Tarryall and South Park

We took a drive into the mountains west of Manitou Springs on Saturday and saw some wildlife and beautiful scenery. The first part of the 160-mile loop took us to the old mining town of Tarryall. A coyote avoided my camera, but we did catch a herd (flock?) of Bighorn sheep grazing on the slopes. Tarryall got its start in 1859 as a placer gold mining town, but was pretty much abandoned by 1875. The surrounding mountain range is protected as the 120,000-acre Lost Creek Wilderness Area, and has peaks almost 12,000-feet high. Along the way, we saw people icefishing in the Tarryall Reservoir. At Jefferson, we turned south into South Park, a high intermontane basin that is just a bit smaller than Rhode Island! The wind was screaming across the highway, and between the blowing snow, icy road, and the poor visibility, driving was less than pleasant. Many of the peaks surrounding the basin are more than 14,000' elevation, and there were a lot of snow squalls coming in. At Antero Junction, we turned east back toward Manitou Springs.

Winter in Colorado Springs

This is my first winter in Colorado, and I must admit it's been very easy on both the body and the mind. This is the dry side of the mountains, so the humidity is very low, the sunlight is brilliant, and there has been little snowfall. Now this may not be a typical winter...I couldn't say...but it does seem that the days warm quickly with the sun, although the nights cool off very quickly, too. It has been a bit of a shock to the sinuses...after all, the humidity in Hawai'i was always close to 80%...on a sunny day...and we're lucky to get 30% here! Katie has had much more experience living here, and she did promise lots of sunshine.

Having the Garden of the Gods so close has been a real blessing. We have been so busy with paperwork and errands that we haven't gotten out into the country much. We did drive the new motorhome down to Penrose on Sunday to visit some of Katie's old friends. It was grand being back "on the road, again," and I find driving the Class A very easy...just need to plan my turns in advance!

Settling Into Colorado In January

 

Today was a good day...we began with an hour of yoga followed by fifteen minutes of meditation...a short break for coffee, fruit smoothies, and French(ed) toast...then basked in the brilliant Colorado sun for awhile followed by an hour-long walk in the Garden of the Gods. With all the upheavals of packing, moving, and traveling plus the holidays, we had fallen behind in our (sometimes) regimen to care for our bodies and minds. There is no doubt that Katie is the instigator (shall I say martinet?) for much of this, but she doesn't need to convince me of the benefits we derive from such activities. We also try to watch our diet, and have joined the legions of people who take multiple supplements...calcium, glucosamine, antioxidants, vitamins, bioflavonoids, omega-3, MSM, and low-dose aspirin. It's difficult to assess the combined effects of all these additives, but suffice it to say, we feel pretty good for sextegenarians, and we're not about to test how we would feel without them! And we are NEVER sick which is pretty amazing.

The Year 2009 In Photos

This was an incredible year for both of us! It started with both Theo and Daniel visiting us in Hawai'i...we managed to circumnavigate the Big Island several times...it's not everywhere you can play in the surf one day and go snow skiing the next. I was in P.E.I. during March and April, and was able to be with my daughter, Abby, for her 21st birthday...meanwhile, Katie was doing a “farewell” party at Eden Roc since she was planning to move back to Colorado to be closer to her two boys...at least until Theo graduates. The high point of the year was when I flew down to Arizona for Katie's 60th birthday, and we ended up getting married...and holding the reception at IHOP! From there we took a honeymoon drive through the Canyonlands of Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, and spent May and June at a couple of places near Colorado Springs. At the end of June, I headed back to P.E.I. to open the cottage on Afton Lake (the grass was over a foot tall) and to begin a number of renovation projects that I had been planning all winter. Katie arrived in early August and got really involved in a project of her own...an on-line art group doing a “Gypsy Journal.” Meanwhile, the whole PEI family got involved in finishing the house painting (thanks Abby, Daniel and Clint). Daniel also helped widening the lane and installing a new wood stove. We took a couple of trips in my little RV (XAPEPOD): one to Cabot Beach in P.E.I. and one to the Annapolis Vallet and South Shore of Nova Scotia. Katie went to Arizona for three weeks in October to be with her mother due to a breast cancer scare. Fortunately, all turned out OK. As autumn approached, we traveled to Troy, NY, to visit Vin and his girlfriend Megan at their colleges. We also managed to bring in almost three cords of firewood! With mixed emotions we flew out to Hawai'i in December to close the sale of Hale Hoku Mele, our own little corner of Paradise. We said our “good-byes” to all of our friends there, packed our bags, and flew back to Colorado Springs in time for Christmas. We hope you enjoy these pictures.

