Heine Travels

2011 US Trip

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2011 US Trip - Day ForthThree

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2011 US Trip - Day FortyTwo

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2011 US Trip - Day FortyOne

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2011 US Trip - Day Forty

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2011 US Trip - Day ThirtyNine

2011-09-10T10:28:00.000-05:00

2011 US Trip - Day ThirtyEight

2011-09-09T10:56:00.000-05:00

@Monte Bella RV Park, Taos, NM

We had a fantastic sunrise this morning, after raining all night the sun turned the remaining clouds red as it came up over the mountains lasting only a short time before the red gave way to light orange, then gone completely. It was cool, somewhere in the 40s and everything was wet, looking a little strange for a desert environment. We finished our morning routine and linked up with Bill and Helen to meet at the square downtown at 10. Taking a scenic route off the main highway, we found the map we had was nowhere near scale, but after a lot of narrows streets and turns we finally made it to the square.

Josh, Bill and Helen’s son was there who I haven’t seen in many years, meeting him once at ATT where Bill and I worked together for several years before we retired. Helen worked at ATT as well, at a different location but in the same organization, so all three of us were colleagues at ATT for several years. Bill and I worked on the same team the last few years, working closely together and enjoying some great successes. Jan and Helen met for the first time at an ATT event in Las Vegas where they hit it off having fun with their complementary personalities.

We spent a couple hours making it around the square, Jan and Helen hitting the shops while us guys followed, staying outside and chatting while waiting on them. By the time we made it back around to our vehicles, it was time for lunch and Helen got a recommendation for Mexican food from one of the locals. A few miles up 64 we found the restaurant and enjoyed a good meal, albeit a bit spicy for Jan. From there we were off to the Big Barn Dance, a little early but on good advice from Bill we needed to get there early to get seats inside the tent in case it rained. They found last night it got quite cold and uncomfortable outside the tent when it started raining.

The event kicked off with Michael Hearne, this being his event, and went on with performances from Susan Taylor, Rick Fowler, Shake Russell, Trout Fishing in America, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Chuck Cannon and ending with Michael Martin Murphy.

Our favorite was still Shake Russell, who we saw for the first time with Bill and Helen back home.

Bill did good with the seating advice as we were dry, warm and comfy during a few rain showers off and on thru the day. We stayed till about 10:30 catching about 30 minutes of Murphy and leaving a bit early, but just worn out after 10 hours. It was a great event, getting to see many artists with excellent performances and happy we went.

Back at the trailer and before Friday was officially over, I satisfied tradition and had my margarita before bed. Helen was the official tester at the Barn Dance rating the margaritas there not up to snuff, so I had stuck to beer as my adult beverage of choice all day.

2011 US Trip - Day ThirtySeven

2011-09-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

@Blanco River RV Park, Pagosa Springs, CO

Today we moved from Pagosa Springs to Taos, NM. Since it was only going to be a 3 hour or so drive we took our time, doing our morning exercises downtown, gassing up and getting everything packed up. We were out of the park about 10am, headed down hwy 84 toward New Mexico. We took our lunch break in New Mexico on a high overlook pulloff on hwy 64. The overlook and drive was quite scenic with great views of the San Juan Mountains.

We came down from the mountains to the flats finding the outskirts of Taos had quite a collection of mobile homes, some painted pink and other unique colors including some earth homes that we found out later were designed and built to minimize their ecological impact. These homes covered partially with earth were not cheap, finding one advertised for $400,000 but claiming $100 a year cost in utilities.
We found our park, Monte Bello RV Park and got setup in site 13 before touching base with Bill and Helen, our friends that we were meeting here for The Big Barn Dance, a Wurstfest type event with different singers and bands playing for this four day event. They came to our park and we sat outside the trailer, catching up since we saw them last. They were off about 4 for tonight’s performance – we only had tickets for Friday night - and we took off to the casino.

We found Taos Casino on the south part of town and soon after Jan was soon signed up at the players club, we were enjoying an evening of penny slotting. I claimed the big win for the evening, hitting a 700 penny jackpot. Jan tried to match me but in the end, just claiming my winnings for the future gambling fund. On a break from the slots we had their 99 cent strawberry shortcakes that were surprisingly good. Looking at the menus and other food coming out of the kitchen it looked like they had some good food for reasonable prices for such a small casino.

We wrapped up the casino play and took a quick drive around the city, getting back to the park about 7 or so, wrapping up the day with dinner and tv.

2011 US Trip - Day ThirtySix

2011-09-07T09:28:00.000-05:00

@Blanco River RV Park, Pagosa Springs, CO

This morning Jan did laundry at the park Laundromat and I worked on trimming up the spruce I gathered yesterday, making them into extra walking sticks for hiking. Jan had a conversation with one of the campers while doing laundry who was part of the Casitas gathering, about 30 of them in the park, Casita trailers being a little hardside camper that packed a lot of conveniences into a really small package. They look really neat, but can’t imagine a person over 6’ tall being comfortable in one.

We wrapped up our chores and projects about lunchtime, ate some salads and took our last drive into the national forest in the afternoon, this time a forest road up to Buckles Lake. Lot of hunters once again camping in the pullouts along the road as we made our way to the end where there was a parking lot and the trailhead for the short half mile hike to the lake. We enjoyed the walk and seeing the lake, nice scenery, but little wildlife.

Back in the truck, on the way down the mountain we picked up a bow hunter hitching a ride to his truck. He had been elk hunting and had no luck, but did see a bear and mountain lion during his outings. Jan spotted a couple mule deer on the way back and other than chipmunks, birds and squirrels, was the extent of our wildlife sightings.

Dinner was chicken Jan cooked in the crockpot yesterday and we spent the evening checking on the Texas fires, checking our route for our move to Taos tomorrow and catching some tv.

2011 US Trip - Day ThirtyFive

2011-09-06T10:46:00.000-05:00

@Blanco River RV Park, Pagosa Springs, CO

Today we took yet another drive into the national forest, venturing down Blanco River Basin road just up a couple miles from our camp. The first few miles, we found we were pulling over every couple minutes for an eighteen wheeler to pass hauling gravel for road construction, making it feel more like a highway vs a quiet forest road. We got to a turnoff, Castle Creek road, recommended by our brochure which finally got us away from the trucks’ path and restoring a nice peaceful scenic drive we were expecting.

It was a quiet drive up Castle Creek and the overcast weather made it seem even more peaceful. We found a few mule deer out, but other than the typical squirrels and chipmunks squiring around, wildlife seemed to be sleeping in today. I resorted to looking for good walking stick candidates among the firs and aspen trees finding three that I managed to cut with a hacksaw blade, the only saw I had in the truck. We had lunch in a camp spot up the mountain, afterwards working on trimming up one of my new walking sticks while Jan read in the truck, a bit too cool for her outside.

At the end of the road, we found a group of hunters that looked like they had some success from the antlers in the back of their truck. We turned around and headed back down the mountain seeing more mule deer including a group of bucks in velvet feeding together in the flats by the Blanco River.

Back on hwy 84 and out of the forest, we did a quick run up to Echo Lake where we could get reliable cell signal and called Mandy to do some tutoring help with her economics class. She posed a few questions and it quickly got to where I had to do some studying myself to attempt helping her. Tutoring done, we went into town and made a couple shop stops, one of being the local Methodist Thrift shop where I found a Milepost magazine and some National Geographics all having information on Alaska or national parks we would still like to visit. Jan found some sewing books for a deal.

We finished up our day deciding on pizza at Pizza Hut for dinner, getting one of their $10 specials and enjoying it while we checked back in on the fires in Texas, still spreading and getting closer to Waller county.

2011 US Trip - Day ThirtyFour

2011-09-05T09:57:00.000-05:00

@Blanco River RV Park, Pagosa Springs, CO

We drove into town this morning to do our morning walk/jog as the campground is too small and the highway too busy to be safe. In the early morning the town was quiet and traffic light, making for a much better place to roam around. The springs were really steaming this morning in the 6am nippy 40 degree morning air.

By 8 we were back at the trailer cleaning up and prepared for another trek around the San Juan National Forest. This time we headed down hwy 160 toward Wolf Creek Pass, stopping at Treasure Falls and hiking the short trail up to the top for a close view of the water coming over the edge. We met a couple hunters there who were returning home that had taken a bear over the weekend, sharing that there were many bears in this area.

From there we made our way up to Wolf Creek Pass and found a scenic overlook that also served as the last half mile drive off 160 up to a large radio transmitter tower. At the top here we had a grand 360 view of the valleys and mountains, a bit cool though for lunch and retreating to the truck as soon as we downed our sandwiches. We did spend a little time here after warming up, me taking a walk around while Jan worked on firming up reservations for Las Vegas, our destination next week after Taos, NM.

Back down the mountain and on hwy160 we went further on to the town of South Fork, stopping on the way for a gander at and stroll by the river that paralleled the highway. South Fork was as small as the map indicated, with some large RV parks, but not much else. We stopped for a restroom break and headed back to Pagosa Springs enjoying the scenic drive back thru the mountains.

Wet roads back at Pagosa Springs indicated they got their typical afternoon shower again. We made a stop at City Market for some groceries before we went back to camp and enjoyed a roast Jan had cooked all day in the crock pot.

We spent the rest of the evening messaging Mandy and looking at the Internet to get a status on the fires in Texas, now numerous due to the drought and one getting close to Jan’s brother’s house in Magnolia.

2011 US Trip - Day ThirtyThree

2011-09-04T10:26:00.000-05:00

@Blanco River RV Park, Pagosa Springs, CO

This morning we took another drive up to the San Juan National Forest targeting Piedra Falls which was recommended as a short and scenic hike. Traveling up 631 from town then 637 over to the falls we had our first bear sighting a couple miles from the falls on the winding mountain dirt road. Something must have spooked him because he was in full throttle running across the road then back across where he came from till he disappeared into the woods. He startled us and by the time we got our camera out he was gone, a little disappointing but he was quite a sight and made our morning. A little further up Jan spotted a turkey feeding right off the road in the tall grass.

There were quite a few campers along the road for the holiday weekend, making this a well-used national forest. We made it to the falls about 10, finding once again several campers including a large fifth wheel that was skillfully backed into a spot between the trees right on the river. After parking, Jan and I strapped on cameras and made our way up the trail to the falls. It was a really nice morning with blue skies and cool temps in the 60s which made it perfect for a stroll thru the woods. Along with a few other folks we made the short half mile walk to the falls which were very nice, taking some time to look around including watching a trout caught by a father taking his two boys up there to try their luck. We spent about 30 minutes there deciding to leave as more people kept coming making it rather crowded. Back at our truck we pulled out our lunches and had a sit by the river enjoying our sandwiches beside flowing water and surrounding mountains.

We left a little after 12 making our way back down the road which was pretty good timing as we started getting drops of rain as some dark clouds made their way over us. The traffic increased quite a bit since this morning, meeting quite a few vehicles coming and going as we drove along the narrow dirt road, stopping every once in a while to enjoy the nature.

By the time we got to the lower elevation onto the relatively flat part of 631, the we had a full out rain storm complete with small hail that we endured the last 10 miles back into town. Finally back in town and not liking hail at all, worrying it could turn from pea sized to damaging size, I immediately found and parked the truck under a gas station cover to wait it out. It never got any larger, but the hail and rain finally quit after a few minutes, allowing us to leave our cover and go to the local grocery store.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the trailer, doing some reading and journaling. Jan fixed us dinner and we finished up the evening with a movie.

2011 US Trip - Day ThirtyTwo

2011-09-03T19:24:00.000-05:00

@Blanco River RV Park, Pagosa Springs, CO

We got early this morning to catch the sunrise, driving to one of the many roads in the San Juan National Forest just north of Pagosa Springs. Into town and then with a couple turns we were then on the dirt road making our way thru the darkness just seeing trees on the side of the road in the headlights. We passed a few trucks parked on the side of the road, assuming they were out hunting.

