We made it to Craig!

Well we finally made it to Craig. We had to stop in Rawlins last night because the wind was so bad, we thought it might actually blow us off the road. They don't call it "Windy Wyoming" for nothin'!

The wonderful people at the Balloon Fest got Bob a nine foot log. He cut it down a bit so he could make an incredible Owl sculpture. 

This is where he stopped for the day. He has 7 hours tomorrow to finish it. No problem!
Now off to the wonderful Craig Campground.

*****************************

The campground was wonderful! Very nice people, clean spots, a dog run, wonderful showers with tons of hot water and a pretty swimming pool I did not get to swim in. Darn it!
Anyway, on to our second day.....
Jon got there to start carving on his sculpture and Bob was close to half way.

We really spread out and our booth looked nice. Such a variety of art. Wood Spirits, Chainsaw carvings, AwkwardPenguins T-Shirts, Jewelry, so much more.....

Bob got down to the detail work. These owls are looking AWESOME!!!

The boys got bored and had to expend some energy. Silly boys and their big boy toys!

Ok, enough playing lets get back to work! They are getting close!

Bob got his done. WOW! This is a fantastic sculpture! And we had a nice little storm threatening us, but even with the lightening and thunder, it wasn't too bad. Mostly just noisy!

Uh-Oh! Photo Bomb!

And Jon's turned out fantastic too. Both so very talented. 

Wait...not again!

Overall it was a fantastic two days in the park. The organizers of this event were phenomenal. They took very good care of us. We had a great time and look forward to next year! :)

Oh, I forgot to mention that there were Dippin' Dots. MMMM! My favorite thing at festivals. And cotton candy flavor to boot!

Off to Moffat County Hot Air Balloon Festival

Our next show is the Moffat County Hot Air Balloon Festival. We have not done this one before but they asked us to return to Craig for this. It sounds like a lot of fun. 

We had to say goodbye to our besties before we left, so we ran by Jim and Shelly's and then to Rick and Sue's. Cindy came by to see us before we left too. I miss everybody already. We should be back up around lander in the next couple of weeks so we will get to see everybody again before the BIG trip!

Bob got a good sized inventory done for this show, so we are hoping for good sales. 

All really awesome stuff!

We headed out on Thursday, the first day of August. This is also our 23rd Anniversary. Road trip! All was not well though.

It took us three hours just to get to Rawlins, which is at most a two hour trip, the wind and road construction spots are AWFUL! The wind actually pulled our awning loose. Thanks goodness for baling wire. 

Painting of Our Wonderful Home!

We had talked about painting the camper all kinds of colors and designs. It was going to be painted just like a log cabin. If anyone could pull off such a huge task, it would be Bob. But then we thought maybe-white, maroon and kelly green with swirls and swishes. That was the plan, until we bought the trailer. Now we decided maybe we could do a matching set. Matching metallic car paint to glossy house paint is no easy task. But we got sooo very close.

Tuesday morning Bob decided that was the day to get started. So we set about taping off all the windows, mirrors, signs, reflectors, bumpers, lights, knobs...oh so much you don't even think about until you actually do it. 

We started out with this:

 And covered every little thing!

Next Bob started spraying the light gray!

Got this side!

Then more taping before the charcoal gray.

Ta Da!These pics make it look easy, but it was a lot of work. We started at 10 am. I had to stop about 2 pm because the sun was not very nice to my bare shoulders! (Duh! Sunscreen, Cayenne) But Bob worked thru the scorching sun and had no lunch. 

But the payoff is this beautiful camper, neat, sleek, clean. Maybe I'll talk him into some color, flowers, smileys, peace signs, who knows. But I am sure it will be beautiful when he is done.

Our matching set!

Bonus for us: Lee and Cindy took us out to eat at the Depot! Excellent food, company and MARGARITAS! 

Thanks guys!

Frederick, Colorado Chainsaw Carving Competition June 19-22, 2013

While at the Craig competition, the mayor of Frederick, CO asked Bob and some of the other wonderful carvers, to come to his town and join in on the first ever Frederick, Colorado Chainsaw Carving Competition. After some thought, we decided to go. After all, that is why we are full-timing it, to be able to do whatever we want at a moments notice. Ahh, freedom!

We arrived in Frederick on Tuesday the 18th. The wonderful Frederick city workers were just getting the giant logs put in place. This was a nice row of logs and plenty of room to carve!

Bob got a good sized log. He was going to carve two peace frogs, but after looking at the huge log, he decided to do something a little nicer.

Log number 3. Has to be lucky, right?

After turning half of the tree into sawdust, a beautiful sculpture is starting to emerge.

The first quick carve was fast and messy. It was in the town's brand new gazebo in the park. Rick and Jon, carving up a storm.

While waiting for these wonderful carvers to finish up, those of us that do not carve find other things to entertain us. Boredom makes you do strange things!

Planking!

Owling!

Tebowing! 

Monkying! Hehe 

Finally they announced the winners!

And 

guess

who

took

???!!!FIRST!!!???

!!!!!!THE BEAR GUY!!!!!!

And here is that carving! 

BASKET DANCER

I am so proud of you Babe! What a fantastic job!

But there were other winners. Deservedly so. All the carvers did a fantastic job!

 These are very unique, fun and caring people. I am proud to be part of this very unique group. 

Faye Braaten-2nd Place winner and the only woman carver here. She does fantastic work. One of the best carvers I've seen. 

www.chainsawmama.com.

Bongo Love-3rd Place and People's Choice-"We Found Love"-Bongo's carvings are always unique and wonderful.

Jon Parker-"Out of the Darkness"-Jon is an excellent carver and soo very goofy and sweet. I just love Jon. His piece was awesome.

Rick Burgess-"Prairie Prayer"-Nice work! Even though he had an awful time with his brand new Husqvarna saw. 

Dee's piece-"Standing Tall"-was kind of unique just for the fact that one minute it was an owl and the next it was an awesome eagle. This was also Dee's first carving contest.

Poof an EAGLE! Ok, not poof! He worked really hard on this to make it perfect.

Nick Smith did a very nice piece.-"Rocky Mt. High"-The two baby bears on the bottom are so adorable. And the way he carved it so the eagle was not attached but stayed put was really neat. I wish I would have taken a better picture of this one. What I have does not do it justice.

Our First Tiny Trip

Our first trip was just a small one. We took the RV and our dogs up to Sinks Canyon. The canyon is such a beautiful place anytime of the year.

New Curtains

The bedroom and shower had the original curtains and bedspread. Don't know about you, but i didn't want to sleep on 28 year old bedding. And the curtains were crumbling from the sun exposure.

Before

 So after measuring many times- as my father taught me "measure twice, cut once"- we finally got started on the curtains. Selecting the color scheme was a pain, but we decided on a classy burgundy tapestry material. It took two days, but we replaced all three bedroom curtains, the shower curtain and the horrible hall way door. Yuck, that was a terrible thing, made of plastic and wood, it squeaked as you pulled it shut. It is there to the left of the shower curtain.

After

We Did It!

Well, we finally did it! We took our first step. Purchased our new home / art gallery on wheels. It's gonna need some customizing to make it into a home.... and so, the adventure begins!