Lake Vallecito, Bayfield, Colorado

James seems to be doing much better in this climate. His fingers aren't swollen and he hasn't been complaining about pain. The air smells fresh and clean. We spent six days getting to this area because of the high altitude (8,000 ft). We did not want to get altitude sickness and so far so good. You have to drink alot of water and liquids.

We only spent one night in Chama, New Mexico and headed to Blue Spruce RV Park in Lake Vallecito for a 10 day stay. It was a nice clean place to stay and the employees were extremely helpful. Below are pics from the town's website, we were on the north end. We really enjoyed our stay there and had a great spot right at the bottom of the mountain where we sat in our lawn chairs and watched the ground squirrels, rabbits, birds and hummingbirds. The squirrels would come right up to you to get their food. They were fun to watch. We had a bear visit the campsite nightly but it never bothered us. One guy left dog food in the back of his truck which had a hard cover over the bed. The bear clawed his way through the top to get to the food.

Spent alot of time riding the motorcycle around the lake. We loved the little community with it's small stores and restaurants. Everyone was very friendly and we met ALOT of Texans. The people in the site across from us were from Pearland, which is the next town over from Alvin. Lots of families from Dallas/Houston areas.

Homemade fudge seems to be a big thing here so James' is in heaven. I am still on a quest for a good margarita. Lucky for me I packed my trusty Kitchenaid blender, 1.75 full liter of tequila and plenty of fixings. I told James that we need to come back next summer and set up a "Margarita/BBQ" stand on the Hwy. We'd make a killing. A thought just occurred to me. We could set up a "lemonade" type stand in all the campgrounds we go to. Travel around the country making lots of money, be on the Food network, then we could franchise the business...OK, back to reality. I think the thin air might be getting to me.

We decided that on the weekends we would just hang around and do all our traveling during the week when there is less traffic. It is nice not to be on any sort of time frame, it definitely helps you to relax. Before we took this trip I promised myself that I would do my best to roll with the flow and step out of my comfort zone.

Friday, July 29 we hopped on the bike and headed north of Durango to Silverton/Ouray area. The ride was amazing. The road you travel on is called the Million Dollar Highway because during the late 1800's it was built as a toll road and that was the cost to build it at that time. About half way to Silverton is a ski area called Purgatory where a 7 mile gravel road leads up to some campgrounds. James, being the adventurer he is decides to travel up this road. I, NOT being an adventurer, was hanging on for dear life. The farther up the mountain the narrower the road became and the steeper the cliff (first pic). Did I mention there are no guardrails on these roads. The views were amazing but by the time we reached the top I was ready for a break and something stronger than the water we brought to drink. James, AKA Daniel Boone, was in heaven. Black clouds started rolling in so we decided to head back down. About one mile away from hitting pavement the bottom fell out. We jumped off and tried to put on these thin clear ponchos in the gale force winds. By the time we got the stupid ponchos on we were already wet (and cold). We laughed at how funny we must have looked fighting the wind to get this thin piece of plastic over us. Everything was dusty from the gravel road and the rain made everything muddy. James took it in stride but I do not like to be dirty and this was almost too much for me to take. I was comforted by the thought of a nice hot shower and clean clothes when we returned to the campsite. Needless to say, we went straight back to the campgrounds. We'll try the ride again later.