This Blog is Dead

As you can see I have not been updating this blog for a long time…..so it is time to close it down. 

I started this blog shortly after we went on the road as fulltime RVers in 2007.  It was a way to make a record for us of our travels and activities….and photos of many meals.  We were very pleased to find many others liked to read our blog.

However, now that we have slowed down our travels, bought a condo in Sun City where we will spend our winters and summer in south-central Colorado, there doesn’t seem much to blog about.

To be honest, it takes a lot of time to put up a blog post.  For me it took a good two hours each time uploading the photos, editing them, placing them in a table or tilting the photos and then writing copy. 

I’m getting older and want to spend my time reading, knitting, socializing, volunteering and taking naps.  Pretty boring stuff to blog about.  Plus most of our friends are on Facebook and blogs don’t seem to be “the thing” any more.

So, dear friends, thank you ALL for your attentiveness to this blog….I’m glad you have enjoyed it….time to move on. 

I’m on Facebook under Bobbie Chapman, so if you choose, you can keep up with me on there. 

So long…..

Remember, oh please, do remember, you are loved!!!
Read the story behind this saying HERE

July- lots of traveling

I’m getting out of the mood to blog frequently, so this will be a recap of our July activities.

Fourth of July was spent at Big Meadows National Forest Campground in South Fork, CO with buddies The Abeytas and the Berganns.

 

Teddy showed me how to make posole one night.

 

 

 

  

We did a lot of sitting around   

  

 

 

Teddy actually fried the jalapenos with the sausage for an hors d'oeuvres…he never does that cause the smell is kind of overpowering…I always tease him that his son, Tim, fries the jalapenos for me.

We had a great 4th of July dinner with Jim grilling the steaks.

This was yet another meal with bbq rubs	Rib dinner with BFF, Salai, and Paul and Delilah (former camphosts of ours) joining us for dinner.

While up at Big Meadows we saw on Facebook that our friends, Maryann and Bill Parham were driving from OK to South Fork Campground so we went over to see them one afternoon. Such a nice, nice couple and we had a good chat. Another Betty’s RV Park alum.

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We returned to Alamosa on July 6th and then took off on July 8th at 3:30 A.M. for a fast trip to Rapid City, SD to renew our drivers’ licenses…have to do that every five years.  We drove straight through and got there about 4 p.m.

We had dinner at TGI Fridays with buddies Jean and John Watson, whom we met working for amazon in Campbellsville, Kentucky, back in 2010.  We’ve seen them several times since then on the road.

Next morning we got our licenses in like 15 minutes flat; a photo, check your eyes, $28 a piece and we were out of there for another five years.

I just couldn’t get myself to just turn around and take off for Alamosa right away, so we decided to stay another night.  Plus buddies Jan and Chuck and Betty and Duane were staying at the Hart Ranch so we drove over there and spent the day.  It sure is a nice park and we enjoyed walking around and seeing the layout.

Very nice office area

We’ve known Jan and Chuck for a long time and met Betty and Duane at Betty’s RV Park in 2013.  We laughed so hard telling about meeting Jan and Chuck at “Mosquito Ville”, which is what we called the Colorado Boomerang in 2008 outside of Buena Vista.  The mosquitoes were so, so bad we all sat inside three screened in canopies during happy hour talking to each other through the mesh screening.  After a couple of days we all decided to have our happy hours in town at the city park.  Great memories!!!

For dinner we went to Lintz Brothers Pizza….what a great place….very busy and they put out one heck of a good pizza.

We got to bed early and got up at 3:30 a.m. AGAIN and headed back to Alamosa.  Stopped at a couple non-descript places for breakfast and lunch and got home by 4 p.m….in time to pick Poncho up from the kennels.  He’s never been kenneled before and at 13 years old we weren’t sure how he’s do.  But he did fine, made a lot of friends and we were told he was very sweet and a darling to have around…..ahhhhh!!!

It took us a good 2-3 days to recover from that trip and we lazed around a lot and slept.

Monday I was back to the library cataloguing and processing a set of 39 World War II Time-Life books that had been donated.  Glad I was able to get it done in two days.

Next big adventure was spending Saturday, July 18th with my BFF, Salai, in Creede celebrating both our birthdays….hers is the 18th and mine the 19th. 

We’ve done this for 8 or 9 years now.  We usually shop and have lunch, but this year we joined members of the Alamosa Women’s Club and saw “Guys and Dolls” at the Creede Repertory Theatre.  Oh, that was such fun. Look at the cute sign on the front of the Creede Olive Oil Company. Yes, we bought some flavored balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

On the way home we stopped at Cottonwood Cove for huge scoops of ice cream.  Then when we got home we sure received a wonderful surprise…Jim had cooked us a crab leg dinner with all the fixins!!!  What a guy!!!  Here’s Salai and I eating wearing our new identical hats.

What a fun day….thank you, Salai, for sharing our birthdays together once again.

The following weekend is traditionally the Chapman Annual 4-Wheel Trip to Ouray.  I went this year, but I am tuckered out from typing the blog post, so I will leave that for another day.

Never fear….it won’t take me another month.

Remember, you are loved.

Highway Springs

Been a while since I posted a blog.  We stayed a couple extra days at South Fork Campground. Had Rich and Terri over for dinner one of those nights.

                  

even made an apple pie with a smiley face…yes, there are two eyes….look carefully.

                              

We moved up to Highway Springs National Forest Campground on June 15th, staying with camphosts, Russ and Patty.  We like this right off the highway place as it is small with only 13 sites and it is secluded and quiet. Most people only spend the night and are off the next morning.  Plus with our Golden Age Pass it is only $6.50 a night.  There’s no utilities here, not even water but we last about 7 to 10 days then Jim leaves me here and he takes the rig back over to Rich and Terri’s campground and dumps and fills up with water for $5.

