Wednesday, January 18, 2023

So Many People!

 When we last left you, we were just getting ready to depart on our great winter vacation. As we were packing the last of our things up Zoey would not leave the door. She just sat there and stared at it as though she thought we were going to leave her behind, never to be seen again.

Our first day took us south and a little west through Lusk Wyoming, down through Cheyenne and into Colorado where we spent the night in the parking lot of the Loveland Colorado Scheel’s store. This is by far the largest Scheel’s store that we have ever been to with parking lots on both sides of the store. They have a parking area for RV’s and vehicles with trailers. We pulled right in and made ourselves at home for the night.


The next day we carried on south through Denver and into Colorado Springs. So many people! Even though it was Sunday there was traffic and construction. We have lived in the country so long that we have become spoiled. Rapid City with its booming population of 76,000 seems too crowded for us. By comparison, the Denver metro area has just over 2.93 million, Over 3x's the population of the entire state of South Dakota! Businesses, houses, condos filling every square foot of land as far as the eye could see. There is a reason we live where we do, we may need to drive over an hour to our nearest Walmart, but it is worth it! I told Barb that if our 63 acres were in a residential development like these and the average lot size was a ¼ acre, would have over 250 houses on our property. Crazy to even think about.

From there we continued south until Barb announced, “Take the next exit”. I followed her directions for the next 15 minutes until we pulled up to this Roadside Attraction. I mean, who could not stop to see the statue of Dizzy, the most famous dog of Palmer Lake Colorado?

She then directed me down another road for 3 miles to take a few pictures of horseshoe art that some guy made for his granddaughter. I stayed in the truck and passed on this amazing exhibit. I need to find out what website she is looking at and block in on her phone.

On our way back to the interstate I saw the lake in which Palmer Lake was named and people were ice fishing on it! My turn to stop and see what is going on. We took the girls for a walk on the ice. Zoey took to it with no problem, Dakota was not a fan.

There were several families out ice fishing. With the town as a backdrop and a train going by it looked like a postcard. I could see myself living there in another life.


Our next stop was unexpected but when we passed the sign, I got off at the next exit, looped around and headed back the other way. Sometimes the unexpected is just what you need. The Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame is located in Colorado Springs. 
We walked the hall looking at the names and memorabilia from the inductees. Most of the names we did not know but several we did. Like these two. Many of you will remember Lane Frost from the movie 8 Seconds portraying his life and his tragic death.  

That movie also featured this inductee. Bodacious, one of the meanest, rankest bulls to ever be on the circuit.

Then there are the Barrel Racers. Barb knew several of them, competed against, attended clinics and even met one or two.

If you are into that sort of thing, it is worth the $9 entry fee.

Continuing our way south, we made our way into New Mexico. Barb had found us a Harvest Host spot to stay the night at in Cold Beer, NM. How can you not stop at a place with that name? It is located between Maxwell and Taos on a lonely and desolate road. I mean this place is out there in the middle of nowhere. Just a bar, alongside the road. 

There were a dozen trucks in the parking lot, we walked in and everybody and I mean everybody stopped what they were doing to see who walked in. But they were welcoming enough, they had decent food, a T.V. where we watched the Vikings lose to the Giants, and of course….cold beer.  

We spent the night in the parking lot. A cold and restless night as it was windy and snowing. This is where we first ran into a problem with our camper. Not a big one but an annoying one nonetheless. We just had a new furnace installed last month and it works fine but when it kicks on it somehow cuts off the propane to the fridge causing it to beep. I turned the fridge off and back on and it seems to light up just fine. Until the heater kicks on again. It does not do it every time the heater kicks on but enough to make it annoying as hell in the middle of the night forcing me to get up and turn it off and on again. Does anyone have any idea what is causing this? The propane tanks were full when we started so that is not the issue.

Leaving Cold Beer we drove towards Taos, through Cimarron Canyon, Angel Fire and a few other snowy but beautiful towns.

