The Trophy

This is the "Trophy" we brought home from the Burbank church building renovation. LaVonne told me that if we were going to put it in the yard, then it had to be beautiful. And, yes, look closely to see that it is a bubbling fountain.

In case you don't think this can be considered art, check out this story.

107 Year Old Suspension Bridge

Believe it or not, this bridge, at the abandoned Glenwoody Camp on the Rio Grande (South of Taos) still gets used from time to time. A few years ago, a raft damaged some of the supports and they had to be replaced so that the bridge could be used.

White Water Rafters

For our anniversay; number 29, we shot the rapids.

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

Scenery on the way to Lost Lake

We were at about 10,000 ft at this point and had cell phone service here so this pic came from the phone.

Eye level with the storm.

We were eye level with the clouds when we topped Wheeler. Before we had a chance to rest, they started dumping rain on us. Then came the hail, dropping temps into the 30's.

We Made It!

We thought we were going to attempt a very ambitious 13 mile round trip hike to the top of Wheeler Peak; 13,161 feet high. From the trail head, we would be facing a vertical rise of about 3,500 feet. Like I said, this was pretty ambitious for us Texans who were accustomed to the air at 650 feet.

I loaded up a day pack with some snacks, water and rain gear then off we went. We hiked and hiked and hiked. We saw some of the most gorgeous vistas, plenty of wildlife, including some buck mule deer with their velvet (new) horns growing.

We hiked and hiked and hiked some more past Lost Lake and Horseshoe Lake. Both of these are only accessible by foot or horseback. They made me want to stop and fish but with no gear and no licsense, we just hiked and hiked and hiked.

At one o'clock PM, my alarm went off. We were supposed to at least be in sight of the peak, if not already resting on it. We were above the tree line at this point and I had my eye on the peak. I thought it was the peak anyway, so we hiked and hiked and hiked some more.

The afternoon clouds started rolling in. We hiked.

The trail turned steep and rugged. We hiked -- well -- I guess you'd call it hiking when every 10th step or so I would have to stop and let my lungs catch up with my legs.

Finally, I looked up and saw flags waving on the peak. We're nearly there. ("Nearly there" means within a half mile). We hiked and hiked.

We reached the top, where the flags were, and read the sign dedicated to WALTER Peak. WRONG PEAK!! To get to Wheeler, we had to go back down, then across the "saddle" and up again, most of a mile. We hiked.

Finally, at about 3 P.M. we made it! Determined to rest for at least 1/2 hour before the return trip, I took off my boots.

It began to rain.

So much for resting. I hurredly re-laced, LaVonne wrote our names in the trip log, we snapped a couple of quick pictures and we scampered back down the trail.

It began to rain hard. Remember, we're above the tree line. I was counting the lightening strikes and determined that they were at least 5 miles away and didn't seem to be getting closer. It didn't matter. Even if we laid on the ground we were still the high points.

Then, the hail started. We were now being steadily pelted with hail and freezing rain, the air temp dropped to near freezing. We hiked.

Because of the rain, we didn't get as many pictures on the return trip. Instead, we just hiked. And hiked. And hiked.

The rain let up for the last couple of hours of hiking, as the sun began to go down. We returned to the trail head exactly 12 hours after we left, just in time for the evening rain shower to start.

Did I mention that we had ridden the Harley up 1.5 miles of jeep trail to get to the trail head? Poor Harley. Such abuse! Riding in the rain, over the rocks, through streams. There's nothing in the name "Electra Glide" that implies "Jeep Trail." Poor, poor Harley.

Finally, after an hour of rainy mountain roads we returned to the cabin and collapsed.

The next day, we went to the Forest office to get a topo map of our adventure - all we had was a tourist hand out showing the general lay of different trails.

When the helpful forestry person saw which trail we had used she was rather impressed.

"You hiked TWENTY miles in one day?"

TWENTY! 2 0 miles. Oh, and the trail is flagged as "intermediate to expert." I guess that's how they mark trails where you could fall to the bottom in one wrong step.

Twenty miles. We made it. Whew!

Mount Baldy

This is Mount Baldy as viewed from trail 91, traversing a ridge where one wrong step could become a 500 foot adventure.

Lost Lake

Lost Lake is a beautiful lake, visited only by the most serious fly fisher people. It's one stop on the route to Wheeler Peak

East Fork stream

On the trail to Lost Lake

Angel Fire ski slope

This area is very pretty. The nice person at the office suggested we wait for snow before trying to ski down.

Lloyd's Hydronics

Here's a snap of Lloyd's radiant heating system. It sure is cozy to wake up to warm floors!

Lloyd's Cabin

Here's the "rustic cabin" we stayed at. Many thanks to associate, client and good friend Lloyd for setting us up with this wonderful place.

If you'd like to book this place visit this site.

Cross Connection

That's right, no vacuum breaker. When skiing, consider drinking bottled water.

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Pool at WWII Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

The walk up to Lincoln is far more awe inspiring than pictures can tell.

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Truth in advertising

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No ATM in sight

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Manhole in the white house yard

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One of the most stirring places

WWII Memorial

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Looking for shade

We are here!

Foyer is now back to normal

This area was the center of activity as we remodeled the men & ladies restrooms.

The newly remodeled ladies room.

Not much leg room in front of the toilet!

New flooring in children's area

Cindy and Brian did a ton of work getting this room just right.

Homart toilet

A new brand for me. Probably dates back to the late 40's.

Burbank night

A view from above Burbank

What's the life expectancy of an air filter?

Check out the well used air filters. The units use 6 filters, taped together.

Bone yard

Just a sample of the old plumbing ripped out. The "bomb in the works" water heater, urinal, lavatory, various valves. stops and oter fittings.

Bobby working in shower.

New prv

The original piping used brass fittings except there was a black nipple between the original hose bibb and the tee. The nipple simply crumbled when I clamped dow on it with pliers. It had been holding back 115 psig.

solid corrosion

This is the blakck pipe nipple from the prv replacement. You may not be able to see it bout it's almost solid with rust.

Men's room sans urinal

New shower

Almost ready to go

Hollywood sign

Look closely.

Hollywood sign

King does plumbing

D C work

DC stands for "digging concrete." Had to repair a broken lav riser.

Bottomless water heater

The bottom was rusted away on this 6 gal. electric.

Trophy Urinal

Lucas holds his "trophy" which was taken in the former men's room. Nice catch!

Trophy

Another bomb in the making?

Look closely and you'll see where the T&P valve should be -- yes, that's a plug! But also notice the attention to detail with the siesmic strapping in place -- it's tied to an electrical conduit.