So... we got jobs. (Copper Canyon!)

On a chilly mid-November morning, we blasted off in our new home

WOW!  It was 1 year ago this week!!! that Joel and I left Mpls, 'the corporate world', and stationary house living behind.  We headed south into a new lifestyle with no solid idea of what we were gonna do for an income... Other than keep our minds open, and enjoy the daylights out of all our new experiences!!  and WoW- talk about an adventure)

We sailed along pretty well on savings for several months, but one day our desire grew bigger for a plentiful, fun flow of money coming in again.

i thought about going into town and filling out a job application somewhere, but that didn't ring my bells at all.  For numerous reasons, i'm most-enjoying giving massages still, but just as a hobby and for fun, so, that didn't feel like an option for me either.  Joel was looking here and there for something he could do web-wise, but nothing really called to him.  "What i'd really like is to own or work for my own business." he told me one day.  And he'd thought about doing private contract work, but he wasn't moved to take on anything yet.  So, after several days of feeling-out some different options, i myself decided to give it a break and stop thinking about it.
Then something exceptional happened.

Joel's friends, Michael and Courtenay, have been running a small and successful rock-cutting and crystal-selling business here in town for 10ish years, called Copper Canyon Lapidary.  One evening they suggested we meet up with them for dinner. 
Mike asked Joel a bunch of questions about his web expertise, then went on to tell us about a huge business prospect he had up his sleeve.
He and his wife were seriously considering buying a colleague's 20+ yr, well-established, online rock-sales business, based out of Tuscon, AZ.  Not only that, but they knew of another guy in the middle-of-nowhere, CA, looking to retire from his rock equipment-cutting business.  So, they were looking to expand Copper Canyon Lapidary, BIGTIME.  But they couldn't do it alone.  Mike is a rock guy and just wants to cut rocks.  Courtenay has little experience with online, tech-y stuff, and already run their little crystal shop at the local arts & craft fair on weekends.  So they would need someone to manage a bunch of websites, photograph new inventory to put up on them, and learn to how to ship out the materials they'd sell.  And of course, these new businesses would have to be physically moved: one up, and the other over, to Sedona. 
They were asking us if we had any interest in maybe helping them.
blah blah blah, fast-forward a couple weeks, and we strongly felt "yes!"

stick a big rock in there!

We've spent the last several months preparing a new warehouse space right in town/only 10 minutes from where we live, to accommodate Mike's cutting equipment (he's been working out of his garage for years), all the new inventory we'd be taking in, and to house an entire office.  Amidst all that, Joel helped write up contracts & purchase agreements, dealt with lawyers & accountants, established bank accounts, figured out various legal things, and designed us a new logo.  Throw in the purchases, our building inspections, and oodles of other details, and... now we're IN it 😄 

moving day, just before Halloween

A couple weeks ago we all drove down to Tucson, loaded up a moving truck with desks, packing materials, shelving, boxes of pretty polished things, buckets of chunks and heavy rocks, office supplies, etc. and hauled it all up to it's new home.  The guy letting it all go came up with us, too 😁 (Rob.)  He's helping us find our bearings and train us in on how all this works.  Joel is now managing a bunch of different websites, taking orders, and figuring out their shipping logistics.  I'm pulling stuff off the shelves and packaging it up to be shipped, as well as learning how to photograph our back stock and edit pictures, to be added onto the websites.  Mike and Courtenay have one more weekend of running their crystal-selling shop at the local arts&craft fair, then they'll have the winter off, starting it up again in March.  Courtenay will be assisting me with the photography thru the winter. 

As some of you saw on FB earlier this year (Spring/summer), I shared pics of Joel and I helping Mike cut and polish stones.  It was so much fun!  But we're not really doing that anymore.  At the time, it worked out so great, since the new biz and salaries were not yet established, we were able to quickly learn a fun and fascinating new skill, and receive some cash for our time to boot!  Plus what an eye-opening experience! to see how to take a boring chunk of WTF?, slice it up, cut that into smaller pieces, soften or shape the edges, and put a polish on it... *Wha-La!*  "this thing is gorgeous inside!"
it can be a rather lengthy process.  I now better understand all the energy that goes into the pretty little bits we all see set into jewelry, or sold at a crystal shop, for hobbyists and 'healers'.  It's a delightful way to spend some time!  And i can see why some folks have such a passion for doing it.

