Nancy's Artwork and moving forward

 Hi Everyone

This is another step in my movement forward as a solo person. It took me more than a year, but I finally have selected 6 original paintings of Nancy's to have matted, framed and they will hang in the cabin at CORA. I'm actually going to Colorado Springs tomorrow to do that. 

I'm keeping the following original paintings:

Believe, Fortitude, Winter Cabin, Brown Trout, Tres Colores, Hope Floats.

This is Tres Colores, which is a actual building in Como, CO, which is a few towns away from CORA. It's a water color, on 140 lb paper, painted en Plein aire with Cat Roberts, a local artist, friend and mentor of hers on August 10, 2014. Kat was one of the people that energized Nancy to paint.

The originals I've chosen represent the various mediums she used, as well as significant subjects to me. A few of you have asked to purchase some original art over the last year and I have been reluctant to part with it. I believe she would want people to enjoy her paintings, rather me have them in her portfolio hiding in a closet. So you can view the paintings on www.nancyraimondiart.com. The prices for reproductions are posted on the website, the reproductions for originals will still be available. I have a few of the reproductions and when placing them next to the original, it's difficult to tell the difference. Nancy sold many reproductions and I'm using the same fine art company.

The pricing for originals is $2.50 per square inch, so an 6 x 12 original is $180. I have her brief notes, such as included above, under Tres Colores, which I am happy to include with reproductions or originals if wanted.

This blog is read by close friends, so I thought this would be the best way to give friends first shot at the originals. Shipping and Handling is free. 

If anyone has any of Nancy's reproductions, please feel free to comment as to the quality.

Tight Lines and safe Travels

Joyful Journey Hot Springs and arrival at CORA May 2021

 Sometimes it’s worth the price of admission.

It’s been extremely windy on the drive from The Ranch to Sky City Casino and then north towards CORA. Usually, I can relax a bit driving the Moho, but this trip, I seemed to be fightlng a headwind or a cross wind of 20 mph or more. I was really over gripping the steering wheel and my shoulders got a bit sore. So, I ended up stopping at Joyful Journey Hot Springs for the night. 

Joyful Journey, http://joyfuljourneyhotsprings.com is located in Moffat, Colorado, just south of the junction on Hwy 17 and HWY 285. They have RV sites with electric and tent sites. RV sites are $70, but include unlimited hot springs soaking 8 am - 10 pm, with breakfast and Dinner included. When you consider that a day use pass is $12- $15, and the two included meals, the RV site is actually very reasonable.  I also reserved a 1 hour massage, which was a bit more. But I really decided I needed to pamper myself. 

So I left Acoma Sky City Casino RV Park around 8 am, fueled at the Dancing Eagle Casino and 309 miles later I was ready to be relaxed. I took a quick shower, a 15 minute soak in the mid temperature pool, then had a great massage. Dinner was healthy and vegetarian, but tasty and I didn’t have to cook. I then took a very long soak in the 106 degree pool..YAHOO!!!! Sorry, no pictures of the soaking tubs, I didn’t want to be the “creepy old guy” photographing young ladies in bikinis.  :)

                                                Electric only sites at Joyful Journey

                                                                 Non-electric sites

The next morning I checked in with my buddy, Mark, at CORA, who informed me that CORA had received about an inch of snow overnight. The made my decision for me, I would have breakfast, take a long soak and not get back on the road until 10 am. It was only a 70 mile drive to CORA but I needed to cross Poncho Pass and Trout Creek Pass, so I wanted time for the sun and warmer temperatures to dry the road. The drive over Ponchos Pass was beautiful, the snow on the peaks couldn’t have been any whiter. 

Since the Moho would probably not move all summer, I also needed to top off the diesel. It was a tight squeeze with the Moho towing Enzo, but I managed to get into the little gas station in Ponchos Springs and filled up at $3.18 a gallon. Of course with the small nozzle on the pump it took me the better part of 30 minutes to put in 45 gallons. The large nozzles at truck stops really spoil me. There is a Truck stop in Johnson Village which is 20 miles before CORA, but diesel there is alway higher and as I passed it, the posted price was $3.49 a gallon.

