June 23, 2010
RV Trip: East Bound
Woke up late this morning to the sound of the Animas River flowing right behind our RV. Kim made breakfast and then I took the kids down to the river to play. The girls played various games and ultimately were building a “Water World for Beavers” out of sticks that they found. I sat on a rock in the river and watched them, cheered them on, and generally starred off into the mountains.
Upon packing up, I found out that I haven’t been properly using the RV toilet and neither has anyone else but Kim. So we had a bit of a clog going. I had to get a big stick from the river and try and correct the situation. That was fun. The things you will do for your own offspring and their mother. Rookie RVer here but learning fast.
We had to go pickup Wyatt after that because we missed the cutoff last night coming back from Mesa Verde. We were sitting in construction traffic for about an hour and missed him so he had to stay the night. Probably good for him to be out of the rig for a while. He never knows exactly where to be in here. Kim went in and picked him up and came back and reported some weird news. He never finished his food from yesterday so they left it in the bowl in case he wanted it later. This usually means he is full and would prefer fresh food at his next meal. However, they didn’t interpret it that way. Apparently, Wyatt got smart/frustrated and then peed on the food in the bowl. They figured that really meant he didn’t like the food so they cleaned it out and removed it from the cage. Not quite what I would have done. Oh well. He is back with us now.
Today was mostly a travel day. We had to get from Durango to Hooper, CO. Took about 3+ hours. Drove through Pagosa Springs, which looked really nice and upscale. Seemed like there was a lot to do there. Might have to return there sometime. Kim spent a lot of time in back with the girls doing crafts. That left me to my own daydreaming while driving wherein I thought about SJS50 quite a bit. Anyway, there is nothing in Hooper but it has an RV park with a nice 100 degree spring water pool called the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool. The girls swam for about 4 hours or so. The place even lets dogs come into the pool area (not in the water) so Wyatt laid poolside all afternoon with us and took a nap. They had 2 diving boards plus a small water slide for the kids as well. I purposely planned this big pool time because I knew the girls would appreciate it. However, Sydney bitched a lot about how the pool was too hot.
As we came into Hooper, I could see smoke and flames on the hillside to the east. Turns out there is a raging forest fire coming this way called the Medano Fire. It started around June 5th. The Great Sand Dunes National Park is just minutes away so that is our destination for tomorrow. However, the park is already issuing warnings about the fire but it is still open. While we sat at the pool, the winds kicked up and the entire eastern sky turned to smoke. Tonight, we are parked out here in the middle of nowhere and it smells like the world is on fire outside. Hope its clearer in the morning or we may have to call an audible.