Malachite/Azurite cabochons that we cut

Somewhere amidst all that, Joel and I made several mini road-trips down to Tucson (Saguaro-land!) so we could meet this Rob feller and start learning how to do what he does.

 Rob used to have a huge warehouse space with employees, but he's a solo act these days, running his shop solely online, out of the converted garage attached to his home.  We got to meet his wife Joanie as well. They are such LOVELY ppl!  Like all rock-hounds we've been meeting lately, Rob is such a character 😄 and we love him to bits.  He's quite laid-back, with a fun sense of humor, yet very serious about seeing his business go into caring and capable hands.  (He was all-for passing it off to Mike and Counrtenay, but it was gonna be a lot to take on for just the two of them.  They'd prefer to see them have some help... and then Life brought Joel and I onto the scene!)  Joanie and Rob have so lovingly opened their home to us on several different occasions.  the first time we met them we pulled our camper with us and lived on some fun BLM land, and spent a whole week.  Over our following, shorter visits they had us spend the night at their house, made us meals, took us out on the town a few times, and one evening we played a spirited game of Rummikub. (i forgot how fun that one is!)  Joanie even took me with her one Sunday morning to something kind of like Dance Church (in Mpls.) !!!  We had a lovely time together!  I've so much enjoyed spending time with both of them.  Now that everything is moved, i'm not sure when we will see Joanie again, but Rob said he'll be only a phone call away for months to come, once he leaves us to man our new ship mostly on our own.

Ginormous Quartz crystal at the Denver show

On another note, one of the great things about this business for us all is getting to TRAVEL!  and experience these GINORMOUS rock and gem shows (with GINORMOUS crystal specimens!) that happen in Arizona and Colorado, mainly.  There's a big one we'll attend every September in Denver, and another one every January/February in Tucson and Quartzsite.  Mike has suggested we take our little arts&craft fair shop to Cortez this spring and try vending there for the first time (WooHoo!!  we love CO.)  There's also interesting places where we can go dig out our own crystals and rocks from the ground.  (not to mention we still have a trip to Cali to do, for sealing the deal on the equipment buisness.)
YEAH, it's true, we're gonna be hunkered down here for a while, but i can't imagine a better place to be "stuck" (HA!) than this little town!  I really love Sedona.  I love and do miss my family, and friends. 
I love my husband so much!!!  I LOVE this opportunity we attracted (thanks, Universe/God/All-That-Is!).  I love our new business partners, we all get along so well.  I love our tiny home on wheels!  We've been living in an RV for a full year now and i'm still finding so much satisfaction in it.  It's just perfect for us right now!  and quite a while to come, we both feel.
 
I'm really stoked we're gonna go to Quartzsite for our first time come the New Year.  If you don't know yet, it's a HUGE RV/camping gathering that goes down every year in an area of AZ i havne't been to yet.  There's also big gem show that goes on in conjunction with the camper event, so Mike and Courtenay plan on going to that as well.
 In February we'll go to Tucson, where we'll buy up more inventory to sell at the local Spring show season.  And every September we'll go back to Denver, to restock for the Fall show season.  ...such is our ebb and flow of the crystal-sharing world.

 Joel will eventually launch an all new Copper Canyon website.  Right now we are doing business off of Colorwright.com.
What we sell at the arts & craft show is different from what we sell online, with the exception of Shungite products.  Colorwright caters mainly to lapidary and faceting (rock-hound) folks.  But we also offer beads, some polished items, jewelry, etc.  (A whole LOT!)
If you ever see me post pics from the show and you see things you like, let me know what you're interested in and we'll figure it out to ship it to you.

Our latest hike/climb

We get out on a hike much more seldom these days, but we did go last week on a trail we'd never been, made quite a climb, and caught a spectacular sunset view of Thunder Mountain.  I told Mike and Courtenay that we ALL have to do a group hike once a month together.  it will be great to clear our heads of business-y stuff, get exercise, fresh air, and bask in the energy/nature down here.  They're all for it.  The first hike isn't on the books yet, but it's coming.  As are all good things!  (For anybody, EVERY BODY! no exceptions 😉  ALL OF THE TIME!  Well-Being flows to you~)

Hello! from the new Copper Canyon Lapidary :)

TallyHo!  👋

THE Denver rock show!

