Monday, July 28

We had breakfast in Ridgway with Dwain at Kate's (I'd heard a lot of folks at Orvis recommending it, and so did Dwain) and then said our goodbyes and headed to Gunnison.  We bought some Palisade peaches at a fruit stand, and then cruised the antler store across the street.  I've never seen so many animals, and while the taxidermist had done a wonderful job, Hunting is not my thing and I felt badly about all the killing.  (Though not quite so much re the cougars and bears...) Then it was off to the Pioneer Museum, which does have a nice artifact collection that Tom had wanted to visit again.  There were many, many buildings with a wide array of exhibits (the antique car building had close to 50 cars, dating back to 1914) though I did wish the museum had more quilts.

By the time we left and headed up Monarch Pass we ran into some serious low, fast-moving clouds and rain; rocks were actually falling on the road as we were driving by. Radio said there was the possibility of flash flooding so we decided not to camp and instead got a room. 

With the addition of Wisconsin and Vermont today we are now up to 41 states.  I win! (We are only missing the Dakotas, and 7 small states on the East Coast.)

TUESDAY, July 29

This morning we listened to the news while we were gettig ready, and I liked the segment about the robot that's hitching across Canada..  As soon as I can get internet (it's very intermittent in our room) I want to read more about Hitchbot!  I was less thrilled with the weather report - more severe weather expected next 36 hours or so.

Before leaving Salida we stopped at the Espresso place (I got a mango smoothie) where a customer had made a lovely coffee quilt. I did take several pictures, of course. Heading to visit Steve (he lives near the Royal Gorge) we had to stop for roadwork: scraping mud/debris off the road after yesterday's storm.  The drive is alongside the Arkansas River (we've seen a lot of rafters getting ready to float) and we spotted a heron standing in the water.  

I now have a few more gray hairs.  A motorcyclist just passed us on this VERY winding road, and got back in our lane a mere second before traffic coming in the other direction.  Idiot!

Once on the back road we had to stop for a doe and her two fawns crossing near Steve's. He's got a beautiful place, and I really liked the artwork.  We had a nice visit, sitting on the porch.  LOTS of hummingbirds, and pretty white-breasted nuthatches.  We saw the bunny that had escaped earlier, into a brush pile, from a goshawk attack; he said the hawk actually tried to get into the brush for his breakfast but was unsuccessful.  We spent some time looking at some of his artifacts - I especially liked the rare corner tang.  He's going to meet us at Valley View (probably tomorrow) so the guys can continue swapping grubbing  stories.  As the crow flies he's probably only 10 miles or so from there.... But it's over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and you 'can't get there' that way.  Going around by car it's at least 2 hours.

On our way back to Salida mid-afternoon we did see some rafters on the Arkansas; Tom had thought they might all be done for the day.  Groceries and gas ($75 to fill truck and quad) and a quick bite and we're off to Valley View.  It was raining fairly hard (looked like the hot springs were getting hammered) and we saw a rainbow, but not in the sky... down low, with the trees in the background!

 Great to arrive at one of my 'favorite-ist' places, Valley View Hot Springs, and see Terry & Neil.  Before dinner (Michael had made a couple of delicious pizzas) we went to let the staff at the visitor center know we'd arrived, and ran into our old friend Doug.  After dinner we spent the evening reminiscing about 'the old days'.

Haven't yet made it to the pools to soak, though of course that's on my agenda for tomorrow.  Unfortunately the weather for tomorrow is iffy.  Oh well.