Day 5: (Fishing Day-Ha, Ha)
This morning I decided to get my fly fishing gear out (it has not been out of the box since I bought it) and see if I could figure it out.  I got it put together, but it took me a lot longer than it should have. I went to the lake to practice my technique.  I got off to a poor start, but my technique improved steadily until I snapped my fly off with too much wrist.  I went back to my cabin, put another fly on, and after lunch went back to the lake for my afternoon session.  Snapped another fly off, so as of now, my score is 2-0, meaning 2 lost flys and no nibbles.  Not a good record, but at least I was feeling better about my technique before I snapped the 2nd one off.
Tonight I went to Bill & Mary Ann Sayre's house for dinner.  Bill and Mary Ann used to live in Austin where Bill was an anesthesiologist and he and Mary Ann were scuba divers with the group that I dived with.  They have lived in Pagosa Springs ever since their house burned down in Georgetown some time ago, and in the last year they have moved from their cabin to a house close in to town. What was fascinating to me was that in their fire they lost, among everything else, a lot of Bill's diving pictures, but one item that was framed and in the Pagosa house with them was an article on scuba diving in the Austin paper that featured me and Bill and our underwater photography.  Mary Ann had found that framed article in some of their moving boxes that she was unloading the week before I sent the e-mail that I was coming their way. I had not seen them in 30 years, and the large picture in the upper right of the article was one that I had submitted and it reads"Mary Ann Sayre and a large grouper as photographed by Dick Williamson".  I had totally forgotten about that article.  Mary Ann said she couldn't believe that she had just been looking at that picture when I sent my note.  Enough nostalgia.

Fly Fisherman ??

View from Sayre's back porch

Mary Ann with diving article

Good to see the Sayre's after 30 years

Day 4 (A Harley Day):
I got up this morning and hit the road on the Harley for a 200 mile "loop" into the mountains east of Pagosa Springs and back.  The weather was great (47 when I started, and 86 when I got back!), the scenery was beautiful, and the roads were great for a Harley.  There is nothing like a Harley for mountain roads where you would normally be behind some slow moving car, or an RV being pulled up  a steep grade and have to wait for ever for a chance to pass.  Not on the Harley!!  1450 cc's doesn't like to poke along behind slow traffic.  My loop took me back down into New Mexico where I went through Chama, NM which is where my good friend Fred Schulte spent a significant portion of his time when his mom and dad had a place there, and they are both buried in Chama (notice last picture).

Wolf Creek Summit

Oldest church in Colorado

Sign:"Made in Chama, not in China

My desire to explore southern Colorado in the Pagosa Springs and Durango area began with my buying a trailer that will carry my Harley, so on Sunday morning all hooked up and ready to go, I took off for Lubbock.

















My first stop was in Lubbock where I took our friend Charles Milam out to dinner.  Charles was injured in a car wreck many years ago and is confined to a nursing home.  We went out to eat (not an easy task) at Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant and it was very good. I think Charles really enjoyed getting out.

Day 2:
From Lubbock I traveled to Santa Fe and stayed with my friend Greg Thompson and his wife Carole.  They were in Santa Fe with Louis and Debbie Radeke to attend Indian Market. All four of them are really into Indian art, and we spend the afternoon touring galleries.  They have been buying art since they arrived last Thursday, and they bought more this afternoon. I'm not saying what they spent, but let's just say they love fine art, and both being doctors, they have the money to spend, at least I hope they do.
The house they have rented for the week was absolutely gorgeous and cost around $2M. It rented for $900/night (what a steal!)

View from living room through huge window

Living room and dinning room

That night we had a fabulous dinner at Geronimo's Restaurant.  The food was great, the wine was great, and the company was special.

Day 3:
The day started with a beautiful sunrise over the mountains and then Greg, Louis and I went to Pasqual's for breakfast. This is a very unique and popular place for breakfast.

After breakfast, I loaded up and headed for Pagosa Springs, my first Colorado stop. The drive up starting getting into the southern mountains and the terrain started changing.  I made it to my cabin, unloaded, made a tour through the town and stopped at the grocery store for a few items.  My cabin is probably slightly more "rustic" than I had thought, but after getting settled in I think it is going to work just fine.

After I had dinner, I went for a walk along the river that is about 100 yds behind by cabin.