HFSB, Batman!  a giant quartz crystal cluster

One of the things SO SPOT-ON about the new jobs Joel and I landed, is the opportunity to continue traveling and take more trips.  (The Universe is so catering to us!  and by us, i mean EVERYBODY.)

Every year, our biz partners go to Denver in the Fall, and Tucson in Winter, to buy new inventory at the giant rock and gem shows.  So on Sept. 12th,  Joel and I packed up our tent & sleeping bags again into the truck, and hit the road in mid-september to make the trek and join our comrades in Denver for a few days of shopping and marveling at crazy rock specimens.  We had three national parks in mind to check out.  The show itself was gonna be fascinating!  A surprise and worthwhile detour in Colorado awaited us.   More great (free) camping spots were discovered.  and we got startlingly close to some critters one camp night on our way home!

Driving north and leaving Sedona is really fascinating.  All this red rock, short vegetation, big mesas, expansive spaces, and mountainous foothills surround every direction.  Drive the winding road north only several miles up Oak Creek Canyon and the rocks become more grey, tall pine trees begin to dominate, and visibility is limited.  That pops you out on top of the Mogollon rim and into Flagstaff; green meadowy grasses, predominantly pine trees, more moisture in the air, and Mt. Humphrey overlooks it all.  Begin to leave Flagstaff and the mountains drift away, trees become sparse, barren land takes over, down to nothing, and it's pretty flat.  Flat, flat, flat... not much around, until getting to Utah... is so fantastically weird.  Odd, worn-away rock formations stand sporadically all over the place, and reddish-rock arches seem very common. 

We drove through Monument Valley again (3 times in the last few months?!!👍) and spent our first night just outside Moab, Utah, on BLM land that proved a noteworthy nook for overnight.  I was impressed with how quiet it was for being not too far off the busy highway, but tucked around a corner and behind a nice hill.  there were others out there with us but there was lots of space between everyone.  The moon rose just after we got our tent pitched.  I hung a string of little flowery across the top and we ate something for dinner, then turned in for bed not long after.  We slept great, got up with the sun and made our way into town to gas up, eat at a local diner,and then hit Arches National park. WOW.

near Moab, UT.   Do you see the little ppl's down there?  :)

 all these arches.  what...? incredible.  (lots of pics in the link at the end.)  We spent a few great hours here.  it got really HOT tho, and we had to bail on walking the longer trails.  we gotta go back sometime!   
We split in late afternoon to make it all the way to Denver, for an overnight at my friend's home.  Our original ETA was for 10ish,  but we ended up being a couple hours later due to the unforeseen drive opportunity thru:  Colorado national monument.  Ever been?   The road takes you up high, to the top of a plateau, then winds along the top of it, ducking through some woodsy, hilly patches here and there.   the views are huge, looking down sheer cliff canyon walls, before spitting you out into the city of Grand Junction.  i really didn't want to possibly disturb my friend's family by coming in so late that night, but HOLY BUCKETS, am i glad we did that drive!  (and friend was fine with our arrival ;)

Colorado nat'l monument.  👍👍👍

The following day, this sweet friend, Gayle, and her two little daughters, took us to show off their plot in the nearby community garden.  Gayle grows many medicinal herbs and beautiful flowers!  And we had just enough time for a little hike with some Big views, that took us behind the Flatirons (Mtn range).  I'm so thankful for this time we shared with them before driving into the city that afternoon.

a hike with friends.   Boulder, CO

We didn't take many pictures at the gem show we came for, but i did nab a few, of both big and small growths (mostly types of quartz).
It was all quite dazzling, to say the least!  SO MUCH to look at.  so much... energy.  it was definitely something i enjoyed to experience for myself, and i look forward to the next one we go to.

