Telluride

Most people go to mountain towns and get their exercise by hiking or biking. Me, I get mine by pushing a wheelchair around mountain streets with hills and rocks. It was not exactly the way I pictured experiencing that city.

We drove in to Telluride, CO with our big rig and stopped at the visitor center to find out where to have lunch and park for the day. I guess we were lucky to even find a place to park there. The streets were either one way or very narrow. It was an interesting place with victorian styled homes built to look like period homes, but they were all new and all for sale! I'd snatch one up if I could. It was very quaint.

The visitor center had recommended we take the free gondola ride up to mountain village and have lunch. Since there was little parking and Adam was not feeling well we decided to take the wheelchair...and the dog. Sequoia's not used to walking with the chair yet and he kept stopping. I think he was afraid of being run over and probably rightly so. But, he made it worse by putting the brakes on therefore pulling my wrists and making me swing the chair around. It was a wonder that I didn't dump Adam over on his side.

Once we three got into a rhythm we walked all of four blocks (which felt like a mile) to the gondola village. After that excursion I was sweating, out of breath and in no mood to stuff the three of us and the wheelchair into a gondola. So, we elected to eat outside at the base of the mountain. Of course we had to choose the couch in the shade which was just in reach of the sprinklers which, according to the waitress, never soak customers but chose that day to do so all over us. Well, that felt good.

Lunch was ok and the scenery was breathtaking. We strolled leisurely back to the camper (it was downhill) and took our time leaving. Telluride is a town I would like to revisit maybe one day for an outdoor film festival. I can see why celebrities choose to make their mountain homes here. It's so remote that it is difficult to get to and easy to hide away. The drive alone was worth the visit.
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Happy New Year

We're spending Rosh Hashana this year wandering in the desert...literally. There are no synagogues anywhere in the vicinity nor is there a Jewish food section at the grocery store. But, the views are beautiful, the temperature is moderate and the stars are gorgeous.

While Adam has rested most of the day, Sequoia and I have spent the day taking several walks and teaching him to pick up items off the floor and giving them to me. He picked up on this new trick in about one hour. We'll keep working on it, but he's well onto his way to learning a new task that will be helpful to Adam.

L'shana tova, my friends and family. Hope it is a happy, healthy new year for us all.

Antelope Canyon

One of the most highly sought out photographic spots is a slot canyon called Antelope Canyon located on the Navajo Indian reservation near Page, AZ. We have been trying to get here for four years and finally we saw it. I expected a gorgeous photographic opportunity, but I did not expect the number of other tourists. I had the idea that it was a sacred place, quiet, peaceful, serene and calm. It was so crowded that it felt like a sea of cameras.

Because it is on the reservation, and there is a slight risk of flash floods, you are required to go through the canyon with a Navajo guide. They take you on a three mile ride in a bumpy jeep driven by your guide down a massive sandbar called Antelope Wash. It felt like a rollercoaster. We deliberated about taking a photo tour versus a regular tour because it appeared that the photo tours lasted longer. But, we ended up doing the regular 1 ½ hour tour and just took a little extra time. I stayed slightly ahead of Adam gathering information from the other guides as to what to photograph. But, I was stressed since we seemed to be moving at a glacial pace and the jeeps for the ride back were not waiting for us. I was not confident our guide even knew that we were on his jeep.

Trying to be patient while Adam took his photographs, I knew my patience tends only lasts about 10 minutes. After that, I’m usually in the car reading a book or knitting. I did not have that option today since we had to take a jeep ride back. So, this wasn’t my best day. Don’t get me wrong, the canyon was beautiful and most of the cool shots were above everyone else’s head. But, how many shots can you take of sandstone? I hope we got at least one good shot!

It turned out, our guide returned to get us about 45 minutes after our original tour ended. That was such a relief. And, I learned a few things. The canyon was not traditionally a sacred place. It was not discovered until the time around when they were building the Glen Canyon dam. The Navajo knew they were surrounded by slot canyons, but they have about 100 different canyons in the area. This one probably because famous because of a photographer who successfully marketed his/her prints. Regardless, it was beautiful, but not one I would say was worth trying to photograph in the midst of the hoards of people.

Dam Tour

Today we took a tour of the Glen Canyon dam located at the southern end of Lake Powell. Considered one of the most highly regulated dams in the country because it directly affects the Grand Canyon ecosystem, the Glen Canyon dam was no small project. Constructed over 10 years from 1956-1966, the dam was built to wall up the water coming from the Utah to Arizona direction of the Colorado River. Call me dense, but I thought that the dam took water coming from the Grand Canyon direction, harnessed it somehow, pooled it into Lake Powell, and used it to generate energy. I was a bit backwards. It took 13 years after construction to fill Lake Powell completely. It took three years to pour all the necessary concrete and used enough to build a four lane highway from Phoenix, AZ to Chicago, IL. A power plant was built to generate energy from this natural hydro-monster that is distributed among 4 states and two countries. On the nearby Navajo reservation there is an eye sore of another power plant. It’s a coal generated power plant and that was constructed solely to create a system of energy to power the systems needed to distribute the water to the various states. It’s the first thing you see coming into Page from the West. Kind of ugly.

