A Tow Truck Adventure

We are in summer quarters in the Rocky Mountains. It's beautiful up here. The house made it through another winter and we're ready to rock and roll. But wait...the car we leave here was not. It had a very very flat battery. 

We tried everything we could do to get it started when we finally decided to call AAA to give us a jump start. That's where a new adventure began. AAA was prompt. I called them saying I need a jump start. About a minute later, a local tow truck company calls and says "I'l be there in 12 minutes." A text arrived with a real time map telling me exactly where the tow truck was and he arrives on time. I was impressed.

He has the biggest jump start kit I've ever seen, attaches it to the Jeep and voila the Jeep starts. Then the horn started blaring. He figured out to do, and the horn stops. We thank him and plan to drive around for a while to keep the charge. BUT the Jeep had other plans. About 1.5 miles from the house every light on the dashboard starts lighting up and flashing. I saw warning lights I've never seen before. The windshield wipers are wiping away and the horn starts blaring again--then the engine dies! What to do. I'm on a narrow two lane road that up till 2 years ago was a dirt road so it's hard to find. I call the AAA guy and he says he'll be there in a few minutes.

Sure enough, he arrives. In the meantime 3 neighbors stop to see if they can help and I tell them that help is on the way. I thank them for their help...and then the tow truck arrives. Nat, the AAA tow truck guy, starts the Jeep again and puts it on the tow truck. At this time I find out that the dealer who has been servicing the Jeep has moved his business to Jackson...and we decide to go to a local service shop. That's when Part 2 of the adventure begins.

We are all in the cab of the tow truck with our Jeep tucked away in back, when the tow truck has problems. He has just blown a turbo or a transmission as he cannot go faster than 12 miles an hour. He inches back to our house and makes arrangements for a new tow truck. We pick up our truck, follow him at 12 miles an hour to the location of the other tow truck--and that's where we leave scene. 

He's going to put the Jeep on the new truck and we go to the service shop and tell them the Jeep is coming. We do that and he does what he says. We think we need a new alternator along with a battery.

I've not been in a tow truck since 1984--that time we were on a cross country trip with our first truck and fifth wheel trailer. We stopped for diesel in Kennebunkport, Maine when our truck died at the gasoline station. It had lost a transmission. We were towed to Portland, Maine...but that's another story. Tow trucks are huge complicated pieces of machinery that do a fantastic job and somehow we "know" they are not supposed to break down but I guess they do. Nat, our tow truck guy was embarrassed and apologized for the problem...and we just went with the flow. Things happen we told him. All was going to be well. 

Someday soon we'll get the Jeep back. We had an adventure we did not expect. Met some neighbors who were really helpful and had a good laugh. Things happen that you can't predict. We just had a lemon thrown at us and me made some sweet lemonade. Remember, we're all in this together.

In the Aspens

We are back in our tiny portion of the  aspen forest. Last year when we arrived in late April, the aspens did not have any leaves on them; this year, a month later, the trees are covered in green leaves that rustle and quake when there is a breeze. The trees and the forest are beautiful. Hiding in the forest are deer. 

So far I've seen 3 sets of male deer--4 yearlings with 2 tiny prongs, hanging out in the backyard; 2 four-prongers that seem to like the front yard and 2 six-prongers that have nests by the porch and the shed. They are setting up their summer territories. I have some pictures but blogger has blocked that feature right now.  I've only seen one doe...a yearling--but no mama does. I'm guessing they are hiding in the forest protecting their fawns.

In the meantime, the DrCs are trying to get the house working the way it should. The problem is not the house, but the owners. I have a bad back and we are both aware of the lack of oxygen at 6300 feet. There's oxygen here, but not the same amount we are used to at a lower elevation. It will take us a few days to acclimate, until then it's "work-a-little-rest-little-work-a-little-rest-a-little." I'm not expecting any company for a while, so we can take our time. 

