8-16-19 - (Day 23- Catching up with Good Friends)

We met Kelly at Yaki's in Hot Sulpher Springs this morning.  We haven't seen her seen she left the refuge last fall, but we have kept up with her on Facebook.  We had a great visit for a couple of hours while enjoying our breakfast and coffee.

We were in the truck so we rode through Gilbert's Campground and confirmed that not taking Rap into the campground was a great decision.

We rode through the west side Williams Fork Camping area.  We could have camped there, but it is so much easier where we are for riding Amber.  On our way in, we saw proghorns, geese, ducks, ibis and a red tailed hawk.

We decided to take Amber for a spin to Granby.  It started to rain, so we made a surprise visit to see Pam and Chuck.  We were only going to stay for a few minutes to avoid the rain, 2 1/2 hours later we got back on the road.  Time sure flies when you're having fun.

The winds were ferocious on our 15 mile ride back with only a few sprinkles.

We arrived back at camp with white caps on the lake.  We hooked the door to keep it open while we got our stuff  unloaded from Amber.  As I was telling Lauren, it will take both of us to close the door because the wind is so strong, the wind gusted so hard, that it tore the door hook off and slammed the door, sending Ferny Kat into hiding.

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8-15-19 - (Day 22 - Rocky Mountain National Park)

We had an 8 hour adventure today.  We rode through Rocky Mountain National Park to the Dam Store.  The temperature range was from 58 to 94 degrees on our 4300 feet elevation climb.

The park was as beautiful as we remembered it being 10 years ago.  The only difference was we were coming in from the west side instead of the east side.

It didn't take long for ole' Eagle Eye, aka Lauren, to spot a Bull Moose out in the river.  We stopped and took a few photos.

We were going to stop at the Alpine Visitor's Center, but there was too much traffic.  We traveled a few miles up the mountain, and we were in a dead stop.  We thought the worst, but 20 minutes later we realized there was road construction ahead.  Another 20 minutes and we got out of the deadlock.  Not to worry. we had gorgeous views while we waited to proceed.

We had our picnic lunch at Hidden Valley and traveled to Estes Park.  Then we traveled through Thompson Canyon to the Dam Store.  On our way, we stopped and admired Big Horn Sheep.  One lady jumped out of her vehicle and spooked one of them, which almost caused him to get hit by a car.  Some people!

We got to the Dam Store, went up in the tower, and took a few pictures and headed back.

The road construction was over for the day.  We saw hundreds of elk on our ride back..

A few miles before exiting the park, we saw a moose and her baby, then the recruits came in.  The rangers were there to try and catch momma moose to tag her.  We would have loved to watch, but they wanted people to continue on so not to spook her.

At we were exiting the park, ole' Eagle eye came through again.  He saw a coyote wandering around in the grassland.

We thoroughly enjoyed our ride taking in the beautiful scenery from our campsite to the Dam Store.  We saw lots of critters including, Elk, Moose, Big Horn Sheep, Deer, Chipmunks, Red Squirrels, Pika, Red-tailed Hawks, and Osprey,

When we returned, we had a camping neighbor.  Lauren went over to check out his amphibious vehicle.  Al and his dog,  Dino, are going to be here through the weekend. 

We winded up with a good sunset and a full belly of pork chop and baked beans.  Al had a good campfire going, and asked us to come over.

Within a few minutes of talking to Al, we realized how blessed we are.  Al's wife, Lisa died a month ago.  They were high school sweet hearts, married for 30 years.

No rain tonight, even though the clouds were wicked looking. We had a couple of beers by Al's campfire and are calling it a night.

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8-14-19 - (Day 21 - Williams Fork Reservoir)

We loved where we were camping at Leadville, but it was time to move on.  We moved Northeast to a really great, free place on the lake at Williams Fork Reservoir Campground.  We have moved up, this campground has vault toilets. a dumpster, and a dump station.

We left at 10 am expecting a couple hours to travel about 80 miles.  When we got to the dump/water station in Leadville, there were 2 other campers ahead of us.  An hour later, we were finally off to our next destination.

Ferny Kat was very attentive when we crossed Freemont Pass, and very helpful when we got on the 7% grade for 4 miles.  She braked her feet, swayed her body around the curves, and enjoyed the scenery, without a whimper.  We obviously picked the right pass for her and us!

We had 3 picks for our next campground. We checked out Williams Fork Reservoir on the east side of the lake.  It looked pretty good, but we decided to head on to Gilbert Campground and check it out,.  After all it's just a few miles down the road.  A couple of Bald Eagles flew over the lake as we were leaving.  As if to say, you have found your destination.

