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| Nina took this picture the fiftieth time it happened |
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| Lookie the cute little thumb gasping for air |
27 Jun, Sunday: The plan was to pack quickly and get an "early" start ... then we awakened to rain (much needed and very much appreciated) so our schedule relaxed a bit. Now at 10:30 we are mostly packed and the rain is mostly past - but the roads are wet and new tires are a bit slippery, so we will wait for the roads to dry while we finish packing. Then we will visit Linda briefly and proceed to Colorado, to the Homewood Suites in Durango for two nights, and then to the Econolodge Motel in Pagosa Springs for a month. We are hoping that the weather is pleasant and the scenery as awesome as on our trip southward. Yay! We can have lunch at Cafe Abiquiu en route to Durango. The Super Salad with salmon is marvelous, but the rain we hit after leaving Abiquiu was miserable, no visibility, cold and wet with fair sized hail included - ouch. Fortunately that lasted only several miles uphill out of a valley. We then enjoyed few spatters of rain until it turned relentless 20 miles west of Pagosa Springs. We arrived cold and wet after 30 miles in heavy rain. (Ron had eye strain from trying to keep an eye on the center stripes or white line on the right side of the road. The heavy rain obscured those stripes alarmingly, infrequently and not for long.) The breakfasts at this Homewood Suites appear to be feasts, except that Cynthia cannot eat pre-surgery. Good night! Same route return: U.S. 84 through Espanola and Chama to Pagosa Springs, then U.S. 160 to Durango. The weather was indeed awesome, even in the rain. (The colors change depending upon the skies. Interesting that no matter how hard it is to see ahead, you can always see left and right clearly.)
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| Baby pictures are Cynthia's favorites |
26 Jun: Blaire likes her new Dr. Seuss book, “Colors” gifted from us. After arising, exercising, and breakfasting, we enjoyed a 3.5 mile walk, then ate lunch at the Flying Tortilla. Ron then rode off on new tires to play GO with Stewart. (What a difference it makes turning to have round tires instead of squared off tires.) Stewart was enthusiastically impressed that Ron's advice about pelvic tilt was so effective at reducing his lower back pain. Finally Ron won a couple of games and Stewart won the last one. Next Ron rode out Alameda to visit Lupe, who (at age 90+) is also beginning to follow Ron's advice about posture and mobility. (She really, really wants to do her own grocery shopping again - a great motivation.) Tony had to cancel because of his commitment to workouts at the gym, a reason Ron wholeheartedly endorses. Cynthia, the introvert, is worn out from visiting. She packed, we walked more, and she successfully closed all her Apple Watch rings with a total of 7.4 miles.
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| Hudson is being potty trained |
25 Jun: Janie was unable to join us for breakfast at the Flying Tortilla. We walked half mile to the UPS Store so that Cynthia could ship a box to Pagosa Springs. John & Linda canceled an early after noon visit because they discovered more necessary stops in Albuquerque after Linda's doctor pulls the staples out of her leg. (Linda sent us a gruesome "before" photo, poor dear.) At 3:30, OCD Cycles (click here) mounted new Michelin road 5 GT tires front and rear. Gosh, the bike sure handles differently now. A breaking news report from MN: Hudson’s first day of potty training did not proceed as planned.
24 Jun: The walk to the BMW shop in Santa Fe to pick up the motorcycle was pleasant and quick at 10 AM. We then rode across town for a very nice lunch with Mark. (Apparently Ron's conversation hasn't lost its ability to put friends to sleep.) The wind was pretty stiff on the way home and the dark clouds approaching from the southwest made us nervous about being caught in rain, so we left at 4:45 for a 5:30 dinner date with Mike and Maria at Geronimo (click here) Geronimo is great food, and Mike and Maria are great fun to be with, so a delightful meal was enjoyed by all. Ron is heartbroken to have left his favorite sky-blue Buff neck gaiter there, and it didn't show up in lost and found.
