiquiu Inn. This pet-friendly Inn is our favorite stop whenever we find ourselves in this neighborhood. Their restaurant is quite tasty, too. Along the way, we found a road with great views to stretch our legs and romp around in the snow for a little while.
Rested, warm and bathed, we spent the next two nights on the Chama river. I’ve written about this spot before. It seems to stay pretty warm, and we basked like lizards in the sun for a few days.
Camping on the Chama River
Thursday we drove towards Taos, camping near Pilar in the Orilla Verde Area of the Rio Grande Gorge, which is a newly designated National Monument. Again, we were welcomed with solitude. After picking a site, we ran into town for dinner. The next day was spent rambling around Taos and finally meeting up with some friends who live there to crash on their couch. Saturday was the haul home with another great adventure (and our coldest camping yet) concluded.
