Where have you all been??

Oh my goodness friends! It’s been a looooong time since we posted. We apologize but hopefully I can explain the radio silence for several months – in a not-too-lengthy way. 😉

So let’s start with the obvious state of our world right now – Covid. Needless to say, when we began this adventure a year ago, we couldn’t have anticipated the ways that a global pandemic could jack up our plans. Not that we aren’t extremely grateful to be in our current “life” situation. Unlike many, we haven’t been negatively impacted with job losses nor had home life flipped upside down with parents now juggling childcare, remote learning AND professional modifications. We remain blessed for sure.

What we HAVE had to do, like many others, is recognize that any plans made in 2020 are about as strong as the cheap toilet paper we all endured early in the pandemic. In our previous long-ago post, we shared that we had found refuge in Southern California – arriving the day prior to Governor Newsom shutting down the state.

While a beautiful area, arriving in March and still stuck in limbo as Memorial Day approached, we sat down and discussed what the remainder of this year should look like. Obviously we couldn’t hope to regain the traveling freedoms we once had.

Many of you know that eight years ago, Jason and I invested in some acreage in the Roosevelt National Forest in Northern Colorado. Ironically, when we bought it, we joked that “if the world goes down the toilet, we’re coming here” LMAO!! During the first part of June, we rented a car and drove from Ramona, California to Fort Collins, Colorado to re-inspect our land (we hadn’t been there since 2014).

Only a few tweaks were needed to make the area suitable to bring our rig up there. We encountered some delays in the excavation work but by the time we “moved” to our mountainside in mid-August, we had a much larger space and electric hookups.

Jason did a fabulous job in MacGyvering so that we also had a water source (for free) and septic setup.

On our second evening, we were visited by a young bull moose! He strode down from the hill behind us and meandered around munching on aspen twigs.

So overall, our plan was working well. We will just reside up on our mountainside retreat for as long as possible. Ummm…you noticed I used the word “plan”, right? Well, as usual, we had impeccable timing.

Two days prior to moving to the property, the largest wildfire in Colorado history broke out. The Cameron Peak Fire began – initially - 25+ miles south of our place. We remained vigilant and kept our eyes and ears open for evacuation notices. Sure enough, the day before Labor Day, voluntary evacuations were ordered.

That is smoke (not clouds) behind our home.

The timing was interesting because we left on that Monday and a snowstorm was set to arrive on Tuesday. We knew/hoped we wouldn’t be evacuated for long. Fortunately, we were able to return home after just a few days.

Roughly ten days later, winds picked up and the smoke plume seemed precariously close to the edge of our driveway.

Within 30 minutes of that picture being taken we received the notice for mandatory evacuations – with no time to hook-up our home. We had left most of our valuables in the truck from the first evacuation. But leaving the mountain and seeing the horizon from our driveway told us that this evacuation was very different than the first one.

Here is where I want to do a quick infomercial for you all. We hear about the Red Cross and disaster relief all the time, right? Once evacuations were ordered, we received notices of local Red Cross sites, etc. However, we naively thought the utilization of Red Cross resources was for folks who literally had nowhere to go. We had made reservations at a hotel for a week, so we thought we were okay. Upon moving to a different hotel the second week, we were connected to the Red Cross and found that they would cover ALL of our hotel bill for the remainder of the mandatory evacuation! Minds were kinda blown…! They also provided three meals a day – not gourmet – but we were certainly very thankful! Here’s the infomercial component – if you or your family EVER are in the midst of a disaster, connect to the Red Cross immediately!! And please donate whenever you can - they were amazing!

Unfortunately, our total time in hotels during the mandatory evacuation was THREE weeks. Ash would rain down, the sky was orange during mid-day, and smoke was visible in Fort Collins every day.

Every night we would anxiously watch Facebook for the updates from Wildfire Command. (As a mother of a firefighter, I won’t get all smooshy about my adoration of first responders...but this video of the incoming engines as we were exiting the mountain and my whispered thanks should convey the emotion.)

That was a loooong three weeks, let me tell you. A whole lot of nothing but waiting.

Fortunately, the firefighters did amazing work and our property was spared. Many others in the Cameron Peak Fire and subsequent North Troublesome Fire were not as lucky. We enjoyed two more weeks on the mountain. We made friends with our local chipmunks – we even named them lol! They became quite familiar with us. If I wasn’t timely in delivering their sunflower seeds, they had no problem running right up to my feet! Or crashing our grilling time!

Ironically, while making friends with one type of rodent, we were also becoming quite proficient in exterminating the unwanted rodents who dared enter our home – yes I am speaking of mice – ugh!

As an added and much-welcomed component while still in Colorado, we were able to safely connect with kids and grandkids, spending more time with them all this year than most of the previous years while in NY.

Well then, enter the resurgence of Covid cases, prompting additional shutdowns across the country. After discussion, we determined we needed to head south while we could. For example, entering New Mexico requires a 14-day self-quarantine upon traveling from a high-risk state. (For anyone who isn’t sure, ALL of the contiguous US states are currently considered high-risk.)

Down to New Mexico we go, ending up in Las Vegas (New Mexico, not Nevada) to begin our quarantining. We found a nice little KOA and even spent a wonderful Thanksgiving here – with a traditional meal. THAT was an interesting puzzle – cooking several dishes in a super small kitchen. But we pulled it off!

From here, we are venturing further south to Roswell. We look forward to spotting some aliens LOL!

Anyway, that’s the latest (as of now). I promise to do a better job posting our adventures – now that we are “on the road” again. We hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday! God bless!