The "Big Flood"!



Bear tracks!



Oh my goodness, what a day! We got John & Sydney's stuff all packed in the car and were ready to leave for Raton, NM when the guy next door stopped us very excitedly to tell us about the bear incident over at "Sammies" Motel last night. The bear (or bear-s) got into the grease barrel beside the restaurant and had a feast on grease, and there were tracks everywhere. Of course J & S wanted to go see about that so we did and here's the proof - in case you can't tell, those are bear tracks! We arrived in Raton about Noon, found the McDonalds and ate, then located the Depot and picked up their tickets. Hmmmmm - Now what? - the train doesn't leave till 5:00! So we "whiled away" the afternoon at the park....the library.....back to McDonalds.....back to the park......back to the Depot...found out the train was late, so sat around there until - Finally! - it arrived - 1hr and 30 min. late! We shared the depot and the wait with about a hundred boy scouts just returned from 10 days of camping and backpacking in the wilds of New Mexico. Got the kids (and the boyscouts) on the train headed for Kansas and me headed for La Veta at about 6:30 pm. I had planned to stop at the Walmart in Trinidad, missed the exit, stopped at the rest stop, backtracked to Walmart, got a few things, and headed for home.  Shouldna' stopped, because by the time I got to Walsenburg, it was getting very dark, and that meant I had to navigate 11 miles of curvy road (plus 5 miles of VERY curvy road) to get home in the VERY DARK DARK!  Poor planning on my part, but I made it and was giving myself a pat on the back as I carried my groceries in, when I saw the note on my door! It said "Your water is turned off because there is a major water leak. I suggest you leave it off." It didn't take long to figure out what the problem was, the hose supplying water to the stool had come lose and flooded my camper! I spent the next couple of hours pulling sopping wet throw rugs outside and soaking up water with towels. Got it partly cleaned up, carpet is soaking wet, but I'll tackle that problem tomorrow! I'm going to bed!