Royal Gorgeous

Teton Bugling Elk, a true monarch of the forest, Painting by Dani Ellis, that's me, the painter that is!

The Royal Gorge of Colorado is certainly a sight worth seeing. The Canyon is really rugged and beautiful. This is a shot taken down river from the famous Royal Gorge Bridge, the world's highest suspension bridge.

Just East of the bridge looking down at the Arkansas River.

The famous Royal Gorge suspension bridge which you can walk across or even drive across if you have the nerve. Not me, nuh uh! Funny how heights never used to bother me when I was a kid. Now that I'm an old lady I feel like I'm being pulled over the edge. However I have crossed suspension bridges over canyons and felt that way until I walked back and forth over them several times and that feeling of vertigo went away. I just didn't want to pay the $25 bucks to get into the park so I could walk over the bridge. Drove Joy up the other entrance too and it's a pretty drive over a very low maintenance back road that you don't want to take an RV over. Saw plenty of big RV's and big Class A motorhomes with toads coming in the main entrance without any problem and they have big rig parking at the amusement park area.

Lake Pueblo State Park, CO

Alas this painting is not of Lake Pueblo, but of Jenny Lake at Grand Teton National Park. I love to do paintings with water in them like this one.

Lake Pueblo has its own kind of rugged beauty. Joy and Whimsy, my hard pulling teamette, are parked with electrical hookups at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado this week. Not only is there a magnificent reservoir of vast blue water, a nice marina, but there are also some great trails to hike. You can wear yourselves and your dogs, bikes or horses out walking or riding up and down the bluffs that surround the entire lake.

I love beautiful rimrocks like these. They show so clearly where the waters of Noah's Great Flood wore at the newly pushed up mountains and land, leaving perfectly horizontal rims on all the rocks and soft sloping sediment piled around their base, as it drained away.Lest you doubt Noah's great flood occurred just as the Bible describes check this out the photos and discovery of the Ark on the mountains of Ararat: http://viewzone2.com/noahx.html Gotta love the scent of the Pinon Pines and Junipers, too. Each night the moon rises in a clear sky above these rocks as we sit by the campfire counting the stars. It is just breathtaking. The nights are balmy and relatively bug free. Sure beats TV.

Doesn't that blue water look refreshing on a hot summer day?

Capulin Volcano National Monument, NM, and Lathrop State Park, CO

What a delightful winter spent in New Mexico. First year I haven't felt frozen during the winter. Tucumcari was just right. Wanted to be on just the edge of winter so there would be no crowds but not so cold we couldn't stay cozy in our mobile cabin. However winds blew with a fury starting in April and we finally got out at the end of May when the temperatures soared to 110. Stopped for the weekend at Lake Conchas, 30 miles NW of Tucumcari. Stayed in the Corp of Engineers campground there. No hookups. Was down and dirty boondocking. Gave my solar panels their first workout. Found out there is a lot I don't know about solar and how to conserve. Still was able to run lights, watch the tube, run fans, run the computer etc.. Was lovely there right on the lake. There was a sailboat anchored in the cove below us. I was the only camper in that campground. It was very peaceful and HOT. So we pushed on to Las Vegas. Stayed in the KOA. Wanted AC as the weather was hot, then on to Ratan. East of Ratan is The Capulin Volcano National Monument which is really worth the short trip to see it and to hike around the crater and lava beds. See Pictures directly above.

Now we are further north at Lathrop State Park in Colorado. Just west of Walsenburg. Gorgeous mountain scenery here. Pictures are above the volcano pictures. Inspired me to paint again so started today. Painted "Mauve Evening" just to get back into practice. Top. It is breezy daytimes but the temperatures are mid 80's and nights probably 60's or 70. Very nice. The park has a dump, water hydrants every few campsites and 50 amp power! Very nice. My dogs enjoy watching Mom paint at the picnic table while they lay in the shade.

Interstate at Tucumcari, NM was a parking lot today

Everybody loves the Wave 8, Catalytic Heater. What a great piece of equipment it is. Who says cats and dogs don't get along?