I arrived at CORA around 12:30, disconnected Enzo, filled the propane tank and then parked on my vacant lot. The park model, aka cabin, was perfect, just like I left it in October. I moved a bunch of my stuff in but spent one last night in the Moho. The next day I de-winterized the Cabin and settled in for the summer.

                                My cabin, Enzo and the Moho, settled in for the summer

This is the earliest I have ever been at CORA, and I was rewarded with the sight of a herd of 50 or so Elk running in the meadow, across the highway from CORA on my return from a short hike behind CORA up Deadman's Gulch. 

                     Buffalo Peaks, from the top of Deadman's Gulch, behind CORA

The weather was perfect, mid 60s and sunny for two days, this weekend it cooled off and snow is predicted for Monday. I'm snug in the cabin with the propane fireplace. It's predicted to be in the mid 50s and sunny by Wednesday.

Safe travels and tight lines

Speedco Service for the Moho and other stuff May 3, 2021

 This was my first visit to a Speedco truck service center. I’ve been spoiled because I have always used RV Mobile Lube in Texas. They come to your RV site and do all the routine service except Radiator coolant replacement. Since I’m no longer hanging out in Texas, I needed to seek an alternative. Speedco was recommended by two good friends that own high end diesel pusher motorhomes.

                                                                   Speedco Service Bay

Speedco is like a Jiffy Lube on steroids. The service bays can handle a full 18 wheeler and attached trailer. My 40 foot motorhome looked tiny in the bay. Motorhomes go in thru the exit, so its a bit arkward, but I was lucky, there were no trucks waiting and a motorhome was already in a bay, so I pulled in behind him. I got the preventative maintenance package, which included, oil change, oil filter, both fuel filters, chassis lube, and coolant dipstick testing. I thought it was very reasonable, $326, vs $400 for RV Mobile Lube and well over $600 at Cummins. Speedco doesn’t do appointments, so I waited an hour getting in, but again, not bad.

Other news:

                                                  Monahans Sandhill State Park

Well, as many of you probably guessed after reading my last post, I did camp at Monahans Sandhills State Park. It’s not a destination in my mind, but if you’re nearby, it is a unique place to spend a night. As with many natural, unique places, the State Park is only a portion of the sand deposits in the area. The sand outside the park is being mined and used by the oil industry. I was told it is mixed with water and other stuff, then pumped under pressure into the oil well to prevent water encroachment into the oil well. The sand is very fine and referred to as “sugar sand”.  I’m sure there is more to it that that. I’ll leave you to google it for more information.

I left the State Park the next day and went back to my lot at The Ranch to pack up my stuff so I could head north to Colorado for the summer. May 1, the day before my departure I was able to purchase an RV lot at the SKP Co-Op in Benson, AZ. I’ve been on the list for 11 years waiting for a bare lot. 29 people phoned in requesting the lot. It is awarded to the lowest number phoning in that day, I was lucky 37.

So, my lot at The Ranch is up for sale and I’ll spend next winter in AZ. 

Sunday, May 2, I said goodbye to The Ranch and drove to Sky City Casino on the Acoma Pueblo, which is only 22 miles from the Speedco in Milan, NM. $20 a night for a FHU RV site is a deal, especially considering that I paid $64 a night in Austin for an RV site that barely held my truck camper. But, it’s a free market place and people are willing to pay to play. It’s all about supply and demand, nothing really to do with the actually quality of the site. I have a number of friends that own RV parks, and I’m happy for them, because there were some hard times in the past.

Misc Photos:

                                   Travis County RV Site, Water & Electric $33 a night

                                     Leander NW Austin KOA, Full Hookup, $64 a night

                         Sky City RV Park, Acoma Pueblo, NM, FHU, pull thru, $20 a night

                                                  The Oasis on Lake Travis, priceless

It's 35 degrees and snowing today at CORA, so I won't get there until Wednesday, when its predicted to be 55 and sunny. Maybe on Thursday or Friday, I'll flip a few flies, it's predicted to be 67 and sunny. :) 

Safe travels and tight lines