On The Road Again, off again, on again...

Okay, right now we are snug again in the Honda, at a state park just outside of Bend, OR. Rainy and cold today...some parts of town got a bit of snow! Good day to lay low, read, some would say, "shop" (some would say, "stop"), take the Deschutes brewery tour (with adendant tasting), and chech out nearby Sunriver. Central Oregon is beautiful, and though many have told us, man you should have been there in the '80's, we are still impressed. Especially with the geography and recreational opportunities; the weather and, perhaps, the culture suffer by comparison to Fort Collins and Bozeman. To recap a bit, we had a great time in Portland. Eric lined us out for an adventurous, self-guided bike tour to downtown (to REI)then up along the Columbia River to the airport to a bike tire dealer (where we got new tires as well as paniers for the up-coming tour)then back to their place. While visiting my sister, Kim, we took the bus with Vivian to school then another bus up the hill to Oregon Health Sciences (Kim's school) then the TRAM!!! down near the river then a streetcar and finally another bus back to Kim's place. We really like Portland, but you know, nice place to visit.... Tomorrow we will go to Sisters, OR, then back to Seattle. We have some prep work to do but we have the maps, we have the tires, so in about a week we will make our way to Anacortes, WA, and start peddling to the East Coast.

Fortunate Fun

Its my turn to write and I have been tardy! We have been having so much fun visiting for the past 2 weeks it has been hard to find the motivation to sit down write. Last week we spent in Bozeman MT. We drove through a snow storm to get there and left in a spring snow storm but in between the weather had been getting better and better, low 80's the day before we left. We thought we would spend 3 days but ended up staying 5 because of all the recreational opportunities. We went biking or hiking each day with either my brother or sister inlaw and even fitted in a Yoga class! We also celebrated my 60th upcoming birthday early, a couple of times as well! Needless to say we really enjoyed getting to experience Bozeman. Currently we are in Portland, enjoying the benefits and offering of a vibrant, happening city, staying with friends we know from Anchorage. We will stay in Portland till the end of the week with Chris's sister and her family. We feel so fortunate to have the time to do things with our families and friends.

On the Road Again

Sunny FC

We liked Fort Collins! It was sunny, hot and extremely bike friendly! We got a map of the city and a bicycle map the first day in town and did a major ride the following day riding all over town using our map for bike trails and bike lanes. It is a very bike friendly community something that really appeals to us. Many people have commented on on how crowded FC is, but we didn't seem to mind. Another highlight of the trip was touring the New Belgium brewery. It was quite the tour - 90 minutes and numerous generous beer tasting stops, we were glad we wear riding our bikes back to our campspot!!! New belgium brewery is very focused in using renewable energy sources and their ingenuity was explained during the tour. We also had the great opportunity to visit with our neice and nephew who are attending CSU, they were awesome snd just a real treat to visit with them. Hooray for family visits! FC is definitely in the running for second home options! We headed to Bozeman,MT for our next Adventure.........

New Mexico, new adventures

After Silver City we drove to Gila (as in monster) and visited a very interesting friend of a friend, a former nurse who grows and processes herbs and makes botanicals such as ointments, salves, and teas. She had quanset hut-type greenhouses, a straw bale drying shed, an irrigation canal, and lots and lots of plants. I was surprised to learn that the last frost could be as late as May 15 and the first frost in early October. She was at something like 7000f feet. We then beat feet (or is that beet feet?) to Alamagordo then on to Weed. Our Anchorage friends are classic snowbirds and have built a beautiful, relatively simple, elegant, small house in ranching country. We had a wonderful time learning about the area, meeting their friends, soaking in the high desert, and visiting. After they bought their property they had soil conservation and forestry people come by to offer advice; the clear message was to cut down 80% of the trees! By thinning out most of the junipers and pines, the ones that remain have a chance to thrive. And the grasses have a chance to grow. I guess that took about 3 years and their land is much more open than the adjacent unmanaged Forest Service land. Next step: bring on the cattle. Our friends let their neighbor graze cattle on the land and the cattle break up the soil, poop, and nibble the grass; all of which are good! We visited the cattle ranch and saw the one-day old calf... And we saw that cute little guy get kicked in the head when he tried to nurse from the wrong cow! While we were focused on that drama Nancy THOUGHT a bug landed on the back of her knee, so she swatted it. Turns out it was actually another calf that was checking out Nancy and the swat caused another bovine comotion! It's not all pastoral tranquility in the farmyard! After a couple of days we headed north, camped in Las Vegas, NM, then continued to Denver. We have visited with old rugby friends of nancy, walked through the quaint downtown of Golden, and took an awesome bike ride through the extensive bike trails of the greater Denver area. Tomorrowowe head to Fort Collins. Happy trails!

A Forgotten Thought

We've stopped for cats sitting in the road, carribou on the loose, slowed down for free range cattle, been on the lookout for deer, but stopping for pigs was a first. As we were on our way to Silver City a mamma and her 3 pigglets scurried across the road without caution. Thank goodness they safely make it across the road and not ended up in someon's frying pan!

High Dessert Potentials or Not

Our drive through east central AZ was an unexpected bonus, even the nonscenic routes were incredibly scenic, plus we have a new area to add to our potential 2nd residency - Show Low, lakeside & Pinetop AZ. We chose that route because i once looked at VA job opening. High dessert, pines, junipers, LOTs of lakes for kayaking and a very friendly bike shop and visitor center. Mountain and road biking options were numerous. We were headed toward Silver City NM, it was touted as a grt small city, artsy, mountain and rode biking potential and hot sunny weather. What more could a retiree ask for. Well on first blush, it was not!!! We arrived at dinner time, the scenery was scrubby, with some dessert bushes and tree, kind looked runned down and too much traffic. We navigated to an RV park close to the down town area and rented a cabin for 2 nights. Nothing to get excited about, but clean and met our needs. The next morning we drove toward out of town for an oil change and the underimpression did not improve, BUT after lunch we walked the 5 blocks to downtown and visited the bike shop, then the yarn shop and then moseed around the downtown visiting and talking to shop and gallery owners, as well as a few locals who recognized us as visitiors. The general theme, Silver City has a real sense of community, living in the downtown or close University seems to be the desirable location, active or people with stimulated minds are drawn here and it is very artsy with numerous galleries. Aestetically it still underwhelmes me, but there is something catchy here. Today off to Gilia, which is up the road to visit woman who makes her own botanicals and then we drive to Weed,AZ to visit a friend.