Colorado Springs - Home for a Month

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Site #78 Mountaindale RV Resort

Roger here....  We survived our four days of boondocking at the forest service campground without incident.  We now know that if we are conservative with our fresh water, our holding tanks, and our house batteries that we are good for four nights.  It was nice to have a three-day vacation from all the political crap and the senseless tragedy in nearby Aurora.  We did not know about the Aurora shooting until our cell phone service kicked back in when we reached civilization.  We are likely to boondock again; it was a nice break. 


The two-hour + drive from Nathrop, Colorado to Colorado Springs along the Arkansas River was scenic and uneventful --- always a good combination.  When we arrived at our current camping spot, Mountaindale Cabins and RV Resort, we were greeted in the office by Ginger, a fellow RV Dreamer who we met a couple of years ago at the rally in South Carolina.  It is always nice to have friends in the campground.  Speaking of friends, Mike and Marian, neighbors from Retama Village and also RV Dreamers, have been here for several weeks.  We also met up with Mike and Marian in Kerrville, Texas last May at the rally.  After we got everything set up for our month-long stay, we were invited to their site for hamburgers.  Ginger, and her husband, Jesse, were there as well as a half-dozen new friends.  It was so nice of Mike and Marian to invite us for burgers and introduce us to their friends.  


This campground is amazing, among the very best places we have been in the last three years.   (Dianne here:  The true test of a special place is that people come back year after year; it reminds me of Bentsen Palm Village in Mission, TX).   The terraced sites are huge, private, and immaculately landscaped.  We are parked on pink gravel (absolutely no weeds) which also covers our outdoor living area.  


We have our own really cool fire-pit a couple of steps down from the main outdoor area, in its own terraced level.  Now that the campfire ban has been lifted in the State of Colorado, we intend to make use of it.  




We can always find some shade in our outdoor area, either from the motor home, or from the trees that line the site.  A picture of the living area below gives you an idea as to how large it really is.  You can see our blue hammock in the distance.  Our grill and food-prep table is nestled behind one of the recliners.  Wow, is this ever a great place to relax outside.




Every morning we have been taking the dogs on a mile-long hiking loop that starts just a few feet from our site.  The walk is gravel for about half the circle, then turns back toward the campground on a couple of non-busy paved roads.   (A nice country walk -- D.)  This is a beautiful area.  Here are a few pictures of the sights that we see every morning:






Here is a good view of our park nestled among the trees on a hillside near the end of the hike.  


Yesterday, the dogs enjoyed a romp in the fenced-in dog park on the way back to the motor home.   (If only it were grass it would be perfect for the "kids."  Unfortunately, it requires a wipe-down after every play time to get the dirt brushed off of them.  I have yet to find a RV dog park as good as our neighborhood park in Mission. -- D.)


We have already been here for three days.  We are going to be here for a month.  Well, Dianne, Bandido, Tequila, and Charlie are going to be here for a month.  Tomorrow afternoon I am flying to Indy to do presentations for my former employer.  I will be there for three weeks working, having an annual physical, getting new eyeglasses, and seeing friends.  I'm so glad that Dianne will be in such a beautiful, safe place.   (This will be the first summer we haven't driven the motor home to Indiana.  We knew we wanted to be further west this year, so we opted for him to do a "fly-in" this time.  --  D.)


Our frequent posts may be a little infrequent for the next few weeks, but ya never know.  Dianne may have a lot of things to write about while I am away :-).  (It should be interesting.  In 40 years of marriage, we've never been apart for longer than a week.  Roger quipped yesterday that "The first two days we'll probably be glad."  Ha!!  I know that in a couple of days the reality of being solely in charge of three animals and dumping the tanks, etc. will set in.  Our 40th anniversary will be July 30 while he is gone.   At least he will be with our friends Jay & Nancy, who were in our wedding (we were also in theirs a month earlier) and who actually set us up on our initial blind date way back when.   They'll just have to go down memory lane without me!  -- D.)


The Pet Picture of the Day shows Bandido along the creekside at our previous campsite.  I think it is a pretty good picture of my buddy.

Dad will miss me most of all!!

