The Adventures of T&A

We took a lazy day with laundry, cooking and a little shopping.  We’re both catching up on a few emails and computer work.  Ken and Laura are coming in late tonight.  We’re really looking forward to seeing Ken again and meeting his new girlfriend, Laura.  

We went to brunch with Terrie and Alan, but Alan had to go to work (he’s a doctor).  Terrie took us to a Chinese grocery in Boulder and we got a few things.  We went back to the house and chatted for a while. 

Andrew and I left to head back to Edwards.  Friends Ken and Laura are coming in tomorrow night and we wanted to have time to unpack the truck and relax a little before they get in.  

We took off this morning and went back into Canon City (the county seat) and got some info at the county offices.  We got as much info as we could on the property at Spruce Basin, along with info on permitting, wells, septic, etc.  We also found the name of the current owner and what we paid for it in 2004 (per tax assessment).  We stopped at a small farmer’s market in Canon City, but didn’t get anything.  We just didn’t need anything and didn’t have room.  We went out to look at even more property, still comparing others to the Spruce Basin lot.  

We were trying to find a 35 acre parcel that backed up to BLM land and the local postal delivery lady stopped and asked if we were lost.  She looked at our vague directions and said the area we wanted was further up the road, but we should ask the folks at the firehouse there on the corner (we had just passed them).  We stopped and chatted with a couple of volunteer firefighters standing outside the fire station.  They were watching for smoke from a 20 acres fire reportedly heading this way.  The wind was very strong and is wasn’t looking good for the local volunteer firefighters.  One of the guys was familiar with the land we were looking for, he said he looked at it himself.   He said it was mostly rock, not many trees and way at the end of a series of dirt roads, not maintained in the winter.  He told us about a couple of other properties for sale in the area that he knew about.  We gave up on the rocky 35 acres, but the properties he recommended weren’t great either (compared to the Spruce Basin lot).

We had enough for the day and took off towards Boulder, CO to meet with our friends Terrie and Alan and their place.  On the drive, we saw the smoke plume, directed by the wind, that the local firefighters were watching for.  We talked about how we needed to utilize as much fire abatement as possible if (and when) we build in this area.  We got to Terrie and Alan’s after fighting Denver’s traffic. much like Atlanta’s.  We were welcomed by Shelton, Terrie’s Golden Retriever with an incredible “retriever” instinct.  It was great catching up with them.  They’ve had some bad luck recently (a fire and health issues) but it sounds like they are doing ok.  Terrie and Alan were officially married at the first of the year, but they are planning a big wedding ceremony in mid-July.  We have to check our schedule (which we haven’t written yet) to see if we can arrange to be back in Boulder then.  

We heard several cars driving up CR 12 last night, but no one came up the four-wheel drive Basin Drive. We continued the loop back to Homestead Drive, the location of the land we looked at.  We checked out this lot and another lot close by and walked both lots thoroughly.  We looked at several more lots in the area, but they just didn’t compare.  We really like this property, it has aspens, pines and firs.  It’s deep, 7.3 acres and has a rolling terrain with a ridge at the back of the property with a beautiful view of the mountains.  The problem in this area, a beautiful “view” means you have no shelter from the wind, which can be very strong at times.

As we were leaving, we felt we should look at what few shops Cotopaxi had to offer.  We browsed a liquor store and the general store that had just about whatever you might want: groceries, maps, quad maps, hardware, public restrooms a small diner and a deli.  Our major grocery shopping would be in Salida (45 minutes away) or Canon City (50 minutes in the opposite direction), but this was 15 minutes away and had most emergency goods.  We stopped at a realty office in Cotopaxi and found another piece of property just up the road that was listed today, so we went back up to see it.  It had great views, but the property was steep and the road switched back up much of the property.  The improvements on this lot included the road and a trailer that had been there since the 1970’s.  We considered this trailer more of a liability than an asset.  We still liked the other lot better.

We drove into Canon City, 50 minutes away and saw a realtor there.  He gave us a few listings to look at and told us a little about the town.  The general population is older, 55-65, nearing retirement.  This area is considered the  “Banana Belt” of Colorado, what little snow they get doesn’t stay around very long.  This area is also very dry and water is a big concern.  We bought a shower at a campground and they said they haul water here.  We saw a flat bed trailer with 3 very large holding tanks (perhaps 1,000 gallons each, larger than a hot tub) on the site.  Water is a HUGE issue here, you either drill a well of haul water and store it in a cistern.

We went out to find a BLM campsite and finally found something, but the road was really rough.  We found one spot with car parts where someone had taken a car on this road without adequate clearance.  A license plate and holder and a rear tail light where on the side of the road.  