We didn’t see much of a sunrise, but on the 35 mile loop route up a mountain and back down, we saw elk, ptarmigans, bluebirds, hawks, mule deer and prairie dogs.

On the downside of the mountain it opened up into a nice valley and around one corner found an old schoolhouse fenced off with a marker that it had been home for 1st thru 8th grade for many students from the early 1900s to 1950s. Looking inside the windows, it still had desks and other furniture, apparently being kept up and preserved.

Lots of horses around here and we stopped to shoot a few pictures of them. Down the road further we stopped to look at the prairie dogs, ending up trying to get a picture of bluebirds perching on the fence posts regularly swooping down into the pasture to catch a bug and then returning to a fence post.

Now about 9, we headed into town and found a café to grab some breakfast at Café Colorado. They had a crowd, but we got seated right away in their bar area. We both had waffles, nothing special but good food.

We spent the rest of the morning back at the trailer getting cleaned up and downloading pictures off the cameras.

About mid afternoon we took another drive around the state recreation area seeing several American Coots on the lake and then up another forest road, this time Nipple Mountain road, seeing several mule deer, squirrels and the typical chipmunks.

We turned around about 8 miles up and went back into town to our brew pub to enjoy happy hour again, this time along with some Italian Nachos, one of their several appetizer choices. Jan enjoyed them and they were ok to me, preferring the traditional Mexican nachos.

We really didn’t care to fight the resturants for dinner, so we grabbed some tacos at Taco Bell and took them back to the trailer and had them with our drinks, watching a movie with our cheap dinner.

About 7 our movie got interrupted with an email from Mandy that she was locked out of the house. Turned out our friend who was there early today to hunt doves had locked the bottom lock on the door that we haven’t used in years and no telling where the key was. The Marburger’s, our neighbors, came over to help and after exploring several options ended up breaking a window to get in. Window all taped up, the house was accessible and secure again. On the todo list for Tuesday is calling a window person to fix the pane which should put everything back right – except for me to get my lock management in shape when we get back from our trip.

2011 US Trip - Day ThirtyOne

2011-09-02T19:04:00.000-05:00

@United Campground, Durango, CO

Today we moved from Durango to Pagosa Springs,CO taking our time to pack up since it was only a 60 mile drive. We were out of Durango by 10am and a relatively short hour and half later we had found our new campground south of Pagosa Springs at Blanco River RV Park. The checkin person helped us get backed in to our spot and after setting up and a quick lunch we headed into town.

We visited the hot springs, noting the familiar smell that was the same as Yellowstone and chatted with a couple in the city’s visitor information center about things to see. We were a little surprised there wasn’t more of a ‘designed’ tourist area in the city but we found things rather more spread out, a mix of businesses up and down the highway with pockets of shops in strip centers.

A little after 4 we found a local brew pub, Pagosa Pub Works, with a nice deal on beverages. The bartender gave us both generous tastings of both their two local brewings which were not bad, then three drinks later gave us our bill of $5. A generous tip and we were gone, noting the pub for a return visit.

We had dinner at Ramon’s Mexican Restaurant just around the corner from the pub, having our traditional Friday nite Mexican food dinner along with a margarita with our meals. We both agreed this margarita was probably the best we’ve had in Colorado, but then it didn’t have much competition.

We made our way back to camp now packed with RVs for the Labor Day weekend, a little more closeness than we’d like, but it’s a place to stay over the holiday weekend.

2011 US Trip - Day Thirty

2011-09-01T06:58:00.000-05:00

@United Campground, Durango, CO

Today is opening day of dove season back home and I started getting text messages early with hunters showing up at our house to try their luck on our place. All said and done, the report from the guys was that everyone limited out by 9am with numerous birds flying, so a successful opening morning for the bird hunters.

I decided to take a hike this morning while Jan wanted to go into town to check out another thrift shop. She was also going to do the laundry for the week and some other odds and ends. So about 10am Jan had my lunch packed and I strapped on and walked out of camp going the two miles up the road to the trailhead for the Animas Mountain trail. It was rather hot getting up the mountain top at 8000 ft elevation, but once there a fantastic view around from a cliff. I had lunch on an overlook enjoying the view and some cooler temperatures.

After lunch I made it around the rest of the 5 mile trail that rimmed the mountain giving great views all the way around including our campground down by the river.

I was back in camp about 3pm clocking about 10.5 miles total for my walk.

Jan reported that Methodist Thrift shop was good and showed a couple baby outfits she found for gifts on sale at the Durango mall. She still had a load of laundry going in the camp’s machines and we waited on that to finish before going into town to check out a camp chair I had saw earlier that week that was on sale. A chair was one item I missed when backpacking and had been checking out different ones to fill that need. After looking at different models I became even more undecided and figured I’d just wait till I had more time to research.

Back at camp we had a beer while waiting for the train to come thru moving inside afterwards for dinner and the rest of our evening.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentynine

2011-08-31T10:08:00.000-05:00

@United Campground, Durango, CO

We hung around the trailer this morning, Jan reading and me working on the pc. It was a little rainy so inside the trailer was a good place to be. Jan fixed us some lunch and the rain let up so we got out and went to the Forest Service information center to get hiking trail info. The lady there helped us xeroxing a couple trail reports and telling us about some trails close to Durango that fit our requirements. Leaving there we went to closest one right outside of town, Hermosa Creek Trail, strapped on the pack and did a relatively quick hike up the mountain and back down clocking a little over a mile. At the top, it provided a nice view of the town and surrounding mountains although it was very cloudy and threatening rain in the distance. Thought the rain was going to catch us before we got back down, pulling out our rain suits, but only getting a few drops before we got back to the truck. Not a bad hike with the cloudy dreary weather being a benefit providing us shade from the sun.

We saw a couple birds along the path that looked new to us. Looking in our handy dandy bird book, I’m guessing the one was a White Breasted Nuthatch and the other a Mountain Bluebird.

The hike done we finished up the day with stops at a couple thrift shops in town and finally Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries before heading back to camp for dinner.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentyeight

2011-08-30T07:10:00.000-05:00

@United Campground, Durango, CO

Today after watching the trains come thru the park again for their morning run to Silverton, we packed up and had lunch at a park just outside Durango on the Animas River. Our lunch stop was on the way to Ignacio to the Sky Ute Casino on the Southern UTE Indian Reservation. A short 40 minute drive got us there, parked and Jan quickly had us signed us in the player’s club getting us both $10 in gambling credits. Patty, the lady at the player’s club counter, mentioned her mother lived in Coldspring, Tx…again a small world.

The casino looked relatively new, was not crowded and was well staffed…all-in-all a very nice place. No complementary adult beverages, but a minor strike considering all the positives. We gambled the penny slots on our credits for most of the afternoon, taking a break when we used them all to have a beer at the bar. All in we managed to get about $18 back from the $20 in credits, so we gambled all afternoon and got paid for it. After our beers, we brought out the cash and gambled some more up to 6pm leaving with a net profit – after beers – of about $15. Not bad for an afternoon activity.

Being a little later by the time we got back to Durango, we decided to grab some tacos at Taco Bell. We had nice weather for the evening, a change from the last two days of thunder, lighting and rain that built up in late afternoon.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentyseven

2011-08-29T06:48:00.000-05:00

@United Campground, Durango, CO

We enjoyed watching the trains run thru the park this morning, the first about 8:30 and another about 9:15. It was a clear blue cool day, much different than the rainy stormy weather we had yesterday evening. Our neighbor came by again this time with his wife. We chatted with them a while till the train broke up our conversation and I left to get a picture down the track a ways.

Our goal today was to see the last of the four national parks in Colorado, Mesa Verde National park and we were off to that end about 10am, heading down 550 then west on 160. A short 40 minutes later, we were at the entrance and thru the gate, making our way up and around the winding park road to the visitor center 15 miles in. The terrain was not too exciting, all sagebrush and gamble oak with some juniper every once in a while. We did enjoy the scenic overlooks toward the top looking over the valley below for miles.

We found a picnic area past the visitor center on the road going to the Wetherill Mesa Area where we had our lunch. After lunch, we continued our way down the rest of the 12 mile road to a small visitor center where the ranger told us what we could see there via the tram. We hopped on the tram with one other couple and the driver dropped us off at the first stop of the Badger House community. From there we walked a trail to 3 buildings that housed digs a couple thousand years old. Jan and I are not big archeological fans, so they were interesting, but just not exciting as wildlife for us. The terrain here was really depressing with sticks of burned juniper and pine on barren ground. The tram driver shared that this area had a fire back in 2000 which we found out later was very common for the park, seeing 70% of the park burned over the last 100 years. Regrowth is extremely slow taking about 100 years to totally recover.

About a .8 mile walk and we had made thru the digs and were at the stop for the tram that picked us up after waiting a few minutes. He took us to the Long House and Kodak House overlooks giving us about 5 minutes to look before loading back and taking us back to the parking area.

Back in the truck we went to the Far View visitor center and thru the displays there before going down to the Chapin Mesa area seeing Cliff Palace, probably the impressive of the several cliff dwellings we saw in this area. Now 3:30 and rather warm, we had our fill and headed back, down the park road to 160 and were back at the campsite about 4:30.

We were looking forward to seeing the trains return trip back thru the park and had a short sit outside till the wind got the best of us, blowing so hard it collapsed one of the tents pitched on the other side of the tracks from us. It was good we didn’t wait, as the trains must have got delayed for some reason because it just about dark, 8pm or so before we heard the first coming back thru and the second around 9pm.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentysix

2011-08-28T06:54:00.000-05:00

@Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, CO

We were out of Cedar Creek RV Park by 7am this morning and shortly after on hwy 550 south for our drive down to Durango. We had a first with our park neighbor getting ticked at us making noise while hooking up the trailer voicing his dislike and pointing out the rules that quiet time was till 7am. I apologized, not really ever thinking that quiet time included hitching up, but regardless I was honestly sorry about waking them up.

Making our way down hwy 550, we were a little nervous given some reviews of driving this highway with an rv saying it was very dangerous and scary. At the same time some people shared it was no big deal. After all that and a relatively short two and half hours later we were in Durango finding the 100 mile drive really not a big deal, just slow with all the turns and up and down over the passes. We found our rv park, got checked in and were setup on site #59 by 10:30. Our site is across from the railroad tracks that run thru the park and should make a nice place to watch the Durango to Silverton train pass by.

We decided to go into town to find someplace to eat and on the way saw a flea market to stop and take a look around. I found a great deal on some 44 brass and a one gallon shop vac. I got the brass - about 250 rounds - for $5, which new would have cost over $80 and the vacuum for $5, figuring it would be great for the truck. Doesn’t happen too often, but I left with two items and Jan struck out.

We made our way to Wal-Mart still looking for a place to eat and making it there before finding anything, thus hitting Wal-Mart to pick up a couple items we needed and resuming our search after our stop. We finally ended up downtown at a Mexican Restaurant where we both got their Sunday breakfast specials complete with complementary mimosa’s.

Done with our meal, it was time for Jan to get serious and change from her flip flops into her shopping shoes to walk main street and the numerous shops. We spent most of the afternoon seeing downtown, leaving about 3:30 so we could catch the train coming back from Silverton figuring it would be coming thru the campsite around 4 or so. As soon as we got back to camp the weather went a bit sour with dark clouds and lightning, raining here and there. Under the awning we were ok and enjoyed the view of the mountains with a bottle of wine.

We had a visitor drop by on his walk around the park commenting about Waller, seeing our sign on the front of the trailer showing where we were from. He was from Katy, Tx and we had a lengthy chat talking about school (he spent his last 4 working years teaching), Rving and Alaska. He informed us the train doesn’t show up till about 5:30, so my timing was way off. Our chat ended when the train came, by then raining pretty well and getting a bit cool. After the train we retired inside, having dinner and catching the news and programming for the evening.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentyfive

2011-08-27T20:30:00.000-05:00

@Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, CO

Up early this morning to go catch the sunrise over the Black Canyon at the national park. We got there in plenty of time having to wait a while on the sun to rise. While driving around the dark park road we saw a porcupine wondering around and a mule deer feeding. Shortly before 6 we were set at Pulpit Point to watch the sun come up, Jan wrapped up in her horse blanket on the picnic table, the air a bit chilly and windy.