Update from Colorado Wildlife Country

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Hi all, Dianne here.  This is just a quick update from beautiful Colorado.   As you can see from the opening photo, there is no shortage of wildlife roaming through the RV park!  This beautiful buck shows up almost every morning.  What you can't see in the photo is that my neighbors behind were actually sitting right there in their lawn chairs while the buck wandered onto their site for a drink of water out of the tree irrigation well.   Close enough that they could have reached out and touched him!   They offered him a carrot, but he didn't partake.
Roger worked long and hard to find a safe place to park me for the three weeks he'd be in Indiana this summer.  His hard work paid off, because this is certainly the perfect spot.  It's a beautiful, well-managed RV park.  I am surrounded by very nice neighbors, in case I need help with anything (not likely).  It's far enough out of Colorado Springs that I feel very safe here.  And the wildlife, for an animal lover like me -- let's just say it's perfect!

First of several Robison girls (two generations of them) to get hitched at First Presbyterian Church in Frankfort, Indiana

Just have to say Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary to Roger across the miles.  40 years ago today two 22-year-old kids set out on an adventure that feels like it's just getting started.

Our First RV! 

So, what in the heck have I been doing all by myself?  Well, I have a to-do list that I try to mark off at least one thing per day.  I'm still putting off cleaning the stove....
My wildlife cam has been kept busy every night.  In fact, I need to adjust it, because last night I had over 600 photos on it!!  Almost all of them were this fox and his friend who came over and over again to get a snack.
This young buck paused on his morning trek through the park to get a snack, too.  
The girls pass by, too.  Usually all this activity is around 6:00 - 6:30 a.m.
On our morning dog walks we sometimes see a whole flock of wild turkeys.  I took a photo, but they were too far away for it to be "blog-worthy."  
A couple of times horseback riders have passed through the park.


This cat shows up day and night.  Not sure why he's interested in the bird seed....  


I assume it's a feral cat -- possibly looks pregnant.  He/she stopped by again in the middle of the night.  I hope it was only sitting on the bird feeder!  No "evidence" was left behind, and the fox and birds still eat the seed, so evidently it was just sitting there.  Actually, now looking at the photos it appears to be two different cats.  
Just to let you know, there are birds here, too.  This one's a pine siskin:
Also have seen ring-necked doves and Steller's and western scrub jays, plus the usual mountain hummingbirds -- rufous, black-chinned and broad-tailed.

The Doggies Miss Their Dad!

Every morning after our walk, the "kids" and I enjoy patio time until around 10:00, then I try to get something accomplished from my list.
Charlie the cat especially loves it here.  He spends his outdoor time stalking birds from behind a rock...
...or strategically situated near the bird feeder!  He can't quite reach it, but he tries.



Here's how I know that there's more than one fox:

  

My Puzzle Collection So  Far

One of the things I looked forward to this three weeks was working on jigsaw puzzles.  My favorite souvenir from the national parks visitor's centers are puzzles of the beautiful park scenery.  I figure they'll be fun even when I'm an old lady and no longer traveling -- I can "re-live" our adventures, even in a nursing home!  
Any of you who live with cats know that there is no possible way to leave a puzzle out on a table without it becoming a play toy.  It's also a problem when you only have one table to use for everything.  When I worked at Amazon in 2009, I came across this "Roll and Go Puzzle Carrier (shown in photo behind puzzles)."  It has a blow-up cylinder and a velveteen surface that you simply roll up after each puzzle session.  I find that it works even better with a layer of shelf gripper on top of the puzzle pieces before I roll it up.  Roger was very proud of me when I told him via phone that I used his air compressor to blow  up the cylinder.
So far, I have puzzles from Yosemite, Mesa Verde, Capitol Reef, Zion and Bryce.  The first visitor's center puzzle that I bought was from a state park, Hearst Castle in California.  That's the one I decided to try first:  As you can see, I've had lots of time on my hands!   Put my iPod on the speaker deck, pour myself a glass of wine, and the time melts away.
That's all from Colorado for now.  Roger and I talk daily, and he's having a good time in Indiana with our friends.  I may or may not post again before he returns; if not, just assume I'm hanging out with the foxes and deer!
The pet photo of the day is a shot of my speckled pups doing a little bird watching from the patio:

Colorado Bear Country!

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Check out that claw!!

Hi all, Dianne here.  Well, there has been some excitement here at Mountaindale RV Resort, so I thought I'd give an update.  


