Return to Gunnison Again

When our heat pump put a big dent in our Summer travel plans, we decided to head back to Gunnison. When we arrived in our favorite mountain valley town, we spotted a Winnebago Tour in our park that looked a lot like ours. (Except it had a working heat pump!)

Shortly after our arrival for our second stay in our adopted hometown this summer, the owners of Bullwinkle's twin stopped by to introduce themselves. Bill and Carrie are extended travelers who, as it turns out, we tried to meet up in Texas Hill Country a couple of years ago. We had been following each other's blogs for awhile and thought we were in close proximity. But, as often happens, our blogs were behind our travels and we missed each other. What a delightful surprise to find these fun folks here in Gunnison! We so enjoyed getting to know each other.

Actually, it's no surprise we hit it off with Bill and Carrie. Turns out we have more than our Tours in common. Our new friends travel with two kitties (and two dogs), too. This cutie is Tractor.

Our unexpected return to Gunnison also gave us more time for fun with friends Karen and Arvin.

We finally got our Jeeps together for an little off-roading above Blue Mesa Reservoir. We trekked through rain and hail on that fun journey. But, the views were worth it.

Grandsons Sam and Grady came along for the ride. Looks like Sam got a little Jeepin' practice in on the trail. He did great!

During our return to Gunnison, we also enjoyed catching up with Doug and Nona, who we got to know the night before we left last time. Doug, Nona, Carrie, Paul and I had a great hike on the Dillon Pinnacles trail.

Even in the least flattering light of the warm midday sun, the Pinnacles were impressive.

The trail offered sweeping views of Blue Mesa Reservoir, which is noticeably low this year. Last Summer, the full lake was an immense impressive sight. After last year's mild winter, we've heard reports that the lake is down as much as 35 feet, and it definitely shows.

We had so much fun on the Pinnacles hike that we did it again when fellow fulltiming friends Fred and Sharon arrived in town. We met these two fun folks near Zion National Park last Summer. They made a detour from their toasty travels to meet up with us and cool off in Gunnison. We really enjoyed sharing our favorite little town and its scenic surroundings with them. Thanks so much for coming our way!

Fred and Sharon's visit was well-timed. They arrived just in time to see the USA Pro Cycling Challenge come through town. We enjoyed the inaugural event so much last year. Once again, Gunnison stood tall and put on a party as the cyclists came to town.

On the second day of this rigorous week-long race across Colorado, 95 professional riders started in Montrose and "whooshed" through Gunnison as they made the turn to the finish in Crested Butte.

The next day, Gunnison hosted the start of Stage 3 of the race, also known as the Queen's Stage. The crowds gathered early to watch the riders sign in and walk along "autograph row" before the race.

Gunnison gave the riders an enthusiastic sendoff as they began their 130-mile ride to Aspen. The day's route covered two 12,000-foot mountain passes for a total climb of 9,623 feet. Incredible!

After the professionals left town, the kids hit the streets. Bicycle races were held for three age brackets. Sam and Grady were ready to roll.

Grady had a look of fierce determination during his heat. And, Sam was so fast he raced out of my camera shot. Way to go, boys!

After the race festivities, we took a drive with Sharon and Fred toward Crested Butte to scenic Gothic Road.

The cloud cover gave us a cool day and some very interesting reflections. We love this drive. It's different every time we visit!

The late wildflowers gave the valley floor a fading yellow glow.

Bits of autumn color are just starting to show. In just a few weeks this stand of Aspens will be ablaze in yellow. (We're thinking we might just have to be here for that next year!)

Our "surprise" month in Gunnison gave us many more moments that remind us how much we love this town. These ponies near the Palisades greeted us along several walks.

This crystal clear stream meandered along another path. Gunnison is a great town for walking.

It's a good thing we did a lot of walking, because we managed to visit our favorite eateries around town. We even squeezed in a couple of new places (for us, anyway). The pulled pork sandwiches at The Filling Station were "real good".

This month's visit did present a surprise or two, too. Early one morning we watched this hot air balloon pass just over the moose and make an emergency landing just two sites down. The pilot said he was running low on fuel and had to get down. Thankfully, he was able to do so safely. The whole ordeal provided a morning of free entertainment in the park.

As we were preparing to leave yesterday, a buzz worked its way through the park. "Mitt Romney is coming to town," our neighbors told each other. A quick check of the Romney web site revealed the candidate was somewhere far from here preparing for the upcoming convention. What was coming to town was Romney's bus, with folks on board stumping for local and state Republicans, and campaigning for Romney, too, of course. It's not every day you get to see a presidential candidate's bus, so we took a break from our pre-departure routine and checked it out. Regardless of your party affiliation, it was all pretty cool.

