Groovin' in Chino & Movin' in Colorado
June 18, 2019

With the señor playing keyboard in the brand-spanking-new 10-piece band called The Merchants of Groove, friends and I gathered at the lovely Granite Creek Vineyards to cheer them on in their debut gig.

The venue could not be any nicer; the company was awesome and the band played away for three hours of nostalgia. 

We were joined by the resident proprietary peacocks . . .

 . . . and I had the wonderful experience of enjoying it all surrounded by people I love and had a blast meeting up with some from the past.  Would you believe Karen who worked at the Chino Valley post office where we had a box for 40 years not only remembered me, but she also knew my P.O. box number!

Vacay!!!

It was a bit of a boogie getting ready to depart, but came the planned Monday morning and we were on the road headed for Colorado, first stop Pagosa Springs, one of our favorite places ever.  As they say, getting there is half the fun and we found plenty to remark on during our day-long drive.

We chose Highway 160 for our route across the huge Navajo Reservation and enjoyed the two-lane drive that allowed us to stop wherever we could find a shoulder big enough to snap a few pics or stretch our legs.

One stop brought back memories of being there many years ago with the young'uns - a place we call Elephant Legs.  Chris kindly nerded out on command to bring some scale to the photo; that's him about to be stepped on under the left leg.

I was intrigued by a roofless rock ruin that surely must have been a thriving business at one time.  It has been beautifully decorated with various murals that I shot close-ups of . . .

. . . and one affirmation that I took to heart.

Black Mesa coal . . .

The amazingly engineered apparatus pictured below was developed to transport coal mined on Black Mesa to railroad cars waiting below.  After the rock is extracted, it is moved via gigantic (and I do mean gigantic) trucks to the conveyor that lowers it down from the mountain, up and over numerous  hills and through an over-the-highway section that is enclosed to prevent any spillage onto traffic below, and then up the masonry silo-type structure from which it is deposited into open railroad cars.  Perhaps I should say "was"; we didn't see any sign that it was in operation, and have no knowledge of whether coal is still being mined there.

Beauty!

I was agog at the stunning landscape views that surrounded us!  Although we were not on a freeway, there were frustratingly few places to get off the road to take photographs.  We stopped wherever it was safe to pull over and for the rest, we let our eyes savor the scenes.

 

 

A view of cloud-darkened Agathla Peak over a sunlit slickrock area was the first indication that Monument Valley was not far off.  Although we were not headed in that direction, it certainly gave a sense of what other amazing scenes awaited beyond.

Weather!

As we proceeded, we began to see some pretty strong indications that we might be driving into stormy conditions.

Before we got into the thick of the rain, we stopped for lunch at a turnout to an abandoned house and were met by what appeared to be a litter of young pups.  As soon as we drove near, they ran to the gate, but never issued one single bark.  I didn't get too close because I didn't want to encourage any to find a way past their fence.  Although the house was clearly not habitable, the dogs appeared to be well cared for - a bit of a mystery, one that I necessarily left without an answer.

As we finished lunch, we enjoyed beautiful skyviews as the clouds towered higher and higher and the rain began.

While I was a little disappointed at not being to stop for photographs as often as I’d like, the storm added a wild awesomeness as we watched its changing moods across the vast landscape:  rain there pelting down with such force that the mountains were completely obscured and here falling with a gentleness of a soft caress, and with clouds swirling, towering, dropping down on cliff faces or parting to give glimpses of blue sky promises.  All the while, we marvelled at the wonder of rain in June, typically our driest month of the year.

And then the rains, and hail, really came down with a vengeance!  Huge drops and large blobs of ice pelted with such ferocity that it rebounded an inch or two upon pounding the rocky surface.   The temperature quickly plummeted to 50 degrees and canyons filled to their ridgetops with mist.  Anywhere the pocked slickrock was devoid of the surrounding fine red silt dotted with sage and rabbitbrush, the surface shone like a silvered mirror reflecting the gray weeping clouds that were offering life moisture to the land.  It was a crazy and beautiful experience.

The mountains, the Animas, but no Swedes . . .

We saw substantial snowpack in the San Juan Mountains off to the north as they came into view just after we spotted magnificent Shiprock ahead and entered New Mexico. 

When we visit Pagosa, it is usually later in the summer.  Because we have come early, we will miss seeing our Swedish friends Anita and Sune, who inform me they will not be out this way until July.  They visit their Pagosa-resident son each year and enjoy the Colorado mountains, but Anita says this year, they will return home earlier to do autumn mushroom picking and hunting.  Perhaps next year, we can meet up with them.

We drove into Colorado via the beautiful drive through the Animas River Valley with the river flowing strong bank to bank and snowy mountains up ahead.  Rafters were rowing merrily along when we crossed over the water way, bringing a memory of when we enjoyed just such an experience.

Martin . . .

For a bunch of years, we have visited Pagosa for a spell and have come to love the town and the surrounding area which we have explored to a fare-thee-well.  With those visits come trying out various eateries.  One tried-and-true such place is a Mexican food restaurant called Ramon's - without fail offering good food and excellent service.

One of the charms of Ramon's has been seeing a child working there and watching him grow into a fine young man.  Until this trip, I had never spoken to him beyond casual greetings, but made it a point this time to initiate a conversation.  His name is Martin and he has been a part of Ramon's, a family affair, for seven years.  He is now 16 years old and is a charming young man who is studying computer stuff (suffice it to say I didn't get the particulars, but I think it revolved around gaming and coding), and who needs a place to intern at this juncture, evidently not an easy opportunity to come by in Pagosa.  I wish him every success, knowing that with his personality and work ethic, he will manage with flying colors.