On The Road Again

Here we are in front of our "new to us" RV...a 2003 Georgetown 33-footer! As mentioned before, we both missed the life on the road that we experienced in 2005-2007. We couldn't resist doing a little RV shopping both online and on-the-lot. This rig appeared on craigslist in Colorado Springs, and we checked it out several times...you would not believe the complexity of these units...imagine buying BOTH a used truck AND a used house!! Engine, drivetrain, tires, kitchen, bath, bedroom, AV systems, water/wastewater systems, A/C, exterior, interior, etc. etc. There are a lot of excellent resources online to help, but ultimately, it's a leap of faith. And we came to feel comfortable with the seller...so time will tell. I felt like the King of the Road as I drove away...it handles like a dream, but I'm going to have to get used to both being right up front and the overall length.

So, the rig is in storage now, but we plan to do a couple of "shake-down" cruises this spring...maybe to Arizona to visit Katie's mom and to Utah to visit Katie's son and his family. After we leave this apartment, we'll set up the fifth-wheel trailer that we bought last year in an RV park in Manitou Springs and sell it...then move into the motorhome "permanently."

Here are a few more pics...Click to play!

A New Year

Pike's Peak

We are back!!

We are starting a new year and a new blog and a new chapter in our peripatetic lives! The house in Hawai'i is sold...we spent the month of December sorting through the accumulated "stuff" from almost two years. Some things we sold; some were tossed; many were given away to friends; and the rest was packed and shipped to our new "base of operations" in Colorado. We left Hawai'i with mixed emotions...many people asked, "What are you THINKING?"...but despite the beauty and mystique of the Big Island, it is one of the most remote places on earth, and both of us felt too detached from our families on the continent. That, coupled with the difficulties of owning a relatively high-maintainance property which we lived in only 4-5 months each year, was enough to convince us to pull the plug. The experience of planning and building the house...not to mention growing our own bananas, guavas, tangerines, lemons, pineapples, limes, etc. will never be forgotten. We will miss all of our friends and the aloha spirit, but we plan to return in the future.

Another motivation to relocate has been our enduring desire to return to the RVing life. Our experiences from two years of full-timing (2005-2007) kept calling us back to life on the road. Call it crazy with gas prices what they are, but we both have always had a "burr under our saddle"...we have nomadic gypsy blood in our veins. Perhaps if we had saltwater instead, we might have become wandering sailors? So we intend to start shopping for a motorhome to replace our beloved ROTR (a 24-foot Class C named Rumi On The Road) which we shipped to the Big island, lived in during construction, but sold after we moved into the new house. The new rig will probably be a larger Class A which will be our "home" for six months of the year when we are not settled into our cozy cottage on Afton lake in Prince Edward Island, Canada. This will give us the opportunity to visit friends and family who are scattered over much of North America.

Another motivation is our love affair with train travel...well, David has a love affair with trains; Katie is more enamoured with travelling by train! So expect to see some visits to excursion trains as well as long-distance journeys on some of the classic passenger trains in both the U.S. and Canada.

So, join us again as we embark on another "grand adventure." Visit this blog and our companion web albums at www.picasaweb.google.com/piscesman1946