The last day we encountered a clever man who constructs himself & walks around inside his own, large dinosaur puppets.  right place, right time:  a small kid approach this guy and I overheard him ask "Will you step on me?!"  
The kid laid down on the floor and this guy raised his big dino leg and brought his foot down on him.  HA!HA  (don't see that everyday)

While we were at this show, we had to stock up on inventory to sell back in Sedona, at our local arts&crafts fair, select weekends throughout the year.  Mike asked if i would help with picking out a nice selection of Madagascar sculptures- pretty or interesting ones that i think would sell at our shows.  I had so much fun choosing things... it felt exhilarating, like a shopping spree!  He said the dealer was gonna swing us a great discount, being we buy from them regularly, so he told me to go to town.  and i did!!   not only that, they've been selling

wonderfully!  some of what we chose, Mike is even keeping aside so he can cut into it, find more pretty, hidden areas, make multiple, different pieces, and yield a greater profit than from selling it as a chunk.  he was very pleased.  We all were!  it was a wonderful time, both shopping and just oogling at the incredible, dynamic specimens of various minerals, crystal structures, meteorites, and rocks.  Joel and I got to meet a couple of the dealers we'll be purchasing more from in the future, such as this friendly married couple from Uraguay, who sells us salt rock lamps.  And another married couple, Oxana and Andre, from Russia, who provide our plethora of high-grade shungite material.   This business is nothing short of fascinating and beautiful souls.
After 3 days of walking and looking around, our eyeballs and brains were overloaded!  It was the end of the show week, so folks were starting to pack things up.  Counrtenay and I negotiated some nice deals on smaller items for the arts&craft show.   we got our truck loaded up with the giant salt-rock lamp purchase Mike made, and began our drive back to Sedona in the late afternoon.  (A big Thank You again to all the sweet friends who hosted us overnight during our whole visit! 🌞)

We left Denver and spent some time in Glenwood Springs, such a cool town!  In a great spot- the middle of the mountains, with hot springs, and we'll spend more time there in the future.  We went looking for these open hot springs our friends told us about, but failed to find them.  Somehow tho, we did find other ones, off a dirt road, down a woodsy trail, in the middle of a beautiful, wild mountainside.  it was kind of sureal!  hot bluish water bubbled up out of the ground!  and a couple ppl were sitting in it.   it was really hot out this day, and we had no interest in climbing in!  but we were glad we stopped saw that it is there.  (on a snowy winter night, how amazing that would be!)  we drove on and spent the nite somewhere along the CO river, at free dispersed camp land.
what a KOOKY nite that was!!
(The following story not in complaining, but out of pure amusement 😛)

We got our tent set up down near the river just before dusk began.   behind our tent was a clump of trees and bushes, with a stone picnic table on the other side.  A number of our items were still sitting up there.  I plopped down in a chair to sit for a short bit and take in the beautiful evening , as Joel went up and out of my site to the picnic table.  several minutes later i noticed 2 fox on the bank of the river about 50 feet down from me. " WoW," i thought.  "how neat to see them.  i thought fox tend to be skiddish about ppl", so i thought it neato, and hoped joel would get to see them too, if he walked down slowly and quiet.  Well, he didn't come back softly, and they took off.  So maybe that was a special moment just for me. 😃  Then it started getting quite dark.  We were watching the moon over the water and joel thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye.  there were other ppl hanging out not very far from us.  were some kids out wandering around?  the main trail goes right by that picnic table.  Suddenly there was a LOUD sound of crinkling, like plastic, coming from the table area.  Joel jumped out of his chair, ran out of my sight and i heard him yell "HEY!" and he took off running down the path.

HAHA!  what was going on?!  i got out of my chair to see, and noticed one of the fox about 20 feet away from me.  "What's up!" i asked it.  it darted off.  i heard commotion on the actual road.  i walked up that way and noticed tortilla chips trailing across to the other side.
Joel came back saying he found the fox under a tree, bag of chips in his mouth, thrashing the crap out of it, then took off with it still in it's mouth.  Joel crossed the road to try and find them but only a few chips remained.   for a while tho, somewhere in the dark across the road, we thought we could hear the intermittent shaking of that bag! 

And this went on all night.   They were absolutely screwing with us.

there's a moon up there.