Bill and Carrie, who left for a couple of weeks then decided to return to Gunnison (And we're so glad they did!), participated in all the fun. After all the festivities, we readied ourselves to leave our mountain hideaway. We enjoyed a wonderful birthday dinner celebrating Paul's 55th at Twisted Fork, our favorite restaurant in town. I must confess I got a little teary on the way home. We really love Gunnison. We're going to miss it. But, we'll be back!

We made our way over Monarch Pass (for the FOURTH time this Summer) this morning and arrived in Loveland late this afternoon. With just a few miles to go on I-25, we spotted Air Force One landing in Loveland/Fort Collins for the President's appearance at CSU. (But, we didn't get a picture.) Wow! Two presidential candidate vehicle sightings in as many days. Such is life in a swing state!

We're back at DM, enjoying Don and Mary Ann's gracious hospitality for another night. Everything is set for tomorrow. If all goes as expected, the work will be completed tomorrow and we'll spend one more night here. Then, we'll head west with our freshly repaired basement air blazing. Good thing, too. It's hot in Kansas. We're gonna need it.

One of our fulltiming "to-dos" has been to spend an entire Summer in Colorado. Little did we know this would be the year. It wasn't where we expected to be, but Colorado has been a great place for us to be this summer, especially with our crippled AC. On this, our (fingers crossed) second to the last night in the Centennial State this year, we are grateful for the good times we've had this Summer. It's been fun.

To spend two months in Gunnison was a very pleasant surprise. And, we loved it. It made dealing with our heat pump maladies just a bit more tolerable. Thank You, Gunnison, for a wonderful time.

We will definitely be back!

Loveland - Part 1

Our Summer travels have not exactly gone as planned! Instead of meeting friends in Montana, we spent this week trying to get our moose repaired. (Ugh!) We arrived in Loveland, just a few miles south of Fort Collins (Weren't we just here?) Sunday afternoon. After a quick overnight at Loveland RV Resort, we checked into nearby DM Mobile RV Repair.  Owners Don and Mary Ann are great folks who made us feel comfortable that our moose was in good hands.

Our repair required removal of our heat pump for at least a day or two. With daytime temps forecasted near 100 degrees, staying in an air conditioner-less moose was not an option. We packed up the cats and a couple of bags and checked into the very accommodating and pet-friendly AmericInn in nearby Windsor. Our girl kitty felt most at home on top of our bags during our stay.

Our boy kitty enjoyed climbing to new heights in our two-room suite. From here he literally tried to climb the wall. (As our stay grew from a "night or two" to four, so did we!)

We made use of the time by doing some sightseeing in the area. These growing storm clouds looked quite dramatic over Lake Loveland.

Our friends Steve and Cathy encouraged us to tour the Benson Sculpture Garden during our stay. And, we're glad they did! Since 1985, this park has served as a beautiful and unique outdoor setting for showcasing sculpture. Each year the Loveland High Plains Arts Council hosts "Sculpture In The Park", one of the largest juried outdoor sculpture shows in the United States. This year's show, which starts in just two weeks, will showcase more than 2,000 pieces by 170 sculptors from around the world. Each year, the city acquires a few of the pieces from the annual show. The garden's permanent collection now includes more than 135 pieces on display amongst the walking paths, trees, plants and a winding stream.

When it comes to art, Loveland lives up to its name. The City of Loveland was the first in Colorado to pass an Art in Public Places Ordinance, which designates one percent of the city's capital projects for the purchase and maintenance of art.

Today, the city's collection includes more than 300 pieces placed in 29 public locations. The value of the growing collection is estimated to be approximately $7.6 million. That's something to crow about!

Living in a hotel for a few days meant lots of eating out during our stay. Henry's, located in historic downtown Loveland, was one of our favorites.

Maybe because we were living in a hotel, we stopped by open houses at a couple of new residential developments around Loveland. We didn't find anything we couldn't live without, but we did like this kitchen.

One of the most welcome distractions during our stay was an evening outing with our niece Kate, who was in town to visit her friends Abby and Max. The five of us topped off some shopping with a trip to Menchie's for frozen yogurt. No photos of Kate, Abby or Max, but I did get a snap of Kate's very healthy cone! It was great to spend time with y'all!

While we were out finding things to do, the cats were safe and sound crated in our air-conditioned suite. The housekeeping staff took a thoughtful extra step to make their stay comfortable.

