Bar-D Chuck Wagon Ranch

July 30, 2005 - Durango, Colorado

The Bar-D Chuck Wagon is a western outdoor diner and entertainment ranch. The show is a musical comedy of songs and jokes performed by a group of very talented cowboys. A must see for anyone going to Durango.

We enjoyed our trip there with some friends we have at Fun Valley – Dave and Mary Spears from Alberqueque, and Clark and Jean Thompson from Pampa. Dave, Mary and Clark are regular biking buddies of ours.

Pickin’ and Grinin’

July 24, 2005; Fun Valley CO


With all our friends being musically talented, playing guitars and singing is a must when we are all together. Don and Debbie Taylor published their first CD of gospel music composed by Don himself. They call their group New Walk. Pictured is Joni with Val Franklin and the Taylors.

We love to get together and eat and sing and play guitars outside by the camp fire. We are learning guitar and join in too. Since our guitars are not electric and not very loud, no one can hear our mistakes. Joni decided to be the percussion section one night, playing tambourine and other percussion instruments.

Rafting Down the Rio Grande

July 21-22, 2005; Fun Valley, CO

Rafting down the Rio Grand River was great fun. Joni rode down the Fun Valley area of the river in her new kayak. The river was low in Fun Valley so the kayak scraped the rocks a little bit. When Kandy and Val Franklin and Don and Debbie Taylor saw the kayak, they decided they wanted one also. So, they got some.

The next day we all drove past South Fork and half way up to Creede. The river was a lot higher there, and flowed swiftly. There were a few small rapids, but nothing wild. Delton was our driver, dropping us off at our entry point and picking us up 10 miles down river – about 2 hours and 45 minutes later. Delton was able to try his hand at it a couple of days latter – since we didn’t have enough kayaks for everyone.


Joni in the rapids.


Val and Kandy Franklin from Trophy Club, Texas


Don and Debbie Taylor from Pampa, Texas


Delton - finally gets his turn!

Fun With Gayle, Walt, Becky and Gary

July 15-18, 2005; Fun Valley, CO

We are back in Fun Valley for our 4th consecutive summer and this is truly a “Fun Valley.” Our 3 week stay here is full of fun! There are 450 camp sites and some cabins and motel rooms. Many of the same people come back year after year, so we have developed many friendships over the years. Kandy and Val Franklin convinced us to come here 4 years ago and we have been sold ever since.


Our Texas friends, Gayle and Walt Fenoglio and Becky and Gary Sublette joined us for our first weekend here. Our first night we all joined our Fun Valley friends for a fish fry and pot luck diner followed by a jam session of music. Although it rained, we all had a great time.

Pictured below is Val Franklin doing one of his Willy Nelson songs.
Gayle and Walt brought their new jeep and spent many hours jeeping and enjoying the scenery with Becky and Gary. We wished our Texas friends could have stayed longer, and we’re hoping they will come back before we leave for Utah.

Glorieta, NM

July 7-14, 2005; Glorieta, NM

We enjoyed staying at Glorious Glorieta near Santa Fe, New Mexico for one week. Our dear friends, Gayle and Walt Fenoglio live there. Walt is the Business Manager for the Glorieta Conference Center.

Walt and Gayle recently purchased a Jeep Wrangler. So jeeping was on the agenda. Our first trip was to the top of the Glorieta Baldy Peak. At a little over 10,000 feet it overlooks the Glorieta Conference Center.
Pictured are Gayle and Joni with the center in the background.

The highlight of our visit with them was jeeping up to Hamilton Plateau and then hiking about 5 miles.

We started with the jeep ride, which Joni thought would be a pleasant ride up the Pecos mountain range. Everyone was laughing and having a good time as Joni white knuckled her way to the top – holding on for dear life. The ride was full of rocks and more rocks and even bigger rocks. Mountain roads are not Joni’s forte! But we lived to make it to the hiking trail which started our 5 mile hike to the top of the mountain.


We had lunch at the meadow on the top of the mountain. Pictured is Walt surveying the panoramic view from the plateau.

Walt and Delton decided that we should take a different trail back to the jeep. To get to that trail, we hiked OFF TRAIL to find an alternative trail back. Well, Gayle and Joni were not happy hikers when the off trail turned into NO TRAIL and we were hiking through brush and tall grass. Maybe snakes were in there and bears too!!!!!! Walt and Delton continued to hike as Joni and Gayle grew more and more nervous and apprehensive. Finally, Gayle and Joni had had enough of this and yelled to the boys that we were not happy and were turning around to go back the way we came in.

Walt turned around to help the girls as Delton continued on his way. To say the least, Walt was no help at all. We seemed to hike into thicker and thicker brush as Walt kept saying that the trail was very close. It wasn’t!!!

Finally we reached the trail and met Delton on the way. Delton claimed that we had stopped less than a hundred yards from the trail. As the boys thought nothing of our ordeal, Gayle and Joni complained the rest of the day. BUT, all in all it was an experience to remember and laugh about.


Hiking, biking, jeeping, playing guitars and singing made our stay with Walt and Gayle wonderful. Delton and Walt also got in a number of games of pool.

On the last day of our week, more dear friends, Gary and Becky Sublette flew in for a visit. We all left for Fun Valley, Colorado the next day. So, Joni was happy, traveling with goods friends and having fun times.

Our First Visitors – Kathy and Skip McKie

July 4, 2005: Inks Lake, TX


Kathy and Skip, our dear friends and Trophy Club neighbors, were our first visitors to our new “home” on wheels. We have known each other for a long time and our kids, Tom and Chris, have known each other since they were 4 years old and played soccer together.

Kathy, Joni and Skip spent many hours in the lake kayaking and floating on our noodles, while Delton rested in the motor home, out of the 100 degree temperatures. He was still recovering from his surgery and didn’t want to get his nose wet.

We have enjoyed many camp outs with Kathy and Skip. They have camped with us at Lake Ray Roberts and Inks Lake many times, but this time was different - we had to say good-bye as neighbors in Trophy Club. It was a very sad departure for Kathy and Joni as they pulled out of Inks Lake, but we will see them again in the fall, when we are back in Texas.

The Worm

June 30, 2005; Dallas, Texas

The worm is gone! The worm is gone!

On June 9th Delton went in for surgery to remove Basil Cell Carcinoma cancer from his nose. The doctors had to remove an area 1.6 by 1.4 centimeters. Six layers of skin and tissue were removed before they got all of the cancer. The doctor said that two to three layers usually worked for most patients.

After the surgery for removal Delton went to a plastic surgeon to repair the damage. The surgeon elected to create a flap using tissue from the left cheek and attaching it to the nose. The flap is attached to both the cheek and the nose. This procedure gives more blood flow to the graft and produces better results. Cartilage was also taken out of the ear to reconstruct the nose. The flap is affectionately called “The Worm”.

Delton took great pains to keep “The Worm” moist and healthy for three weeks. He counted the days! He stayed out of public as much as possible just to avoid the many stares he got from kids and adults alike. As you can see from the picture it was a gruesome site. Finally, on June 30th the flap was removed.

This was also during the time we were putting our stuff in storage, selling our house and preparing for our motor home venture.


Delton had his second surgery on June 30th to repair his nose after Mohs Surgery. Pictured is Delton after the surgery. His is expected to look as handsome as ever after a few months of healing.