Wasn’t the greatest sunrise, but was a peaceful and pleasant way to spend our 28th anniversary morning. We stayed till the sun was well up, did a quick run down to see a wall of the canyon called painted rock before we left the park, then heading back to Montrose for some breakfast at The Red Barn restaurant.

After breakfast we relaxed back at the trailer till later that afternoon. We picked up a few supplies in town, then played a round of putt putt golf back at the rv park. Jan started out weak, but got better and with two of the last holes getting the best of me, Jan ended up winning by a couple strokes. I think my Samuel Adams was getting the best of me by game end, at least that’s what I’m blaming it on…

Now about 6 we headed to the Stone House Restaurant which looked like a good place for our anniversary dinner. We almost had a problem when they told us they were full and the wait would be an hour and a half, but then offered us a table in the bar area which worked out just fine for us. Karen, our waitress was very good, taking care of us and serving us both fine steak dinners and topping it off with a complimentary ice cream dessert.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentyfour

2011-08-26T13:50:00.001-05:00

@Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, CO

Got a little rain this morning, delaying my jog till a couple hours later than usual. We hung around the trailer till noon going to get lunch in town at Chili’s. Afternoon was spent just messing around in Montrose, doing some shopping, Jan finding a couple dresses she liked and I browsing for some box that would make downloading pictures easier. I found nothing…Jan always has more success at shopping than I.

The folks at Megapixel called about 4 to tell us our picture was ready. Jan was very excited and even more so when she saw it. They did a really nice job making a 20x24 canvas of Jan’s shot taken in the Rockies last week. I’m looking forward to seeing it on the wall back home.

After dropping the picture off at the trailer, we went to find us a Mexican restaurant for dinner, ending up at El Jimador, once again finding them not up to the quality of our Texas margaritas. They did have a record price though for their large margarita at $24. Gotta love their margarita’s I guess to order that one. Food was good and they did serve the traditional chips and hot sauce but also a Mexican cole sloe. Strangely enough it grew on you after a few helpings.

Back at the trailer we enjoyed our happy hour(s) and a movie finishing off the day.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentythree

2011-08-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

@Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, CO

We spent this morning tweaking a picture Jan took in the Rockies to have printed in large format on canvas. After a couple hours that would have taken about 15 minutes on a PC not dragging as slow as this laptop, I got it the way we wanted it and we were off to the photo place in town. Making a wrong turn to the shop we just happened to see another place that did the type of printing we were looking for and decided to stop and compare. All done, they seemed much more specialized in this type of work, very helpful and less expensive. So after a half hour of consultation and specifying what we wanted, our order was in with a scheduled pickup Friday afternoon.

We’ve been south and east on our previous day trips, so today we went north on hwy 50, Jan wanting to stop in Delta at a cloth shop she saw on the way in last Sunday. We ate lunch at a small park halfway in Olathe before making it to Delta about 1 or so. We walked main street, Jan checked out her cloth shop among others and we drove around finding a large park on the west side of town where we roamed around a few hours enjoying the lake and ducks, taking some pictures. Was comparatively very warm here in the low 90s and we finally decided we’d rather get back to some cooler weather.

Just 30 miles up the road back in Montrose it was ten degrees cooler and we did a couple more stops, Jan picking up some gift items.

We had dinner back at the trailer, wrapping up a relaxing day in southwestern Colorado.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentytwo

2011-08-24T07:50:00.000-05:00

@Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, CO

We had to stick around camp this morning to find a place to stay when we leave here on Sunday. The Durango area is our next target so we can visit Mesa Verde National Park and see the surrounding sights. The search was a challenge as all the parks that had decent reviews were priced close to $50 a night which is another step higher than our present $40 maximum we’ve paid. After much searching we settled on a park in Durango that has an added feature of the Durango to Silverton train going thru it. Jan booked it and with that done we were off to see the lakes above the national park and the town of Gunnison via hwy 50. Before though we went into town to mail a package and stopped by a photography shop to see about getting one of our pictures printed in large format. After getting prices and different options we decided this would make a good anniversary present to each other, 28 years this Saturday.

Now on the road south, we made a stop at Cimarron taking a forest service road to Morrow Point Dam, a hydroelectric facility tucked in the canyon providing a nice scenic area for lunch. We took a short hike down to and across the river, finding on our return several fly fishermen in the parking lot ready to try their luck on the river.

From there we were down the road making our next stop at Lake Fork recreational area on the Blue Mesa Reservoir. We got out and stretched a bit, pulling out the chairs to sit on a ledge overlooking the lake. The wind was rather strong so after we both acquired new hairdos we picked up and left.

Another 30 minutes down the road, we finally made it to Gunnison, walking the street, visiting some shops and catching the last part of a viewing of the Colorado bike races in a tented area setup on main street complete with a big screen tv. Biking is a big deal in Colorado and this week there was some big race going on in the state.

We left about 4 and headed back to Montrose, catching a rain shower on the way, just enough to dirty up the truck...figures after I just washed the truck yesterday.

2011 US Trip - Day Twentyone

2011-08-23T08:06:00.001-05:00

@Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, CO

We struck out south of Montrose today, down hwy 550 in part to do somewhat of a reconnaissance run since this road has a reputation of being very difficult to drive with an RV. When we leave Montrose this Sunday, 550 would be the most direct route to get to Durango, our next destination. If we don’t use 550, the option would be a long drive via an alternative route. Secondly this road is supposed to be very scenic and goes thru some popular towns including Ouray and Silverton. It’s much easier to enjoy stopping and looking around without a trailer behind us.

So a short 24 miles down the relatively flat road we were in Ouray, a nice town snuggled in between the mountains and many buildings still original or at least looking like their original late 1800s style. We enjoyed some shops and then had lunch at Maggie’s Kitchen, a place full of character with the every inch of the walls marked up with people’s names and/or other sayings. The menu was rather straight forward, with hamburgers seeming to be their specialty. We ordered and 15 minutes later the cook yelled our name to come get our food – their standard practice. The burgers were good – large and with a plentiful side of fries. We enjoyed them on the porch overlooking main street and the mountains behind the town.

Another 40 minutes or so thru the winding mountain highway and we were in Silverton, this place holding memories for Jan and I having visited with our parents, Jan thinking when she was about 8 or 9 and me about 11 or 12. Again much like Ouray the town’s architecture was set back in history with many shops along Main St including side streets. We found the people were very talkative here, stopping at a forest service office and asking about hiking 14s in the area and subsequently hearing about 30 minutes worth of hiking trails descriptions by the employee there. He finally got a phone call which allowed us a polite exit.

Another shop on the street had a weaver at work on a loom. Jan was very interested and struck up a conversation with the interesting fellow behind it. He had a very different way of describing his work and the process, but seemed to enjoy Jan’s questions and her comments insisting that she experience all the details of the loom and process. Again, about 30 minutes later he exhausted his talk and we went on our way thanking him for his time.

Down the side street, we got a close up of the long running Durango to Silverton steam engine train coming into town to pick up passengers for the trip back to Durango bringing back memories as Jan and I both rode this train as part of our visits as kids. The train blew its last call boarding whistle at 2:50 and was on its way at 3. After watching it roll off, we went into nearby Natalia’s for a beer at their old time bar with a little conversation with the barkeeper about the town. She said things have really dropped off over the years, with the train trips being down to four a day and visitors to the town not being nearly what it used to be. I didn’t remember the town that much but Jan remembered it being busier and specifically remembering gun fights when getting off the train when arriving. They still do the gun fights, but only Thursday thru Sunday.

We left Silverton about 4 and headed back, again taking a leisurely drive and stopping a few places to enjoy the views. Jan spotted our first wildlife today on the way - a mule deer doe.

We were back at camp about 5:30, had dinner and called it a day.

2011 US Trip - Day Twenty

2011-08-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

@Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, CO

I spent the first part of this morning trying to negotiate getting my door actuator fixed on the truck with the dealer down the street. After a couple hours with the Turner Automotive’s service manager and talking with Wyatt at Hall Chevrolet in Tyler, I struck out. I’ll have to wait for another dealer or till I get back home and have Hall Chevrolet fix it.

After all that, we took off to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, about a 20 mile drive down hwy 50, then 347 to the park entrance. We caught a short program at the visitor center, got some information and had a look from their viewing platforms of the deep canyon.

The canyon was more impressive than I anticipated, with very steep walls, about 2600 feet deep and the river flowing at 2200 cubic feet per second. About half that flow is diverted via a 5 mile tunnel to supply water to the Montrose area.

Leaving the visitor center, we caught a rock presentation given by a ranger down at Chasm Point, one of the many stops along the rim drive.

That got us to lunch time and on our way to a picnic area at Sunset View, yet another scenic overlook of the canyon, we found a couple ptarmigans on the side of the road staying cool under the shade of a bush.

After lunch we did a short, but very up and down hike at the last stop from High Point to Warner Point, providing a view of both the canyon and the valley below. The trail also had several markers pointing out interesting and various nature and historical facts along the path.

Back down the road the other way, we checked out the campground that was very barren looking, with few trees to provide any shade. The terrain up here was mostly Gamble Oak – more a bush than a tree – known also as scrub oak and lots of sage brush. Didn’t find but a couple campers in the whole park.

Our last run thru the park was down the East Portal road, a steep 16% grade and winding road down into the canyon to the river. Was a nice drive and seeing the river and perspective of the canyon from the bottom made it worth the trip down. Several fly fishermen down here trying their luck. Another campground down here, tents only, with a few more campers than the campground on top. The temperature went from 74 on top to a warm 86 down here and after a short stop to look around we were headed back up and out of the park back to Montrose.

Back in Montrose, I took Jan by the Russell Stover’s factory outlet where she found a few pieces of chocolate she had to have and we enjoyed some Blue Bell from their ice cream bar. Seemed most items were not much of a deal and the discounted stuff was rather old and/or damaged.

That wrapped up our day, going back to camp and Jan fixing us dinner while I worked on downloading our day’s pictures.

2011 US Trip - Day Nineteen

2011-08-21T07:34:00.000-05:00

@Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO

We got an early start this morning moving from Estes Park to Cedar Creek RV Park in Montrose, CO, our next base to explore the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and surrounding sights. By 7 we were out of the park and down the road maneuvering thru the snug streets of downtown Estes Park and back down 36 to Denver then onto I-70 for the long drive to Grand Junction before turning southeast on 50 down to Montrose. A beautiful day with clear skies and moving to lower elevations we watched the temperature go from cool 50s to warm 80s and eventually low 90s. We will miss the cool weather of Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

We arrived in Montrose about 3pm, got checked in at Cedar Creek and setup in site #1. The hosts were very nice and this park was one of the cleanest we’ve stayed at. After setting up, we wanted to restock on groceries, finding a Safeway and dropping Jan off to do some shopping. Driving further down the main road, I quickly found a Wal-Mart down the street with a market, called Jan and picked her up to resume her shopping there as they consistently have better prices. Camping in a town with a Wal-Mart is definitely a plus with Jan.

Grocery shopping done, we were back at camp after checking out the local Chevrolet dealer, hoping it would work out that they can fix my door actuator while here. Couldn’t get much more convenient as they were about a mile down the road from our camp.

The evening was spent with the PC trying to get caught up from my frustrating afternoon with it last Saturday. Seemed to be working better today and things went better getting caught up after several more hours. A new laptop might be only one more frustrating day away.