We stopped in Taos for a couple hours and walked the town. A cute little town but too artsy for us, just not our thing. We finally arrived in Santa Fe where our first stop was the Santa Fe Brewing Company for a refreshment before we settled in for the night.

We spent the night at a trail head parking lot for LaCieneguilla Petroglyphs. Another cold night but the fridge only cut out twice, so we got a pretty good night’s sleep.

It rained and snowed throughout the night, so we woke up to a sage-covered and white backdrop. With the temps in the low 30’s Barb and I decided to take the 1-mile hike up to the petroglyphs leaving the girls in the camper. The trail is not very well marked, and nothing really tells you where the petroglyphs are, but we hiked up to the most likely looking rock walls and found a few. There was a bit of rock scrambling involved so it was probably a good thing the girls stayed home.

We returned to the camper with wet feet and a bit chilled. After warming up we headed into town to see a few things. It was still cold and rainy, so we looked for a couple of indoor activities. The first stop was a local antique mall. It is always interesting to see what antique stores carry in different regions of the country. Lots and lots of Southwestern Art and Décor. Pretty in its own right but would not fit into our house at all.

We then went to a place recommended to us by another Jim who commented on the blog last week. Now, I have never met this Jim, but he recommended the Sopapillas at Tia Sophia’s in the plaza area of Santa Fe. I had never even heard of a sopapilla before, but I thought what the heck, if Jim recommends it, it must be good.

 So, we go there, find a parking spot (which was not easy with the truck) and went to Tia Sophia’s. I ordered the Chicken Sopapilla while Barb ordered the beef and bean. The waiter then asked “red, green or Christmas?” I had no idea what that meant so I asked him what he recommended. He said, “Christmas since it is snowing outside”. Our food came and it looked delicious, and Christmassy, I guess.

I took my first bit and realized that Jim was trying to kill me! My mouth was on fire, my eyes were watering! The waiter came over to me and asked how we liked it. He took one look at me and said, “Let me get you some water”. After the first few bites the heat diminished (or I lost all sense of feeling) and I ate the whole thing. It was actually very good, and I would get it again, although with the milder sauce.

Barb, who is into all things hot and spicy absolutely loved it. The meal also came with two plain sopapillas that you put honey and cinnamon sugar on. That was even better than the meal. Thanks for the tip, Jim but next time warn me! Remember, I am a Wisconsin boy who thinks pepper is a spice.

We had more adventures planned for Santa Fe but most were outdoor based, and the weather was not cooperating, so we decided to leave a day early and head further south in search of a little less snow and a little more sun. 

Next up Albuquerque!

52 comments:

  1. In our Motorhome our TV would kick off every time the A/C kicked on. My laptop is plugged into the same circuit and it would dim, then go back to normal, so it lost power for about 3 seconds too. My solution was to get a TV that ran off 12 volt, and fixed that proplem. You could try having a dedicated propane tank for the fridge (which does not use very much propane compared to your heater), but I know room is an issue. --Dave Burdick, GoingRvWay.com

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    1. It only went off once last night but I am getting tired of waking up to the beep beep beep. If it doesn't get better I am going to have to do something!

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  2. Oh this is so much fun to be traveling and sightseeing with you guys! Love it! :)

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    1. Glad you have joined us on our journey! We enjoy seeing your rabbits, hares and feathered friends as well.

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  3. So nice you two stop and take a look around as you travel. I seem to always go go and not stop to smell the roses along the way. Odd things seem to happen to RVs. Wish I had an idea, but I have so many of my own quirks that I can't figure out. Hope you get someplace warm soon. Albuquerque, certainly isn't it.

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    1. No, Albuquerque is not warm. A cool 23 this morning. We are talking about skipping these places and heading south until we hit bearable temps.

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  4. Enjoying your (mis) adventures as always,Regarding the fridge/ heater; sounds like brief pressure drop & or volume.Perhaps check that valve on tank fully open ,feedline/ hose has no restrictions- if all fine,then line diameter could be the culprit.So of course head much further south,Cheers.

