Telluride, CO!

We've arrived in Telluride, CO for the winter! Took us five days exactly, with a stop in Glenwood Springs to see our friends Bobbi and Chase. No troubles on the road, especially since we weren't towing a car. It was quite difficult finding a place to park the bus once we got here ... did you know that you can't burn wood in Telluride town limits (research air quality circa Telluride mining days)? There is a permit available, but guess how much? $75,000 annually! Wow. So anyway, we found a place and are getting settled in ... Zach started his first day of work today, we got some snow a couple of days ago, and this town is pretty sweet! We'll miss all our friends in Vermont, but MAN am I excited to get to skiing out here!!!

Okay, GOT to share this. He was 20 ft from the bus in VT ...

my SECOND black bear this summer!

YES we are getting pulled over! Why am I laughing? Because the cop was more curious than anything else ... he chatted with us for like 10 minutes at this PA exit! Hahahaa!

Traffic in Chicago ... we kept hitting cities at rush hour ... oops ...

Drive 'til it's dark

Where's the bus?

Obligatory deck shot

Eisenhower Tunnel in CO! (REALLY long!)

I-70 through the Front Range

View from up top

10 min. to Vail Pass

RED DIRT? Thought I left GA behind ... (San Juan Mtns)

Valley two miles before Telluride

Frame worthy!

Our winter parking spot ... (I'm standing with my back against the bus)

It must be winter again!

Sunshine here, snow across the road (view from other side of the bus)

Well I know you all want to see pictures of the town, but people take pictures all the time of it and you can just search Telluride photos and see all you need to see! (NOT GOOGLE, try Goodsearch.com to support the charity of your choice!) It's a really cool place!

OH, and I must not forget to share that the bus has FINALLY been named! 2.5 years after we bought and converted it, our home on wheels is now called "Homer"! Get it? Home? Homer? Hahaa ... that and Homer wrote two of the most epic adventures of all time (The Odyssey and The Iliad) ... and also Homer is the patriarch of our favorite animated family. Hahahaaa ...

More to come as the winter progresses!

Kelly

PS - I cut my dreads off! It was time; I had them for almost FIVE YEARS ... it's so nice to not have them pulling on my neck all the time anymore. Here are a couple of goodbye photos ...

And now ...

Me with my mom and sister in Georgia

Summertime, When the Livin's Easy

The Vermont summer season is short, but we still have a little bit left. It's been a busy summer ... full of riding, swimming, gardening, and beer drinkin'.

Zach rippin' down Burke Mtn.

He won the race and shattered the 

record on his home downhill course this summer 

Recent ride with some friends from Maine

Hiking around in the woods ...

... "Showy Lady's Slipper" ...

I FINALLY got to the top!

See the little strawberry in the bottom left?

4th of July at Lake Willoughby

The Garden! (the buckets are my homemade self-watering 

containers ... they'll be painted next year)

Morning harvest

Time to go raid the Lyndon State College library! See y'all later!

Kelly

Bears, Bikes, and Veggies

LOTS of rain so far this summer ... May was rainiest on record for the state of Vermont. There's been flooding all over and the trails are nice and muddy. Work is work, but we find time to have some fun.

Zach's riding buddies from Maine, the "Bubba Boys", camped out with us for a weekend

The garden is growing! Got LOTS planted this year ... 

time to transplant most of this stuff into its permanent container

I was in this hammock next to the river when a big ol' BLACK BEAR came to visit. It stopped at the top of the stairs in the background. Black Dog was off the leash and didn't budge a bit ... smart dog ...

Happy June!

Kelly

Spring Update

Spring is here in Northern Vermont ... daffodils and tulips are blooming, leaves are budding on the trees, the ticks are out in full force, and pollen is starting to coat everything. It's SO nice to be able to wear shorts and Chacos after a long winter in ski boots. I even went swimming in the river yesterday ... I think I'll wait until it gets a little warmer to do THAT again! My vegetables starts got a great start, then I shocked 'em good ... oops. Some of them came back, but the cukes, okra, and basil took the worst of it. Oh well. I'm no master gardener and I'm bound to make mistakes! Zach is in his third week of work with the Kingdom Trails Association as a trail crew leader; I start at the local country store (deli, pizzeria, market, antique/craft/gift store) on Monday. Work is only a short bike ride away for both of us (the buildings are literally 50 feet apart), and it's nice to not have a hellish transportation problem like last summer. Mountain biking season has officially begun with some of New England's best single track riding in our backyard. It's bound to be a good season! We already miss our awesome neighbors Josh and Jen, but hopefully they will come down and ride with us (hint, hint!). We're parked next to a river about a mile outside of town; the lot has LOTS of camping room, so visitors are welcome :)

Now for the pictures. This last winter was a lot of fun ... Jay Peak got a decent amount of snow and we were up there just a couple of weeks ago skiing the last of it. Being parked right in town was really nice, and we had great neighbors. While the mountain didn't have much of a challenge to offer Zach, it has a lot to offer me and I finally starting getting into the trees with some confidence. Oooohhhh next winter is going to be so good (have I told you we're planning on heading to Mt. Baker in WA?) ...

Here are some pics ...

First big storm in December ... much more to come

I know it's the same shot, but the snow looks SO COOL!

Who dat?

Zach, Josh, and Maple the dog out for a morning stroll

Hahahahaa ...

Neat snow circles on the skylight

Oh no! Please don't!

Zach was "photo of the day" for Jay Peak on multiple occasions!

There are A LOT more pictures of Zach skiing ... 

our neighbor Josh took some great shots and film footage too ... 

and also some from other sources ... I will try to get those on here too ...

Sliding down the terrain park while sitting on a snowdeck (skateboard for snow) ... 

he is at MACH SPEED in this shot ... and then he went over a jump and ate it ... bwahahahaa

And then it was over ...

You know I love those Black Dog shots

Sno-no-mo!

Love my man

BBQ on the roof

And now for the present ...

Graciously allowed to park on abandoned private property ... 

more road noise than we would like, but it's better than the Burke Mtn. parking lot!

Old sawmill

Back side of the lot (all I can see is a great Frisbee spot!) ... 

the river is just down the hill back there

Not usually this brown or high (it's been raining a lot lately) ... 

swift current, deep enough to swim, flows right into town (gotta get a boat!)

That's all for now, folks. I'll try to do better about posting more frequently. Thanks for loving who we are and what we're doing! 

Kelly