We went back to our chairs after the chip incident and they kept popping up around us, staring out from the bushes, eyes glowing as we shined our flashlights on them, or they stood in the trail under the moonlight, barely able to make them out, and saw them continue walking past that picnic table.   Even though much of our items on the table were big and bulky, it wasn't long before we decided to just move it all back into the truck.  i left out 1 pair of slip-on shoes and a string of lights to hang near the tent.  about a half hour after that, one of them ran off a short ways with my shoe!  so we got EVERYTHING off the table, and i hung my lights in the tree behind the tent.  I sat back down near joel and a minute later i turn to look next to me and HOLY SHIT! one is RIGHT THERE!!  i could have reached out and patted its head.  it startled me!  Sure caught me off guard.  and made me laugh!  Joel on the other hand was getting uneasy about them.  he didn't like them coming so near to us.  not long after the super-close-encounter, we turned in for the night.  in the middle of the night we were both jolted awake by something BOLTING by outside our door, then a looooong skidding sound.  joel scrambled to get his shoes on flew out of the tent!   A few minutes later he found the tent bag with the tie-cord broken.  once morning came, i discovered they chewed apart my string lights, making complete moop out them.  GaH!
so... we survived that fiasco!   and headed back into Utah that morning, to...
Canyondlands.  CANYONLANDS!  this place is crazy, and we only saw a very small portion of it.  the timing took us into it at sunset, and how lovely that was.  we walked around before it got dark and saw some incredible things.  it was like looking down on a canyon WITHIN a canyon...  so trippy.  SO MUCH MORE to see and hike here.  so we'll go back another time.  our real vision is to pull the RV and spend at least a month around this area, as there are several national parks all rather close together.  that will be a grand trip, for sure! 

canyonlands.

we could have returned to our previous spot in Moab to spend the night after leaving the lands of canyon, but we opted to try a new BLM area and see what it was like.
It was kinda weird!  but, accommodating.  i say accommodating because it had a porta-potty off the road, not too far a walk from where we pitched out tent, and we never see that.  altho how could they not have one?  there was NOTHING out here.  no vegetation.  absolutely barren.  "THANK YOU for providing a bathroom!" i felt immensely.  as for other campers around us:  it was crowded.  about half of what we saw were trailers, and RVs and motorhomes.  the rest were vans and cars.  i think we were the only ones in a tent!  we hit the road right away the next morning and got home in the early evening.

we got our salt-rock lamps back home safe and sound.  the small items we thought would sell hot at the arts&crafts sale were a HIT!   We sold out of many things like small rose quartz hearts, labradorite hearts, and double-ended Citrine chucks that look like they came out of a pirate treasure chest, and other things, that we'll stock up on again when we go to Tucson in 5 months.
All in all, another wonderful trip, all of the drive so lovely, lots to look at and see.  Life is good.

TallyHo!

click here for all the pics

this is out there.  (so it must be in you!)

South bound!

before.

BYE BYE cheese land and the state of many lakes!

August was nearing and we had to get back down south. 

AFTER! 

Our first day driving away from the Midwest I asked Joel if our return route through Colorado would bring us back to the UFO Watchtower.  "Can we stay there again?!" and he told me No, we were gonna go well past that area the day we trek through Colorado.  "Okay" i said, even though i really wanted to go back and sleep outside under the stars.  
We plowed through all of Iowa and made it to Benedict, KS, back to our friends' farmstead for a few nights (see Running Turtle Acres tab above).  They had WAY MORE goats!!  OODLES more chickens!  some ducks.  new cats.  the puppies weren't puppies anymore!  and the house was quiet- Lou and the 4 kiddos were visiting family in another state, so it was just us and Andy.   We had a blast together, living the small-town rural life again.  We went to the fair one day, hit up the ice cream social, and said 'hi' to all the prize-winning farm animals.  back at the house I spent time jumping in the pen with the goats, letting them walk up to me and i'd pet them.  other times I would sit close to the ground among the chickens.  I find many of the sounds they make to be so soothing and pleasant to hear!  Other times they just make me laugh.  certain ones would get really close, tip their head to the side, look me in the eyes and make funny noises at me.  Joel helped Andy with a project one day, making some headway on his "hoop house"- a greenhouse he wants to finish for winter.  He was so grateful for Joel to be there and help.  they had a very productive day.  after a few days there, it was time for us to hit the road again.