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    1. I'll check the valves and lines today. One tank ran dry yesterday so it's time to fill anyway. Thanks for the advice!

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  5. A belated thought on the propane issue- may just be some air still in the line as you mentioned improvement.😁

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    1. I switched out and filled the tanks today. So far so good!

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  6. Hahaha ... green sauce=mild, red sauce=hot, Christmas=both. Always say GREEN because even that is pretty warm. Cowboy Hall of Fame ... right up my alley. Watched Josh Frost last night at the Stock Show. Can't help with the fridge problem ... I'm lucky I can just turn mine on!

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    1. For some reason your comment went into the spam folder. Weird. We thought of you when we were at the Hall of Fame. You would really like it!

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  7. I love how you take in horseshoe art, ice fishing and the like. You see real people in their element. Such a wonderful way to travel! I look forward to your next post!

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    1. We love checking out small towns like that. It is really our element and what we enjoy the most. We'd skip the big towns altogether but there are sights we want to see there as well!

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  8. Those are some interesting stops. If you’re still having an issue with your fridge when you get to Q we have an RV tech in our group. Safe travels!

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    1. Good to know! I saw him in your post working on someone's rooftop.

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  9. Hardy souls you and Barb. I would have pointed the nose directly south until the temps were at least above the freezing mark and avoided sleeping at mountain elevations if possible. Of course I think I’m allergic to the cold and snow! Lol. Safe travels.

    Deb

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    1. Hardy and stupid may be synonymous. We are ready for some warmer weather!

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  10. Glad you got to see those petroglyph. It was on our original list this year but with snow in the forecast we scooted over to Texas. Lol I found I can comment with my phone just not my new computer????

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    1. We had a few other sights we wanted to see in the area but the rain and even colder weather has us skipping those for now.

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  11. Glad you're underway and making tracks, although a few stops along the way doesn't hurt a thing. You're going to have to leave the ice fishing notion behind and start thinking about pertinent things like crowned saguaros, blowing sand and the like.

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    1. No saguaros yet but we are looking forward to seeing them!

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  12. I have the perfect solution for your RV issues, as it worked so well for us. A new RV!

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    1. Don't encourage Barb! I am having a hard enough time holding her back from buying something new the way it is!

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  13. It’s Gay…Joe and I think any temps below 50 is cold. I love your enthusiasm and “get up and just do it” zest for life. Great capture of the hawk!

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  14. That hawk was totally by accident. I was taking a picture of it perched on a rock and it took off as I was taking the picture.

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  15. I know some of the best times we've had were in our Six Pac camper. We so agree, when we get out and the people, cars, trucks, way too many! We've been spoiled in our little town 3000. Walmart is about 55 miles from us, and once we go we know we need to be out of there by noon because of the traffic. Loved the blog with the travels this morning. Keep on enjoying!

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    1. That is what is so great about the world. There are some people that like cities, some that like the country. We just happen to be country people!

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  16. ooooh you flat tire, that horseshoe art is terrific, i would definitely stop for that...AND get out of the car!! i do like that you stop for the roadside attractions, they are awesome and always quite unusual!! i enjoyed dizzies story, i'm glad you took that picture. it reminded me of hachi, a dog's tale...a movie i recently watched.

    keep having fun, enjoy it all, i will keep checking in!! think about sending yourselves postcards, it would be a great way to catalog your favorite parts of the trip!!

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    1. We started turning out blogs into books by year. We pull them out once in a while to reminisce about our travels.

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  17. propane will drop out an oily substance in the regulator the cold weather will slow the operation of the regulator remove the regulator and drain it or just replace it

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  18. We love New Mexican cuisine! You can always ask for your green or red sauce on the side and then decide how much you want to use!

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    1. Now you tell me! That information would have been useful a few days ago!

