HOME SWEET HOME!

We returned to Arizona on I-40 and was greeted by the Welcome to Arizona sign near Sanders.
Before leaving the Flagstaff area we had dinner with granddaughter Stephanie and her friend Jake. They were not able to join us on the family vacation at Fun Valley, so it was good to visit with them and catch up on the latest.


Home Sweet Home! It's always good to return home and see that not too many things have changed in our little community.

This is the last installment of our Summer '08 blog. We've enjoyed sharing our experiences with you and hope you have enjoyed knowing what we were doing all that time we were gone. Some have questioned the accuracy of our wildlife count! We recorded our count at least once a day. Not only were we always looking out for wildlife but we specifically would go out for that purpose at least once a day. The count was audited by Arthur Andersen. The Lord blessed us more than we could have expected...travel safety, a place to serve Him, wonderful churches in which to worship, gorgeous scenery, unusual wildlife, but most of all He brought new friends to us who blessed us beyond measure. Until next summer when we do this all over again, blessings to all.

Russ and Nancy

Farmington - October 11 - 18

The county fairground in Farmington, NM was the site for the Rocky Mountain Family Motor Coach Assoc. rally with 524 rigs present. The chapter of which we are members, Coaches for Christ, had 17 rigs. Good fellowship and food were enjoyed at Golden Corral by several hungry folks.


At these rallies, there are so many rigs attending that they are parked pretty much like sardines in a can! Vendors are present in case you want to spend your money. Ruth Roubal and Cheryl Dye (members of Coaches for Christ and Tucson Drifters) had a booth with gorgeous jewelry.


Our chapter was responsible for conducting the Sunday morning worship service and daily devotions. President Bill Marti shares his testimony with the group, and Len Jardin and Russ did the special music. We typically had 30 (give or take a few) at the daily devotions.


It has been wonderful how the Lord has placed new friends in our lives during our summer ministry. One day (a couple of weeks ago) as we were jeeping high in the mountains north of Durango, we came across 2 van loads of senior adults from Bloomfield, NM on an excursion to view the Fall colors. As we stopped and visited with them we learned they were from First Baptist Church. Then...at the FMCA rally, we met Lew and Linda King, music/worship leaders at the same church! The more we visited with them, the more we found in common. He served 22 years in churches in Mississippi, one of them being Parkway near Jackson and they lived in Clinton near the area where Russ' parents lived. They are wonderful servants for the Lord and we look forward to being with them again next year.

Durango - September 29 - October 10

Some of you are familiar with the December Polar Express excursion on the Williams to Grand Canyon train. Here's Durango's exciting activity for Fall. The campground where we are staying lets the train company use their pasture to set up a Charlie Brown pumpkin patch. They've been working several days to set up tents to house all kinds of fun things to do. Kids get on the train in downtown Durango and ride out to the campground, then get off the train to visit the pumpkin patch.

Fall marches on! Trees that were green a few weeks ago are now brilliant red. As we were looking for wildlife one evening, we came upon this bull elk with his "harem". In the video below, he is herding the "ladies" away from us. The same evening, we saw a bobcat running across the road but couldn't get the camera ready quick enough to get a picture.

Coal Bank Pass is about half-way between Durango and Silverton. The area's first winter storm came through Saturday night and dumped white stuff all over the mountains, so we took a drive Sunday afternoon.

One of our favorite places in Silverton is this restaurant where they serve funnel cakes -- particularly tasty snack on a cold afternoon.

What a shock to be driving along a country road about 1 mile north of our campground and see this bear. Nancy was so surprised it took her a few seconds to say "there's a bear", so Russ had to back up the jeep in order for us to get a good picture.

Durango Riverside Resort is one of our favorite places to stay -- been staying
there since Jenni and Rod were still at home and taking vacations with us! The day after the winter storm came through, the mountain behind the campground was

white.

Early in the week we took a day trip to Silverton and, once again, marvelled at the beauty of the changing leaves. It is absolutely awesome to see whole mountainsides bursting out in autumn colors.

Earlier this summer we tried to go to one of our favorite places a few miles out of Silverton - Clear Lake - at an altitude of 11,998 ft., but were unable to get there because of snow. We made it this time and as we started back down the mountain, the white stuff started to fall! Nancy's picking out a rock at the top of the mountain to bring home - we write the name of the area and the altitude on the rock and plan to place it somewhere in our yard at home.

We nearly had a collision with the train one evening as we were looking for wildlife. In our intense viewing, we forgot this particular crossing is on a country road and has no warning lights or signals. It wasn't until the engineer blasted the whistle that we realized he was so close.

Pagosa Springs - September 22 - 28

As we traveled across Wolf Creek Pass, headed for Pagosa Springs, we enjoyed the changing of the colors - something we don't get to see too often. To us desert dwellers, "changing of the colors" is when the green saguaro cactus gets a white bloom at the top of each arm!

Pagosa is one of our favorite places to be. We typically stay at Wolf Creek Run but opted for a campground 5 miles west of town - Happy Camper RV Park. Not as nice, but the price was right!

On this golf course, not only did we see deer, but this cute little gray squirrel; and a flock of Canadian geese. I think they're in the process of flying south for the winter, but like Pagosa so much they're spending a little time there!

Ah yes, those of you old enough to remember Red Ryder comics will recognize this guy on the right, and Little Beaver below.

The best thing about Pagosa Springs is being able to visit with Russ' cousin, Bill Gorman, and his wife, Carolyn. Their winter home is in Plano, TX but they spend a lot of time enjoying this home they have built. Their dogs, Kelly and Lance, always give us a hearty barking welcome when we pay them a visit.

Seems like Bill always has some kind of project going on. Russ helped him lift a huge 6x6x10? beam to the top of the supports for the back porch.

We attended Mountain Heights Baptist Church on Sunday and were surprised to see our friends of 40+ years. Barbara and Ted Callin have recently bought a home in the area and we were their first guests!



This morning as we were preparing to leave Pagosa and head to Durango, Abby was a naughty girl. She always can sense when we're getting ready to move to a different camp. Russ was outside disconnecting electric, water, etc., and I left for about 5 minutes to take the trash to the dumpster. When I returned, I found our cell phone on the floor in 3 pieces, with teeth marks on front and back. She must have gone ballistic in those 5 minutes. Luckily, there was an Alltel store nearby. She has vented her anger during the summer, at being left alone, on 3 different TV remote controls...one of which we had to totally replace when we were in Grand Junction.