Our second day of travel got us all across Kansas back into Colorado.  Joel navigated while I drove.  I was oblivious to the route i was taking us... just lost in the scenery and my thoughts, following wherever joel told me to go.  We didn't hit foothills in Colorado till around dusk.  and I started to recognize some of the town names... from making this drive a couple months ago.  I said as much to Joel.  and it suddenly occurred to me... the UFO watchtower is out this way!!  Joel was not pulling my leg when I asked days ago about going back here.  Our timing was just off- we didn't make it as far as he reckoned we would today.  I saw a sign for Hooper. 
 "HOOPER!!" I exclaimed.  "Where the heck are we spending the night??"  i asked with a huge grin... waiting for him to answer... he was considering our location, pondering for a little while before saying anything, and sure enough... we ended up back at the Watchtower!  I was flippin'-out excited.  then i flipped-out even more when i remembered also how close we were to the sand dunes national park... and we were gonna have some time to play around tomorrow.  EEEEEEEE!

my dream came true!

 We pulled into the campground    around 11pm, again, apparently the only ones there.  It was MUCH warmer this evening compared to last time.  the moon was big, emerging above the horizon as we were setting up our tent.  Joel made a fire and we sat up for a while. "I have to sleep up on top of the tower tonight.  are you going to join me?"  No, he declined, as he preferred to stay snuggled up inside the tent for the evening.  So I packed my sleeping pad, bag, and some other goodies into my backpack and hiked my butt over that way.  I spent a little time looking around with my flashlight at the "garden" below the deck (pics in the link at the bottom), and sat on a bench for a while, taking in the beautiful moon-lit evening.  Before too long I heard scurrying all around me, very loudly in some areas more than others.  i'd flick my light on quick and point it toward the noises.  Mice!   they were scurrying all over, through the numerous knick-knacks and items placed throughout the oddball garden.  a number of them just stopped and stared at me, until I got up off the bench to go upstairs and make my bed.

There was a chill in the air but I was plenty warm and cozy all night.  I stared up at the stars and moon for at least an hour, reflecting on how wonderful a summer it had been so far, feeling so satisfied, and absolutely floored that I was laying up here now, just like I wanted to a couple months ago!  I drifted off into marvelous sleep, only waking a couple times, and then the pastel hues of pinks and blues started to appear.

good morning, Sunshine 🌞

As if waking up to this splendor wasn't wonderful enough, we still had two more days to arrive back in Sedona.  We packed up from the Watchtower and made our way over to the Great Sand Dunes national park.  WAHOOOOOO!!!!!!   I could hardly believe we were back here again already- and with time to play around this time- The dunes are amazing.  what a contrast of scenery amidst the Colorado mountains.  Am I in the Sahara??  It's absolutely picturesque.  some ppl were toting up then scooting down on boards much like the ones you'd use in the snow.  The sand was very hot and getting into our cracks of footwear.  I pretty quickly ditched my shoes and walked around in my socks.  it was HOT AS HELL, and we lasted a little over an hour.  I'd love to return and see it with show, or camp out sometime in the summer!  We shoved off just passed noon and planned to find a campsite before nightfall.  Our goal= Pagosa Springs, CO.  

A giant patch of sand dunes, in CO

We hit our goal for the day, and swung in to visit Chimney Rock national monument, but they were about to close down.  The guy manning the booth was very chatty, and ended up giving us a tip for free camping down along the Piedra river.  we took his advice and found a fabulous spot not far off the riverbed and slept like rocks alongside the babbling sounds of the water.  what a treasure of a spot!  Joel cooked us breakfast in the morning and i bathed lightly in the river.  There was something about being in the water that morning... sunshine on my skin, the water so refreshing, waking me up for the day, and i just felt so calm, and close to nature.  my true nature!  connected to and nurtured abundantly by the land.  i would love to experience this EVERY SINGLE DAY!  We hit the road just after 10am.