It's late spring in the Rocky Mountains...that means there are sunny days and rainy days and even some snowy days. Yesterday we had a rain; today we have mixed clouds/sun/rain. Summer officially begins about the 22 of June, so we're expecting this type of weather for a couple of more weeks.

All in all, aching back and no oxygen, it's good to be here. The mountains are gorgeous. The deer are great fun to watch, we are in our little home in the forest--and we've even made a short trip to the Tetons (another picture I cannot show you). 

In the Mountains--and it's GREEN

We migrated back to the mountains. The most interesting part of being in the mountains is all the green. Green is not a desert color and here we have lots of green. The mountains have snowy tops and green hillsides. The fields are green. The aspens are green. The green is lovely and my eyes are happy.

We are slowly moving back in our little house in the forest and finding once again, it's hard work that has to be done. Since we've done this for decades we know what to and that means taking it slowly. One day at a time, one thing at a time. Don't rush--do it once and do it right. So far so good. 

Yesterday we all stopped working about 3 as it was a lovely day with perfect mountain weather. I sat on my easy chair  on the porch and watched 2 young stags wander the property. They were born here and they stay here all year. These fellows each had 4 prongs on their 5 inch antlers. They looked healthy and happy. I did not see any does or bambis but give them time and they will emerge from the forest.

There is a lot of stuff to do, but the porch squared away so the rest will happen in good time. I love my porch. I found my rock painting tools so you know that I'll soon be painting rocks and listening to books on the porch and enjoying time in the Rocky Mountains. It's good to be here. 

Memorial Day

Let's honor all of our Veterans.

Migration

It's that time of year when we think about our annual migration from the desert to the mountains. We'll be leaving soon. But it reminds me of all the years we've made this migration. It started in 1973.

Back then, the migration happened in a 20 foot mini-motorhome and we were going to take our first big trip around the United States. We planned to be gone for 67 days. It was exciting. We had a new motorhome, all the gear that we needed, and off we went. The other DrC developed an ambitious itinerary that was filled with adventure. We truly thought we could drive in the morning, camp at our destination, play at the destination, and the next morning, pull up camp and do it all over again. Little did we know  we were wrong. There was no way we could do all that and relax and enjoy our "vacation." It was turning out to be hard work and NO fun. We did it for 2 weeks. We were exhausted. We had to change the plan.

That night, we were camped in the Grand Canyon and we had a big decision to make--Keep the RV and change our plans or sell it and try something else. We truly did not want to sell our beautiful motorhome.  We got out our maps and looked at the over-planned journey and pared it down to about a 1/3 of the original. We made some huge decisions: we would not drive more than 200-250 miles a day; we needed time to decompress from the drive before we started to play; and we needed to stay at our destination for more than one night. I mean, there we were in Grand Canyon and we had only planned to be there for 3 or 4 hours. We also decided that this trip would be the first of many and each time we were out for 60-70 days we could see what we missed the time before. 

We followed those guidelines for over 50 years of RV-ing. We are not long distance drivers...we still travel about 200 miles a day. We like to sit back and watch the scenery. We like to enjoy the towns and parks along the way. The US has over 60 National Parks and we've been to most of them. There are also hundreds of places to enjoy and learn about our beautiful country. It truly is the best place on earth (and we know, as we've also visited over 140 countries on our "migrations").

Over the years we had many RVs. We camped all over the US and Canada, eventually visiting all 50 states and every province in Canada. We also visited the Yukon Territory but never made to the Northwest Territory (or Nunavut, which was not around when we started camping over 50 years ago. BTW we did not camp in Hawaii--but one time we bought a grill and ate our dinner watching the waves roll in--it was wonderful. 

The first summer out we discovered Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and fell in love with them. Since then, we've visited those 2 parks as often as we could. Every year we are in the US we visit those two parks. We are really good tour guides too.

This year, we're getting ready to make our summer migration. Alas, the last RV was sold 3 years ago. We drive our hybrid pickup truck and stay in hotels. It's still good. We'll end up in the mountains soon. We will not miss the heat of the desert. We will miss our desert friends in the 'hood. Remember, we're all in this together.