Home Sweet Home, Just In Time For Spring Snow n Blow

Say it isn't so...we made it home to Lovely Ouray on Saturday; but Ouray isn't so Lovely today. You see, every spring Utah pays a visit to western Colorado...in the form of red dust born on jet-stream winds. Sitting in our driveway, iPhone to ear, listening to Maikel of the Wiseones describe the Red Menace out their Airstream windows in Valley of the Gods, I was about to be thankful that we bailed early. That's when skies over The Crevice began to darken...an erie reddish brown. Then it started to rain, streaking the windshield with rivulets of red slurry. Gee, what a welcome spring hath wrought. 

And this morning it snows...supposed to keep it up off and on through Saturday. When Maikel asked me how it felt to be home I told him that, all in all, we had escaped five months of winter (not counting the snow in Madera Canyon) and with the help of God and the Ouray Hot Springs Pool...104 degrees of liquid bliss... I thought I could make it till May. Of course it will snow in May too, and June, and some years, even July. But, I'm in my Lazy Boy Recliner, sitting by a nice warm fire, and, as of the period at the end of this sentence, not missing my rather ill Lazy Daze. Check back at the end of this post, though, as two snowplows just went by and Lovely Ouray is draped in a funeral cloth of clouds and white plague (sniff).

Condolences to Susan and Maikel. We have ridden out our share of "Desert Storms" in Utah...dust so fine that RV windows are rendered useless as tits on a boar hog (Sorry, I'm feeling lazy...I really should be able to come up with a better metaphor than that!). Let me see if I can find a photo to illustrate the point. Be right back.

Here it comes...batten down the hatches!

I'm still digging that red dust from ears and navel. Good luck Wiseone's.

I am working on a post...Reflections from The Road; nothing as exciting, provocative or "hip" as Beatnik-er Kerouac, you understand, just the old tug of war between "Home" and "Highway," hearth and Honda 2000, long hot showers and quicky sponge baths. The "war" will no doubt be declared a draw...some people need both Home and Road, some, one or the other, a few neither...any old box under a bridge will do. They are the lucky ones, all their possessions fit in a shopping cart.

There are many stories and adventures left untold from this winter's escape. I will drizzle them in as "spice" is needed...to overcome the wait for summer in the mountains. It was unique this year in that we spent most of the winter playing with Susan and Maikel...likeminded RV'ers who enjoy mountain-biking, hiking, exploring, traveling, potluck picnics...and the list goes on (did I mention IPA's?). 

A while back I wondered out loud about Boonie's idea of an RV caravan...if it could work. I now have my answer...it can work, but there are "buts" to be dealt with. People are different, no matter how "likeminded," and RV'ers are "people." I'm surprised at how well it worked with Susan and Maikel, to be honest. I guess we were having to much fun to get tired of each other. 

I might try to reproduce this success (or not)...recruit a few more outdoor oriented RV'ers to join in and recreate, wine, and dine together amongst fine landscapes...maybe not fulltime, but at least from time to time. I'd like to see how it works, if it could be expanded. Could be that we are too different, too set in our RV ways. Don't know unless we try; don't know if anyone would even be interested...too "scary," too many "what ifs," too risky. 

Yeah, maybe you are right...maybe I should forget about it. I think a "rally" is silly, anyway. Rallies based on RV brands, Newbies, 4 wheel driving, and so on, just doesn't interest Bobbie and yours truly. "All we wanna do is have some fun," just wanna hike n' bike n' explore with others who want to do the same. The RV doesn't matter so much, but the activity does. What could be more simple? (a genius level Sudoku puzzle comes to mind). So I probably won't do it...it's a dumb idea.  I might, however, drop a plain-as-day hint as to where we might be next November, just to see who shows up...you know, to hike and bike around Zion (hint, hint). But I probably won't even do that.

Now here is a photo teaser...the rest will be on the next edition of the BCB. As always, Bobbie and appreciate your attendance and commentary...be it supportive or contrary. I have been remiss in commenting on your thoughts recently; call of the outdoors, you know, and time is a limited commodity. I will try to do better now that we are "home." 

As I commented on Bayfield Al's homecoming post today, "There's no place like home when you have been on the road...and no place like the road when you have been at home." Tis a wonderful dilemma :)

Mark and Bobbie...watching it snow in Lovely Ouray.

Towers at the upper portion of "lower Mule Canyon."