Chimney and Companion Rock with My Companion

Written on 6-19-2020.

I am sitting at the dining room table inside our Alto, and I just got a little bit of Ben and Jerry’s Salted Caramel Core ice cream on my left index finger.  I didn’t bother to lick it off, so it has made the letters f, r, t, and g a bit sticky.  We got some ice cream for both of us today at the Wal-Mart in Pagosa, and we saved it for tonight.  Belinda chose Chocolate Fudge Brownie.    

We are staying here for our second night at the Ute Campground, spot #24, outside of Pagosa Springs and near Chimney Rock.  We went to Chimney Rock and Companion Rock (we didn’t know until today that Companion Rock even had a name) for the first time today, and it was marvelous.  They had a kennel for Kody to stay in down below with plenty of shade while we explored the site and the ruins.  It took us about an hour and a half to view the upper and the lower sites, and we wondered, as we walked along, how many times have we driven by without ever stopping.  Always admiring it from Hwy. 160, but never stopping.  Now, we can say we have done it.  We stopped.

This trip happened spontaneously, and that’s the way I had hoped to use our Alto.  I didn’t want to take a lot of time planning and prepping to go somewhere; I just wanted to go.  It took us less than an hour to pack up this time, and we were on the road.  We threw together some food in bags and brought it down to the fridge and freezer.  We packed our clothes and our shave kits quickly and easily.  We gathered the dog’s stuff together and got the cat ready for our absence.  We are getting faster at hooking up the trailer.  It was magnificent, I thought, how fast we got ready, and I don’t think we forgot anything.  B just reminded me that we did go back for the map of our southwest area, but we chose to go get it.  We didn’t really need it.  

And, here we are.  We ate at Rosie’s Pizzeria for lunch after the tour of Chimney Rock, and we had leftovers for dinner.  Oh, and the ice cream.   

On to golf…

I have my lesson with Luke this Thursday.  Those lessons will be a...

Father’s Day gift for me, and what a gift!  It will be like getting a whole new set of clubs, because of the graphite shafts.  I hope they work out with the new swing.

I also found out that I can get my membership at Pinon Hills again when I am ready to play, because Belinda has given me permission.  Man, I am spending a lot of money on golf right now.  Club altering.  Lessons.  Membership for a second year.  And, the biggest expense out of all of those, the new putting green.  The one thing I haven’t spend much money on is the new swing change.  I have bought the book for Kindle, but I am mostly learning by reading that book and watching YouTube videos.    

Eric talked to me about the membership when we were over at their house to visit and let Kody get some exercise.  Eric still seems a little perturbed that I decided to do this swing change at the beginning of summer.  Now that I know I can get another membership, I will set a date for when I’m ready (probably this fall), and that will help ease his mind.  Belinda keeps reminding me that Eric hasn’t always been the most consistent when it has come to playing golf in the past either.  Good point, Belinda.

Going to go to bed now.  It’s been a grand start to Father’s Day.

Until next time…

Written on 6-21-2020.

It’s Father’s Day!  I am back in my computer room, and we are back from our trip to Chimney Rock.  It took yesterday to recover, mostly because of the second night’s lack of sleep.  The $&*# carbon monoxide detector went off again at around 3:45 AM.  Then it went off three more time for a total of four times, and that was when we pulled the wiring apart to kill it for good.  We just bought a battery operated one from Amazon, so we won’t have that problem anymore.