GA Gypsies – Fulltiming

Rode into Ouray this afternoon to look around. A lot like Jackson, a lot of shops and restaurants. The neat thing about Ouray is that it is in a box canyon. The whole little town is surrounded by giant mountains. It turned cool (we were in shorts) while we were there, then started raining. Hard. And it was snowing up in the higher mountains. Drove back to Ridgway and ate at the True Grit restaurant again. When we got back to the camper, a big limb from the tree on our site had fallen and barely missed hitting the camper. Slept with no AC on, just windows open and the fan on to make noise.

 

We  had to move to a different site since we decided to stay longer, and we really have a better view of the mountains and the valley. And after riding around Tuesday and looking at the calendar, we made a decision to stay for a whole MONTH here! Yeah! Can ride back up to the meadow in a week or so and see what the leaves look like then. We went into Ridgway and had lunch at the True Grit Cafe – it had lots of memorabilia and mounted animals and signs and the food was really good.

While I was taking pictures from our table, there was a group of men sitting at the bar and the older man said, “Hey, you can take a picture of us!” He was kidding, but I did take pictures and we struck up a conversation. The old man was really flirting with me and I was flattered – he said he loved to hear me talk and that I was “a Georgia Peach”! They were from Illinois and were out here hunting. I think the older man was the Granddad, the middle aged was the son, and the younger was the grandson. Said they came every year and had gotten an elk and a bear and they were going back out after lunch. Invited Tony to come along, but he declined, saying he didn’t think he could do all the walking and climbing. Grandpa said he didn’t hunt anymore, he just came along as the camp cook. Then he and Tony started talking about Dutch Oven cooking and cast iron. Well, that conversation went on for awhile. Never know who you will meet when you just speak to someone.

Above was the older gentleman who flattered me with his flirting!

Our drive to Kate’s Meadow, a place that has always been on my bucket list. In Ridgway, we are at 7,000 feet. To the meadow and pass, we climbed to 10,000 feet. Rough, rough, rough gravel/dirt road. Open range and cows along the road up there almost at the meadow. Now see if you recognize any of the following pictures.

And THE rock that Rooster was running towards in the shootout with Ned Pepper. I touched it!

Rode to the top of the pass, just a mile further, and more pictures coming back down. They said, “It will take about 30 minutes to get to the meadow. It’s good roads.” We started up about 4:50 and got to the meadow at 6:10. My drink sloshed out of the sippy part of the lid on some of the bumps. And it got narrower. And we climbed higher. And it got cooler. 55 degrees. It’s hunting season – there were several hunting camp sites along the way in the National Forest. Coming back down, it was beginning to get dark and some of the men were back at one of the camps, cooking. Boy, did it smell good. We were tempted to turn in and invite ourselves to supper – hopefully elk chops!

Oh, and ask my husband what happens when you drive 3,000 feet up bumpy roads and open a drink in the car. Well, it wasn’t pretty – it was a flavored sugar free water, but it still had fizz and it went everywhere – all over him, all over the camera that was sitting on the hump of the truck, all over my left arm that was holding the camera. Thank goodness we had napkins and wet wipes. (I never leave home without wet wipes.) All of this happened at the turn around above Kate’s Meadow, so at least we were not in the road. I was actually amazed at the number of people we met that were coming down as we were going up. Some were hunters, but many were tourist in regular cars. At least we were in a truck with higher clearance and 4-wheel drive. A fun day. Another check off my bucket list. Thank you, Lord for all of your blessings.

Oh, a picture from yesterday.

Cherry limeades. Thomas would be happy. Peach half and half teas. Makes me happy!

Oh – almost forgot – this is for you, Megan Puckett!

Love You!

Sorry that the men appeared four times – I couldn’t get their pictures to load because the internet shut down and then finally, after finishing and previewing they had load and now I can’t delete them.

