Last time I checked in, we were preparing for a day of travel from Sedona, Arizona to Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Oops, I missed a day

Actually, I forgot a whole day of adventures in Sedona! We talked about it on the podcast in Episode 262 so I thought I had written it here as well.

A slight backstory, going back one more day. On Sunday, while Tony, Kathy and I were enjoying breakfast at the Coffee Pot and site-seeing, my cousins and Uncle Russ went on a hike. They thought it would be just a couple of miles, but it turned out to be much further. They didn’t take enough water and it got later and hotter than they anticipated. 

They were trudging back to their car and happened to encounter a Jeep tour driver named Cowboy Bob. Apparently Bob is accustomed to seeing hikers who didn’t know what they were up against, and he stopped to ask my family if they needed water or a ride. They accepted both, very gratefully. 

Cowboy Bob

Because they were so grateful to Cowboy Bob for rescuing them, my cousins wanted to take a tour with his Jeep company. It turned out that Monday was Bob’s day off, but he came to work anyway to take us on a tour. What a terrific man! I highly recommend Arizona Jeep Tours of Sedona. Ask for Cowboy Bob if you can. 

While on our Jeep tour with Bob, we learned history about the town, the natives, and the outlaws. We got to experience a vortex with dousing rods, and took a lot of photos. Bob showed us cryptobiotic soil crust. The ground was covered in what I believe was lichens and/or mosses, which keep erosion at bay and stabilize the soil.  

Monday afternoon we stayed in and got some of our work caught up. We recorded the podcast from the patio with the red Sedona mountains in the background. In the evening, we went to the Elders’ room where my mom had BBQ sliders and side dishes. She had made lemon meringue pies in the afternoon so that was a real treat for dessert. Naturally, we ended the evening with a couple games of hand and foot. 

Caravan Tuesday

On Tuesday morning, it was time to pack up and give hugs. The cousins headed to Las Vegas. The aunts and uncles headed home to southern California. My parents, sister, and Tony and I caravanned to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We did make a couple of pit stops, but they weren’t exciting enough for me to remember them now. I know we stopped for gas in Winslow, and for coffee in Shiprock. It was a rather long drive and we were all anxious to get the trip finished once we hit the Colorado state line. 

We checked into our condos at Wyndham Pagosa Springs. As in Sedona, we had asked to have rooms close together. As in Sedona, they ignored that request. Kathy, Tony and I were put in a third-floor condo in a building without an elevator. It was an 8 minute walk from our building to my parents’ building. It took just as long to drive between them, because it was such a funky indirect route. 

We hauled our stuff up the stairs in as few trips as we could manage. We did have a great view of the lake, which we had to cross (by a bridge, not by swimming) to get to my mom’s building.

That night, we ordered take and bake pizza from Papa Murphy’s. Kathy and I went to the park to scope out the layout of the craft fair, and Tony picked up the pizza and salad. We ate our dinner and then talked Tony into joining us for a game of hand and foot. Then we walked back to our building and crashed out.

Craft Fair

Wednesday morning, Tony and Kathy headed over to the park really early to get the car unloaded and the booth set up. I woke up more slowly, got some work done, then got ready and walked to Mom’s. She made sandwiches and we packed up some snacks and headed to the park. 

Parking in Pagosa Springs, especially on a holiday weekend in the summer, can be a challenge. We managed to fine a spot that wasn’t too much walking for my mom. In fast, we managed that each day, by some luck!

Kathy had a good day with her booth. We spent a lot of time building a shady spot behind the booth to keep from burning to a crisp. Kathy’s daughter Sarah came by for the afternoon. She lives in Durango, and had to go home and work the next day, then she came back and spent the rest of the weekend with us. 

We made chicken and broccoli for dinner. We played another game of hand and foot then wandered out into the night to be eaten by a bear - er, I mean - to make the 8-minute hike to our own building. 

Independence Day

This has to be the quietest Fourth of July in my history. We did spend the day at the park, much like yesterday. At the end of the day, we packed up and headed back to the timeshare. We met at Mom’s and ate leftovers for dinner. Sarah had returned so she took Tony’s spot at the hand and foot table. She and I won big time. The next night, we ended up with the same partners and won again. My mom (Grandma to Sarah) said it was supposed to be her turn to have Sarah as a partner!

We walked back to our building right around dusk. I heard a couple of fireworks, but nothing was close enough to see. I know some people really don’t like fireworks but I love to watch them and it was sort of a let-down to miss out. 

Michael and Micki

On Saturday, Michael and Micki drove up from where they were camping in Chama, New Mexico. They spent a few hours wandering the booths with us and hanging out in the shade by the music stage chatting and listening to the music. 

Pack out

Saturday was the last day of the craft fair. It was an oddly slow day. At 4:00 we started packing up the booth. Kathy put all her merchandise in totes, and Tony and I broke down the shelter and tables. Kathy loaded up her wagon a few times and rolled supplies to her car. She was parked pretty close so she didn’t bother to fight traffic to get the car into the park.  

We finished up around 4:45 and got on the road to the timeshare before traffic got terrible. Mom was at church so we took some time to cool down and gather supplies for dinner. We went to her condo and started dinner. Tony made cheeseburgers and tater tots. Then we played hand and foot. Tony and Mom skunked Kathy and me. We didn’t even play the last hand. In the third hand, they went out before we even got cards on the table. We didn’t have so much as a red three for a base, and all our cards were negative points. Ouch!

Pack up

We walked back and started packing up a bit, so there wasn’t as much to do in the morning. Kathy and Mom planned to head out around 7:00. Our sleep schedule was wacky throughout the whole trip, sometimes I woke up at 6:00, sometimes we both slept until 8:00. 

Kathy woke us in the morning just before 7:00 to say they were heading out. We got up and started getting ourselves ready. We dreaded making too many trips down those stairs so we tried to consolidate as much as possible. Our laundry bag is an old nylon bag I’ve had forever, and I told Tony it was fine to just drop it over the edge. I told him that he should video it, in case it exploded! He dropped and filmed, but fortunately the bag held it together.

Homeward Bound

We got on the road around 9:00. Our first destination was Wilder Bakeshop in Chama, New Mexico. Michael and Micki had told us about it. We made it there and ate pastries, then went to Down Home campground where M&M were camped. They showed us around and we chatted a while, then all decided we better get on the road to home. It was only a few hours drive, which was nice. 

About half way home, we were hungry and wanted a pit stop. We had plenty of food in the 12-volt Bodega cooler. We stopped at a casino and went inside to use the facilities, then went back to the truck and I made sandwiches. We had chips and apple wedges from my mom. We had a great lunch without spending any more money! I didn’t even take my wallet into the casino, so I couldn’t be tempted. 

We stopped for iced coffee when we got close to home. We had picked out a couple more pastries at Wilder that we looked forward to enjoying with our afternoon coffee. When we got home it was nearly 100 degrees outside, so we grabbed our coffee and pastries and went inside. We didn’t unload the truck until the temperatures dropped later in the evening. 

While we were gone, the housekeeper had come and cleaned so the house looked great. Tony had set the air conditioner to start working in the morning so the house felt great.                           

Comforts of Home

As much as I love to travel, I also love to get home. We enjoyed a quiet afternoon and evening. I could not keep my eyes open all day but I fought to stay up until after 9:00 so I could sleep thought he night. 

In the morning Tony brewed a pot of coffee, and we managed to drink the whole pot before lunch. By the time afternoon coffee time arrived, he had to make fresh Aero Press coffee because the pot was empty. We drink a lot more coffee at home when it’s there and convenient.