Chromo, CO - The Trip

November 3, 2008 - Monday

Before getting to Monday, I'll finish up Sunday.

After the ride and Maddy's shower, we headed over to a neighbor's home for dinner.

Ron and Ilene live in the Dallas area and, as then say, don't get to Chromo nearly enough. But when Ron retires, it will be full time.

Ron & Ilene's Home

You can't get the full effect because of my limited flash, but, like Jim & Debbie's, this is a breathtaking home.

The Feast

I can say with absolute certainty that people in Chromo know how to eat...and eat...and eat.

Hosts and Guests

Jim, Ron, Ilene, Debbie

Great meal and great company. I appreciate the hospitality.

So then that brings us into Monday.

Started with "winterizing" the garden. Got rid of the last of the weeds and dead plants, and cleaned out the greenhouse. Then we moved the scrap lumber from Jim's various improvement projects to the shed. This was all made easier by Jim's Loader.

Boys & Their Toys

Aftetr the chores, it was time for The Trip. You know we went To Town Sunday for Chruch and lunch.

Monday was The Trip To The City. "The City" is Durango. About an hour and a half from here.

The first stop was at some neighbors to drop off Maddy to play with their Black Lab, Tanner.

Duplicate Names

Jim, Jim, Deb, Deb

Seriously. In this tiny part of Colorado, the next door neighbors have the same names. It's a wonder of nature, I guess.

Next stop was at the Merc. Jim and Debbie have to go there to pick up their mail. There is no door-to-door delivery at The Ranch.

The Merc

If you ever had an image of what a one store town and classic small town general store would be....this is it. You could not create this for a movie or something any better than it is.

It is run by a father and son - the only "employees." It is open when they feel like it and otherwise closed. When the US Postal service realized the propietors were also handling mail, they installed a real postmaster who sits over in the corner by himself and seems to have virtually no interaction with the proprietors. What they do in there all day is beyond my comprehension.

And, as I said, before, The Merc is literally the entire city of Chromo.

Then into Durango for a great lunch, a little walk through town, and then the errands Jim and Debbie needed to take care of in order to winterize and close up The Ranch for the winter.

Durango is an old silver mining town and there are still buildings there build before the turn of the century. There's also a university close by and so lots of college kids are roaming around the streets. Not many tourists left now, but they are busy in the winter for Skiing at Pergatory plus all the other winter sports. And the summer they're packed for camping, hiking, fishing, river rafting, etc.

The last of the errands was to drop off a bunch of horse supplements to the ranch where some of the horses will be wintered. It's in Ignacio, Colorado.

The real benefit of the whole thing for me was to get a great tour - again, Debbie knows everything, I got to see a lot of the magnificent country around here, and spend time with old and dear friends that I haven't had the chance to spend alone time with in many, many years. Nothing earth shattering....it was just nice hanging.