Semis have just been parked on the interstate overpass all day. They got about a foot of moist snow here with a little drifting Thursday and it was enough to hold things up all day. Tonight trucks are still parked on the access roads however there is now some movement out on the interstate. You would think it's January!

Feathers, A Roadrunner, Pizza, and Wild Turkeys in Tucumcari

This colored pencil study of molted blackbird feathers I collected here I've entitled Ruined Finery. Hope you like it. We are having fabulous weather here in Tucumcari, NM. 60's and 70's everyday with sunshine now that the January thaw is in full swing. Have been told by transplants that the weather here is mild like this all year round. Not too hot and not too cold. Of course the natives are wearing coats and mufflers on days when it's 50's or 60's but those of us natives of the frozen north think it's warm enough for t-shirts, and shorts. Am really starting to enjoy the fulltime RV lifestyle as I become ever more comfortable with it and leave the pressures of the conventional world ever further behind. Today I happened upon a flock of wild turkeys, another roadrunner and that called for a homemade pizza. Can you beat it? Perfect relaxation helping me feel the creative juices flow once again, to work on my artwork and am already halfway through the outline for my new book! The first in my new Cracker Barrel Murder Club Mystery series? Time will tell. After the treacheries and loss of the past several years this experience has turned into an unexpected and very welcome blessing.

Beep! Beep!

22The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Proverbs 10:22 (King James Version)

Christmas Eve in Tucumcari, New Mexico

The kids are waiting up for Santa.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's

Busy day baking pumpkin bread, making peanut brittle, and last minute shopping for Christmas gifts for the kids. Yesterday was a perfect snowfall day with gorgeous heavy snow coming almost straight down and temperatures in the mid 30's or even 40. Having a white Christmas Eve here along with clear sunny skies. There are several campers in this RV park who will be receiving pumpkin bread and peanut brittle gifts for Christmas.

Hard to feel lonely when you realize that God named His Son, Immanuel, God with us. Hope your Christmas is wonderful wherever you may be.

Welcome to Tucumcari, New Mexico!

Tucumcari Mountain, New Mexico. The Legend: Wautonomah, Chief Apache, knew that he would soon die and was troubled over the matter of who his successor would be. His two finest braves were Tonopah and Tocom, enemies and deadly rivasl for the hand of Kari, the daughter of Wautonomah. But Kari loved Tocom and hated Tonopah.
So, Wautonomah called Tonopah and Tocom to his side and said: "Soon I must die and one of you must succeed me as Chief. Tonight you must take your long knives and meet in combat to settle the matter between you and he who survives shall be Chief and have for his squaw, Kari, my daughter"
So the two rivals met and hurled themselves upon one another in deadly combat, but unknwon to either, Kari had concealed herself nearby and as the knife of Tonopah found the heart of Tocom, she rushed from her hiding place and plunged her knife into the heart of Tonopah. Then, taking Tocom's knife, she stabbed herself in grief. When Wautonomah was led to the scene, he was heartbroken and seizing Kari's knife, he plunged it into his heart, crying in agony. "Tocom-Kari". The old Chief's dying utterance lives on today with a slight change to Tucumcari and the scene of the tragedy is now famous legendary Tucumcari Mountain.

Satin Bow loves the Christmas tree.

Whew! It has been quite a couple of days trying to outrun the blizzard that is headed for the Rockies and central plains states. Today we crossed three states, Oklahoma, Texas, and into New Mexico as far as Tucumcari where it is 51 as I post this. Was 71 yesterday in Boise, Oklahoma. So nice that we left our screen door open yesterday afternoon. Blizzard is supposed to start up tonight and go through Christmas Eve. Anyway we hope to be as cozy as possible here in Tucumcari. Who knows. It got cold during that last cold snap with highs only ten and it's supposed to snow tomorrow. But it can't be any worse than the 20 below temperatures in Cheyenne, last week. Anyway I have already received my Christmas presents this year. My dream of fulltiming in my RV has come true thanks to Lord Jesus. We are having a great time in Tucumcari tonight decorating while listening to Christmas Music and Carols on the terrific local Christian station.

Thanks Mom and Dad for sharing your dreams and excitement for all of life with me. This is for you. May Jesus always be glorified by the faithful lives you lived and mine, too.