La Veta - September 15 - 21

This week was a really laid-back time spent in LaVeta, CO - a small town 6 miles off the main hi-way between Alamosa and Walsenberg. It was recommended to us by our friends Larry & Barbara Smith, fellow volunteers at The Ponderosa, who live in Kansas. We had a great view from our campsite of Spanish Peaks which were formed by masses of molten rock which pushed toward the surface but never reached it. When the peaks were forming, magma also surged upward into cracks in the ground and hardened. Over time, the softer sediments surrounding the hardened magma wore away, leaving unique giant walls called "dikes". These dikes radiate from the Peaks like spokes in a wheel and vary in length from 300 ft. to over 14 miles. Outcroppings of this type can been seen all along the eastern side of the Rockies. The 2 pictures above, as well as the 2 below, are of the same dike. In the last pictures, that isn't snow...it's sky on the other side!




Our campground was Elk Valley Fly Shop and RV Park, and the only thing between us and the mountains was a lovely golf course!


You will see by our "wildlife count" in the left column that the categories of deer and antelope grew significantly. The antelope were in a field about 2 miles out of town; and the middle picture shows the "town herd" that meanders through the yards of the residents on a daily basis. The small group of deer on the right were a few miles out of town as well. The buck on the left actually took a few steps toward us as if to say, "come any closer to my harem and you'll be buying a new vehicle!"

We played golf at Grandote Peaks which is right across the street from our campground (you can see the camping sign on the highway over Russ' left shoulder, below). One of the houses near the fairway had a sign that said: Hit this far...you won't make par!

I could hardly play golf for watching the dear...uh, make that DEER!

This mama and her fawn trotted across the fairway about 50 ft. in front of us. We just sat in the golf cart and watched as they moved to a wooded area in which, to our surprise, were 4 other deer!

Hope the video below works out so you can see it.

A few miles east of Alamosa, and about 16 miles north of the highway, is the Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve. It's unbelieveable that we've been coming to this area all these years and have never visited this park! They are the tallest sand dunes in North America. There are several very tall mountains near the dunes, and in the spring and early summer when the snow melts, there is a flowing river at the base of the dunes.

We started out on a jeep trail near the dunes and came to the following sign. Did any of these warnings deter us?

> 4-wheel drive only - no

> soft sand ahead - no

> tire pressure 15 lbs. advised - no

> air near campground entrance - nice to know
> camping by permit only - no

> minimum wrecker fee $400 - YES!!!

We immediately turned around!

Our week at LaVeta has been wonderful and we will plan to return here next summer after serving at The Ponderosa. We attended church this morning at Mountain View BC - small church with only 23 attending. However, we met a couple who lives in Sun City and spends their summers here. He is a retired industrial arts teacher having taught at Camelback and Tolleson high schools. It's amazing that we attend so many different churches throughout the summer and seem to bump into people we have something in common with.