Monday, October 30/2017

Headed out

I was lying in bed this morning and could hear little "pellets" hitting the top of the camper and immediately thought - Shit, Oh Dear..... SLEET!!  We knew there was a possibility of snow catching up to us but I really was hoping not to see any of it!!
When I finally did get up, I saw a fine dusting of snow covering the ground.  I was not totally impressed and to add insult to injury......the damn fridge had not miraculously started during the night!!  Holy Buckets!!
The temperature had fallen and I noted that the water pump was a bit sluggish and that is definitely not a good sign.  I quickly ran some hot water through it and after a quick breakfast and showers, we packed up and headed for what we hoped would be warmer weather!!  We needed to get over the mountains and through a few passes in Colorado in order to get to the lower elevations and heat!!
With that in mind, we headed towards Colorado and I had my fingers crossed that the mountain passes were going to be dry.

She almost got it, Welcome to Colorado

Once we crossed into the State of Colorado the beauty factor and scenery quotient went up on the scale!!  Boring is definitely not a word to be used to describe Colorado and it was quite a pleasure to travel the roads we did today.  The weather was cooperating and there was absolutely no snow on the roads at all.  Not even in the upper elevations and I somehow got the impression that John was a bit disappointed by that.  Not that there was no snow on the roads, but that there was no snow anywhere to really speak of.   There was one spot where there was a bit but even that was minimal.

Right it is

God damn road signs again.......they are going to be the death of me!!

Coming into Walden Colorado

We tend to travel the back roads, staying off the Interstate Highways when we can (unless we need to out run some nasty weather or make up time) and that affords us the opportunity to see some older towns and architecture.  It is really quite impressive how small town America seems to be thriving in the middle of nowhere or along the mountain tops and passes.
Once again, we were in and out of cell service today.  Too bad the camera didn't work when we were out of service because then I wouldn't have to worry about taking pictures of John's God damn road signs!!

Beautiful old building in this quaint little town

The camera didn't really capture the incredible color of these willows
here in Rabbit Ear Pass

East it is

Old house

A bit of snow along the edge of the road in Gore Pass

Almost 10,000 feet at the summit

We wound our way over, through, between and beside the various hills, mountains and passes and finally found ourselves on final descent to the lower elevations along Interstate 70.  We had seen some pretty incredible scenery and that is always a good thing.  The Colorado River meandered alongside the road at a few points today and we got to see several fisherman in their "funny" shaped boats trying their hand at catching tonight's supper.  I hoped that they were successful but the water looked a little choppy at times.

Colorado River

Our spot for the night

As we got to the lower elevations, the cell service returned and we were able to "google" a nearby campground for the night.   There was a cute little recreation area just outside of the Town of Gypsum, Colorado so we decide to call it a day, enjoy some of the much warmer temperatures and watch the Monday Night Football game.  The only undesirable thing about this particular site is that it was situated just off the Interstate so the noise factor was definitely not ideal.  Oh well, it was just for the night and we would be inside anyway!!
The campground was another U.S. Forest Service Campground and for the cost of $10.00 dollars, we could stay the night AND dump the garbage!!  Now that alone is worth the price of admission!!

On the Eagle River

Booko had yet another spot to check out all the sights and smells and was soon running around like an idiot.  It was a bit windy for a fire but, it was warm so no fire really needed and that was a good thing!!  We had a football game to watch anyway.
As it turned out, my team lost and with that the hopes of winning the 90 bucks from the football pool.  Looks like it is going to have to happen in the upcoming week!!
Supper was simple fair - good old KD and sausage with a coleslaw side salad.  Nothing fancy but filling and good enough for tonight.
I quickly got the supper dishes done (still had some from the previous night),  bagged up the garbage and set it outside to get it out of the way.  John did advise me to make sure that I got it off the ground and put it onto the truck or up on the propane tanks to discourage any creatures that may want to investigate during the night.   I chose to put it up on the propane tanks just to be safe then headed to bed.   Life is Good!!