MSCH 9/12 - team fun

 This is as clean and together as we ever looked!
















Every moring we had a devo and here is Johnny leading singing and Karen keeping him on key.















We had a Fun Night with the kids and staff and here is Remington enjoying Polish Horseshoes.













Others of us taught the kids - young and old - the value of a steady hand at Jinga.

Sojourning at MSCH - the work

 We arrived the Saturday before Labor Day, 2012 and joined 10 other couples for a three-week sojourn here.  This has been a ministry of the churches of Christ out west for decades and is well known in Sojourning.  You have to get up early at Camp Bee on sign-up morning if you want to be sure of your spot on this sojourn!








The first work is always getting the thousands of donations ready for their annual Fall Auction the next Saturday.  That gave us just enough time to put it together with the home's staff before the crowds showed up.







The next two weeks was spent working whereever we were needed - inside and out.  Here Ava and Karen are working in the clothing room with two other sojourners.  Ava did this, painted, cleaned, and we all helped put out an important fund-raising mailer.







Gary worked worked at painting (here with Nick- the new assistand director) and on various 'shovel-ready' projects.
Getting re-acquainted with Nick and his wife, Abby was one of the un-expected blessings of this sojourn; we had met them on our first Sojourn at Camp Yamhill in Oregon two years before and now they are here!

Echo Basin - Final pics and good memories!

 Wherever we go for any length of time we set up our Polish Horsehoes game and its always a hit.  Here we are playing with Leonard and Denise, boys against girls - husband throwing against wife.  Denise had to be really 'encouraged' to play - Leonard was the 'athletic one' in the family. You should have seen she and Ava celebrating as Denise had a world-record throw in one of our final games.  They didn't quit grinning for hours.







Becky needs no encouragement to play and you better be on your game if you are going to beat her.  (she gets it from her mother:)











A close friend to the owners and helping them out for the summer was Phil, a neat guy from the twin cities area in Minnesota.  He was quite the athlete, played softball, pitched 'real' horseshoes, and very competitive. He is soon to be a new Border Patrol agent and we enjoyed his visits a lot.  As you can see, I was my usual humble self as I repeatedly instructed him in the finer points of the game.  When he did finally take a game from me (not this one)  I think they heard his victory 'whoop'  in St Paul:)


The USA Pro Challenge cycle race around Colorado in late August went right by the turnoff to Echo Basin.  Ava and I put our chairs by the highway early and got a front-row seat to the race on its opening day.  100 of the world's best cyclist competed and they raced for 7 straight days all over Colorado.  They were amazing- they got to Telluride from Durango through Mancos and Dolores faster than I could (or, would) drive it in my truck!

EB- III mountain fun in SW Colorado

Camped next to us for a month were our new good friends, Denise and Leonard, both retired Forest Rangers.  They were a delight and getting to know them was one of this summer's treasures.  Here they have shared one of Leonard's favorite hikes between Dolores and Telluride, in the mountains.  (They are 'resting' so Ava and I can catch up:)








We had done a raft trip on the Animas River through Durango with Mild-to-Wild and enjoyed it when the owner found out we were Workampers and Ava worked in the office so we were offered a "comped' jeep ride into the San Juan's and were allowed to bring a fellow workamper couple, Bob and Kim, along.  We rode up to 11,200' on a beautiful day.  Great Trip.







Another '"comp'd" experence in Durango was the chuckwagon dinner and western fun nite put together for a group of us from Echo Basin Ranch.  We got in for about half price and had an intimate campfire dinner with about 800 others.  Food was good and the musical fun was better.










Here's my kind of free fun. Downtown Pagosa Springs has plenty of 'pay-n-play' hot springs sites but we scouted out this free pool right on the river where all the local river-rats soak. 

EB- Fun with Becky 8/12

 We picked up Becky in Albuquerque after a long flight from Tampa and had a whirlwind week of mountain adventures to end her summer break from school teaching.  Here we are at Molas Pass on the highway from Ouray to Silverton, an amazing (and scary) road.  Even early August is cold at this elevation.









 We also did the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge RR trip - everyone has to do it once, they say.  Beautiful trip up the river canyons - but lots of cinders if you're riding in one of these open cars!











On another day we drove up into the San Juan's from the west and into Telluride, one of Ava's very favorite places in these mountains.  The gondola ride is super, and the old mining town (shown below) is neat to visit - and a bargain!










One of the last things we did was take a horseback ride up mountain in our own backyard.  The owners of the BarD ranch do guided rides and are members of the church in Mancos.  Becky hit it off immediately with the owner - a real horse-lady - who 'gifted' Becky with a massive horse vertebrae for her science class.  (It is still "curing" in the bed of our truck!!:)

Mesa Verde, redux

Ava loved the view at Cliff Palace, the second tour -especially the opportunity  to see it from the overlook deck!  She took some great shots, here are a few of them.













I am somewhere down there in that tour group listening to an ancient Park Ranger that must be part mountain goat!













Here we are learning about a "kiva", those circular "meeting rooms/spiritual houses".  What really surprised me is these weren't dug out - they were circular rooms that they filled in around to insulate, make as though underground, and maybe add to the walk-around space in between them!








Once again, the exits are killers.  Note the natural wood log ladder putting you back on top of the mesa and







the entrance way down here!

Ava didn't miss this a bit.

Mesa Verde! a primer.

 About 10 miles away from Echo Basin Ranch to the SW lies an amazing NP - Mesa Verde.  We went there on our first day off and were in awe -first at the high, long, beautiful drive back into this lost land -then at the cliff dwellings and the efforts to preserve, and explain, this ancient place.









As the name 'cliff dwelling' suggests, there is nothing easy about getting to see these ruins.  They are, literally, stuck on the side of the cliffs.  We heard several Rangers offer differing opinions why the Indians chose to live here, and like this, but I still believe it was first and foremost for protection.








There were lots of people on the tours - all ages and sizes - so you can see anyone CAN do it.  It may not be for those with bad knees, a disaffection for heights and













anyone even a little claustrophobic!  As the symptoms tend to build as you add one to the other, this was the 'last straw' for Ava!  We made it fine because she was VERY brave - and this tunnel was the only way up and out - still, her last words were "WHAT WAS I THINKING!" 

She declined to take the next scheduled tour.






Seriously, she (we) loved experiencing it and learned a lot.  Made us thankful for the ease of modern life and, once again, thankful for those who fought to preserve a unique place for future generations.