Home Sweet Home

I left Silverton on 9/21, stopped for some much-needed groceries in Durango (they are hideously expensive in Silverton) and headed for home.

I stayed overnight at a nice little camping area between Mancos and Cortez, CO. It was just two miles from Mesa Verde National Park, and only ½ mile off Hwy. 160. I was worried about being able to get a site on a Saturday, and so close to the park. That’s one thing that has always amazed me during the 3+ years I traveled……that there are lovely free campsites within a few miles of nearly every national park, and I’ve never NOT been able to get a site anywhere I’ve gone! I find it very hard to understand why people will pay $8-20 for a site in an established campground with no amenities except a picnic table and rustic vault toilet, when there are always free campsites nearby. Is a stinky outhouse worth $8-20?? I’m proud to say that I didn’t spend a cent on campsites during this past 4 month adventure.

So….I’m home. First of all, I was shocked to see that my driveway has completely disappeared!! It was just a two-track off the graveled road but I didn’t think the weeds would completely take over and obliterate it.

Before I even stopped the car my Russian neighbor was here welcoming me home. Sigh. I was tired and my back & shoulders were killing me and all I wanted to do was get the camper parked, and I had to deal with HER. She said her dog “pooled me here”. It’s a 10# Pug…it can’t POOL her anywhere unless she lets it!! It’s a horrible bratty thing, completely untrained and wild. Anyway I asked her (fairly nicely) to let me get the camper parked, and that I’d had a long day of driving, and she went away. I’m 100% sure she’ll be back today. And tomorrow, and the next day. This is the worst thing about coming home; having to deal with her visits. I think twice a month would be more than enough visits, and she thinks once a day is appropriate. I just want to be left alone, unless some REAL friends want to visit. And I really hate having to deal with this situation!

When I travel, everything above the hinge line of the camper goes on top of the bed, held in place with an adjustable painter’s pole across the width of the camper. When I got home, for some reason a bunch of mashed potato flakes had escaped their box and snuggled into my fleece sheets!! What a mess. I’ve tried two different whisk brooms and they are not wanting to go…they are clinging desperately to that fleece. I’m going to have to invest in a car vac I guess. I need a little battery-powered vacuum anyway. So last night I slept on mashed potatoes. (Good thing I don’t wet the bed)

My camper door made it home intact, and in fact I’ve learned how to open and close it without making it come apart. That gives me a little more time to study it and figure out the best way to fix it.

There’s an awful lot of work to be done here to get it back to where it was when I left! I’m shocked at how many nasty foot-tall weeds have grown up everywhere. They’re the kind that get into Roxie’s coat and make mats, so I think the first thing on the agenda is to pull up a lot of those weeds so she can go out and go potty without picking up a new batch of Bad Things every time.

I had left some bags of garbage on top of an old pallet shed….I can’t remember why I was unable to take them to the dump but of course some animals got into them and now I have trash strewn all over the place. At least it’s all dried out now and I don’t have to pick up mushy, ooky stuff.

And my little house has been damaged a bit. I carefully stapled ¼” hardware cloth to the underside of the floor frame, then flipped it over. This is supposed to keep rodents out. Well in three places, the rigid foam is broken and the hardware cloth is hanging down! In order to repair it I’m going to have to take some wire and “sew” the pieces back together, and figure out a way to get underneath and staple it back in place, and in at least one of the spots, I have to somehow weave some wire in to hold it back together.  I’m afraid that means I have to lie on the ground, and I may never be able to get back up! Maybe I should have my phone on me so I can call 9-1-1.

The neighbor Elena was just here again. She told me the COWS did the damage to the house! There’s not much water around here and after a rain, it would pool up a little bit on the plastic I stapled on. Well apparently the cows were so desperate to get to the water, they tried to walk on my floor frame!! Geez I sure never thought to guard against THAT.  

Also I left a 20# propane tank here that had a leak. I was going to go exchange it for a different tank but didn’t have time before I left, but since it was leaking, I didn’t want to put it in my storage space. I thought I hid it pretty well but I guess not. Oh well…..I was very surprised to see my glass-topped patio table still here; I thought for sure someone would steal that.

So……time to go back to work! And just as I thought, it’s still too hot here. The day I got home my thermometer said 83. Ugh. I must say, the nights are very pleasant though, nicely cool but not so cold that I need the heater. It should start cooling down soon. I hope so because I have a lot of work to do and I have rules against exerting myself when it’s hot.

AWK! I just went outside and I have a flat tire. Ugh, I sure don’t look forward to trying to explain to the road service folks how to get here. There are SIX turns once you leave the highway!