Adam had the foresight to bring the wheelchair and being a federal facility it was wheelchair accessible. It was a good thing too because it was a long walk. We took two elevators down to the power plant which was close to 2000 feet down from the top and it was a long walk. It was fascinating. Since 9/11 they have stepped up the security in the federal locations such as this dam, but we were still allowed to bring in a camera, bottle of water, car keys and our wallets. We could not bring any bags of any kind or colored water bottles (interesting?). The thing that fascinated me the most about this dam, except for the grandeur, was the fact that the dam could last 700 years before it is expected to falter. That’s one strong wall of dirt! There was one other interesting tidbit (besides the obvious unbelievable amounts of energy generated through this wall). They planted grass at the base of the dam to insulate the pipes in which the water flowed from the lake through the power plant. They water it using the seepage from the rock walls and have to mow it every week. I think they should have made an employee putting green. It was beautiful. Our grass in Colorado never gets that green. I know some golfers who would be saddened by this missed opportunity.

Who knew that I would be so fascinated by this monstrous engineering creation? I don’t think I need to tour another one any time soon, but I learned a lot. I do, however, want to go jump in Lake Powell. They say the water is 80 degrees Fahrenheit at the top. That’s still cool when the weather is 100.

Opposites Attract

We are spending the week at Lake Powell in Page, AZ. It is a manmade lake created by damning up a river and flooding the canyons that are located in the middle of a desert. It’s so big it took 13 years to fill! This is a picturesque place with tall, red sandstone walls filled with water bordered by blue skies, and brown sand. It’s a water paradise in the middle of the desert. As I sit and stare at the lake taking in the beauty around me I can’t help but think about my friend who took family vacations here as a child. She raved about her time here. They rented a houseboat and she spent the summer jumping off the back and going down the slide into the water from the upper deck of the boat, waterskiing, swimming, tubing, exploring, and living a seemingly idyllic lifestyle for the week. But, then I have other knowledge about the lake through another friend. Her friend, a young man in his late twenties, a newlywed, an active, strong guy, died here while on vacation with friends. How can one place build such beautiful visions for one person and such horrifying memories for another? It is just an example of the oxymorons in life.

Have you ever noticed that the beautiful things in nature can also harm you? Roses smell sweet and look gorgeous but have thorns. A sunny day is bright and cheery and may uplift your spirits but it can also burn your skin if you stay out in it too long. The clichés about how the good comes with the bad are true. Someone or something wants us to appreciate the beauty while we can because there is always a flip side that can appear at any moment. The Yin and Yang are all around us. The phrase “it’s better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all” illustrates the impossibility of having any positive feelings for something and expecting to escape the negative ones. Happiness is often paired with sadness. In health there can be illness. The end of life is death.

These paradoxes in nature should have been obvious to me by this stage of my life, but they did not really resonate with me until now. I guess I had to live this long to experience enough situations to convince me to truly appreciate the good while it lasts. It is easy for others to tell us to appreciate what we have in life, but it is another and much more powerful notion to come to the realization yourself. Look around your world. Do you see how full it is of the delicately balanced opposites? Recognizing their alter-egos and trying to imagine yourself in the negative situation instead of the positive one will help to drive home the point that you should never take the good for granted.

Dog Park Etiquette

One of the RV parks we recently visited offered a beautiful 2-acre dog park which came fully stocked with holes in the ground, plenty of weeds, and the occasional left over poop from previous dogs and faulty owners. It failed to offer toys, water for tired dogs or poop bags to help owners clean up, however, it did provide a trash can and 3-foot fence around the perimeter. Obviously this park was not built to hold large dogs such as my 50 lb Labradoodle who could jump that fence in an instant if he so desired. I’ve never seen so many Shitzhus and miniature everythings in one place before and in my entire dog owning career. It’s no wonder the fence was so short. They don’t expect anyone to be travelling with a dog larger than a purse. I even saw a woman walking her cat on a leash! I wonder what would happen if she let him loose in the dog park (hee hee).


Even though I am currently travelling in the great wilderness of the Southwest and should be able to let my dog run anywhere in a national forest, a dog park provides me comfort. It is a safe haven where I don’t worry about him running into the road when playing with his friends. Before entering the park sometimes other dog owners asked me if my dog is friendly. Am I right in saying if your dog is not friendly then you should not take him to the park? If he can’t play nicely with others, then he gets a time out or no play time for him. Of course my dog is friendly! And he’s playful. If they pose the question, then it’s usually their dogs that aren’t friendly to mine.

