Golden Aspens along Colorado - New Mexico border

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Tic and I wanted to see the fall golden aspens. We considered taking the steam train from Chama, NM to Antonito, CO. The price was nearly $250 for the 2 of us.  We decided that we would drive from Los Alamos, NM to Antonio, CO to Chama, NM back to Los Alamos, NM, which would be about 6 to 7 hours including a lunch stop at the Osier Train stop.  

 This is the road north of Espanola headed towards Antonito, Colorado.

This is the Cumbres-Toltec train getting ready to leave from Antonito, CO headed to Osier train station.

We are headed out of Antonito, CO to the Osier train station also via the roadways.

At the western edge of Antonito we saw this skeleton of a church.  We stopped and learned that it was the San Isidro Catholic Church of the San Luis Valley.  In 1973 it was gutted by fire and never restored.

 After taking CO-7 west a certain distance we needed to follow a dirt/gravel road to the Osier train station.  Not far into our drive these cattle suddenly appeared on the road.

We stopped so the cattle could pass.  We finally see the cowboys driving the cattle. Below is one of the cowboys.

 Above is the start of the aspens changing colors. Below are more along the same road.

Above and the 2 pics below are views we saw of the canyon below. The train from Antonito travels through this canyon. WOW gorgeous views!!!

Suddenly in an open high meadow, we saw these antelope.

This is our first view of the Osier train station. See the train track in the middle right side of the picture.  The train from Chama will come from that direction.

 Most of these are original buildings. The water tank is still functional and both trains refill at this tank before taking off again. Below is a close-up of the newer building in the picture.

This is the Osier train station. The train stops here and a huge buffet lunch is served to the passengers. Anyone is allowed to drive up and buy lunch. We saw several hunters come in for lunch.

This is the lunch room before everyone gets here.  There is another dining room below this one.

 She's coming around the mountain now.

 And then he grabbed her. And then he tied her up.  And then he put her on the railroad track. And then train 463 was coming. And then.....along came John - I mean Tic.  Ha Ha

 Look at all the people that got off the train.  I'm glad we got to eat before they arrived. They were supposed to arrive between 12:15 & 12:30 pm and didn't arrive until 1:15 pm.

 Above and below are more beautiful views along our way headed to Chama.

Before getting to Chama we passed through La Manga Pass. Below are 2 pictures of the gorgeous views from the pullout up there.

 We had a wonderful day and saw so much fall colors! We felt blessed.  
Then after dinner at our daughter & son-in-law's in White Rock, NM we were in their back yard. Our son-in-law pointed out something bright that looked like it was near the moon in the sky. We could tell it was not round and appeared oblong. Our daughter suggested it was a weather balloon.  Tic zoomed in with his camera and voila ….. 

...it is a weather balloon.  Jessica submitted the picture to one of the local TV stations for Tic. The picture was on the 10pm news. They said the weather balloon had been launched from Fort Sumner, NM.

Norcold Repair

Monday - Friday, September 10-21, 2018

 The RV lifestyle is a great lifestyle, but it has its own challenges.  This may sound depressing, but it actually was a blessing.  We were planning on being in one location for an extended stay to be able to visit with family.  That was a blessing.  We were visiting and spending time with our newest grandson, returned to the RV to hear the Norcold refrigerator beeping and giving an error code.  The error was LiOp or line open, a condition indicating overheating.  We shut it off as it was still cold, and went to bed planning on checking it out in the morning.  I suspected an airflow problem, so I climbed on the roof and removed the cover over the top of the fridge, and the smell of ammonia nearly knocked me over.
The Norcold had died.  The prior owner had already replaced the Norcold in the past.  This one lasted 8 years and 2 months.

So we got into action, packed all our frozen items in a cooler and got them to our family's freezer.  Blessing, they had a freezer and it had space.

We considered buying a residential fridge and started shopping online, carefully checking dimensions.  Everything we found, was either too narrow, too short, or we would have to do some major remodeling.  Not a good long term solution.

More Internet searching and we found reference to an Amish cooling unit that would be a direct replacement.  But the unit had to be removed to make the replacement repair.

Any way we went, it looked like we were going to have to go out a narrow entry door, so the first thing was to remove the doors, which would make the unit smaller and lighter.

 Next, I shut off the propane and disconnected the propane gas line, unplugged the power cords, removed some trim and slid the unit out about six inches.  It stayed there until I could get help to lift it out.

 This is the rear of the fridge, face down on our RV living room floor. The black piping you see, is the ammonia water cooling unit, and it has to come off.  Several websites had YouTube videos which illustrated this whole process.

 These two photos show the cooling unit removed, and the rectangular "shiny" areas are the fridge and freezer compartment transfer areas.

 Then there was the wait, FedEx freight finally made the delivery.

 This shows the new unit, shipping container opened.  No apparent damage in shipping.

And new "Dutch Aire" cooling unit installed.  I made jumper wires and ran the "tests" that were suggested and all was good.
Now the unit is installed and performs far better than the original.  I also ordered and installed a "Fridge Defend" ARP unit (Version 4.1) which monitors the temperature, and will shut down the unit if temperatures exceed parameters.  Major safety factor.
This was a rather costly experience and major inconvenience, but far less costly and inconvenient than a new Norcold.

Renaissance of Santa Fe NM

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Today Tic and I are going to the Renaissance Fair in Santa Fe. The fair was held at the El Rancho de las Golondrinas .

Below are a few pictures of people in costume.

 Blacksmith making his wares.

The El Rancho de las Golondrinas is now a living history museum and had docents at several of the buildings during this festival.

Above and below are the building used as a church. It was never officially a church, but was used that way.

Above was the docent inside the church and below is a special tapestry made in the 1800's.

Below are a few pictures of only one of the 3 grist mills on this ranch. They are all still functioning and producing flour.

The next 3 pictures are of the competitors in a jousting competition.

 This talented young lady was making beautiful music!!

 Woodland nymph in the "fairy land" area. 

 Some people really deck themselves out for these events.

 There was even a mermaid at the water's edge near one of the grist mills.

Above and below is another of the grist mills we saw.

Below we are walking behind the mill shown above and headed for more of the old ranch area. 

The next several pictures cabins from the area that were moved to this ranch museum.

 This was a very small chapel sitting on a hill overlooking the ranch and festivities as seen below.

Above is a hunter's cabin and below was the room inside.

 This is an actual mission on the grounds. Gorgeous views from there also.

 Back in the renaissance area we saw this young lady doing acrobatics on these long pieces of fabric. It was beautiful and amazing to watch. Sorry we can't post videos on the blog.

 An old stable and blacksmith shop that were part of the ranch.

Even the queen had to walk her dog. All in all the day was very interesting.  We enjoyed El Rancho de las Golondrians as much or more than the festival.  Another good day!