Today was another road trip for us. I had scheduled to visit with an old friend that is now living in Pagosa Springs. Of course we were not real fast at getting around to start this adventure but we did get out after breakfast about 8:30 AM…
On our start there was an unusual haze in the air like there was a forest fire close but we had not heard anything about it. In fact it appeared that it was coming across from Pagosa the more we headed in that direction. I am not sure where it all came from but by later in the day it was clearing out. I am sure that it was associated with a pending weather change? On the Pagosa side of the mountain it clouded up in the afternoon but as we got across the pass the clouds floated away.
On the way over I stopped at several of the forest service camp areas up Wolf Creek pass. Many I had not visited in a real long time but we were just checking things out for reference. The really large area at Big Meadows is closed for renovation and from what we saw it should be real nice once they get it all done.
In this pictures you can see the haze in the far off as it was just hanging low on the mountains. This was where the road was blocked up to the camping areas so we walked up a little to look at some of the new camp sites. I tried to get some pictures but none of them turned out enough to see a full new site. They are getting new tables, redo on the gravel, new wood boundary areas where needed and around the table area… pretty nice. They had also replace most of the old pit toilet buildings with new ones. Maybe someday we will camp there?
Further up the pass we came to the New tunnel, new to us as it was dated 2004 and we both looked at each other, “had it been that long since we had been up this way”? We had been over that pass so many times way back that it was amazing to see all the changes. It is a super highway now compared to when we first made trips up to Wolf Creek to ski.
What is a mountain pass road with out construction, and there was construction in several places but most was on the west side where they are re-working the hairpin curve and had done a lot to block the falling rock areas along the down grade. Took a lot of the sharp curves out and they were now easier curves.
We arrived at my friends house about 10:30? It is a really nice place right on the San Juan River. We met his new wife and sat in there front room talking old and new times, families and changes since we had last visited. It was a great time then we all went into Pagosa for lunch at one of their favorite beer gardens in the west side of town. The down town area had not changed much from what I remember but on both sides, coming in and going on west was drastically different. So many people and all the new development on the west side. We remember when the west development was just put in and there were few houses and the central lodge (which was more a sales office than lodge back then). Now it is a busy city back there with everything you could find in a bigger city, just less of it.
The lunch was great, we again spent more time talking than anything else and it was way too soon that we all had to move on. Sherrie wanted to visit the Choke Cherry to get some of the special jam they make so we headed that way while Bill and Jan headed back into to town and on?
This is my friend Bill and his wife Jan, our new friend from Pagosa.
On our way home we made a few detours but pretty much hustled on back as it was past nap time and I will miss out again today.
On the way up over the pass I did stop and get one obligatory picture of a water fall coming off the side.
When we got back I found that one of my tires on the motor home was flat? We had the tire monitor go off yesterday early in the morning and that usually just means that the altitude and cool weather has taken it below set values. I have had that happen a lot but this time it truly meant that it was going flat? I got out the house and aired it back up and we will watch it tonight, if it leaks out I will have to call Coach Net for a repair, I guess? Just part of the trials of ownership of these things, but I just hate it cause the tires are essentially new and we had not had any problem until we parked here? I hope it was the valve stem leaking as I did try to tighten that up but most likely it is something else? Tomorrow we will find out. – WD0AJG