Day before yesterday while I was outside dumping our tanks I heard Bandido barking and barking from inside.  I walked over to his window and told him to stop barking in no uncertain terms.  Usually he minds (or at least pauses), but this time it sounded urgent.  Just then my neighbor behind me (Ed and Marilyn from The Happy Wanderers) whispered loud enough for me to hear, "Dianne, there's a bear."   Sure enough, there was a young brown bear on the road behind our site and right next to their RV. 
 I didn't have my camera, and by the time I went inside to get it, a park employee had shoo'd the bear back up the hill behind our sites.  Ed and Marilyn graciously said I could copy a photo from their blog, so the above excellent photo was taken by them.


Fast-forward to today:  I was getting ready to leave for the grocery store when Bandido again went nuts barking from inside.  I looked up and a bear was right next door, batting at their bird seed feeder that was hanging in their tree.  He quickly knocked the feeder down to the ground, then settled in munching on the seed.  He stayed there for a half hour, during which time folks came out of the woodwork to get a photo of him.  It kinda reminded me of Retama Village when the border patrol helicopter hovers over our neighborhood....
The bear was totally unfazed by the crowd and cars.  

Batting at the Hummingbird Feeder

Anyway, I had a great view of him from right at my site, so I pulled up a lawn chair and settled in to watch the show.   My photos aren't great because he was in the shadow of the tree, but if you look closely you can see him trying to reach their hummingbird feeder.

Trying to reach the petunia basket

He gave up on that after a few tries.  Then he went over to check out their hanging petunia baskets.  He ended up knocking the chair over that he had his paw on. 

Trying to reach the other petunia basket

 Next he went to the closer petunia basket.  He couldn't quite reach it, so he decided to climb onto their chairs!

Trying to climb on the chairs to reach the petunia basket

But, like Goldilock's bear, he decided the chair was too small (wobbly) and gave up on it.


He went back to his seed stash and laid back down, munching away.  The crowd eventually dispersed, but I had my chair and decided to wait for him to leave (the grocery store can wait for another day). Another woman from the RV park asked if she could take photos from my site, so she and I were chatting about the bear. 

Looking at me!

 About that time her husband came to shoo the bear away.  


At first he started to go behind our site to make his getaway (that's our Matrix's tail light in the photo).  




Then he changed his mind and...

Heading my way!

...headed right for me!  This is the same photo as the opening shot.  If it's a little blurry it's because I was getting ready to make my getaway!   I let out one of what my husband refers to as a Clara "Whoo!!" (got that from my grandmother) and ran to the top step of our motor home.  I looked back to see that the bear was within five feet of the woman who had been standing next to my chair chatting with me.  She stayed perfectly still, like you're supposed to do. 

Trying to climb our little tree

The bear walked past her and tried to climb our little patio tree, about ten feet from where I stood, pinned to the side of our motor home on the top step.  I would have had to go back down the steps to open the door, but at that point I was like a deer in the headlights and stood still.  


Lucky for me, he went behind our picnic table and ran off between the two motor homes you can see in the photo.  This bear looked pretty young.  Ed and Marilyn told me there's another, larger bear (possibly the mother?) who also comes around.  


For those of you feeling sorry for me thinking I'm probably bored out of my mind being here all by myself, let me put your mind at ease!!!!


Here are three of the four beautiful bucks that wandered near my site this morning around 6:30.  












Before the bear excitement, as I was readying to leave in the car, I heard loud chattering from the tree (the same tree the bear tried to climb about an hour later).  I looked up and realized that Charlie the cat had a squirrel trapped up there.  It was time for Charlie to go inside anyway, so the squirrel was able to make a safe exit.


I'm reluctantly going to stop feeding the birds (and foxes), because I don't want the young bear to be enticed and become a nuisance and have to be moved (or worse).  Just bringing the feeders in at night isn't enough, because the bears come during the day.  


Here are a few wildlife cams from the last few nights:
Somebody's dog stopped by for a drink around 12:33 a.m.








This doe came for a snack around 12:16 a.m. night before last.








And the foxes are nightly visitors.  They will be sad to come and find no bird seed from now on.


But the cutest thing I've seen are the twin fawns that visit from time to time.  The first evening I saw them, they were hopping around playfully in front of the RV site two doors down.




I figured mom had to be nearby, and sure enough, she soon made an appearance.






Then she led her little ones home.










The pet photo of the day is Charlie the cat during his morning patio bird-watching time.