2011 US Trip - Day Eighteen

2011-08-20T21:48:00.001-05:00

@Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO

We were up early this morning for a trek over to the other side of the park to see if we could catch some moose roaming around in Kawuneeche Valley. Getting over there was a 40 mile or so drive over Trail Ridge Road that would take about an hour and we wanted to get there before sunup. We were ready with coffee in hand, in the truck and out of our campsite a little before 5. Was a great morning with such clear skies, the milky way was easily seen. We drove thru the dark quiet park listening to Willy’s Roadhouse which had old Hank Williams radio shows reruns playing from 1951, sponsored by Mother’s Best flour which had a special running that for 25 cents and a mother’s label you could 12 packets of flower seeds. The temps went from a not very cool 57 at camp to 39 at the top of the mountains and stayed in the 30s even as we descended to the other side stopping at the Colorado river trailhead. We decided to hike a bit here now light with the sun peeking over the mountains. We broke out our windbreaker pants and coats and were off, hiking just a bit before we saw a group elk doing a morning grazing. Little over a half mile in we turned back deciding to go further down the road and more into the valley floor where we saw moose the other day.

Sure enough another few miles down and we people with cameras looking at a moose and her calf at another trailhead parking area. We stopped and did as the others, enjoying watching them feed hardly bothered by all the people around taking pictures. The calf did seem a little distraught when its mother crossed to the other side of the parking lot without it. Eventually it found its way around us without having cross straight thru us like its mother did.

Enough of those we continued our travel down the road and soon spotted a bull moose in the valley. A quick stop on the side of the road, I was off with the camera and tripod into the thick thigh high grass field to get closer to it. Wasn’t long before the cars started stacking up on the road with people getting out to observe as well and snap pictures.

The bull was quite accommodating just slowly making its way along the river as it fed and providing amply opportunity for picture taking. I eventually tired and made my way back to the truck and now line of people taking pictures including a couple professional photographers. When the professionals took off down into the field now further down the road as the moose moved along, I followed thinking maybe I’d get a different shot. Sure enough I did as the bull crossed the river feeding some while in the water while all three of us snapped pictures. We talked a bit while down there, one sharing that a trophy sized bull was killed last night by a driver closer to the entry gate.

After the crossing, we all walked back to the vehicles, Jan and I driving down the road further to the entry gate and turning back around. We saw some more elk, but really enjoyed the fantastic morning scenery. Back up the Trail Ridge road we made a quick stop at the Alpine visitor center for a restroom break and check out their lunch prices since it was now getting close to that time. After seeing $9 for a bbq sandwich we decided to wait and go into Estes Park for lunch. On the way back down the other side, we stopped for some more elk viewing with a couple large antlered bulls close to the road. At the bottom in the bighorn sheep crossing Jan spotted a coyote in the field, a long way off making its way to the wood line.

We got into town a little after noon, now bustling with people around their heritage festival in the center of town. We found a parking place and quickly made our way to the The Egg and I restaurant, now quite hungry. Both our meals were very good, mine a waffle and Jan a turkey sandwich. We walked around the festival afterwards, enjoying watching some kids build a ‘log cabin’ and took a tour of an historic log cabin built in the early 1900s by a Denver newspaper man.

Now about 2 we made our way back to camp where I wanted to get caught up on journaling now a couple days behind which included downloading all the pictures we’ve taken the past few days. Was a frustrating afternoon with our pc not working very well. Despite my attempts to speed it up it took several hours to get just our pictures downloaded. I eventually gave up letting it run as we went into town for dinner. Jan chose pizza which we learned if we wanted to enjoy dinner with a drink we’d order from the pizza place, then they would deliver down the street at Wheeler’s bar. So we did as instructed and sure enough in 20 minutes or so a young lady delivered our pizza as we enjoyed drinks and some conversation with a couple locals at the bar. Was a nice evening which included learning that Wheeler’s was famous for being open every day except for Christmas since 1941.

2011 US Trip - Day Seventeen

2011-08-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

@Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO

We woke up about daybreak, neither one of us sleeping too well. Guess at fifty our bodies aren’t flexible enough to transition from a Sealy posturepedic to 1” mattress and sleep like a baby. The weather was good to us though having clear skies and moderate temperatures, even this morning only being in the low 50s.

In any case we were up and I got breakfast going, boiling my stream water and serving Jan oatmeal in bed/tent. Afterwards I broke camp, packed up the bags so we could take a leisurely stroll down the mountain before the crowds hit the trail. Much easy going down and we stopped several times to enjoy a view, a bird or squirrel.

Jan spotted a rabbit that we didn’t think much of till I saw it had some large back feet as it jumped away. Thinking about snowshoe hares, I wasn’t sure if they like this one turned brown in the summer. Sure enough after confirming with a ranger, that’s exactly what it was, our first snowshoe hare in its summer coat sighting.

Closing in on the trailhead, even at 9am we were seeing many people on the trail already, this time a couple of horseback rider groups as well. Close to 10 we made it the trailhead and I was relieved to see the truck was as we left it, somewhat worried after hearing that bears had been regularly tearing doors off the last week trying to get inside for food.

In short time we were back up hwy 7 and back at camp, both of us enjoying a shower and a change of clothes. Jan made us some lunch to take with us and we went back down hwy 7 this time to the Long’s Peak trailhead and found yet another stream to have our lunch next to. We did a little exploring at the ranger station there of the peak, the only 14er in Rocky Mountain National Park and from the way the literature read, a challenging one with rock ledges and a mile elevation gain.

From there a little further up the road we spotted a church earlier that we wanted to get some pictures of. Not sure of the history, but nestled on rocks above the pond and mountains in the background, it made for a really picturesque view.

The afternoon found us back in Estes Park, first at Estes Brewery where they gave generous free tastings of their beers. We did return the freebies buying a six pack mix of their beers, one being raspberry wheat that was quite tasty. Strolling the streets, we had stopped and had a margarita on a patio over the river that winds thru town and ended our stroll with a wine tasting at one of their many wineries.

We ended our day with margaritas back at camp and Jan fixed nachos and quesadillas for dinner. Wasn’t long after that we were out for night appreciating a regular mattress bed.

2011 US Trip - Day Sixteen

2011-08-18T19:19:00.001-05:00

@Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO

We took a drive into the town of Lyons this morning thinking it might be somewhat similar to Estes Park, but after an hour of driving we found only a few shops that didn’t even look appealing enough to stop at. So after a bathroom break were back on the road back to Estes Park. We made a stop at the Estes Park sign on hwy 36, finding a number of Stellar Jays and chipmunks eating the snacks other people were throwing to attract them.

We spent the other part of the morning doing final readying our packs for our backpacking adventure this afternoon. About noon we went by The Warming House – a hiking supply store - to rent additional gear we needed – a bear canister to store our food in and make it inaccessible by any bear wondering by our camp, a mattress pad and a set of hiking poles for Jan. Back to the trailer to throw this stuff in our packs, loaded them up and were off to the Wild Basin area where the trailhead was for our journey. Off hwy 7 we found the turn and a few miles down a dirt road was the trailhead with an almost full parking lot, fortunately finding a spare space.

So we strapped on packs and about 2 were on the trail making our way to our assigned campsite for the night called Aspen Knoll Llama Site. Wasn’t long till Jan started feeling the weight of her pack, showing some signs of strain and by the time we made it to our site 2.3 miles down the trail and 900 feet of elevation gain, she was about worn out, making comment she’d have some words for that ranger yesterday that called this an easy hike. I must admit it really wasn’t easy compared to other hikes I’ve been on. As well this was the most crowded trail I’ve ever been on with a constant stream of people coming and going. Our campsite was marked with a wood sign and located about 70 yards up a side trail from the main trail, finding a nicely leveled cleared site to pitch the tent.

After I got the mattress pads inflated and threw the sleeping bags in the tent, Jan was quick to get inside and take a nap still recovering from the hike. I knew she’d be awhile, so I did some exploring finding a nice mountain lookout on a rock ledge a bit to the side of our spot and down on the other side of the main trail was a rocky stream with flowing cold water from up the mountain – a good place to cool and drink our wine for later. Now about an hour later, I went back to our site and found Jan just getting up, feeling pretty much recovered. About 5 I cranked up my portable stove, making Jan one of my gourmet rice/noodle/chicken meal in a ziplock bag dinners. One cup of boiling water in the bag and in 5 minutes you’re eating. She didn’t make much comment other than “You ate this for 5 days straight on your Lone Star Hike ?”. Guessing that wasn’t much of a thumbs up for the meal.

After dinner, I took Jan and our wine down to the stream, found a place to stick the wine in the water without it floating away and we sat down on a rock enjoying the view while our wine cooled. Really was nice except for Jan being just a little jumpy at any noise from the woods thinking it could be a bear. After a second glass of wine though, that jumpiness seemed to meld right away. Wine gone after a hour or so, we filled a water bottle with water from the stream for our breakfast oatmeal and coffee and were back off to camp.

We spent the rest of the evening on the stone ledge enjoying the view of the mountains and watching the birds and squirrels as they got busy with the sun going down.

Retreating to the tent before sundown, we both were rather tired and quickly got tucked in and were off to sleep.

2011 US Trip - Day Fifteen

2011-08-17T06:07:00.001-05:00

@Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO

A nippy morning in the Rocky’s with temps in the mid 40s. It was time to break out the sweats for the morning jog and hang up the shorts. Mule deer roamed the streets of Estes Park early this morning, a typical sighting according to locals along with black bears getting into trash cans.

We made a ride down 36 into the park to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center where we got backcountry passes for our now firmed up overnight backpacking adventure Thursday to Friday. The ranger as typical was very helpful assisting us with locating an easy hike with some nice scenery and wildlife potential. Only downside is the spot we picked had reported bear activity, but she assured us with proper precautions, should not be a problem. Leaving the center, we took a drive down Bear Lake Drive, taking in the scenery. At the end of the road was bear lake, apparently a popular place with many people and no parking available, and that’s on a Wednesday at 10:30. So we just looped thru the parking lot and headed back down the mountain stopping to take some short hikes at a couple of the many trailheads off the road.

We ended up at Spraque Lake for lunch finding a nice spot in the picnic area under a tree near a stream where several ducks kept watch swimming up and down looking for handouts. Jan accommodated throwing a chip and in short time had ducks walking right up to her feet which she didn’t bargain for.

It was such a nice day, we hung out there awhile, both of us taking a quick cat nap after eating. Seemed the thing to do as even the ducks calmed down and started napping also.

After packing our stuff back in the truck, we took the quick ½ mile hike around the lake, checking with the several people fishing, but not finding one that had caught anything. We enjoyed stopping and taking some shots of the small wildlife around the lake.

Leaving the lake, we stopped at the Moraine Park Visitor center where we stayed for a ranger talk on the changing climate of the Rocky’s and its effect on the plants and animals. We left the park and finished up the day getting our packs ready and taking a trip into town for some ice cream on the strip.

2011 US Trip - Day Fourteen

2011-08-16T06:33:00.001-05:00

8/16/11 Tuesday

@Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO

Today we had to do chores, taking the laundry into town and after asking a couple times and driving around some we finally found about the only Laundromat in town tucked away in the corner of a strip center. After finally finding it, Jan got the laundry going while I went to Cost Cutter’s down the strip a few stores to get my haircut. Afterwards I relieved Jan watching the laundry so she could go to Safeway to restock our groceries. She left me in charge of moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer which I handled well assuming we had two loads of laundry in washers. I didn’t realize there were three until we folded two dryer loads and Jan asked where the other was. So we spent an extra 45 minutes while the third load dried.

Weather was interesting today, waking up to blue skies and little warmer at 60 degrees getting up to low 70s when we went into town, then dark rain clouds with rain, wind and cooling back down to the 60s while at the grocery store, to blue skies again at lunch and back to rain and ugly in the afternoon.

We got everything put up back at the trailer and Jan fixed lunch while I worked on finding our next camping spot. A little more involved as I wanted to make sure I knew which roads to avoid while pulling the trailer. Learned after two years that knowing the road ahead of time can be very important and Colorado has more than its fair share of hairy winding, mountain roads. I found a list on the Internet and marked the roads on a map, then found and booked a campground in Montrose, CO that is close to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, our next destination. Along with that, I made a call into the GMC dealer where I bought our truck as we had yet another door lock actuator quit working today, this time the driver side back door. After getting frustrated with the service guy I was trying to get info from, I requested and talked to a manager, getting Wyatt and asking him what they would do about what seems to might be failure of all my door lock actuators. He fulfilled what I was hoping for telling he would take care of replacing even though the truck was out of warranty. He further informed us that any dealer has the flexibility to take care at their discretion, so we could wait till we got back or find any dealer we’re close to and take it in. So now just a hassle factor to get our door working again.

