Images

Here are several pics of how the The Project has developed over the past month...

Well, so much for keeping up with the Blog

So much for good intentions. Obviously, I haven't been keeping you all up to date on "The Project". Actually, all of the building activity since early October is posted on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=573864123&ref=profile). Nevertheless, for you avid followers of this blog (and you know who you are), I will provide a very brief update.

Despite our reservations (as noted in the previous posting) we finally decided to move forward with The Project in late summer. We put our Cook Street home on the market (many lookers but no buyers - yet) and got our financing lined up. In mid-October we finally broke ground. It's been a slow process since then. Too slow. The excavation through pouring the footers went pretty well, but since then it's been one delay after another. For the most part, I've had a three-man crew with only one guy who knows what he's doing. First, my guys were pulled off to other jobs. Second, they screwed up the rebar layout for the foundation walls. We've failed two inspections! I think we've got the problems resolved and were scheduled to pour the walls tomorrow (¡si Dios quiere!).

The weather has been great for November - perfect for pouring and setting concrete. Let's hope it lasts

2008

At the beginning of 2008, we still hadn't made the decision about when to begin building. We were up and down with the whole project for most of the first half of the year. At one point, we essentially postponed it indefinitely. Our thinking began to change about mid year and, in August, we put our home on Cook Street on the market. We also started moving along in earnest on the new home in Poncha Springs.

2007

After closing on the lot in December 2006, we tried to make it up to PS as often as possible; mainly on weekends, although J.D. would sometimes just go up for the day during the week. Early in 2007, we contracted with DirectBuild out of Parker, CO to provide consulting and resources to allow J.D. to be the general contractor on the project. DirectBuild put them in touch with a couple of architects and we ended up choosing Jim Bock of Bella Concepts (Manitou Springs). Jim came up with a great plan, but it's taken nearly a year and half, and we still have some "tweeking" to do (good thing we aren't in too much of a hurry!).

The weekends we spent at the new home site during this time was great. We'd park the RoadTrek in front of the lot (which is the last one on E. Ouray Ave.) and let the dogs run free. There is a natural foot path on the east side of the lot and we started lining it with river rock (which there is no shortage of on the property). We also built a little bench of flagstone and cottonwood logs from which they could ponder the magnificence of Mt. Shavano. J.D. brought in some pea gravel for around the bench and it was soon christened "The Sanctuary"

In the Beginning - Part 2

Salida & the surrounding area turned out to be a lot more interesting then we'd originally thought. It does, indeed, seem to be a progressive community with a thriving art community, many recreational activities, and a lot more amenities than BV. J.D. checked out a couple of developments and quickly narrowed it down to two. One was about three miles south of Salida and a couple of hundred feet higher. It offered a commanding view of the valley and had beautiful piñon pines. The view was somewhat obstructed by power lines and, more importantly, it would have required a well, septic system and leach field. The other development was Little River Ranch (LLR) which was right on the south fork of the Arkansas (the "Little River") and technically within the "city" limits of Poncha Springs. As such, the sites included municipal water & sewer and other city services such as cable. It would also be much more maneuverable in winter as the roads are flat and the will be paved.

We made a few more trips to the area together and visited both sites. It was a tough choice but, in the end, we opted for LLR (the right choice!). In early December 2006, we closed on two lots in the sub-division. Lot no. 33 we purchased for investment and lot no. 51 will be the site of our new home!

In the Beginning...

In late 2005-early 2006, when we first started talking about maybe moving to the mountains, we were thinking the Buena Vista area. We'd both been to BV numerous times on ManKind Project and Woman Within weekends, so we knew the topography. What we didn't know was the community, so we started spending time in and around BV on the weekends. We also looked at some of the homes that were listed in the area. We actually found one that we really liked, but we weren't quite ready to commit to a move right away. After all, MaryAnn had just completed her MSW degree and was employed at MHCD. J.D. was still getting his feet on the ground with his business and felt pretty uncertain about how that was going to develop. While they were singing the Hesitation Blues, a couple from Breckenridge bought the home.

The "project" (as we now refer to it) went on the back burner for a while. At some point during the Buena Vista phase, someone had suggested that we check out Salida. Salida is 25 miles from BV and sits in a basin at the south end of the Upper Arkansas River Valley. We were told it was about twice the size of BV and had a lot more to offer. It was also described as a more "progressive" community. On one of our last weekends in BV we decided to go back through Salida and check it out. Since it was at the end of a weekend, we just kind of skirted the perimeter of the town and really didn't get much of a feel for it. We more or less concluded that it wasn't what we were looking for.

Over the next few weeks, J.D. did some Internet searches in and around Salida, and found a couple of areas that looked promising, although they were all building sites rather than existing homes, which began to put a whole new spin on the project. He and MaryAnn talked about it and, based on that discussion, he decided to drive up to Salida for a couple of days to do more research.

Where the heck is Poncha Springs, Colorado??

Here's a map showing the Upper Arkansas Valley. From Denver, we drive up Highway 285, past Bailey, over Kenosha Pass, and through South Park (for which the famous "adult" cartoon show is named). We cross the Arkansas River at Johnson Village and turn left towards Salida. From there, we track the shimmering Arkansas on the left and the majestic Collegiate Peaks on the right until we reach Highway 50. A left turn puts us in the little town of Poncha Springs (official population - 474). We take another quick left onto 50 towards Salida (a mere 3 miles down the road). A half-mile down 50 takes us to Poncha Springs Lane where we turn right and then a couple of hundred meters and it's a left turn onto East Ouray. Our address is 1133 E. Ouray at the very east end of Little River Ranch.