This morning we got the call from Don and Mary Ann that after extensive conversations with our heat pump manufacturer, a diagnosis had been made on our heat pump. And, the news wasn't good. (Yes, dear readers, we did just wrap up two trips to the Winnebago factory for this problem, which was deemed "fixed" by them eight short weeks ago. Seems the work in Forest City caused more problems than it solved.) The repair plan requires parts that need to be shipped from the manufacturer. Instead of waiting around toasty Loveland, we've decided to pack our bags, check out of our temporary home and head for someplace cooler. We were all eager to get rolling again.

When we arrived back at DM late this afternoon, Don was wrapping up placing our crippled heat pump back in the moose. After all, half an air conditioner is better than nothing! We so appreciate Don's expertise and patience with this extra pesky problem.

After spending four days in the heat, Bullwinkle was roasty toasty inside! The late afternoon clouds brought welcome shade as our one compressor did its best to cool things down. Temperatures outside and in dropped with the setting sun. By the time we moved everybody back into the moose it was actually quite comfortable. Don and Mary Ann encouraged us to stay in their lot overnight, and we accepted their generous offer. We're settled in for the evening, enjoying the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympics.

Our work here is not done. We have a date next month for Part 2 of our Loveland visit, when Don will make quick and proper work of completing our repair. Meanwhile, we've managed to snag a last-minute reservation at our favorite place to stay cool.

More soon from the mountains.

Return to Colorado Springs

While sitting in Larkspur with our still-crippled air conditioner, we went in search of a cool, shady spot to kick back and relax while we waited for our next service appointment. It didn't take long for us to decide to return to Colorado Springs. We spent a few days here at Garden of the Gods Campground last year. Since that visit the park has been purchased by a company with a reputation for creating lovely places. We were eager to see how the place had changed. (It was in need of some serious sprucing, in our opinion.)

We checked into one of the "Executive Sites" and enjoyed the spacious, level spot that had plenty of shade, cable and...

...a view of the family pool. Despite the scorching temperatures during our stay, we never made time to take a splash.

Our "fancy" site wasn't available for our entire stay. So, a few days ago, we checked into this "Deluxe" site. With precious little space, no view or cable, we're hard pressed to find anything deluxe about this spot. Actually, it all felt quilt familiar. This is exactly the same site we had last Summer.

The park is just minutes from many attractions. But, it's located in an area of Colorado Springs that's seen better days. This store across from the entrance was one of many medical marijuana dispensaries in the neighborhood. (That stuff is pricey!) And, although this is a quite high-tech town, the park is located in an AT&T dead zone. (Ugh!)

Speaking of attractions, we made time to see a few things we missed here during our last visit. Colorado Springs is home to the United Stated Olympic Committee and one of its three training centers.  In 1978, a former Air Force base was transformed into this state-of-the-art training center for Olympic and Paralympic athletes in track and field, triathlon, pentathlon, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, cycling and judo.

Our free tour started with a brief film that got us fired up for next week's Winter Games. On the 45-minute walking tour of the facility, our guide informed us that the athletes competing in this year's games who trained here have already left for London. We enjoyed seeing future Olympians at work in the pool and weightlifting gym.

The tour ended in the gift shop, where visitors were snapping up all kinds of Team USA apparel. A closer inspection revealed that the garments were designed by an American, but manufactured in China!

After this visit, we are definitely in the spirit. We look forward to cheering Team USA later this month.

Another Colorado Springs landmark we'd yet to visit was Garden of the Gods. But, we took care of that earlier this week. From a distance, this very special garden reminded us of our stay in southern Utah. Gorgeous!

This public park was named a Great American Public Place last year. The honor is well deserved. In accordance with the wishes of the original owner of this spectacular piece of land, admission is free.

The 3,300 acre park is a destination for hikers, bikers and rock climbers. It's also known to attract quite a few folks who like to gawk at and photograph the towering formations. We gawked a lot more than we hiked!

The brilliant red rock makes a lovely backdrop for engagement portraits, too. (Don't they look young?)

Garden of the Gods was threatened by the recent Waldo Canyon fire, which destroyed more than 18,000 acres of national forest and adjacent neighborhoods. Thanks to the hard work of brave firefighters, Garden of the Gods and many homes in the area were spared. Signs of gratitude are everywhere.

The Mountain Shadows neighborhood of Colorado Springs was among the hardest hit areas. We had seen television news reports while we were in Gunnison. But, seeing the devastation in person made it much more real. Blocks of homes were burned to the ground in some areas. In others, like this, one home was destroyed while its neighboring homes were unscathed. Our hearts go out to the many families who were affected by this disaster.

The good news around Colorado Springs is that the much needed afternoon rains have finally returned. As a result, the fire danger has been reduced. These rainbows are most welcome! 

Tomorrow, we head north to Loveland for our Monday morning service appointment. Our fingers are crossed that our air conditioner mess up will be fixed up fast.