RV dog parks do offer the occasional Labrador, Shepherd mix, Border Collie, or Golden Retriever who can handle Sequoia’s size. He tends to jump on their backs trying to display his dominance. I usually let him fight it out with his fellow dogs, but their owners seem so uncomfortable with him atop their dogs. I’m not a seasoned dog park go-er, so I don’t know all the rules. Are you supposed to stop your dog from jumping on other dogs? He’s just being a dog. I can understand the owners of vertically challenged dogs fearing for their dog’s life given that one swat from Sequoia’s paw could topple them over, but he would not hurt them. He just wants the live chew toy to run with him and play.

The RV lifestyle is not always healthy for dogs. Much like semi-truck drivers who stay stationary for long stretches of time and who may eat junk food along their travels resulting in obesity, dogs gain weight on road trips too. I dare not say anything to the owners about their dog’s size, but please, give those poor things exercise and/or stop feeding them table scraps. I read that an extra two pounds on a small dog puts a lot of strain on his heart. I now know that if my dog starts getting fat, then he (and probably me too) is not running around enough. We should all learn a lesson from this story. Owners should run their dog(s) daily, and most importantly run after them so neither being starts to look like a bowling ball. Who needs a scale when we have our dog to tell us whether we are gaining weight? Do me a favor though; if you think my dog looks fat, don’t tell me. I might take it personally.

Breakdown

When you hear the word “breakdown” you might think of dancing and breaking down moves or, on the other extreme, a nervous breakdown. Neither quite fit this situation though the second would be closer to correct. We’ve been on the road for a few weeks and in the last few days we had our first issue that stopped us in our tracks and put our plans on hold.


Each time we’ve moved, even if it was down the street, we have beared some sort of damage. One time we moved and a pop bottle fell off the counter and exploded in the middle of our kitchen/dining/living room covering them all in Diet Coke. The crown molding popped off the kitchen cabinets when I closed the slide. A piece of plexiglass fell out of a glass-fronted door. The vacuum fell from a standing position and scratched the wood paneling on the refrigerator. The front of the pantry drawer came apart by the shimmying of the coach and the weight of canned goods. And then there was the time I backed into a brick wall. We’ve quickly learned to expect these types of things to happen. Every RV’er has stories like these to tell so we know it’s not just us being unobservant or inexperienced. Houses are not meant to be moved. Up until now each of our war wounds was cosmetic and could be fixed within our own timeframe. No issue was pressing enough to inhibit us from travel, but the latest episode was the exception.

Our lube pump alarm blared on and off in our coach for no apparent reason. This siren indicates to the driver in the RV that the pump in the car has failed. When this happens the manufacturer recommends stopping immediately. Dragging the car on four wheels without the pump could ruin the car’s transmission and spoil a good investment. So, we were officially broken down (since I can’t drive two vehicles at once) and had to find an expert. We were unable to diagnose the problem ourselves the day before even with phone assistance from the manufacturer and original installers who were in Denver and more than 8 hours from our location. Therefore we had no choice but to seek out local expertise and just hoped he knew what he was doing. It turned out the problem was caused by a wire rubbing on a sharp metal object to which it was affixed as well as a transmission fluid leak due to a weak clamp. Both issues were caused by the installation, but each was simple to correct. Thank goodness we were in the major metropolis of Durango, CO, the largest town for many miles and not in the middle of nowhere (“nowhere” being a relative term). The mechanic was able to diagnose the problem expediently, check the rest of the systems for problems, and send us on our way. (Thanks, Scott!) A person with less knowledge could have caused more damage than good. We were fortunate to have found someone who had excellent training and experience. What a relief.

Small town specialists are a special breed. Either they tend to be very honest because they can’t afford to have their reputation tarnished by bad publicity, or they take advantage of travelers because they know we are just passing through, we are a captive audience, and we are unlikely to return if problems persist. So far, in our journeys we have been lucky to encounter only the first bunch of businesspeople. As a rule, I tend to expect people to be fair and honest, but we’ll see if that presumption changes as time passes and we move through different states. I hope I’m not proven wrong.

Many people think travelling in an RV is wonderful because you can pull over to the side of the road to make a sandwich when you get hungry or stop and take a nap when you get tired. These are all great perks of travelling with your home, but when you are ready to move, and cannot because of mechanical failure, suddenly staying in one place is not fun anymore. The need to move and travel to the next destination becomes a compulsion though with distractions in the home like movies and dishes you can attempt to curb the anxiety. When all systems are working perfectly I am content to stop and stay in one place for an indefinite number of days. However, now that I’m used to pulling up roots and relocating at my leisure restricting movement makes me feel more like a caged animal than a travelling explorer. I hope to avoid future breakdowns, but if there is one thing I’ve learned in the short time Rv’ing it is that things happen and they always break. We have to just accept it, fix them along the way or we will never get anywhere.