We’ve just been lazing around.  Jim goes fishing most every day up to Big Meadows Reservoir.  I sit under the awning and knit or read on my Kindle.  Happy hour at 4 with dinner around 5:30….pretty laid back and restful.

Heinz and Angela came up and stayed at South Fork Campground (which Rich and Terri manages) over Father’s Day weekend and then came over to visit us at Highway Springs.

 

Jim took Heinz fishing and they did pretty good, catching their limit.

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we all went up to Creede to try out the new Pizzeria 8825 (the elevation of Creede) that is housed in the old OMI building.  They only occupy the small dining area on the left of the building and they are building a retail shop in the old bar area.

They did take part of of the original bar and put in the new place…looks kind of funny chopped down.  The pizza was good with a very tender, flaky think crust.

Next we went to the former Old Firehouse which is now the Sweet Things (or is it Sweet Stuff?).  They have yogurt and hard ice cream by the ounce as well as buckets of “penny” candy we know from our childhood, which I am sure isn’t a penny any more.  At 69 cents an ounce for the yogurt and ice cream, our treat wasn’t a very good value.

         

We always enjoy any trip we take to Creede….beautiful old mining town, where Jim’s family had it’s start in Colorado.

On Sunday, Father’s Day, Jim enjoyed going out fishing

and then came home to grill himself a steak and baked potatoes.  Along with phone calls from our daughters, it was a very nice Father’s Day.

 

 

Last Friday we met Jim and Debbie Elliott for lunch at 3 Barrels Brewery in Del Norte.  We met The Elliotts at Betty’s RV Park a couple of years ago and they come up to South Fork for part of the summer every year.  We had a great visit and some good samples of beer and pizza.

         

Then Saturday we had our camphosts, Russ and Patty, over for dinner.  They winter in Tucson so we get to see them a several times a year….nice, nice couple.

       

Jim outdid himself on his ribs….his best ever!!!!!  I made cole slaw, potato salad, while Patty made deviled eggs and cucumbers in vinegar.  We had a feast!!!  We finished it off with my tapioca pudding with blueberries (eat your heart out, Heinz).

         

So that brings you up to date.  We move up to Big Meadows next Wednesday to celebrate July 4th with Heinz and Angela as well as Teddy and Roberta.  Should be a great time filled with laughter and a lot of good food.

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind this saying HERE

South Fork Campground

As is our tradition, we spent the first few days in the mountains at South Fork Campground with our buddies, Rich and Terri Deacon, the managers here.

Our friends, Teddy and Birdie, came up from Espanola and were camping at Big Meadows.  They came over to visit and showed us the huge trout they caught at Road Canyon…a couple were 13 inch plus.  They offered us some for dinner….didn’t have to ask me twice!  We had Rich and Terri over and I made potato salad and cole slaw to fill out the meal.

Saturday Heinz and Angela drove up for a visit and dinner and soon here came Teddy and Birdie…so the Notorious Eight had assembled.

Jim discovered a pinhole leak in the ice maker hose, so he bought an ice maker instillation kit to trade it out.  So when the Notorious Eight came together all the fellas had to gather to give advise on how to finish up the repairs.  It was so funny for us ladies to see all the guys peering in the foot square hole to see what needed to be done.

                 

Everybody brought steaks and a side dish to share (I ate leftover trout), but I forgot to take any photos.  Maybe it was because I used a fresh pineapple to make some daiquiris….and they were good!!! 

But I did get a shot of the wonderful peach and cherry cobbler Teddy made.  This type of cobbler is put 3 cans pie filling (or several cups of fresh/frozen fruit) in the Dutch over followed by a box of dry cake mix and then pour about 8 oz. of soda pop.  One of his best was cherry pie filling with chocolate cake mix and a can of Dr. Pepper.  And, yes, we topped it all with ice cream.

We’ll stay here another night and leave Tuesday for Park Creek if we can get one of the bigger sites.  If not we’ll go to Highway Springs.

Remember, you are loved.

Moving to the Mountains

It’s been a busy last week in Alamosa before we move to the mountains.

I finished up the last of the 164 CDs I was cataloging and processing for the library. I also processed another 149 obits scans to make it 1,006 I’ve done. We celebrated with a couple of pizzas I bought for the staff to say ‘thank you’ for all their help during these last four weeks I’ve been with them.

We had Salai over for dinner one last night…serving her ribs, of course, which she loves.

                     

We also had Heinz and Angela over for happy hour last Wednesday…..no picture as I have taken so many of them in our RV on the same couch, looking out the same back window, with the same outside background….I figure you remember what they look like by now.

This morning Jim and I will go out to eat breakfast one last time at the Campus Café, then “break down camp” and head for South Fork Campground for a couple of days as is our tradition.  Sunday we will move to one of the national forest campgrounds and start our summer in the mountains, camp fires, fishing and lots of relaxation.

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind this saying HERE

Lucky LaRue

Last Sunday was the last day of the Summerfest on the Rio, which we old timers still call Sunshine Festival even after it was renamed.

Closing out the festivities was a band called Lucky LaRue (nobody remembers why) that is made up of our previous next door neighbor from our “stick and brick” days, his son, and others.  We remember hearing them practice on weekends in their garage and Jim and I would take lawn chairs and sit on their lawn and enjoy listening.  They haven’t played together for ten years….so this was a reunion of sorts.

They had a good crowd, some sitting on the hay bales while others opted to bring their lawn chairs for a little more comfort.  After a ten year absence it was so good to hear them play together again.  It was good to hear their old songs being played again….good memories of parties in the past with good neighbors.

Remember, you are loved.