All that done, we went back into town and walked the strip, checking out stores the many ice cream shops. I asked Jan on the way in if she wanted to try backpacking overnight and as I expected was acceptable along as it was an easy hike. So we stopped by some of the many hiking stores asking for advice. We learned right away the park requires bear proof containers, which are a $80 item to purchase. We learned at a subsequent store that we could rent a container for $4 a day, which was a much better fit for our need. And at a third store they suggested going to the national forest that borders the park where no container is required along with no $20 wilderness overnight permit or overnight parking permit that’s required by the park. They also suggested a trail that we’ll check out tomorrow with a target of doing a Thursday night excursion.

We continued strolling the strip till about 5, then went back to camp, had dinner and called it a day.

2011 US Trip - Day Thirteen

2011-08-15T08:29:00.001-05:00

8/15/11 Monday

Jan had company on her walk this morning with several elk wondering thru the campsite. One was a very nice bull with a large rack. Estes Park is already proving to be the kind of place we like ! The weather was cool, misty, overcast and windy first thing morning, kind of weather that makes you want to just go back to bed. But by the time we finished our walk and jog the clouds had cleared off and we had nice blue skies.

We were off for Rocky Mountain National Park just down the road by 9am, checking in at the gate and down hwy 34 into the park. We stopped at a spot marked Bighorn crossing and talked to a ranger getting the scoop on the top attractions and wildlife movements. He confirmed what I had been reading that the Trail Ridge Road was a good place to start. So we were off and soon starting the incline up the highest highway in North America with elevations reaching over 12,000 feet. We made several stops along the way admiring the views of the mountains many still with snow still in the crevices.

At one overlook we spotted our first Yellow Bellied Marmots running around the rocks. Further down the road, we saw the telltale grouping of cars parked on the side of the road indicating wildlife had caught folk’s attention. We of course stopped along with them, pulled out cameras and took off down the mountain where people were overlooking a large herd of elk. We joined, enjoying watching and taking pictures of them. Several of us got slapped by a ranger for being too close and had to pull back to what he declared a more safe distance. Not sure I’ve ever heard of anyone being attacked by a park tamed elk, but we respectfully followed his request.

Continuing down the road, we stopped at a restroom stop where scurrying amongst the rocks and squeaks got my attention. That turned out to be Picas busy gathering grass to store up for the winter.

By now it was lunchtime and we found an overlook to stop and pull out our sandwiches while we enjoyed the view. We circled back afterwards to the Alpine Visitor Center to check out the displays and yet another check with the rangers on wildlife sightings. One recommended the Kawuneeche Valley, an easy enough trek as the Trail Ridge road went right thru it.

Back on the road and down we went to the valley stopping at Lake Irene to take the short hike around the lake and to an overlook. Chipmunks here were scurrying about and like the Picas were gathering up grass for winter stash, although it seemed this chipmunk at least was much more particular spending a lot of time in the clumps of grass scratching out, sorting, going back in for more.

Turning out of Lake Irene parking lot we almost demolished a family of grouse that came out of the woods onto the road right in front of us. Stopping just in time, the hen and her chicks retreated back into the woods. We got to the lower part of the road in Kawuneeche Valley and started looking for moose. Sure enough a line of cars down the road was a group of folks looking at a couple moose rather far off the road feeding in a marshy area along the Colorado River. Too far for a picture and no Bull amongst them, we decided to just continue on down the road. We stopped at the Kawuneeche visitor center, saw a movie about the park, checked out the displays and then started making our way back to Estes Park along the trail ridge road.

We stopped again where we saw elk earlier that day to take another look, same herd on the other side of the mountain. No ranger this time and we joined the crowd that was very close to the herd.

Close to the herd was one of the many snow patches in the mountains that made it convenient for a quick snow shot. Pretty worn out from a full day in the mountains, we made our way back to camp, ate supper and called it a day.

@Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO

2011 US Trip - Day Twelve

2011-08-14T06:18:00.000-05:00

@Hospitality House RV Park, Cripple Creek, CO

We were out of Cripple Creek by 8am this morning, packed up and moving to Estes Park, CO. We stopped just north of Colorado Springs off of I-25 to grab some breakfast at Cracker Barrel. From there we attempted to go visit the Air Force Academy, something I’ve wanted to do for many years, but were turned back by the guard due to us having a firearm. I didn’t think about that till I was slowing down for the gate. The guard was nice enough, simply directing us to make a u-turn off the base. Back onto I-25 we made it thru Denver and then hwy 36 to Estes Park. We arrived shortly after noon, got checked in and setup on site M059. We had reservations till Thursday, but decided from what we’ve seen so far that there was plenty to do here for at least a week, so we stopped by the office on the way out to extend our reservations thru the weekend. As luck would have it someone had booked our site over the weekend. The site next to us though – 58 – was free. After some debate, we finally decided to just go back and move the RV to 58 which we did. Finally after setting up twice now, we were ready to go into town and enjoy the sites.

A short drive down – thru what was now considerable traffic with folks leaving the park – we found a parking place in town and were off on the main strip checking out the shops. Around the first turn we spotted Valley of the Wind Winery Wine Tasting which looked appealing for this Sunday afternoon. We found a place at the bar and were soon enjoying 10 samples of their wines.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking the strip of stores and shops, ending up back where we started retreating from the street in an indoor mall to escape a short rain shower.

We found a little deli inside with some locally made ice cream – a coconut variation - that was very good. Somewhat backwards with dessert before dinner, we debated places to eat and landed on going upstairs to Chelitos Mexican Restaurant choosing their burrito specials, which hit the spot.

With dinner done we went back to camp where we caught up on our journal and watched some tv, ready to venture out to the park tomorrow.

2011 US Trip - Day Eleven

2011-08-13T19:35:00.001-05:00

@Hospitality House RV Park, Cripple Creek, CO

We were off to Woodland Park this morning so Jan could meet an old college friend at the Hungry Bear for breakfast. It was a beautiful morning with bright blue sky and cool temps in the 50-60s. As it was coming in yesterday, it was a slow drive thru the winding mountains back to semi-level ground. The timing was great as Cheryl texted Jan she was at the restaurant about the same time we arrived, about 30 minutes early. I dropped Jan off to let her and Cheryl talk girl talk and I headed down to Wal-Mart to get the oil changed on the truck and do a little shopping. About an hour later the truck was ready and after a fill-up, Jan texted me that she was ready. Picked her up and we visited a craft show before we headed back to Cripple Creek.

We stopped at the Pikes Peak Heritage Center located in a nice 3 story building overlooking Cripple Creek a couple miles up 67. Turned out it was a wealth of information about the area with mining stories, how the area was discovered and the life back in the 1890s that made ex teachers, store keepers and others millionaires. After an hour or so there, we headed down the steep road to hit the casinos again and grabbed some lunch at the Century Casino grill. Afternoon was mostly hitting the slots with one stent of Jan playing dollar craps. She lasted about 30 minutes before the sevens ended getting her $20.

Late in the afternoon, for a break we took a drive further down 67 to Victor, a next door neighbor to Cripple Creek. We were surprised at all the telltale excavated dirt sites that dotted the mountainsides along the road; some still with the timber towers used to lift the gold ore from the shafts dug deep underground. On the way back we got treated with sighting a beautiful red fox crossing the road. Managed to snap some pictures, getting it to stop every once in a while by clicking my tongue before it disappeared over the ridgeline. We went back to the casinos one last time, letting Jan go gamble while I hopped on some wifi from a nearby casino to update the blog. Jan finally wore out about 8 and we went back to the rv, ate supper and called it a day.

2011 US Trip - Day Ten

2011-08-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

@Lathrop State Park, Walsenburg, CO

Up early, exercise around the park, packed up and we were outa Lathrop by 8am to Cripple Creek, CO to enjoy some gambling and see the little mining town that boasts a history of one of the largest gold mining areas. Once again an uneventful drive which is really the way I prefer it vs having blowouts or those interesting drives down dirt roads at night over one lanes bridges in the woods, etc…Anyway I digress, We arrived at Cripple Creek about 11am, a nice little town tucked away in the mountains where a level spot of land is not to be found. Garmin has been doing well this trip leading straight to our campsite at “The Hospitality House” what used to be the Teller County Hospital back in the hay day of this town. In the back is a gravel parking lot making up the RV park with decent spaces, nothing to write home about but served our purpose just fine. While Jan was checking in, I caught just a few minutes of the owner’s tour of the house where he said the house exterior is 7 layers of bricks thick. Being this structure is over a hundred years old, guess it’s a testament that they built things to last back then.

After a few (several) boards to level out the trailer in our spot, we were setup and ready to see the town. A short mile or so got us to the main street lined with old buildings, many if not most still standing from 1896. We started hitting the casinos – penny slots mostly – Jan being thoroughly entertained – me watching the reels turn thinking about the odds that say in the end I will always loose. Sorry just my german realistic analytical mind at work. But I do enjoy seeing Jan have a good time and given enough adult complementary beverages eventually I start enjoying the blinking lights and dings of the machines as well.

The afternoon was spent that way, till it got to be dinner time and we found a Mexican restaurant, Baja Billy’s that looked like it would serve our tradition of Friday night Mexican food just fine. We got seated and we treated to not only hot sauce and chips but also bean dip which we’ve never experienced before as a freebee starter. I ordered a margarita, which was not up to Texas margarita standards – fell very short matter of fact. Our meals came in a timely manner and were very good, but I’d have to say that a good meal does not even the score card for margaritas falling short – sorry Baja Billy. Meal done, we were back to gambling mode…well Jan at least…I tried my best but something about Mexican food and margaritas – even less than good ones – is like a Thanskgiving meal times 10 – just puts me in sleep mode. Told Jan after making a very diligent effort to gamble with her that wanted to walk the street - code for if I don’t get outa here you’ll find me snoring on a slot machine. So that I did, with a mission to find the hotel that Jan’s parents stayed in in 2006 when they were here on one of their many trips. After walking up and down the ‘strip’ and not finding any hotel named Independence Hotel, even asking a local (named Dennis who seemed to be enjoying the complementary drinks way too much) who never heard of it, I turned to the iPhone and did a search which returned info saying it was now named Bronco Billy’s Hotel. With that I found the hotel in short time right on the ‘strip’ and emailed a status update to Jan’s Father.

Jan and I met up later on and she could see I was pooped, so off we were to the campsite and done for the day.

2011 US Trip - Day Nine

2011-08-11T21:59:00.001-05:00

8/11/11 Thursday

@Lathrop State Park, Walsenburg, CO

Up early and around the park for our morning exercise, we both noticed on our separate rounds that a bear got into the park dumpsters. Apparently this bear learned he could jump on the plastic lids till they collapsed into the dumpster bypassing the steel bars designed only to keep them from being opened upwards. Smart bear…

It was a brisk morning with temperatures in the low 50s. After our morning routine we were on our way to Great Sand Dunes National Park down hwy160 about an hour and 20 minutes away. Our first national park on this trip out of what we hope will be several.

We arrived about 9:30am with a nice drive thru the mountains, weather still in the low 70s and clear blue skies making for a nice day outside. We bought our annual national park pass at the gate and shortly thereafter were at the vistor center catching a movie about the park, followed by a ranger talk at the dunes parking lot.

The dunes were very impressive once we got up close to them. There are people in this picture as the base of the dunes that you can see as specks if you look real close.

Our ranger for the talk was a young lady, very knowledgeable sharing all kinds of aspects about the dunes history, geology and acquisition by the park service.

After the talk we ate lunch at the picnic area, then went back to the dunes where we both walked to the first dune. That was about enough for Jan, here giving me the I’m done have fun look.

