PROLOGUE
In keeping with our theme of looking back at our first year of retirement while chronicling our 15th year of the journey, we will re-post a segment from each month of our 2006-2007 journals as an introduction to the monthly Journal / Facebook / Blog.
LOOKING BACK: August, 2006
On August 3 we started planning one of the
adventures we’d dreamed about for years…an actual extended-time motorcycle
trip. It all began
when Nancy and Tom, Barbara’s sister and brother-in-law, let us know that they
were planning a motorcycle trip to Colorado. Each of them has their own cycle, and they
had traveled extensively around the country.
We always wanted to join them on a ride, but never had the time when we
were working for the school district. Barbara is a meticulous planner, but her plans were shaped by the fact that the only things we could take with us for a six-day trip had to fit in the saddlebags and trunk of out Voyager. But, she got it done and we could hardly wait to start this adventure. We hope you enjoy this look back at one day of our first big cycle ride of our retirement life.
Day 6 –
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
The day began bright and shiny…just perfect to
saddle up and head out for new adventures.
But first, we had to take the rental car [that we had used yesterday] back into town…actually, on the
far side of the town from where we were staying. So, we had our morning coffee, got dressed,
wiped down the cycles and got them prepped for travel. Barbara drove the car back to the rental
place while Tom, Nancy, and I rode the cycles to go pick her up.
After completing all the turn-in process, we
saddled up and headed northeast on U.S. 160 toward Wolf Creek Pass. Tom and Nancy were in charge of the tour for
the day and had decided that we needed to go over the pass (10,850 feet), down
the other side to South Fork, and then north to Creede, one of Colorado’s historic
mining towns.
To say that the climb up through the pass was
intimidating would be to put it mildly.
It was a very twisty road, and I was continually shifting gears to match
the slope of the climb…it seemed that we were never going to stay in one gear
for any length of time. However, the
vistas were beyond spectacular…just wish I had been able to look at more of
them instead of concentrating on the roadway ahead of me.
When we reached the summit of the pass, we all
pulled over to a large parking area where we could get off the cycles for a few
minutes and truly enjoy the magnificent views in all directions. As I said about one of the previous rides,
God sure did some good work up there!
Above…Scenes from Wolf Creek Pass
The ride down the eastern pass was less
intimidating than coming up, but still held its pitfalls. I know that I missed a lot of great scenery
while I was working to keep the cycle balanced, in the right gear, and (most
importantly) in the right lane.
Without any mishap we reached the bottom of the
pass and pulled in to get gas at a service station in Wolf Creek. While we were filling up, a couple from Germany
pulled in on their Harley. They had
shipped their bike to the United
States and were touring the western part of
the country.
After gassing up, we went down the block to a
restaurant where we overdid ourselves on a wonderful western-style
breakfast. It’s a wonder we didn’t all
exceed the weight limit on our bikes as we continued the trip!
After another half-hour ride and a few more
twists and turns, we arrived in the historic silver mining town of Creede. Like many others, the town had a population
explosion during the heydays of silver mining, but is now just a sleepy little
tourist attraction, albeit one that has made a lot of effort to maintain its
historical integrity as a mining town, as opposed to the several communities
that are now devoted entirely to gaming.
The community has turned one of the entrances to
a mine into a museum that also shares underground space with the local fire
department. Just across the street from
the museum and fire department is a small stream that, farther south, is the Rio Grande River.
Above...Photos from Creede, Colorado
We spent a couple of hours walking around the
town, looking through the many shops, stopping for a dish of delicious ice
cream, and generally just enjoying being in a world so very different than that
in which we spend our everyday lives.
Tom, who works for the Johnson County, Texas, Sheriff’s Department, even
got to spend a few minutes visiting with the local sheriff (a courtesy visit,
mind you – not a professional one).
With the day winding down, we mounted up once
more to begin the ride back to South Fork, over Wolf Creek Pass, and down to Pagosa Springs. This time we were much more comfortable
riding over the pass, but none the less vigilant. We arrived back at our cabin in plenty of
time to watch a beautiful sunset before going inside for our domino games and a
rehash of the day’s ride.
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August, 2020
Saturday, August 1 - Monday, August 31, 2020
We tried to behave ourselves as much as possible during all the COVID information and misinformation. During this time of staying at home (which, as our dear readers know, is not our style), we switched our focus from just daily living to landscaping our front yard and flower beds.
The largest project, by far, was the removal of a 7-80 foot Oak tree that was in the flower bed between the driveway and the fence. It was a beautiful tree that provided a great deal of shade for the driveway and garage, but it also provided acorns by the bushel, an leaves that covered most of the North 40 in the fall. In addition to that, the rots had started providing a lift system for the concrete driveway slabs, as well as a crusher system for the water lines and sprinkler system, so it had to go. Fortunately, we found someone with the expertise to remove the tree at a more-than-reasonable price.
It took two days to bring down the entire tree and clean up the area, but we knew it would be a good investment...and it gave us multiple opportunities to re-landscape that part of the property.
After all that work (okay...watching all that work), we decided that some wind therapy was in order...and for the record, we wore our helmets (with visors down) and kept our distance from everyone.
After the big oak tree had been down for a few days, we decided to utilize the stump (which couldn't be ground down because it was entangled in the water and electric lines), as a centerpiece for our landscaping. The top of the stump became a Tic-Tac-Toe board, and rocks that we had gathered during our travels were painted and became the moving pieces.
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Wednesday, August 12
Today is National Middle Sister Day. In honor of Barbara, being a middle sister, here is a photo of her with her sisters...Carol (older), and Nancy, (younger).
During this time we began thinking about moving our church membership. membership. After scouting out three different church properties around Mineola, we decided to try New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, a small country church about ten minutes from the house.
It took only one visit to know that this was the place for us. The things that impressed us about the church were their friendliness, and their kind and giving spirit. Plus, they had a large youth and children's program. And the pastor, Michael Mize, is a wonderful Bible teacher and preacher.
Although we told Michael in a visit at our house that we didn't want to become heavily invested in the church until we got our feet on the ground there, we Barbara quickly became involved in helping the pianist, Jean Mabe, with a prayer book that would be distributed to la enforcement officers, fire fighters, and first responders at a special service. And Jim was quickly recruited to play special music on the trumpet and sing in a quartet. Yeah, non-involvement for the Littles didn't last very long.
Leah, Ryan, and Kaiden came up for a weekend to visit and help with some major clean-up and fix-up chores at Our Little Lot.
The kids had to return to their home today and couldn't attend the church service, but they did come out to watch Jim practice for his special music presentation before leaving.
Sometimes we take photos of ourselves that we really like. This set was from a Sunday morning as we were preparing to go to church.
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Monday, August 24
Doctor visits are part and parcel of our lives...or so it seems. This morning found us making an early drive to Tyler for yet another cancer surgery for Jim...this time on his scalp. We won't share the photos from during the surgery because they are particularly nasty looking. The good news is that they eventually got the squamous cell tumor completely removed. The bad news was that he was going to be homebound with his head wrapped like a mummy for a few days.
We wrapped up the month sounding Taps and honoring the service of two American heroes in Tyler on Saturday morning, and Sulphur Springs on Saturday morning.
Just a "Little" August miscellany as Barbara practices on a new photo program
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"August is that last flicker of fun and heat before everything fades and dies. The final moments of fun before the freeze. In the winter, everything changes." - Rasmenia Massoud
Feeling August sizzle to an end in Mineola, Wood County, Texas
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
