The Divot Diva: BUSY IN COLORADO

We left Santa Fe Thursday morning, and made it to Crested Butte, CO without any problems. Our first stop was to get $153 worth of 85 octane gas. Wow, it’s expensive here compared to the $3.25 average price in Dallas, and the cheapest for miles around was $3.71. Then we went to WalMart to buy a few groceries. Few is right. It is not called WalMarket for a reason. It is NOT a market. They only carry one isle of non-fresh staples. No veggies, fruit, etc.. They also do not sell gasoline. They are right next door to a local grocery store that also sells gasoline. I figure the city made some severe restrictions on what they could sell. Needless to say, I didn’t buy much.

We got settled in the RV place, and within 5 mins. It was raining. That lasted most of the evening. Chloe and I decided to use the Laundromat. We put the clothes in, then rode around the RV park for 25 minutes while waiting for the clothes to wash. We sat out the drying time, as I am not used to this altitude. It cleared up right around bed time, naturally.

I had booked Chloe for a rock climbing outing for 8:30 am. The Rain started again in the middle of the night and continued til around 9am. So much for rock climbing. However, they didn’t charge me for it. It was still raining as we drove to Crested Butte this afternoon for her 3pm zip line outing. They informed us they do it rain or shine. The only thing that stops it is lightening. Well, it was raining as we arrived, but the sun came out as we were walking to get her forms signed. Here’s the funny part. I “almost” went with her, because I hated for her to be alone and not know anyone. Some of you might not know it, but I do have a fear of heights. Well, not that by itself, it is more of the fear of falling from any height. That is why I no longer wear high heels. Anyway, when I saw some of the rope bridges they have to walk on, I decided NO WAY!

Thank goodness I decided that, cause it’s non-refundable. As I left her there to wait in the RV for her to finish, they were beginning to hike up the mountain. WTF? I asked why they didn’t use the ski lifts like they do for the bikers and hikers, and they said because they are in a different portion of the ski area. There is no way I could have hiked up that mountain. It’s all I can do to breathe. I’m in the parking lot, and the altitude is 9378 ft. It is also 61*. Speaking of cold, no air conditioner last night. I had to have two blankets, then ended up turning on the heater. I forgot how cool it gets at night.

Chloe had a blast. That girl is fearless. Here are a couple of pictures. (not the best quality because Blogger wants only WMV file types today ^#&^%)

I called Angie a few minutes after Chloe finished to tell her what time we’d return. They started having steering problems.... like at high altitude it would go from power steering to a manual struggle to make a turn at all. It became the worst while at the top of Monarch Pass. Last week, she spent about $1200 getting her car running. One of the things they worked on was a new power steering pump. They managed to make it to Gunnison, and found a repair shop that was open and willing to work on it right away. Long story short, the repair shop in Dallas put transmission fluid in the unit after changing the pump out. It is okay to do it on lots of cars, but not on a Honda. Cost to do a power steering flush and refill? $200. Good news, the mechanic here called the shop in Dallas and explained what he'd found. Their new mechanic had not realized you cannot do that on a Honda. They covered the cost of the repair. Problem solved. Still don't understand why it was so severe at higher altitude... but at least they didn't have an accident.

I will say one thing... there are quite a few things to do at Crested Butte in the summer. For the young kids, there is a rock climbing wall,

We agreed to meet at Garlic Mike's Italian Restaurant for dinner. They beat us there and had wine waiting. Chloe excitedly explained her ride. Morgan was sooo excited to see Chloe, and honestly, vice versa. We all ordered, and while we were waiting for our food, I noticed a group of 4 people trying to do a selfie. I suggested Morgan go offer to take their picture. She finally did. Ended up, they were happy with the selfie they'd taken, but the four of them and Morgan began talking. Morgan was using her hands and gesturing, and so were they. I thought it was really funny. Guess she takes after her Mimi..... can talk to a wall.

They were talking about staying in Cachura, which is all of our favorite places to visit. Morgan was telling them about the fact that they had spent the previous night there, along with a couple of other people from Plano, TX. The Plano people were spending the night at the Inn, then were going to go tenting for a few days. The Plano people had ice chests full of meats and other foods... you know, tubs full of cookies, bread, etc. in the back of their pick-up. Around midnight, Angie woke up to sounds from outside their window, and saw a couple of bears in the ice chest. They ripped open the bacon packages and were eating the bacon one slice at a time, as if they'd done it every day of their life. When the bears got full, they left and then in came the foxes, followed by Magpies. Angie of course woke up Eric and Morgan. She tried to get pictures, but couldn't because of the window screens, and she was afraid to use the flash lest she scare them off. She did get one of the truck the next day covered in bear prints. Wish I'd gotten to see it.

Today was level 3 rafting. I got up not feeling well, so I bypassed. That cost big bucks, but I was just not up to it today. So, I stayed her and edited a few pictures of the trip and Chloe's video. They came home cold and wet. Here are some pictures.