Today was our last day to get home.  Like on our drive up to the midwest, we were gonna pass thru Monument Valley (just before the boarder of Arizona), but have some time to look around and take it in this time.  
This was the second time we visited a place in the desert that reportedly had been without any precipitation for a YEAR, and while we were there, it rained!!  (??  what the heck is up with this?)  Drizzle began to fall when we parked at the visitor center to eat lunch.  We got out and walked around a bit until it started pouring.  Like so many places we have visited since getting our annual parks pass, this was a sight i'd only seen in pictures, movies, etc.  It's a gorgeous, strange landscape that I was excited to see for myself.  and actually, it seems most of Utah, and lots of Arizona is strange and gorgeous!  Weird spires, red rocks, small plateaus, random towers, all scattered apart from each other... the geology around here is something else!  There is a road you can take through more of the park, but we only ate lunch and looked at it from a deck off the visitor's center.  Joel wanted to get home before too late this evening, so we continued our drive, arriving us back around 9pm, safe and sound, another fun adventure under our belts, happy as clams.

I missed our little camper!  it was like reuniting with a great friend.  and there's just nothing like your own, cozy bed!!!  it was great to be home.  tallyho, TALLYHO!

click here for more pictures

THUNDER MOUNTAIN!!!  home sweet home ❤

North Bound! part II

WHERE DID WE LEAVE OFF? 

Colorado, just north of Hooper.  The UFO Watchtower:

good morning!

WEDNESDAY May 23rd,  got up around 7ish to a lovely skyline view.  the fenced-in donkey not too far away was heeing and hawing, perhaps talking to his horse companion.  Joel stirred the coals of the fire and made us bacon, eggs and toast  while we discussed our plan for the day, turning over a few different ideas.  It was a tough call.   We decided to skip the Great Sand Dunes park only 40ish minutes away, in exchange for plenty of drive time through the mountain roads, and we'd visit some of Rocky Mountain national park.  I was pretty bummed at first.  I've been excited about driving up through the Rockies for MONTHS, yes, but The sand dunes were SO CLOSE right now!  I badly wanted to see them.  Then I remembered the fact that everything always works out for us.  I would have what I wanted, and at the perfect time.  Do I trust this??  Yes.  Okay then... onto logic and gut feeling, we were clearly being pulled to the many mountain peaks off in the distance.  So... ONWARD HO!  North we go, to Leadville.  
(see you another time, sand dunes, that are claimed to be Great.)

Leadville, CO

We drove passed peak after peak... peaks a'plenty, all of them sitting at just above 14000ft at varying heights.  And it's only the end of May, so they still had snow on them, SNOW! they were so pretty.  
WHOA! it was such a great drive.  

By lunchtime we hit Leadville, a historic silver-mining town that sits at 10,152 feet, making it the highest 'city' in all the U.S.!  Back in the day, late 19th century, it boomed to be the 2nd most populated city in the state of CO (Denver was #1).  Today the pop is about 2600.  Some friends in Sedona recommended we stop here and check it out.  It's hilly!  We found a nice park high up with a view to make and eat our lunch.  Afterward we walked downtown to grab a coffee and took some pictures of oddball things.  this place is cooool.  And I wasn't huffing and puffing from the high altitude.  This surprised me.  I lived in Cusco Peru for close to a year, that sits at 9,000some feet, and I had a hard time breathing calmly walking up a hill, EVER.  Walking up hills was a trip.  I just had to take it slow.  but not here. ?  that was neat!  (one time in peru, a friend and I went to market together during the New Year season, when folks run around with water balloons and squirt guns, or even buckets! of water.  a group of kids came up from behind us as we walked back home, and nailed us with balloons.  My friend and I took off running.  we did OK for a minute or two.  then we came to the large hill that leads up to our home, with 100s of steps to climb.  we started out running up those steps, but didn't get very far without having to stop and catch our breath.  the kids gained on us.  we couldn't move forward fast enough.  they were ruthless- screaming and throwing and squirting, they DRENCHED us!  I tried to run more, eventually giving in, I actually sat down, covered my face & head with my arms and waited for the inevitable.  I was surrendered to the laughter, giggles, shouts and smacks of exploding water.  we were cold and dripping from head to toe by the time we reached home.  Rough time!  but GTs.)