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  19. I hate the Beeping Fridge thing! I’d turn it off at night for the time being until you figure it out so you can sleep! Thanks for the heads up on Shears! Looks like I’ll be spending my birthday there. Nice to see sometimes to do ti crake😀. You’re so funny with the spicy stuff!

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    1. I thought about turning it off but kept hoping it would stop. We are plugged in tonight so maybe we'll get a good night's sleep!

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  20. I love going on your travels with you. The pictures you took are awesome. The picture of Zoey sitting by the door is so cute! Safe travels to warmer weather.

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    1. Poor Zoey looked so pathetic sitting by the door. There was no way she was going to be left behind!

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  21. Dave again... Jim, is it possible the alarm you hear is a 'door open' alarm? Perhaps the heater opens the door just a bit and it sets off a door open alarm? Saw a few website where people are having the alarm go off yet the door is still latched....they tape a cardboard piece (like from a cake mix box) to where the door pushes in the button that lets the fridge know the door is closed. Just a thought....

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    1. I'd never heard of that one before. Tonight we are plugged in so the fridge is on electric. We'll see if it happens tonight, that'll narrow it down.

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  22. Hope your furnace/frig problem has been ironed out. One if the great things about smaller units like you have is the ability to make quick changes and stops. Not to mention much easier to find places to spent the night. I love your adventurous spirit to see the small things. We've never visited the La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs. I'll have to add that to our list. Glad Zoey didn't get left behind. Smart girl to hang by the door. Dakota realized how dumb it was to out on that freezing ice. Good for her!

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    1. I think you'd like those petroglyphs. Barb was talking about you guys today when we stopped by La Ventana arch!

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  23. I have never heard of "Sheels" but the inside of the store looks like a Cabela's store. My husband loves those stores and we never pass one by without a look-see.

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    1. Very much like Cabela's. Maybe a little better? Scheel's is a privately owned company, they pride themselves on customer service and it really shows!

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  24. I'm glad you are able to leave for awhile. It seems like you have been trapped inside your house for months. I enjoy your travels and adventures. Now that I am suffering from an I T Band Syndrome, it is harder for me to get out and enjoy life, but I can through your blog. Your a godsend to us shut-ins.

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    1. Dino, you may think you are fooling the world with the 'Anonymous' but you are the only shut-in I know with ITBS, SRS, IBS and a so many other ailments.

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    2. I don't know who this "Dino" is but he sounds like a hell of a guy to be carrying on with all those ailments according to you. I think you should petition the Pope to grant him sainthood as an inspiration to the less fortunate such as yourself.

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    3. The only advice I can give you is that if you ever meet a guy named Dino who has a case of Bud Light in the basket of his scooter...run! He will latch on and drink you dry. He has so many ailments he provides a great argument to those who are in favor of human ethnicization.

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  25. So Sorry! As a fourth generation Texan, from a time when being a Texan was something to be proud of, it just didnt occur to me to warn you of the chile! Anyway thats what the basket of sopapillas and honey are for! :) I guess its a good thing I didnt send you to the Horsemans Haven cafe on Cerillos Road!! Home of the Hottest green chile in the universe! I wont even sit near a table thats having the level THREE!!
    https://www.nmgastronome.com/?p=1024 Check it out! You guys would love the place, if not the chile!
    Now if you are headed south from Albuquerque be sure to stop at Hatch NM, world central for green chiles! Try Sparkys for a burger, one of the best you'll ever have, even if you leave the green chile off!
    Safe Travels!

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    1. Barb loves hot so we stopped by a store called Chile Traditions and bought a bunch of stuff. Looks like we will have to hit those other spots next time we are in the area. We hit AZ tomorrow. The honey and sugar cooled my palate perfectly, I was just fine after a few bites of that soppapilla!

      Keep the recommendations coming!

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  26. Dave can't hear the fridge beeping anymore, must be old age hearing loss. We may be in CO next winter; our son is threatening us with a winter wedding. It looks too cold, but we'll manage.

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