Durango – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

Sorry I’ve been MIA recently. The hubs and I were on a cross-country road trip to pick up my my 1955 F-100 from Virginia! It’s now in my mother-in-law’s garage in Washington until the spring when we’ll head back down south to pick it up and put it on the ferry to Alaska. We had originally planned to complete the whole transport in one trip, but the ferry schedule was not feasible, so we had to come up with a plan B.

We definitely got a lot of attention hauling my ’55. It was pretty common for people to tailgate us, then pass slowly as they checked out the truck and throw us a thumbs up before speeding on down the road. And just about every time we stopped someone asked what year the truck was or what we were doing with it. We even had an offer for $10,000 in a mid-west rest stop! Of course I didn’t accept, since the truck holds more sentimental value of time spent with my dad restoring it from the junk yard mess it was when we first bought it. My husband really enjoyed throwing people for a loop by pointing out that the truck was mine and not his!

Beyond moving the truck closer to Alaska the trip was a means to visit family and friends across the country. We spent a few days with my family in Virginia where we watched my nephew play in a few baseball games before heading to Denver to visit our good friends. We got to town just as the biblical rains paused for a day, before resuming the following day increasing the already swollen rivers. Luckily, our friends live in Morrison, in the mountains south of Denver so they didn’t have any major damage like Boulder did.

Our last night in Denver we had dinner with my husband’s cousin and her family – who I did a quick portrait session for (watch for a post about that on my Jenna D’ Photography site!)

After Denver, we headed to Durango, CO where we visited my husband’s aunt’s ranch. I was supposed to do a family session for her daughter’s family but we were unable to coordinate all six kids schedules to allow everyone to participate. So instead, I did a few pictures of the younger kids as they introduced me to the horses and of the two kitties who call the ranch home.

I also took photos of the needlepoint projects his aunt has done to create a portfolio of her work. We were only there for about 18 hours, but it was good to visit and meet more of my hubby’s extended family. From there, we headed to Portland. We learned that the storms had hit Durango just after we left, washing out the road to the ranch we had been at and causing boulders to crash down the mountainside, knocking my husband’s cousin’s truck off the road! Everyone was alright, but it sure was a scary few hours! We spent the last two days of our trip with my mother-in-law just across the river from Portland. Once the truck was settled in her garage, I got in a little antiquing and shopping before meeting up with an old high school friend I hadn’t seen in over a decade for dinner. It was fun to catch up and chat about how we had both changed.

Of course I took LOTS of pictures along the way, which I’ll be editing to share in a post later this week. There’s just too many to sort through tonight. Now that we’re home and unpacked it’s back to work and a normal routine. We checked in on the house right after picking up our fur babies from doggie day camp. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been as much progress as hoped. The exterior was being painted when we arrived, including the front door – only in the wrong color! The foreman arrived while we were there so I pointed that out and reminded him that I’d tried to give him the color I wanted before leaving, but he’d said to hold off. Now that he has the right paint number & name it should be repainted tomorrow. The roofing material is on-site, but has not been installed yet. The electrical has been done, although we’re going to need a diagram to figure out what switch goes to what light before moving in! The local power company still has to run the line to the house to finish the electrical inspection, but the crew should begin insulation on Monday, followed by drywall. They can’t mud and tape until the electrical inspection is complete, so we’ll see if there is a delay there. Here’s the latest picture of the progress.