Star Dune was the tallest dune in the park, matter of fact the highest dune in North America at 750 feet from the base and 8950 feet in elevation. Of course I had to go to the top just to say I did it. About a mile walk and an hour later and after much huffing and puffing, I made it. Walking up a sand dune varies between trying to place your foot as flat as possible so to not sink into the sand to intentionally kicking your toe into the sand to get leverage to walk up it, the latter being much more difficult. The view from the top was impressive with views of the San Luis valley to the south and mountains to the north.

After I got back down the dune, which only took 15 minutes to more or less slide down, we drove thru the rest of the park admiring the varying views of the dunes and checking out the campgrounds.

We left the park about 3 and decided to make a quick run-down to San Luis State Park where I had debated staying before opting for Lathrop. After arriving, we were both glad we chose Lathrop as this park was much like staying on the beach; not much to the terrain but sand and sagebrush. They did have large lake – San Luis Lake, where we found some American White Pelicans on the shore. I walked up as close as I could before they took off catching one in flight as it flew away.

Now about 4 we decided to head back to our camp, enjoying once again the drive thru the mountains.

2011 US Trip - Day Eight

2011-08-10T06:42:00.000-05:00

@Lathrop State Park, Walsenburg, CO

This morning we got a call from Mandy and a text to be careful as they heard on the news there were three fugitives on the run that were last thought to be camping in our area. We went thru our morning as normal and not until we went up to the visitor center and saw all the law enforcement cars did we realize how true that was. Turns out the fugitives were just apprehended a little north of the town four miles down the road.

We were on our way to town after a morning of catching up on a lot of business and cooking meals to do our laundry. At the laundromat and other shops we walked into had the people inside talking about it, guess really big news for this otherwise quiet little town.

Back to this morning though, we had more magpies doing their thing finding snacks around the campground. I got a chance to chase them around while Jan finished up in the kitchen.

After lunch, we took a hike on hogback trail, two miles up a mountain and across the top for a ways and back down. Markers pointed out pinion pines, junipers and gamble oaks. On top it pointed out the different mountains in the distance all around us and the different rocks in this area, sandstone at the bottom and igneous rock at the top. Was an enjoyable hike with temps in the high 70s just a few degrees warmer than the 60 degrees we woke up to this morning.

I had Jan point to our trailer while we were at the top. It’s that little white thingy at the tip of her finger. This is her Vanna pose by the way.

Getting a lot of things done today, we’re all set to head out tomorrow to Great Sand Dunes, our first of several national park visits we have planned for this trip.

2011 US Trip - Day Seven

2011-08-09T08:54:00.000-05:00

8/9/11 Tuesday

@Caprock Canyon State Park, Quitaque, Tx

Moved on to Colorado today, getting up early and out the gate by 6:30am, we crossed into New Mexico passed thru Raton and up into Colorado and to our destination, Lathrop State Park by 3pm. It was much cooler as we got into New Mexico with temps ranging from 78 to 80. A very nice change from the oven we were in at Caprock. Midway, we ate lunch at a very familiar roadside park in New Mexico. Turns out it was the same place we ate lunch on our 2009 trip almost two years ago to the day. In 2009 it was August 8th on our way from Palo Duro State Park to Mueller State Park.

Rather uneventful trip, gas up, stop for bathroom break, gas up, stop for…

After we got checked in and setup in site 29, we did a quick drive around the park. The park has a nice view of the surrounding mountains, but not many shade trees. In fact we only saw a few short trees that provided very little shade. Mostly cedar bushes around the campgrounds, but sites were neat and easy to get into. They do have two nice lakes, a golf course and a couple hiking trails. We stopped and visited a little at the visitor center. They had a game sighting chart that had several bear sightings listed. The ranger said it was the same bear visiting the garbage cans every evening. Might be time to break out our bear spray :)

Dinner was frozen lasagna we picked up at Wal-Mart. After all we are roughing it !

Took a quick walk after dinner behind the campsites and then back to the park road and thru the camping areas. We got back, pulled out our chairs and had a glass of wine enjoying the mountains in the distance, a cool evening and several Black Billed Magpies coming around looking for snacks.

2011 US Trip - Day Six

2011-08-08T18:53:00.000-05:00

@Caprock Canyon State Park, Quitaque, Tx

I decided to take a hike today. Jan was into a book and could spend the day reading and had the sanctity of the trailer to retreat to for some air conditioning when the temperatures heated up. Before leaving I attempted to put some air in the trailer tires to get them up to spec. My air compressor had been giving me fits, finally finding it had an air leak inside causing it to deflate vs inflate. An hour on that tearing it apart I found a broken hose and managed to do a bypass to allow me to get it to refill my one tire it almost deflated. On to the other side of trailer I hooked it up and little while later found a new buzzing sound meant the compressor had stripped a gear. That compressor went from there to the trash – now tired of messing with it.

About 10am I was off with a lunch Jan packed for me and she was off to take a shower in the park bathroom. Started out just around the corner from the campsite on Canyon Rim trail that quickly put me at the edge of one of the canyon rims for a scenic walk. Three miles down the trail I intersected and switched to Wild Horse Trail, stopping to have lunch there at a windmill. Little Red River Trail was the next transition which got me back at the park road and little mixup trying to find the last trail Eagle Point Trail. I made a wrong assumption about the trailhead and ended walking along the edge of a canyon wall trying to figure out where the trail was going. Ended up I was following a game trail vs human trail and backtracked the whole back to the road. Found my correct trail a few hundred feet further down the road that was very clearly marked. Now it was getting quite warm and I was ready to finish this walk up. Another couple miles completed my 10 mile walk about 3pm and checking the thermometer at camp it was 110 degrees. Spent the rest of the afternoon in the trailer soaking up some ac and watching tv. Jan had a good day reading and watching movies. Caprock is a scenic park, but would think much more enjoyable about 20 degrees cooler.

2011 US Trip - Day Five

2011-08-07T08:11:00.002-05:00

@Caprock Canyon State Park, Quitaque, Tx

A beautiful Sunday morning in the high plains of Texas, breezy and in the high 70s making for a pleasant sitting for Jan to read her book before the heat cranks up to triple digits. After I caught up on things in the trailer, we took another drive thru the park to see if we could spot any wildlife but once again hardly more than a couple buzzards and a few doves were all we found. We took a break to eat our sandwiches Jan made for lunch on an overlook and took a short hike before we left the park to explore the towns around Caprock. It’s interesting to go from flat farmland as far as you can see to all of a sudden giant hole in the ground canyons. Not much variety in the vegetation, junipers and mesquite making up the large majority of the greenery speckling the terrain.

Had no idea we were near the home of Bob Wills. Turkey Texas was not very active today, looked like April is a big time for them as they still had posters up in store windows advertising this year’s Bob Wills festival. We made a loop around the park before heading off to Amarillo where we made a few stops and had our traditional Sunday CiCi’s Pizza for dinner. We ended a day of driving thru the plains of Texas getting back to camp about 7, pooped and called it a day.

2011 US Trip - Day Four

2011-08-06T05:56:00.001-05:00

@Lake Brownwood State Park, Brownwood, Tx

Today we packed up and left Lake Brownwood for Caprock Canyon State Park south of Amarillo in the panhandle of Texas. Rather uneventful drive with more miles of dry fields and other drought related sights. Eighteen wheelers loaded with hay are common along the highway. We thought paying $70 a bale was rather high back in Waller. Everyone we talk to in this part of the country though share that $100+ a bale is the norm and just happy to get it. The park ranger at Caprock shared she got into a bidding war over two eighteen wheel loads to feed the park bison & getting the hay after convincing the seller that this was State of Texas guaranteed payment.

We made to Caprock about 2pm, got registered and signed up for a bat tour this evening. After setuping in site #28 we took a ride around the park before our scheduled bat tour at 7pm. Terrain is nice with lots of geological formations and red rock. Still not too much wildlife, seeing only a few deer and buzzards. Guess the heat keeps them in the shade about like us humans.

After our drive around the park loop, we had dinner back at the trailer, took a 30 minute power nap and then were off down the road to the bat tour gathering place about 15 miles away. We were met by Park Ranger LeAnn Pigg who led our group consisting of us and two Dads, each with two daughters. One sat behind us and Jan had a lot of conversation since he was a teacher in Duncanville just south of Dallas. Our tour bus was a passenger van that was comfortable enough, but met the main requirement of having a good air conditioner.

Out the parking area, down the hardtop, then down a dirt road we arrived in about 20 minutes at gate to an old railroad road bed that LeAnn shared was a rail built back in 1927 and abandoned in 1989. She drove us down the roadbed quite a ways over many bridges that were just wide enough for the van. LeAnn managed the narrow bridges quite well.

The drive made up for the lack of wildlife we’ve been experiencing as we saw deer including a nice whitetail buck in velvet, hawks, golden eagle nest, feral hog, turkeys and an owl that flew out of the tunnel when we arrived. Got to our destination about 8pm, the entrance to a 745’ tunnel.

After a ranger talk, we waited on the bats which finally started flying close to 9pm. LeAnn said they were much smaller numbers than normal, but we were satisfied with what looked like a lot in a continuous stream for several minutes. We stayed till it got dark, loaded up and LeAnn drove us back to our vehicles in the dark while we got a distant lighting show, impressive against the plains backdrop.

2011 US Trip - Day Three

2011-08-05T05:46:00.001-05:00

@Lake Brownwood State Park, Brownwood, Tx

Another hot day in the Heart of Texas with temps again topping 106 degrees.

We caught a view of a red hawk on the way out of the park sailing in sync with a buzzard. First real wildlife we’ve seen other than some squirrels.

Off a side road, we got out to take a picture of irrigation wheel on a dry dead field with a cemetery in the background. Thinking it was an interesting contrast in subjects.
We decided to go north today with a destination of Abilene. Wasn’t too excited about going into a city, but as it turns out was a good move. On a stop along the way, a push of the door lock button activated all the door locks except the driver’s door. Debating the rest of the way what to do as the truck is well out of warranty, I stopped at an auto parts to price a replacement door lock actuator. After the parts counter guy did some looking in his computer, he came back with a ‘see the dealer’. Now I could see even more dollars to fix this thing. So after directions to the nearest GMC dealer, we made our way there and were greeted by a friendly group of service people at Lawrence Hall Chevrolet. After explaining our situation he picked up the phone, called into his trim shop and got us worked in to be repaired that afternoon before they closed. That was impressive, but he also said he’d just take care of the charges and then had one of his guys take us to a choice of places to spend the 4 hours while it was repaired. Now that’s what I call service ! Jan of course chose the mall to go to and right at 4:30 we got a call from the service manager that our truck was ready. A quick pickup by the driver and we were back and out the door with a now working door lock. It’s really refreshing to see truly outstanding customer service is still alive.

We made our way back to camp and once near there set out to find a nearby Mexican food restaurant for our traditional Friday night dinner. We found one close but served no margaritas. We adapted, got our meals to go, went back to camp and had our Mexican dinner and margaritas from our stock of good ol El Salvador’s brought from home. Life is good !

On to another hot Texas state park tomorrow – Caprock Canyons. Jan heard from one of her old teacher comrades that it was 111 degrees there yesterday. Nice…

2011 US Trip - Day Two

2011-08-04T12:50:00.000-05:00

@Lake Brownwood State Park, Brownwood, Tx

78 degrees early this morning in the park. Jan packed a lunch and we toured the park taking note that it was us and 3 other campers in the whole park. Guess 100+ days are not popular for camping around here.

One person fishing at the fishing pier, actually fishing under the fishing pier with the water being what looked like at least 10 feet low. We had lunch at the swimming area under the shade of a large oak tree that speckled this part of the country. Temps already in the high nineties, we took off for Brownwood to do some shopping for odds and ends. After several stops we headed out of Brownwood down 45 which looked like on the map to be a less traveled road thru the country.