23 Jun: Santa Fe, NM... two happy smooches here. Our five-year-old motorcycle is undergoing a 72,000-mile service at BMW Motorcycles of Santa Fe (click here). (Mark's 2002 Harley has 21,000 miles on it - good mileage for a normal motorcyclist.) We thoroughly enjoyed conversation with Michael and Claire at Vinaigrette during our 4 PM dinner. True to nature, the motorcycle service was entirely finished at 3:38, just after our Uber driver dropped us off at the restaurant. Michael and Claire graciously drove us back to the hotel just before dark. Ron needs to cut his hair before taking a shower tonight, but his favorite little pair of scissors is AWOL. Since Ron insists that there is a place for everything and everything in its place, those scissors might be gone for good. Ron has been delighted to be consistently sleeping four to six hours uninterrupted most evenings recently. He is now eating dry corn bread and pretzels in hopes of continuing that trend. (No such luck for two days after evening salads.)
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| Sam, Adam, and baby Noah |
22 Jun: TODAY! Mee WeeFee returned to Mee at 11:28 AM. Hurray!! We are beginning to like this La Quinta in Santa Fe. Charlie says it used to be named differently, but Google won't tell me that older name. The Smooch family reunited at 11:30AM in ABQ. Too amusing that Ron arrived at the airport half an hour early and stopped in the pickup area before No.2, called Cynthia's cell phone (with the motor running), and found that she was exiting the terminal at ground transportation No.4 simultaneously. Talk about an easy pickup. We stopped for lunch at the Flying Tortilla, evidently impressing an older gentlemen with our affectionate behavior so much that he bought our lunch. Baby Noah arrived mid-afternoon, after a lengthy labor, to first time parents Samantha and Adam. Sam (of the BMW shop) called and asked Ron to leave the motorcycle at the shop before 6 this evening, so Ron had to rush out to collect the remaining baggage from John and Linda's, then to Walmart grocery shopping so that we could eat our accustomed diet in the hotel. He got it all done, left the bike at the shop and walked the three blocks to the La Quinta with 2 bags of groceries, arriving only mildly sweaty. After pacemaker report, corn bread and a bit of housekeeping on the computer, it was early to bed at 11 PM.
21 Jun: Tomorrow, tomorrow, It’s almost tomorrow, it’s only a day away! Time to send next pacemaker report but it won't get done until Cynthia's phone returns. Hmmm! Cynthia posted photos at 7:40 AM Sunday (while Ron was sleeping) that must have been eaten by mischievous Norwegian Nisse elves.
20 Jun, Sunday: Ron is in Santa Fe; Cynthia is in Texas. This is a sad situation for the Smooch family. Even little Miss Smoochie is sad. Ron slept until 8 AM and never even heard the phone announcing his morning Smooch call. Just after noon he went over to Stewart's again, washed his motorcycle, enjoyed a turkey, tomato and mustard sandwich on rye, walked up the block and back, and lost at two more games of GO. Stewart amused me by saying that I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
19 Jun: Ron worked on DNA all morning, then went to play GO with Stewart at 2 PM. We were both very, very rusty, and Stewart beat me handily twice. A rematch is scheduled tomorrow. Then Ron joined Janie and a couple of her friends for dinner at Harry's Roadhouse. Unfortunately we were seated inside and could not hear each other talk. Afterwards, Ron continued on DNA projects until midnight. And now to bed.
