Loving the beautiful fall colors

So I came up with a name for the property---Views of Vallecito.  It's descriptive but not too pretentious.....sort of rolls off the tongue.

I left Vallecito last Monday morning heading towards Angel Fire, NM for a two day visit with my friend Kimberlee Acker and her parents at their lovely home in the mountains.  As I left, it was rainy and cold.  Right before I got to Pagosa Springs, I saw an oncoming car swerving, a handful of deer scrambling on the highway and a pick up truck driver pulled over inspecting his bumper.  Thankfully I was able to slow down and avoid a collision with the ever present deer who seem to be popping out of no where on a regular basis.  It's for that reason, that I prefer not to drive at dusk or in the dark given the potential for a collision on the skinny, winding mountain roads leading up to the lake.

Speaking of wildlife, I saw a slew of wild turkey on Kimberlee's parent's deck and a herd of elk surrounding their property.   The lovely views, warm hospitality and a gorgeous home in the mountains was a nice diversion from perhaps a little too much solitude in Vallecito.....No actually I don't mind the solitude, if I could overcome the internet dilemma which makes it difficult for me to take care of lodge business.  

The pull off on Lake Vallecito where I stop to access internet

Anyway, following my short visit in AF, I drove to Taos to see a stylist who does a great job giving me that short, spiky haircut that I like so much.  With all my years in Houston, I was never able to find a stylist who mastered that cut.  Now, Amber is just 4.5 hours from Vallecito when I need a good cut.  We talked about how I could determine if there might be any stylists in Durango who could do the job next time.

Following the salon visit in Taos, I made my way back down Mora, NM (45 min south of Taos) to visit one of my favorite intentional communities--Hummingbird.  It had been 3 months since my last visit and it was good to get caught up with everyone.  I shared with them my adventures at the Tiny House Jamboree, my surprise at seeing the BIG prices that tiny home builders are charging in CO, my visit to see Holly's tiny house (built by the Hummingbird company in Canada) in Golden and my overnight stay at Wee Casas in Lyons where I got to experience one night accommodations in the tiny house built by Durango's, Rocky Mountain home builder.  And, of course, we talked about my recent purchase of the property in Vallecito.  I always feel so warm and welcome and I value the opportunity to visit them and learn more about how they make community not only work but thrive and grow.

I got a late start leaving Hummingbird because I hung around to participate in Ami's yoga class for the community.  By the time I got on the road, it was starting to get dark and it was raining.  I drove an hour and a half to a cozy little place I found (in the middle of nowhere) on Airbnb.  It's in Glorieta, NM on the way to Albuquerque where I'll fly home to Houston on Friday to meet up with Reid who is flying back into the US f
rom Sydney.

Oh what fun it is to get to experience the fall colors in the Rockies, to meet new friends and to catch up with others I've known for a while and to fly home to Houston to re-connect with Reid and my family and friends.    

 

Views of Vallecito in early Fall

I closed on the property that includes a 2200 sq ft, 2 story house with 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths and a huge basement along with 7 summer cabins on Lake Vallecito NE of Durango, Colorado on Friday, October 9^th. It's a beautiful spot and Kent and his daughter Sarah and Reid and my mom and stepfather all came up to see and experience it with me for a few days. The fall colors and lovely weather brought big smiles to all of our faces. We have lots of ideas about what we can do to improve the property for our own use and for potential rental income. However, I'm here by myself at the moment. Kent and his wife Lydia need to sell their house before they can move up from Houston and partner with me on the project. Reid has his job in the Silicon Valley and a pending custudy case which will hopefully be resolved by the end of this year so we're all in a holding pattern.

While I got a fair price with my cash offer on the property, I don't want to invest any more money into improvements until after Kent and Lydia can move up and help and until after the winter season passes to ensure my thin Texas blood is up for the challenge. I'm six months into my sabbatical and am excited to see how this new endeavor works out.

Six of the cabins are furnished with passable furnishings, dishes and appliances as long as renters are as mesmerized by the lake and mountain views and don't look too close. My mom said, "Trina they've been rented for the past 50 years in this condition, there will probably be people who'll be happy to rent them just the way they are."  I'm not so sure. I need to do a market analysis on Airbnb and/or VRBO in order to see what other cabins in the area look like and the rental prices. My understanding is that May-October is busiest with many businesses closing down in the fall and winter while some do a marginal business up to the first of the year then wait until the snow melts to get back into full swing again.

I've found that it's like stepping back in time here. I discovered that one of the cabins has a TV with a VHS player. There is no TV reception but I'm assuming the player works---I just didn't know VHS tapes were even still available.....but it appears they are in this part of the world anyway.

I met my neighbors across the street who run the Pine River Lodge. Others in the area call the women who run the property “the sisters” since it's a family run operation lead primarily by two sisters Donna and Debbie both in their sixties. Their family has been operating the lodge for at least 50 years so they have lots of stories to tell and they seem to be quite helpful about what works and what doesn't work. Right now, my life feels like an episode out of the old Green Acres sitcom or perhaps the sitcom that Bob Newhart starred in when he and his wife ran an old New England Inn and had frequent visits from brothers who were both named Darryl.

I asked Donna if anyone does yoga in the area and she said some women get together for Tai Chi once a week. She gave me the name of the woman to contact to learn more about it. I asked if I should “google” her phone number but Donna said no, I can find the number faster than that. She opened up a local phone book. I haven't seen anyone use one of those in years. She didn't find the number there so she called the local country market and asked the owner for the number. It turns out this was faster than I could have found the number on Google. That's because, I've discovered, that a fast internet connection will be out of the question in this area. Currently, I can't make or receive calls on my iPhone with my AT&T service. I've spent hours researching internet, phone, and TV options and hope that the Century Link land line, Verizon jet pack for internet and the DirecTV bundle will work. I didn't think I'd ever be buying a cordless phone again but it may be the only phone service I can get here.

People ask me if I plan to live here full time. I'm honestly not sure if I will make this my home or if it will become investment property where I visit on a regular basis while I give the Silicon Valley a try with Reid.

I'm happy to have such a lovely place to call home right now as I winterize the Navi for safe keeping and try to decide what to do with myself and the property in preparation for the first snowfall. Kent brought my Jeep up from Houston but I'm told I'll need a four wheel drive for the 7700 foot elevation in this part of Colorado. So, I'm thinking about trading it in for another used vehicle with the proper equipment for this area.

After 3 days of chasing my tail with internet and cell phone issues and the 20 mile (30 min) drives into Durango to take care of business that I'm so used to handling on the Internet, I got home tonight before dark and decided to tackle pulling up the 18 year old stinky, shag carpet in the den of the house. If I'm going to have my furniture shipped up here or if I find furnishings nearby, I'm going to have to replace that before it will feel inhabitable to me. Right now, I'm living in one of the cozy,one room cabins near the house with my Navi sitting nearby. The belongings that came with me on this trip are now divided between the Navi, the house, and the cabin. My goal this week will be to get what I need out of the Navi so that I can winterize it and put it under cover somewhere close before it starts to snow. I have a neighbor who has a large covered area that I'm hoping I can use (I'm waiting to hear back on my request). I'm told that if it works out, the Navi will be snowed in for the winter so there will be no escaping in it until the spring.

So many decisions to make but what a beautiful part of the world to do it in.