Slowly heading West

Last weekend we stayed at the Fairgrounds in Durango, a very comfortable, no amenities other than 50 amp and water, but perfect for $17 a night. It was time to catch our breath, do a little grocery shopping, winterize our blankets, and do a lot of laundry.  We also wanted to check out the free dump station at Santa Rita Park.  But first brunch was on the top of the list. I “Yelped” a good breakfast restaurant and Bobby “D” Deli came up with lots of starts and reviews and it was only 1/2 block from the fairgrounds. Perfect! We drove the .2 miles only to find a tiny Taco shop.

 

There were lots of cars in the parking lot in back and we decided to try it. We got the next to the last table and it was only 11:15 a.m. I ordered the fish tacos and Tom ordered the Pork Pastors and both were absolutely outstanding. By the time we had our desert, a shared sopapilla with chocolate drizzle, whipped cream and honey, people were standing in line to get a table. Sorry no pictures as it was so good we ate it all before I could get the camera out.

Oh, I forgot to mention on our last blog I made the delicious chicken soup we had at the after balloon crewing party. I cooked the chicken and onions in chicken broth in the crockpot while traveling from Gallop to Durango. Then just added tomatoes, potatoes, pinto beans, okra, and  lots of spices. We loved it as much if not more the second day when I added more chicken stock and corn. I definitely will have to do that again on a long drive day.

 

Well, we managed to do our laundry among the weird tattooed, drugged out guys that sat on the floor while we kept feeding the dryers quarters. We took the sweaters and the comforter back to the RV to dry.  It was a nice quiet evening eating our leftover chicken soup and French bread to sop up the broth.

Sunday we rested!  About dinner time we headed to the Serious Texas BBQ. It was seriously HOT.  So hot we had to stop by 31 Flavors for ice cream to cool down our mouths.

Serious Texas BBQ VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Monday we planned on leaving Durango after meeting our friends, Wendy and Mike Lawrence for lunch at the Steamworks Brewery. We talked, ate, talked, ate and talked some more until the quarters on our parking meters ran out. They followed us back to the fairgrounds to check it out and then they left for doctor’s appointments and we left the fairgrounds to dump tanks and hit the road. We were late getting on our way so weren’t sure of how far we would go. We checked out the Walmart in Cortez, but that did not look easy to get in and out so we continued west to the Sleeping Ute Casino RV Park, a PassPort America campground. We parked and went into the Hotel to register. We got a $5 off coupon and asked about the Member card. We registered for those in the casino and as this was our first time in this casino we got $10 on Tom’s card and $15 on mine. We tried to get them to work on 4 different penny slots and had to call for help. After the assistant got our machines working I got a “free spin”. I asked the assistant could I bet any amount and would it count against my original “free” card. She said no it was a free spin and I could bet any amount. I pushed the highest amount and it went crazy; spin after spin, adding more numbers to my card when it was done I had $47. I cashed out for my first $5 on my card. I reinserted my card, bet the penny minimum and cashed out with $.09. Tom played his free card and cashed out with $5. So all in all we got $53. and change and went to dinner in the casino. We even got the senior discount; dinner $15, parking $16.50, we made $21 and change. This was a wonderful stop.

Now traveling through some of the most beautiful picturesque country that will be on our next blog. Stay tuned.

On the Road Again -- Alone

Well, it's just the two of us (well Pansy actually makes 3) on the road again. Nancy, kissackadventures.blogspot.com, has left us and gone back home.  We are heading home too, but with a couple of stops.

We stayed one more day in Gallup before driving north to Durango, CO. We checked into the Fairgrounds and drove to the Durango/Silverton train station to pick up our tickets. I had ordered them online and we wanted to check the location and avoid the long ticket line in the morning.  We knew we had to dress warmly as I had reserved 2 seats in the open air gondola car.  Having ridden excursion trains before, I knew the best pictures are taken from that type of open air car.

We had worked on the crew of the Golden High Hot Air Balloon starting at the very chilly 5:00 a.m. so we were prepare to bundle up. (just a reminder, our travels for the last 6 months have been wonderfully blogged by Nancy mentioned above if any of our readers would like to catch up on our summer/fall travels). I just have to add a few of my own pictures of the special shapes.

Back to the Durango/Silverton Train ride.  It is the time in Colorado when the Aspens turn a beautiful golden, the oaks are turning red, and the Anamas River is cascading down the canyon.

We did arrive 45 minutes late into Silverton because the sanders that deliver sand to the rails in front of the wheels on the engine were malfunctioning so the wheels kept slipping.  It sounded like chug, chug, chug, swish..., chug, chug, chug, swish.... We shopped twice in addition to taking on water for the engine men to try to fix it.   These are just a tiny percentage of pictures I took from the train. I listened to CW McCall on my earphones as we chugged up the canyon.

We had a great time on this all day trip and would recommend it to anyone who loves steam locomotives and riding a rocking narrow gauge rail car.

Today we did laundry and had a great Taco lunch at Tacos Nayarit just at the next corner from the Fairgrounds. Tomorrow we may just go for a couple of geocaches; then again we may just relax and watch our favorite Sunday TV programs. Who knows? We're retired.