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| Cynthia with Eric and family at the Toasted Yolk in Texas |
17 Jun: Tomorrow in Santa Fe, New Mexico... begins with a Smooch From Texas. (Actually, it began at 5:30 again with many of those same incessantly chirping birds.) When John and Linda left for an appointment, Ron rode over to Mark's with hopes of seeing him today. He did see Mark, but Mark was focused on the self-appointed task of differentiating between the seedlings of desirable plants and weed seedlings. Ron offered to help, but Mark is too familiar with Ron's lack of botanical knowledge. Ron forgot to tell Mark that Charlie was sweating so much on a roof in Albuquerque last week that he joked about taking a sauna without having to pay for it. I can hardly wait to tell Mark that Charlie is getting paid to take saunas. Janie was busy, Tony was busy at the gym, so Ron rode out to Walmart and bought a 3 lb bag of frozen mango. He then rode back to John & Linda's and ate the entire bag by the time Janie called to say that she was finished working and was going to Dillard's with her friend Roxanne to exchange some clothing. Ron rode over to the Plaza Grill South to meet them, and we looked for window screen bottom latches (click here) at Lowes. Janie took Roxanne home and met Ron again at her house to figure out the invoice she needed for her brother Paul, those bottom latches, and stuffing the dog bed cushioning into the dog bed cover. It is occurring to Ron that his friends are too busy in retirement to find time to visit with him. Then when he returned to John and Linda's for the night, a brief shower created the desire to check the color radar - which I will do now. Goodnight. Back in Texas, Cynthia had a doctor appointment.
16 Jun: Ron enjoyed a terrific night of sleep on the brick patio under the lush foliage of the tree, until the birds started chirping for all they were worth at 5:30 AM. After breakfast and conversation, Ron called Mark to see about spending the day together. Since Mark had not returned the call by 1:30, Ron bought frozen mango at Trader Joe's and parked himself on Mark's bench eating mango for an hour to no avail (although he did make a little progress on a couple of very difficult sudokus). Michael and Claire joined Ron at 4 PM for dinner at Vinaigrette (click here), and a lovely time was had by all. Linda is looking slightly less pained and slightly more mobile today. 10:45 in the evening, Ron is showered, clothes are hand laundered, and it is sprinkling rain outside, due to stop soon. And in Texas, Cynthia had an ear appointment and a cortisone shot in her bursa
15 Jun: We were able to arise at 5:30 AM (cruelty) to get Cynthia to the Albuquerque airport. She has gone to Houston, leaving Ron without adult supervision. So far he has not smelled a mousetrap. He spent the day with Janie looking for a window screen clip. (It was fun to see Maggie again for a few minutes.) We didn't find screen clips, but we did locate frozen yogurt. At 6:19 Ron realized that he was late to get to John and Linda's to make his sleeping arrangements. Linda is doing OK after knee surgery, but the pain is exhausting. Ron and John stayed up until 11 PM watching Star Trek reruns.
14 Jun: And a fun time was had by us visiting with Charley and Sam at Jason’s Deli. (And THANKS Sam for buying our meals.)(We are eternally thankful that God was willing.) The ride south into the inferno was not so pleasant. Thank God it was only an hour at 103 to 105 degrees. The hotel shower was a pleasant relief. It might have been a shade cooler if we had started before noon, but it took that long to pack and another breakfast at the Flying Tortilla seemed necessary by then. (This time we skipped the blueberry oatmeal pancakes even though they are yummy.)
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| Tony had photos of Ron from 1982 |
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| Before the party started |
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| Why did Cynthia crop the champaign bottle? |
Just LOOK AT THAT SMILE!
12 Jun: We were lazy all day, venturing out only as far as the neighboring Flying Tortilla restaurant (click here) for egg white veggie omelets at 1 PM. Despite being "lazy," we did accomplish a few things with our electronic devices. (Ron is still stuck on DNA.) Then at 5 PM we ventured out again, this time on the motorcycle, first to Walgreens to pick up Cynthia's prescription, then to the gas station to avoid walking, and then up Artist Road to Aspen Vista, cool at 9000 feet! Once there, we hiked up the access road towards the antennae atop the mountain, but it is a huffa puffa uphill, and the road seemed rocker than remembered. The ride down the mountain seemed much shorter and less bumpy than the ride uphill, especially since it culminated in dinner at Harry’s Roadhouse. Ron remembered that the Budda Bowl fits his diet: Cynthia had the chopped salad that she likes so well. Apparently Linda's knee replacement went well, at least according to the doctors; Linda reports that it hurts like h_ _ _. Cynthia is heart sick that her beloved Aunt Jo passed away in Sacramento, California.