We left this morning and headed for Fairplay/South Park, CO.  This little town was loosely used as a model for the cartoon South Park (we didn’t meet Eric Cartman).  We spoke to a realtor there and got another handful of MLS listings to check out.  We drove down dirt roads for the rest of the day, trying to find which lots are for sale.  When buying a house, you go to an address with a photo.  When looking to buy land, you’re given vague directions and trying to find iron pins in the ground.  There have been many times that we never found the lot for sale, but we didn’t like the area for one reason or another and just left.

We really liked the lot we found at Spruce Basin and set it as a benchmark for the others, “is this better than the one we’ve already found?”  We asked Cathy at the Buena Vista office if she could get us more info on the Spruce Basin lot.  She’s been really helpful.  We stopped back by Buena Vista and picked up the info she had for us and went off to find camping.  We went to the BLM land adjacent to Spruce Basin to camp for the night off Basin Drive.

We have an appointment with a realty agent in Buena Vista at 9:30 this morning.  We had breakfast at the hotel and drove 30 minutes north from Salida.   We got there early, so we just drove around the town for a little while.  It’s much smaller than Salida but looks like it had some interesting things going on.  We had just missed a hot air balloon festival and we saw a mountain bike race in progress.   Both Buena Vista and Salida border on several wild areas: Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area, Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area, San Isabel National Forest and lots of BLM land.  Many of the areas we have been looking for land have backed up to or are near some wild areas.

Cathy in United Country of Buena Vista was very nice to meet up with us on a Sunday.  She helped us find lots of land within our price range and she knew the area enough to recommend some places and steer us clear of others.  We drove around an area called Ranch of the Rockies.  This is a huge subdivision with lots ranging from 2 acres to 30+ acres.  As we drove around the area, it just didn’t feel right.  The views were magnificent!  Many properties backed on to National Forest or BLM land.  We wandered for a long time and decided, since it’s getting late, we’ll just camp here in the National Forest next door.

While heading up a dirt road into public land, we saw a family on mountain bikes.  We slowed and waved and went on.  They yelled back at us… we stopped to see what was up.  They were from north Atlanta area and had moved here 2 weeks ago!  We stopped and chatted, asking how they liked it here and quizzed them on other areas they looked at and what they thought of them.  We all agreed that this area was the last affordable land in Colorado.  

Andrew and I went up to find camping in the adjacent San Isabel National Forest and found a clearing with an established campsite and the most outrageous views.  It was then that I figured out why the big area of majestic views bothered me… the views are majestic because there are no houses out here yet!  As this land sells and fills in, the views will fade and this will be just another grand subdivision!  But for tonight, we enjoyed a beautiful, majestic sunset.

We didn’t sleep well last night, altitude can do that to you sometimes.  We left our beautiful campsite and headed into Salida, CO to see a United Country agent there.  We’ve been using United Country because they specialize in land, not just houses.  We found lots of land in our price range.  We had lunch before heading out, a place called Amica’s, a restaurant and brewpub.  This small town has a Microbrew that has pretty good beer!  We walked down First Street and saw several cruiser bikes just sitting out, unlocked.  We were curious if they had a metro bike group that fixed up old bikes for public use.  We asked at one shop and no, it seems that these are personal bikes, owned by shop owners and such.  They’re not locked because they don’t have a real problem with crime here!  Though they did admit if it was a really nice bike they’d probably lock it up.  We liked the friendly feel of the town.  The stores seemed to be taken care of and full of life.

We looked at the first few places near town, but didn’t stay long.  We headed up to a place called Spruce Basin, about 45 minutes from Salida.  At first, we were heading up a dirt road, nothing on either side and I didn’t like it.  It was like too many other properties we looked at that would have cows and horses as neighbors.  We suddenly came upon a few houses.  We saw a sign at one corner that said “Limited Winter Maintenance” and we were a bit skeptical.  We saw a VW bug coming up behind us and they asked if they could help us find something.  We asked about the plots that were for sale.  Lynn and Linda Bates were really helpful.  There is no electricity to any of these properties and everyone is on solar power.  Lynn showed us his PV panels and setup.  They had a plot plan that helped us locate the lots we were looking for, one was right next door to them and another was nearby.  We checked out the lot next to them, 7 acres with pines and aspens, gently rolling terrain.  We walked around the property for more than an hour.