Montana, you have some competition! I love western Colorado! I liked the northern area we were in yesterday – Craig and Meeker, but we didn’t have time to explore. Today we drove back to Montrose – really neat town. And guess what I saw for the first time in weeks and weeks? SONIC! We went to the visitor’s center and got lots of information on what to do. We can’t come back to GA until Christmas – there is so much to do. Saw the True Grit cafe this afternoon. Tomorrow, we are riding to Owl Creek Pass, (forest service roads – gravel/dirt) and going to THE meadow where the shootout was at the end of the movie. The leaves have not turned as much down here, so we are planning to stay until at least the weekend, maybe a few days longer. There’s the Ute Indian Museum to explore, the Million Dollar Highway to drive from here to Silverton, The Black Canyon of the Gunnison and gazillions of other things. We may even camp in the meadow one night. No pictures today except I took a few pictures of clouds (again). Until tomorrow.

It rained last night at the campground. We went outside around 9:30 and I heard something, then saw something moving about 60 feet away – it scared me at first and then I realized it was a deer. Had horns, wasn’t afraid of us and kept on grazing. We left Craig around 10:00. We stopped at the visitor’s center in Parachute, Colorado to get some information. She told us we should take a different route, going along the Grand Mesa scenic route. It was beautiful. The aspens were gold, we reached fir trees and we were in alpine meadows with beautiful lakes and talus fields (places on the mountains where piles of little rocks have broken off and are continually falling down the mountains – bears are often seen in there eating moths that hide under the rocks).

It’s National Forest – public lands, so there is free camping, most of them around the lakes. At the summit there was Grand Mesa Visitor Center –  we went in and got some info. on camping. We might head back that way – about an hour from here – and “boondock” camp – no power or water. The air smelled wonderful up there and there are moose, elk, black bears, but no grizzlies and lots of trails to walk. The temperature had dropped to 55 degrees and we reached an altitude of 10810 feet. Elk season has begun for bow and black powder, so there were hunters in the National Forest. They said it would only be open 2 -3 more weeks before closing up for winter. We left, going downhill until we went through Ridgway and got to our campground. It’s just off the road, but we are on the backside and have a beautiful view of the mountains and the valley – a rancher’s pastures with cows. We rode into Ouray and saw the Court House – the same one in True Grit.

Look at those mountains behind the courthouse!

Tomorrow we’ll go exploring – up Owl Creek Pass, looking for the meadow where the shootout at the end occurred. There is lots to do around here – Durango, Silverton, Telluride, so much, and several scenic highways. We might stay longer than originally planned – I want to see the aspens turned golden in the meadow and we are at about 6,000 feet – they are just beginning to turn. Lots of pictures to share. Coming out of Craig, the landscape was just undescribable. Very dry and desolate and sagebrush.

Then we got on the other side of the mountains and everything is greener. They were still growing CORN and most of it had not matured yet. (Hard to take pictures out the window when you are moving at 60 mph – I kept thinking I was going to drop the camera.

It also rained before we got to the Pass at Grand Mesa and had rained a bit here at the campground. This campground is pretty, but there are others that we will check out tomorrow and decide if we stay here through at least Friday or Saturday or move to another one.

Rain clouds and just “purty” clouds. I’ve been out of GA so long, I’m afraid I’m losing my accent!

 

Left Lander around 10:00 AM, headed to Colorado. The landscape was absolutely surreal. Mountains, plateaus, sagebrush, hoodoos, pronghorns, sagebrush, red mountains, white mountains, sagebrush. It is a very rich region for dinosaur bones. There were also oil derricks and natural gas wells everywhere. And pronghorns. Did I say there were pronghorns – everywhere. First time we’ve seen a blue sky with puffy, white clouds in a long time. Even a flash of lightning and a little bit of rain. We made it to Craig, Colorado around 3:30 – tonight it looks like it might rain even though it’s not forecast to. Took some amazing pictures and the card in the camera wasn’t in all the way – so no pictures – boo. Heading for Ouray, Colorado tomorrow, we think – there are lot’s of things to do here and millions of acres of public land that you can dry camp on. There are also wild horses nearby – we may decided to try our hand at “boondocking” for the first time, but I am really anxious to get to Ouray. We will see where we end up tomorrow. Everybody stay safe.