11 Jun: After spending the entire day indoors using our electronic devices, we took John to dinner at the Jambo Cafe (click here) in Linda's absence at seven PM. Jambo’s Caribbean Cafe was terrific. The mango mustard dressing on the salmon was divine. Ron enjoyed a bowl of black rice that seemed ideal for his diet (as well as half of Cynthia's salmon).
10 Jun: Santa Fe La Quinta Inn, we got off to a slow start, arising, exercising and eating after 9 AM. Then we rode out Airport Road to the Walgreens to give them a prescription for Cynthia, then to the Post Office at Villa Linda Mall to mail letters and a postcard, and finally spent the rest of the day until 6:30 with Mark, first at his house, then with his cousin Jessica at Harry's Roadhouse east of town. The bad news is that our very artistic, wild and crazy friend Pat Trujillo passed away last November. Ron did not find his popcorn of choice at Walmart this evening, but he did get pretzels, frozen mango and Cynthia's favorite Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal.
9 Jun: We rode through Chama to the La Quinta Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 160 miles. We didn't have to worry about rain at all. The scenery was breathtaking, especially near Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu, riding in/through/under Georgia O Keefe’s paintings. Cynthia loves this area, especially the pinks, corals and golds of Ghost Ranch mountains; they are stunning. We lunched at Abiquiu Inn, just the best with a new outdoor dining patio. The LaQuinta is clean and newly refurbished, but the riffraff we saw on our two-block walk to Albertsons did nothing to make Cynthia feel comfortable with this part of town. (Coincidence: Mike and Maria saw us walking as they drove by.) Our route was the essence of simplicity. East through Pagosa Springs to US Highway 84 to Santa Fe.
8 Jun: Talk about a lazy day! Laundry was done last night, and we slept until 9:30 AM. Genealogy and DNA are the focus for the day. We did go for a walk through the subdivision (dirt roads) to the lake and saw Dianne and Lucy again with Dianne's daughter. Lucy went bonkers upon seeing us.
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| Cynthia didn't have her camera but this is similar. |
7 Jun: And the ride to Durango was indeed lovely, lots of green and many, many cattle. And we recognized the physical therapy location, building, room and therapists. Cynthia is outfitted with two splints now. She was instructed not to make a fist and immediately forgot. (Ron had to remind her not to hit him.) Since we missed our morning walk, we walked about 6:45 after the temperature had dropped to 76 degrees and were delighted to meet new neighbors Dianne and Lucy. (Lucy is a goldendoodle dog who was really excited to meet us.) We found five life-style similarities (with Diane) in a five minute conversation. Then we watched a multi-colored fox dash across a field, jump an embankment and cross the roadway in a hurry, whereupon the hurry vanished and the fox was obviously looking for dinner. Then as we approached Woodsman Drive, we found Dianne and Lucy watching several fox being harrassed by magpies in a field, making it a wonderful day.
6 Jun, Sunday: But there is no ELCA Church in Pagosa Springs, just an LCMS Church (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod - they don't approve of women pastors). We walked to the lake morning and evening with lots of genealogy in between. We saw one deer out in the woods and two large deer close to the motel.
5 Jun: Disappeared in a rush of activity: exercise, eat, hike, genealogy, eat, genealogy, hike, popcorn and bedtime. Not to mention seeing a fox twice. Cute little fox, very bashful.
4 Jun: And now we are back to our same old, same old routine: eat, hike, sleep, repeat. It was delightful to see our favorite housekeeper this morning. We again walked through the neighborhood to the lake view (3.6 miles), and this time we did see a small buck with velveteen antlers just sprouting. Ron resumed work first on James Lea, then DNA, while happily munching on frozen mango. After dinner at Boss Hogg's (where the waitress remembered us and our order better than we did), we made the hike to the lake and back again, this time being passed twice by a group of kids, 2 8-year-olds and a 4-year-old peddling furiously far behind the other two. They waited at the road crossings, and we discovered why when we met their parents (walking) after we turned around.