We left town with our treat of decadent coffee, ready to hit the park a couple hours more away.  What a time of year to show up!  we missed the opening day of an incredible mountain pass road by only 48 hours!  they close it for the season due to snow.  some years there are still MANY feet of snow where we were standing- they had a whole wall of pictures from seasons past. we'd have to come back another time to do the drive we had in mind.  Oh well, All good- we were allowed to drive into the park at least, and just turn around at the road closed.  It was spectacular, to see elk, a few moose, one with a baby calf! (see it sitting!  so funny.  in the pics link at the bottom), picturesque lakes, and ponds with snow-capped mountain wilderness behind them... just like on a postcard.  After leaving here we drove by Grand Lake and hiked around Adams Falls.  The trail passes by a pretty, swampy meadow, more untouched, gorgeous scenery, and gets up close and personal to the cascading water.  This was a lovely respite and bit of exercise for us on our sunny driving day.  Felt great to stretch the legs more. 

In the early evening we shot out through Estes Park to keep heading east, until I got us into Nebraska.  I got really tired, and couldn’t go much further.  Joel, the excellent navigator that he is, soon guided us to a free camping area near the shore of a park reservoir.  It was BUGGY!  first flurries of bugs we'd been in since leaving Kansas in November.  It was about 2am when we arrived and quite populated.  Our tent is tiny, so we found a small spot, on what appeared to be a small cliffy area, near enough the edge of the water to hear it lapping onto shore.  The grasses were tall. We were careful to set up and get situated as quietly as we could to respect the other campers.  I drifted off to sleep quickly while wondering what this place looked like in the daytime.  

Babysitting.  Literally.

THURSDAY, woke to the sound of screeching birds in the tree next to our tent just before light began to creep up.  Tried to doze on and off for a while longer.  Finally saw the view we had pitched ourselves into- a wide and pretty one!  of the lake/reservoir.  It was so warm and humid.  Buggy.  First bugs we’d encountered for a long time.  Our goal today: get through all of Nebraska!  Into Iowa, where we’d overnight at my friend Callie’s place in Waterloo.  I found the drive to be very pleasant.  It was pretty to see so much green, soft grass, and some trees, like back home in MN, and unlike what grows in the desert.  Callie is a gracious host.  We slept well that night IN A BED- OH, to have a bed!  Yum.  We helped her out the following morning by watching her kiddos so she could leave the house for a bit.  The smallest of the 3 took my sitting on them the best. 

    

TOUCHDOWN!  we made it home.

FRIDAY, It was as hot up here as it was when we left where we were!  wtf?!  only difference was the level of dew and humidity.  which was thick.  and we got to see our first intense storm since months ago.  What a dilly we drove through! as we finished our trek into Wisconsin, arriving at Joel's parents' house early evening.  We climbed out of the truck and were greeted with a rainbow!  but no people inside the house.  Joel called one of his brothers- the one who also came in from out of town, with his family, and found out everybody was gathered at sisters house.  Brother said he would not tell anybody we called, and we scooted over that way.  What timing!  everyone was together, about to leave for our niece's graduation ceremony.  Joel and I didn't know that was happening tonight... it just hadn't occurred to us.  we had "Saturday party" on the brain.  but we were here Friday evening, proving our arrival to be even more magical!  We pulled into the driveway the same moment our niece was about to leave for the high school.  She didn't even notice us!  I tapped on her car window to get her attention.  she saw us, realized it was us, and freaked out.  it was awesome.  we hugged a long time amidst the shock and emotions.   she calmed down a little bit then took off down the road.  into the house we went to surprise another 10 ppl.  It was hilarious!  more freaking out happened, more hugs, more laughs.  what a SATISFYING experience.  hfsb!

as if all that wasn't fulfilling enough, we learned that just the previous day, niece did not have enough tickets for all the fam that wanted to attend the ceremony.  but today she happened to end up with 2 Xtra ones.  so Joel and I got to see her walk and receive her diploma.  what a wonderful surprise how the timing of everything unfolded.  Also, it's small town, so we ran into other friends and family that we love and miss.  It was a wonderful evening, and next few days, catching up with Joel's family, before we went to surprise my folks.  HeeHeeHeeHeeee!!!

Click here for more pics