We left Cody around 10:00, headed to Rawlins. However, after a couple of stops, we ended up staying in Lander, Wyoming. The rock formations and mountains were beautiful. Just a bit of smoke blowing in from Montana and Idaho. We are camping on a bluff, looking out over Lander. Heading south tomorrow, towards Colorado. Some pictures from yesterday and today.

And good-night from Sleeping Bear RV Park in Lander, Wyoming.

Felt good to sleep until my regular time – 10:30. Went to Cody for the afternoon – visited a quilt store and the visitor’s center and discovered there was a quilt show going on about two blocks away, so we headed there. By then, it was time to go to a favorite place to eat in Cody – Proud Cut Saloon. It was very good. Looks like it might rain here tonight, it is windy. We are planning to head to Rawlins, WY tomorrow.

Left Cardwell headed to Cody, Wyoming. Took a break by stopping in a quilt store in Big Timber. We were going to stop around 4:00, before getting to Cody, but there were no campgrounds – the state of Montana had 2 along the way but they were closed. Smoke still very thick in the air. We ended up in Cody around 5:30 and decided we would stay two nights, so I’ll sleep in tomorrow.

Left Bigfork around 11:00 AM this morning and drove down the Hwy through Seeley Lake. The smoke was horrible before we left and just got worse. People are still working in Seeley Lake, but they are advising people to not go outside in the evenings when the inversion occurs and the smoke thickens in the valleys. The staging area for the Rice Ridge fire, there in Seeley Lake, the biggest fire in the nation, has tripled. They have semi trucks set up with sleeping areas for the firemen. It is just surreal. We went south, then east and made it to Cardwell, MT, just outside of Whitehall, MT where the actor, Bill Pullman has a ranch. The smoke eased up just a bit for awhile and then thickened again, but it is nowhere close to what it was in Kalispell and Seeley Lake. God said that the nearer to the end of time, there would be all kinds of disasters. We’re seeing hurricane Irma about to make landfall, just a week after the hurricane devastated Houston, and the hundreds of wildfires out west. We will be heading towards Cody, WY tomorrow and hope to make it to Ouray, CO in two more days. Everyone be safe back home and pray for all those firefighters and people who are losing homes and livestock to the fires.

The  middle picture is of the Flathead Lake that we took last night in Lakeside. You could not even see to the other side or the mountains – it looked more like an ocean.

This is our last day here in Swan Lake/Bigfork. The smoke has been so thick all day today, you can only see less than 1/2 mile. If I didn’t know there were mountains outside our window, I would not know they were there. Going into Kalispell this afternoon, you could not see any mountains surrounding the valley. People outside are wearing surgical mask and they are telling the young and the elderly to stay inside. The fires north of here in Eureka and Glacier just exploded Sunday evening into firestorms. The Sperry Chalet is gone and they are packing all the artifacts from Lake McDonald Lodge. Everyone out here is saying it is the worst they have ever seen. I know the hurricane that hit Texas was bad and Irma, at a Cat 5 is going to be devastating. These fires are devastating too and they aren’t getting much attention anywhere except in the close proximity of the fires. People are losing homes, ranches, animals and are being evacuated to wherever they can find safe places. One person in Kalispell has 200 acres and two bunk houses that will hold around 40 people and she has opened both the land and houses up for evacuees. People who have horses and cows and sheep have very limited places to take them. It is just horrible. We are leaving tomorrow and we have changed our route to get to Missoula, then start east as quickly as we can. Locals need the camping spots and we are concerned about being able to get diesel when we need it. We’re hoping to be in Colorado in a few days and hang out there for several days. Had my last shiatsu visit today. I am going to miss that. Wanted to eat at the Tamarack one last time, but got a carry out instead. We’ve packed up the outside and inside of the camper as much as we can. Going back, things are so much better organized, so I don’t think I will be as stressed. Hoping I can make more miles each day that we travel. Missing my two little yorkies really bad, but I know they are in good hands (or laps, as the case may be!) Planning to be back in Bulloch County the end of September, then I’m going to have my knees fixed. Tired of them hurting. Praying that the hurricane dies out and doesn’t hit the GA coast or go across GA. Pray for the folks out here dealing with the fires – they want be put out until the snows come in October.