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| We enjoy hiking locally to this view. |
3 Jun: Pagosa Springs, Colorado: The dining room of the hotel is not yet open so we had to make do for breakfast; Ron ate mixed veggies, Cynthia mixed up the package of instant oatmeal and a quarter cup of leftover oatmeal with a banana and blueberries. Ron then rode to Walmart to get more oatmeal so he could eat some too. It was a delight to renew acquaintance with the Econolodge owner and his wife. After a four-mile walk (we saw four large ears at attention), we carted our luggage from our one-night room to our room with a king sized bed. That done, we rode to Durango to Jean Pierres only to be dismayed because they closed the kitchen two hours early since they had no customers. Once again, we were happily fed at the Lone Spur Cafe. Ron filled the bike tire with free air from Walmart, and we arrived at our doctor's appointment on time. After the doctor's evaluation, surgery is scheduled for the first week of July on the left hand, and a brace is ordered for the ring finger of the right hand. A brace on the left hand would not likely be successful. Despite riding straight towards ominous black clouds many times both coming and going, we were fortunate to arrive dry. Gorgeous ride. Now, while we are happily ensconced in our room, it is raining - but not much. Ron was able to stock up on groceries and even found a big bag of frozen mango - but he forgot to look for DHEA.
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| View from our balcony at Gouldings |
2 Jun: Goulding’s Lodge at Monument Valley is pleasant with gorgeous views and only 75 stairsteps up to the restaurant (huffa puffa). We have enjoyed longer stays here in the past, hiking Box Canyon and taking a tour. Cynthia ate a large bowl of oatmeal, an egg white veggie omelet, and hash browns with no added oil and no sugar, and she is filled up! Now for the ride to Pagosa Springs, CO. Again, it is astounding just how many different scenes can be created using nothing but variations of ROCK. How amazing to experience a shift from the red rock energy of Sedona, to breathtaking vistas at Monument Valley, and today's ride through the Mountains of the Gods, to cool, refreshing Colorado, with her lush verdant forests, snow-capped mountains, to the paradise of Pagosa Springs. We stopped for lunch in Durango, but our favorite French restaurant was closed until tomorrow. That's OK, because we go back to Durango to see the hand specialist tomorrow afternoon. Maybe we should have lunch in Durango. Strange to have been in Sedona dry for nearly an entire three months and to run into rain after only a few hours in Colorado. Fortunately it lasted only a few minutes. Once settled into our room for one night, we ventured out to walk our favorite route looking for deer but seeing none. Our route today was US 163 north into Bluff, Utah where we filled up with gas, then Utah 162 southeast into Colorado, and rejoining US 160 through Cortez and Durango into Pagosa Springs.
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| Cynthia's most recent photo |
1 Jun: Actually every day we wake up is a day to enjoy joy. Ron thoroughly enjoyed seeing our wedding photo at the top of the blog every day last month, so we will have to find a good photo for June. Maybe for July we can get a cute photo of Cynthia from the ancient archives. (July is Her birthday month.) And voila, here she is >. Off now to Durango, we always plan to leave early, but rarely accomplish it. At 10:30, we were on the road, all too warm until we reached Flagstaff. The ride was downright chilly as we circumnavigated via I-40 to avoid downtown. The traffic was heavier than we expected, and the temperature returned to HOT by the time we stopped for lunch at the Cameron Trading Post (click here). Cynthia was so hungry she was green-eyed over every fat hamburger on Navajo Fry Bread or Navajo Taco (click here) delivered to the tables around us. The views were marvelous all the way to our overnight at Monument Valley. It is astounding just how many different scenes can be created using nothing but variations of ROCK. Today's route was north on US 89A following Oak Creek until climbing many switchbacks up out of the canyon onto the plateau, then I-17 north almost into Flagstaff before switching to eastbound I-40 for a few miles, turning north on US 89 to Cameron, AZ and beyond to a right onto US 160 through Tuba City and Kayenta where we turned north on US 163 to Goulding's Trading Post (click here) barely inside Utah.