We still had more stuff to see but it was getting late.  We drove back into Salida and checked into a cheap hotel room and took off to see more property south of town.  We drove south of town another 45 minutes, adjoining BLM land.  We found a small community, but it was 2.5 acres and we couldn’t find the right plot.  It was a beautiful drive, but we didn’t feel good about the area.  Too remote.  

Tomorrow we move onto Buena Vista, just 30 minutes north of Salida, but for tonight, we just chilled out in the hotel room.

We packed up after a shower and headed off for Pagosa Springs, CO.  Pagosa Springs is known for hot springs (Pagosa means “healing waters”) and hot springs spas and soaks are everywhere.  The town was much larger than Chama, perhaps 12,000 people, and the industry is (of course) tourism and the spas.  We liked the feel of the town and talked to the realty agent there.  She gave us several places to check out.  We looked at maybe 4 places, all plain land with no structures.  While we looked at one spot, we ran into a realtor showing the small cabin on the neighboring property.  On another backcountry road, we passed 2 cars that were definitely realtors with clients following.  This place is being looked at by someone!

We decided it was still too soon to decide and we still hadn’t seen anything we both really liked, so we kept our notes and moved on to Salida, CO.  We won’t make it there tonight, so we found a forest service road off Hwy #160 and went up the side of the mountain to about 11,000 ft elevation.  There’s still patches of snow up here in June and snowmelt waterfalls are everywhere.  We found a spot away from highway noise and camped next to a beautiful mountain stream.

It’s raining this morning.  It started last night, just a light all day drizzle.  We drove around Durango and visited the United Country office there.  We got info on the area, but we’re not sure if it’s anything we want.  We drove thru a couple of subdivisions, Forest Lake and Aspen Trails, outside Durango.  While looking at these 1 acre lots, we may decide to increase our acreage request.  Many of these houses were nearly as big as the 1 acre lot they were on.  We found out about High Country News, an environmental newspaper based in Paonia, focusing on Southwest issues.  We’ll have to check it out.  

We continued our land search into Chama, NM in the rain.  We drove thru downtown first and then to the realty office.  We noticed that there were several businesses in downtown that were closed up and out of business.  The United Country office in Chama is beautiful, too beautiful for it’s surroundings.  The agent we spoke with struck us as a fast talking salesman.  He never showed us an MLS listing, instead rattled off facts and numbers he had in his head (hummm… only HIS properties!).  He took us out in his Hummer (?!) to one property that was about 1/2 mile from downtown and on the edge of an elk viewing wilderness area.  It was a very narrow, 4 acre lot adjacent to horses and what our agent quoted as $600,000.00 houses.  However, the other side of the property was adjacent to what looked like low income housing.  Many of the houses in the area were boarded up and/or falling in.  Some of these run down places were obviously still inhabited!  Hummm… we need time to think.

We found a local place with cheap cabins and we went out to dinner to check things out further.  The restaurant that was recommended was busy and the service was painfully slow.  We had plenty of time to watch the locals.  The food was good, better than we expected for a town of 1,200 people.  Later that night, we looked at city-data.com and looked up Chama, NM and found that this area was over 75% Hispanic!  The folks we saw at the restaurant we not noticeably Hispanic, or maybe the majority of the population can not afford to go out to eat (that would explain the rundown homes).  Also, we found out that the population has fallen 2% up to 2004.  The only industry in town is a tourist railroad tour.  This looks like a dying town, hanging on by a rail.  

Ugh!  An awful, sleepless night in a terrible camp spot.  We went back into Paonia to talk with a United Country Realty office to see what they may have listed.  The town had an unusual number of Holistic and Vegetarian merchants for such a small town. Some of the buildings are quite old, we saw dates of 1902 and 1903.  One MLS listing showed a house built in 1908.  The industry in the area is primarily coal mining and Chaco sandal factory, but for some reason, the prices are beyond what we want to pay (not necessarily what we CAN pay).   It seem this area was written up in Forbes Magazine about three month earlier.  We found out more about the demographics of the area… Coal mining and Trust Fund Hippies and a few local shop owners.  By observing some of the locals and overhearing a couple of conversations, we could tell there was a huge rift between the blue collar workers and the silver spoons.  Too big a rift for such a small town.

But we have lots of stuff to look at.  We drove through Ouray, CO.  Nothing we could afford, but it is a beautiful drive thru the mountains.  We noticed a lot more traffic on the road than when we were thru here on a 9 day vacation in June of 2001.  We headed for Durango, CO, but we didn’t make it before the business offices closed for the day.  We found a free campground on CR 201 called Hermosa Creek Campground and called it home for the night.  We’re in the mountains and it’s much cooler than last night, maybe we’ll sleep better.