We drove down the narrow, dusty, dirt road to Gilbert Campground and parked on a one way road with no turnarounds unless you went into the campground.  Lauren scouted on foot.  As he was walking back,  I saw this expression on his face.  The road that looped around in the campground had turns that were tight for our 5th wheel.  Lauren had to back Rap out a few hundred yards to the main road. Needless to say, the couple of vehicles that tried to come down the same road we were on backed up for us.

We decided to check out the west side of the Williams Fork Lake.  After riding about 4 miles of  dirt roads, we decided this is not the place for Amber, the Asphalt Queen.

We have set up camp on the east side of Williams Fork Lake, 4 1/2 hours after leaving our campsite at Leadville.   We have dropped about 3000 feet in elevation.  We have a great spot on the lake with no other camper anywhere around us, (for now).  We have watched chipmunks, magpies, ducks, and a bunch of other birds while sitting outside today.

Ferny Kat was ready to explore when we got here .  She loves to hide in the tall grass.  We have another Ferny Kat approved campsite.

We built a campfire and watched the sunset.  All is well with us!!

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8-13-19 - (Day 20 - Hagerman Pass/Mt. Massive Golf Course)

We took a ride to Hagerman Pass this morning.  The dirt road started out ok, then it turned into a true rocky mountain road.  We crawled up the the treacherous road over the big rocks and pot holes. Lauren was bouncing around to the ceiling of the truck at times.  I was holding onto the door with one hand while having the other hand on the camera to keep it from bouncing around.

We got to a place where we could pull over, high enough that we were even with the snow and the trees were below us.  We talked with 2 motorcyclist, a family in a jeep, and a couple in an ATV.  None of us knew how much further it was.  The motorcyclist, the ATV, and the Jeep decided to continue on.

One of the motorcyclist almost wrecked, the ATV and the jeep made it.   We decided that we had had enough, (especially me).  We later found out we were less than a mile to the pass.  It took us 40 minutes to ease back down to better roads.  40 minutes up and 40 minutes down to go 6 miles each way is a long time bouncing around.

The scenery was gorgeous, a lot of the pictures I took were blurry, either from bouncing or from my hands shaking.  Lauren thought this was fun for the most part.

We stopped and talked with Bill and Mary Ann, a couple we met at the dispersed camping area where we are camped.  They were riding up to the pass on their ATV.  They clapped when they realized it was us and offered to give us a ride back up on a 2 seater ATV with 2 people already seated, not going to happen.

When we got here last week, we saw that Mt. Massive Golf Course at 10,152 feet in elevation, is the highest elevation golf course in North America.  We have played the lowest elevation at Furnace Creek Golf Course in Death Valley, which is 214 feet below sea level.  We now have a claim to fame of playing the highest and lowest elevation golf courses in North America.

We have been getting short winded just turning over in bed in this high altitude.  We were glutton for punishment. We decided to walk the 9 hole course.   It was a very beautiful course that we finished in less than 2 hours.  We had no one ahead of us or behind us until the 5th hole when we caught up with a 5 some.  After we caught up with them, we slowed our pace,  which allowed us to catch our breaths between shots, making for a more enjoyable round.

We went back to camp, built a big fire under the bright full moon until time for bed.

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8-12-19 - (Day 19 - Avon Walmart Run)

It was a sunny, beautiful, 43 degrees when we got up this morning.  We didn't need the heater after all. We ate our breakfast a lot earlier than we have been, then took a ride to Avon, Colorado to pick up a few things at Walmart.  Riding on the scenic, curvy, Highway 24 is a lot more fun on Amber than in the truck.

We went to Happy Hour at Judy and Rick's campsite.  They have a fantastic view of Mt. Massive.  This is one of those places our rig is too big to get to.  It was evident that our Happy Hour was enjoyable when the Happy Hour turned into over 2 Hours.

We came back and built a big fire, under the pretty stars and almost full moon.  We finally saw a few Perseid meteors.

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8-11-19 - (Day 18 - Lazy, Rainy, Sunday)

It was cold and rainy for most of the day.  We watched a doe walking around while drinking our coffee this morning.  We followed our 2 cups of coffee with hot chocolate.  We finally cooked breakfast about 11:30 am.

We sat inside playing on the computers until about 3 pm when the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We took a walk around doing our usual critter watching.

Ferny Kat was waiting at the door to come outside when we returned.  She enjoyed eating grass and rolling around on the rug.  Sunshine makes us all feel good.

A bug set off the alarm at the house and we noticed a white vehicle parked on the side of the shop.  We called the Pearl River Sheriff's office and they checked it out for us.  We watched the cameras live feed and never saw anyone in the truck.  It turned out to be our neighbors's truck.  He had broken down and coasted into our driveway.  He had texted Lauren on his old phone number.  He now has his current phone number. 

We built another campfire and enjoyed the pretty stars in the skies until time for bed.  We got the heater out for the first time this trip. It is supposed to be 39 degrees in the morning.


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