The day started more like a vacation day. I got up when I couldn’t stay in bed any longer (about 7:30 local).
Then we had a little breakfast and sat around awhile trying to figure out what all we needed to do today… not much but we did decide to make a run to Creede. We also needed to get some things from the store that we had forgotten – soap and matches or a lighter as it turned out. On the way out of the campground I stopped at the office to dump off my last years copies of FMCA magazines and let them know we would stay 3 nights not 2 and leave on Wed. In the office I met author or one of the RV related blogs I keep up with – Chappytrails. Her and her husband are camphosts up here at one of the many Forest Service campgrounds.
We stopped at the only store in South Fork – Rainbow Market. It didn’t look like much on the outside and the parking lot was not very big, maybe enough room for 20 cars? They also had a station across the way. SURPRISE, SURPRISE, in my best Gomer voice… when we walked in it still didn’t look to big but seemed to be stacked full. There was a stairs to the upper level – mind you this had been a metal building and the upper level in most of them was just a half attic but in this one it was a close ceiling second level packed full of “stuff”. They had more stuff than any store 4 times their size. They even had a really nice RV parts supply area with more parts than I have seen in most RV centers. All those small hard to find parts, that you can never find but have to order anyway were packed back in there. Along with a shoe area, t-shirts, plumbing, paints, electrical parts, misc. tools, etc. They could possibly put a True Value to shame up there and the grocery and regular stuff along with more fishing supplies than I had seen in a real long time down stairs… the upstairs looked like this:
Mind you this was the back end where I could get a shot and there were 10 or more rows going the other way. I wandered around there like a kid in the toy store as there was so much stuff!… I even found some things that gave me ideas on fixing other problems I have in the RV… now that I know they exist I will do some research before I buy the items I saw but suffice it will help a lot if it will work out… We went down stairs and got the few supplies we needed – less than $9 worth and that included some ketchup that we really didn’t need and a $3.50 lighter for the oven.
Once out of there we were back on our way toward Creede. The drive up the valley we have done many times before and we are always amazed at the growth in the area and the increase in the number of residences they keep sticking in up there. I know there can’t be that many jobs up here so what do all those people do to make enough to have second homes like the ones we see? We commented that we should of pushed ourselves back then and just bought property anyway. We could have but we never thought we had enough money to do that, in reality you can do what ever you want. You just make the compromises along the way to get it done.
Once at Creede we made the drive most of the way up main street and found a good spot to park and start walking, just to look mind you. It is a really interesting town and the actual town never seems to change a lot, the shop owners may change but the town it self changes very little.
I think some of the colors are a bit more bright than they used to be but the buildings are the same. Even with the bright buildings you can find beautiful flowers everywhere.
Not to mention the local libation establishments:
I like his sign….!
After our tour walk up and down main street we stopped at Kips for lunch – probably should of tried the old miners in but we opted for Kips and had the Green Chili Hamburger – again we split that in stead of loading up on double amounts. It was pretty good, but I suspect the green chili was the pre-made stuff out of New Mexico.
The growth for this area is mostly outside the town itself that is growing in huge amounts. They have an RV park south of Creede that is actually an RV park and Resort (Mountain Views Rv Park and Resort).
Part of it is for long term lease of the lots as the RV’s on that side were putting in outdoor grills, patios, and many extras. They still are short on trees. It was built in an area that had no trees but that place is now huge. We stayed here a long time ago, maybe a year or two after it opened- well before the resort part opened. It is nice but you should do your own checking of the reviews.
After out tour around the area and of the RV-Resort we headed back to our RV. My intent was to get a nap in… that didn’t happen. Someone wanted the Sat dish set up and oh, lets put out a hummer feeder – which we really didn’t have any place to hang it so now, tomorrow I will stop at the Rainbow store and see if in all those RV supplies they have some awning guide things that we can use as hangers for such stuff.
For dinner we had the left over from Raton and boy it was almost as good as when it was first made. I sure like my Mexican with green chili on it. I doubled up on that today… I will pay for it later so better get a head start on it tonight-Ha!… And that ended our day. – WD0AJG