Little ways out of Brownwood a field of Apache helicopters caught our attention. We turned around and caught a few coming in and landing in what we found was the Brownwood National Guard training facility. Each helicopter looked like it was guarded by at least one soldier with a rifle. Watching from the shoulder of the road, we did our best to make sure we looked like tourists. We watched and looked for awhile before continuing our trek down 45 toward Richmond Springs.

Richmond Springs was a nice little town, but my navigator needed a restroom break and this town had no gas station or store with facilities. So a quick run thru and off to Brady that looked on the map to be a bit larger town. In Brady we found restrooms and a gas station for the now low on fuel truck. We spent some time on the town square visiting some shops and ended with a shot of their Heart of Texas marker being officially designated as such in the early 1900s.

We headed back to camp and finished the day with watching this bird outside our back window, assuming he was admiring himself in the reflection.

2011 US Trip - Day One

2011-08-03T12:43:00.001-05:00

Left for our 3rd annual RV journey across the US this morning. In 2009 we traveled the western US, 2010 the eastern and this year our travel plans are Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and the two national parks of Texas.

Last Sunday we got back from our annual lakehouse trip weekend at Lake Livingston with a group 20+ people, spending a weekend of socializing, polish horseshoes, games, golf, fishing, lots of good food and soaking in the lake. Monday we started finalizing our preparations loading up the trailer, fixing some last minute items and getting solutions to feed the cats and chickens in between visits from Mandy and the neighbors. We purchased hay early this year to feed the cattle since we have no grass due to the extreme drought. Only dead grass and dirt with everyday bringing more dirt as the dead grass gives way.

So let’s see iPhones, iTouch, iPad, Laptop, Satellite Receiver, DVD, GPSs for truck, hiking and jogging…yep now we’re ready to go rough it in the wilderness. All packed up, we were officially out the driveway at 10:16am with a destination of Lake Brownwood State Park about midway to the panhandle southwest of Dallas. First stop about 11am at roadside park for a bathroom break and lunch. Not even noon and it was in the high 90s. Off again and as if we didn’t have enough electronic entertainment, we called in the get our XM radio turned on for our trip. Having reception everywhere, stations that don’t change and no commercials is nice. Willie’s Roadhouse also makes for good traveling music.

Needing a map check – learned the hard way to always double check the GPS as that little girl in that box is not always on track – Jan pulled out our new 2011 US road atlas that we received at Christmas last year. After research I thought the smaller format and ringed binding would be an improvement over the large folded/stapled page atlas we used the previous two years. Well apparently I failed to include other important criteria that Jan was quick to point out. Jan not being a map type person anyway and having the navigator role from time to time – not her preferred role in the first place – said the pages were divided up much too small, Texas covering 4 pages for instance vs two for the other. This one also had no rest stop designations – very important for Jan and last and as important, no Wal-Mart index in the back showing locations of all Wal-Marts in the US. Nope this atlas would not work and next stop was Wal-Mart and a purchase of a new copy of our traditional format atlas with a much happier Jan.

Crossing over I-35 our truck thermometer hit 105 degrees and stayed there the remainder of the day. We arrived at Lake Brownwood about 4pm got signed in and setup in site 88 shortly after. Inside the trailer the temperature reached 99 degrees during the day and it took both air conditioners the rest of the evening to bring it down finally cycling off about 8pm.

Jan fixed some supper and we sat down to a beer and some tv to finish out the evening. Caught the sunset from our campsite before it disappeared below the horizon.

Las Vegas 2011 - Red Rock Canyon

2011-02-26T09:20:00.000-06:00

Pictures from our side trip to Red Rock Canyon on our yearly trip to Las Vegas with the Helds.

East US Trip - Day Sixty Three

2010-10-17T08:15:00.001-05:00

@Ameristar RV Park, Vicksburg, MS
We were up about normal time this morning in big hurry as we wanted to take advantage of the free breakfast buffet tickets we got with the RV park fee. The buffet opened at 7 and we were there shortly after, still somewhat full from last nights buffet, but we felt certain we got our money’s worth. Back to camp and we were hitched up and pulling about 8:30 headed back home. An uneventful drive but somewhat tired after toward the end with two full days of driving we arrived home about 4pm with a happy daughter and lab to greet us.
Our second long trip was a success like the first filled with many wonderful memories and visions of some great places in our country. We’re already looking forward to next year…maybe Alaska…

East US Trip - Day Sixty Two

2010-10-16T08:14:00.001-05:00

@Crazy Horse Campground, Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

Got up bright and early this morning packing up the trailer before light and pulling out about 6:30. A good thing because our route went thru Gatlinburg with one turn being in a tight area with typically heavy traffic. We were there plenty early with no traffic and made it thru and onto the parkway to Pigeon Forge before much of any traffic had built. North on 441 and then 66 to I-40 and we had interstate the whole day over to Vicksburg, MS our last stop for the trip. Jan picked this stop with one criteria of being near a casino. A long day on the road, we arrived about 4pm to the Ameristar RV Park, part of the Ameristar Casino that was just down the road from it. A quick checkin and we were setup in no time on the cement padded pull thru site and then off to check out the casinos. We made three of the casinos on the road that paralleled the Mississippi River, getting some free slot play at a couple and landing last at the Ameristar were we partook of the seafood buffet in addition to some more slot play. We called it day about 10pm as we had yet another long day of travel tomorrow on our last leg to Waller.

East US Trip - Day Sixty One

2010-10-15T07:35:00.000-05:00

@Crazy Horse Campground, Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

Today the plan was for me to go on a hike in the Smokys while Jan went to the Craftsman’s Fair at the Gatlinburg convention center. Jan dropped me off at the Maddron Bald trailhead off hwy 321 about 9:30. First mile or so was really a gravel road…access for park service maintenance I suppose, then a four way intersection of trails where I turned east onto the Gabes Mountain Trail toward my destination of Hen Wallow Falls.

A relatively easy hike over a path of fall leaves and acorns with only about a 1200 foot rise in elevation. Most of the trail went thru old growth forest around the side of a mountain.

The trail went by a cabin built for Willie Baxter in 1889 by his father as a wedding present. Now I don’t know about ol Willie’s bride, but the way it looks Willie never added on to this 15 x 10 cabin and there wasn’t any mention of him moving to a larger house. Made me wonder how long he stayed married.

It was a beautiful day in the woods with the sun shining thru the fall leaves in the trees and temps in the sixties.

Many streams and learning that a “rough stream crossing” meant you have to cross on whatever rocks across the stream there are to step on. Not too bad, but could get awfully wet if you slipped off a rock and into the rushing icy water. Kept looking for bears on one hand hoping I would see one and on the other wondering if I really wanted to see one.

About 1pm I made it to my destination logging about 6.5 miles on the gps watch. Hen Wallow Falls is about a 90 foot waterfall that was a nice scenic area to sit a spell and enjoy my lunch Jan packed for me. I finished up my lunch and was ready to go after about an hour, heading back the way I came making a little better time since all the sights I had already seen.

About halfway was a backcountry camp (#34) with a couple tents setup by a stream with actually better scenery than the falls. I stopped for awhile looking for life, but as when I passed coming in, no one to be seen.

On I went completing the rest of my hike back to the trailhead arriving about 5pm and calling Jan to pick me up. Was a very nice peaceful hike in the woods. Jan said she had a good time at the fair, sharing that it really was better than your typical arts and craft fairs with true craftsman sharing their works. She also went into Pigeon Forge to do a little looking around and by the time she finished there it was time to come back and pick me up. We went back to camp where we ended up having some drinks and Jan fixing nachos after we couldn’t decide where to go for dinner. Just as well as we had to make an early start in the morning on our first leg of our trip back home.

East US Trip - Day Sixty

2010-10-14T04:39:00.004-05:00

@Crazy Horse Campground, Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

Lots of rain last night. Fortunately it stopped long enough for our morning jog and walk. Rained some more afterwards then finally let up and we got clear blue skies in the afternoon. We went into the park about lunchtime and ate at Chimney Tops picnic area. Nice place with tables setup right next to a roaring creek. Temps were a bit cool at 50 degrees and we wore shorts making us a little under dressed. Jan dug out the pull over rain suit pants that she wore the rest of the day.

From our lunch spot we continued south on 441 stopping occasionally to check out an overlook or stream.

Toward the other end of 441 we stopped at Mingus Mill built in the 1800s. The mechanical construction proved interesting to me, but Jan found an old wood stove lit in the mill that caught her attention that she warmed up to. The mill still had water running to it, but the turbine was apart and not working. They were hoping to get it repaired soon according to a sign. From the mill we went to the Oconaluftee visitor center at the North Carolina entrance. We were sharing our experience with the elk yesterday at Cataloochee and one of the rangers asked if we were the ones with the leopard umbrella over the camera and tripod. That would be us answered Jan. She said that was very rare to see a fight between two bull elk like we saw. Right around the visitor center was the outdoor Mountain Farm museum that proved very interesting with actual structures of a home, barn, blacksmith shop and other equipment and building used in the typical mountain farm of the 1800s. By the time we finished going thru that it was 4:30 and we decided to head back to our side of the park where we took one more detour to the Roaring River Motor Nature Trail which was about a ten mile loop thru the park. Very scenic but didn’t see any bear that a pamphlet I saw said was a good place to see them. Now about 6:30 we headed back to camp, Jan fixed dinner and we called it a day.

East US Trip - Day Fifty Nine

2010-10-13T09:49:00.001-05:00

@Smoky Bear Campground, Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

Well today we had to move campgrounds. The one we’re in we only booked for three nights and they are booked up beyond that.

This is the current site.

And this is the new site.

We found a park down the road a bit that could be a good thing as they’re $13 a night cheaper, but certainly not as nice as the one we’re in. After breakfast we packed up the trailer and shut it up and pulled it down to Crazy Horse RV Park less than a mile down hwy 321. The whole move took us an hour with the longest time spent getting the trailer level at the new site. All in all, we have the pretty much the same amenities without the concrete pad and asphalted road. For 30% less I’m a happy camper.
Anyway we were ready to head out just before lunch and headed to Wal-Mart to get the oil changed in the truck and pick up some grocery items. Garmin said the closest was in Newport, TN, so off we went. Tennessee must have some of the narrowest, winding, hilly roads in the country. Just getting to Wal-Mart took us across some roads that we had to really pay attention to tight turns for oncoming traffic. Anyway, we made it and got the truck lined up for the change while Jan picked up her items and we grabbed some lunch at the in store Subway.
A couple hours later we were all done and headed to Cataloochee…supposively a good place to look for Elk according to the Park guide. I had an idea to take a longer off the main road route, but once the road got down to a single lane dirt road that crossed a running creek in the middle of nowhere, I opted to turn around and take the shorter path on the map. Into North Carolina on I-40 and exit 20 got us to Cove Creek road that was about a 10 mile path to the Smoky National Park Cataloochee area.
Well this one went from paved to narrow paved to dirt to single lane dirt around the edge of a mountain. Once again a little hairy coming around the curves and all of a sudden meeting an oncoming vehicle with just enough room to edge by each other. Anyway, once in the park, the road went to a very roomy two lane asphalt road that even had a shoulder.

We made it down to the valley area and immediately saw two nice bull elk. We spent some time taking pictures there before we headed on down and saw even more – bulls and cows and calves.

The road went down a single lane dirt with turnouts ever so often to pass each other. Lot more folks down here than I expected with vehicles lined up wherever the elk were.

Lot of turkey in the valley as well. This is just one bunch of gobblers we found.

At the end of the road we found two bull elk with some cows that started fighting shortly after we got there. It was an exciting 30 minute or so struggle between them with the smaller finally giving up and running off.

The larger had his victory bugling call and went around to chase the younger bulls off that had moved in around his harem while he was fighting. We spent a couple hours looking at the elk before we decided to move on and out of the park.

It kept raining off and on the whole time we were there plus getting on about 4:30, we figure it was a good time to head out. The dirt road out seemed a little easier since we knew what to expect and shortly we were out on the main road. We were only about 20 miles from Cherokee from here so we decided to make the drive and check out a casino. Again more winding roads between here and there that made the trip about an hour, but found Harrah’s Casino, got parked and were in enjoying some penny slots after a quick hamburger at one of their eating places inside. We spent about three hours there and were down just over a dollar on gambling before we decided to head back, knowing it would be a long drive back to the camp. I was astonished the GPS took us back the way we came instead of thru the park on 441. Figuring given part of the route back was on the interstate, I figured maybe it was longer, but faster than the 35 mph on the park road. We arrived back at camp just before eleven, bushed after a full day and hit the sack.

East US Trip - Day Fifty Eight

2010-10-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

10/12/10 Tuesday Day 58

@Smoky Bear Campground, Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

Today we decided to extend our stay at the RV park we’re at, but Jan checked and they were booked up the additional 3 days we wanted to stay. That was disappointing because it meant we had to spend a few hours looking for a new place plus the move time which takes away from our time visiting the park and surrounding areas. It is what is though and we packed the truck for the day and stopped at three RV Parks on the way into Gatlinburg, checking out each and weighing out which one to move to. We settled on a cheaper one down the road, paid for the three days we needed and with that were set to move tomorrow.

Jan wanted to check out the Craft Loop, about a 10 mile or so drive that has place after place of craft stores. Wasn’t too bad as some were truly unique and had hand made items that were interesting. Jan found her some neat beads at a good price and we both found a print we liked from an artist at another stop. About mid afternoon Jan had seen what she wanted to see and we headed for the park.

The weather was turning cloudy and we getting a little mist about now. We drove east on 441, the main road thru the park stopping to look at some overlooks and take some pictures along the way.

We ended up at Clingmans Dome the highest point in the park at 6643 feet. By the time we got there the weather had turned to an on and off light rain.

The walk to the observation deck was a half mile walk of a somewhat steep asphalt path. (Jan would say very steep) We didn’t have no rain and it looked like we were above the clouds at this point, but I took our pack with our raincoats anyway. A bit cooler Jan immediately dug the rain pants and her rain top out and put them on over her shorts.

After our climb and up the winding ramp of the observation deck, we had a very cool view of the surrounding mountains including clouds drifting up the valleys and thru the trees. We stayed for awhile waiting to see what shifts in the weather would happen. While we saw some other interesting clouds rolling over the hills, we eventually ended in the clouds ourselves with a light rain. We left when it apparently wasn’t going to get any better before it was completely dark and we headed down the path back to the truck. By now it was raining pretty well, completely foggy and about dark. An hour or so down the mountain and out 441 we went to Cracker Barrel in Pigeon Forge for dinner. After dinner, a short ride back to Gatlinburg and up to our camp and we called it a day.

East US Trip - Day Fifty Seven

2010-10-11T07:47:00.005-05:00

10/11/10 Monday Day 57

@Smoky Bear Campground, Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

The good and the bad of full hookups and having Internet access again is now we’re connected again and there’s no excuse to not get caught up on the blog and email. So I spent half the morning catching up before we headed out to venture in the park. We made a stop at the Sugarlands visitor center that had some really nice displays and information. Being Columbus day though, it went from crowded to very crowded quickly and after a quick run thru we opted to mosey down the road and find a place to explore away from all the people. Little River Road looked like a good route on the map, so off we went and enjoyed a nice winding drive next to….Little River of course.

It was getting close to lunchtime and we located a picnic area near a place called Little Greenbrier School on the map that looked like a good place to break for lunch.

And it was just that…we enjoyed our lunch right by the river watching Autumn leaves float by in the clear water around rocks and thru the small rapids they made. A very nice upper 60 degrees and clear blue skies made for a really nice day outdoors.

After lunch we packed out chairs and cooler back in the truck and broke out the packs, walking sticks and cameras and headed across the river and up the road to the Little Schoolhouse.

A very nice leisurely -about one mile- walk thru the woods canopied with fall colors, we made it there in about an hour. The park did a good job keeping the structure up complete with desks.

After taking some pictures we headed further up the road to the Walker Sisters house about another mile. Again, we found the late 1800 era buildings well maintained and took a break on the porch after venturing around them a bit. We sat there awhile before we heard more voices coming up the road and ended up chatting with a nice couple from North Carolina. He was a retired school administrator and we swapped stories about visits to the various national parks.

We left them after 30 minutes or so and headed back down the road and this time veering off to a trail from the schoolhouse back to the picnic area. Back in the truck we continued down Little River road and ending up at Cades Cove scenic loop. This was a one lane one way road around a valley surrounded by the mountains. Somewhat busy with a line of vehicles, but not so much it was bothersome.

Most of the trip around the 11 mile loop was scenic with a deer here and there till a car ahead of us stopped and out jumped a lady with camera. A sure sign of game spotted, but seeing that happen a little earlier on the road at a doe made us suspicious. Turned out though she saw a black bear which we’ve been hoping to see. We scrambled, getting our cameras and jumped out seeing the bear as he walked thru the woods occasionally stopping and looking up as curious about us as we were about him. We managed to get a few pictures of him before he disappeared into the woods. Everyone got back in their cars that were blocking the one lane road and the caravan was flowing again. We saw a few more deer including one nice buck but mostly enjoyed more nice scenery on the rest of the loop. We exited Cades Cove now about 6:30 and headed back to camp exiting the park at hwy73 which took us thru some other interesting roads thru the mountains and thru Pigeon Forge. We finally made it back to camp right before 8 and after dinner we finished the day with Jan watching Dancing with the Stars and me checking out other hiking trails in the park.

East US Trip - Day Fifty Six

2010-10-10T08:03:00.000-05:00

@Big Meadow Campground, Shenandoah National Park, VA

Today were moving to the Smoky Mountains National Park area, the most visited national park in the USA. We got started early as we knew it would be a long day covering the 400 or so miles down to the park. We had been dreading breaking camp here as it was a tight squeeze getting in and although this was a pull thru site, there were trees preventing what is usually an easy exit out of our spot. The best I could figure pulling out ahead would require me going into the campsite across the road from us a good ways to have room to swing the trailer and avoid trees…or back out the same way I came in. Not knowing for sure if I really had enough room going forward, I opted to back out knowing I came that way, so there was for sure a way to get out that way. It took about 30 minutes of Jan and I talking on the walkie talkies back and forth while she watched me back and I maneuvered the trailer, but we finally managed to get backed out without hitting any trees and were on our way out of the park and down the road. The trip was a simple straight down I-81 south and with the beautiful sunny clear weather made for quite a nice Sunday drive thru the Virginia rolling hills with views of countless farms, mountains in the distance and the trees with their changing fall colors.

On down the road a few hours and being Sunday we found our somewhat traditional lunch place, CiCi’s Pizza to eat lunch at in Roanoke, VA and a few hours more we were at our camp outside of Gatlinburg – Smoky Bear Campground - that Jan had found while we travelled on the PC. We went from no hookups and a somewhat hard place to get into to a full hookup, concrete pad pull thru (that we could really pull thru) complete with cable tv. Jan seemed happy to have full time electricity and I admit it was nice not to have to plan our TV and laptop time. After setting up in site 46 we went into Gatlinburg to get a bite to eat for dinner, finding it was very crowded with people walking the street and tons of shops, restaurants and site seeing places. Much different than what we remembered 20 something years ago when we stayed here and Mandy was just a baby. I was interested in running the street to see if we could find the hotel we stayed out back then, but either things are so much different or what I think I remember the hotel looked like is just flat wrong. In any case, we couldn’t find what looked like the place we stayed at. We found a place to park and walked the street a while checking out the shops, finding Jan a hiking stick and settling on a Shoney’s to eat dinner at. After dinner, a short stroll back up the street and we headed back for our truck and back to camp wrapping up the day.

East US Trip - Day Fifty Five

2010-10-09T07:58:00.001-05:00

@Big Meadow Campground, Shenandoah National Park, VA

Today we got up before the sun and drove to the South River Overlook to see the sun come up over the valley from the mountain. The drive took a little longer than expected – only 17 miles – but with the speed limit of 35 mph and the twists and turns, it takes awhile to get down Skyline road. Anyway we go there in time to see the start of a beautiful orange sunrise and got some decent pictures. There was one other car there when we arrived and by the time we left several others including an ex-professional landscape photographer and a retired minister (Jim) and his wife (Dee) that came up from Elkton down below for Dee’s birthday as she wanted to see the sunrise on the mountain for her birthday. The couple was very talkative and Jan took Jim up on his mild request if she felt like humming a few bars of “Happy Birthday” to Dee it would be great. Jan being Jan sang the whole thing to her and she was quite surprised and pleased. It was a good morning watching the sun and conversing with the people there and we all said goodbye when the sun was well above the horizon, Jim and Dee heading to breakfast at the restaurant in our campground and the ex-photographer down the road to another landscape shot.

We headed back to camp and along the road caught a group of bucks with a couple sparing with each other. After another group of folks that stopped and jumped out of their car scared them off, we headed on to camp to take our showers and make coffee now that it was 8am and we could run the generator again.

By late morning we were off to our second planned activities for the day, me to hike (a very small) part of the Appalachian Trail starting at a point north on Skyline Drive where the trail nears the road and back to camp…about 5 miles. Jan on the other hand to do the exciting job of laundry while I hiked.

The hike was outstanding, that is once I found the trail. My drop off point was on a cliff and took me awhile to find the trail that ended up being on the side of the cliff about 50 yards down. After weaving my way thru the woods for about 30 minutes, I finally found it and was on my way, following the markers along the trail.

This part of the trail had some very scenic outlooks that peeked out from the woods across the valley to the west. That combined with the sun highlighting the changing colors of the leaves and the well maintained trail made for very nice hike.

I got back to camp after about 3 hours, including a 30 minute stop along the trail to eat lunch Jan had fixed for me. Found Jan sitting outside talking to a couple about the trailer when I walked up. Turned out these folks had noticed our make of trailer and were interested as they were considering buying one themselves. After some conversation, Jan gave them a tour of ours and they left very appreciative of the info and look around.

Now early afternoon we needed to get a few task done…I was convinced it was time to replace the batteries on the trailer, so I took some numbers off them so I could get the correct ones in town, we needed to gas up the truck since we were leaving yesterday and we rain another propane tank empty so that needed refilling. All ready to go, we headed down the mountain and made into Elkton an hour later where we caught an Ace Hardware 10 minutes before they closed that could refill propane. Little disappointed at paying $4 a gallon vs the $2.5 we paid the other day, but we couldn’t be picky on a weekend when almost all of the limited propane places were closed. After that a trip into Harrisonburg to get two batteries at Wal-Mart, a trip by the local ‘ABC’ (Alcohol Beverage Control) store for some liquor restocking and we finally found / settled on a Mexican restaurant to eat dinner. I think we’ve finally given up on trying Mexican restaurants out of Texas…they’re not bad, just not what our taste buds were craving. After dinner we headed back up the mountain catching a view now of the sun going down over the valley as we drove Skyline back to camp. Jan helped me replace our batteries when we got back and I reinstalled the propane tank before we retired to a movie inside for the evening.

East US Trip - Day Fifty Four

2010-10-08T07:56:00.000-05:00

@Big Meadow Campground, Shenandoah National Park, VA

Today we took a slow ride north on Skyline drive checking out the numerous outlooks along the road as we went along. The weather was beautiful again with blue shies and temps topping 70. Took a couple side hikes along the outlooks hoping to see some game, but it seemed liked all the wildlife was sleeping in today.

We also moseyed into the visitor centers along the way, checking out the displays about the park and wildlife. The far north center had a really nice area to sit under some oaks and look out to the valley below.

We went all the way to out the north entrance and into the town of Front Royal. Jan wanted to check out a bead shop that was closed last Monday when we were here. After she finished we made a quick stop by the local food market to pick up some items and we headed back to the park for the 51 mile drive to our campground. Once again lots of great scenery and some deer – which are more than plentiful here – but no more bear or any other game did we see. It was late by the time we got back to camp and we decided on eating in with Jan fixing some quasadias. With that and finishing our movie from last night we called it a day.