July 26-28 Traveling Home

 We left on Saturday morning. We made a couple of stops and arrived in Amarillo around 2 pm. It was a smooth 100 degrees. Welcome back to Texas.  We got a nice shady spot with a pull thru si I didn't have to unhook.  The next morning we headed to Abilene State Park. Same as yesterday with a couple of stops and finally arrived about 1:00 pm. We had a fully shaded spot and the temperature was around 98. Monday morning we headed to Yeagua Park on Lake Somerville. We got there about 2:00 and it was 98 .  This is our last night on the road and we are ready to get home. About 6 hours of driving a day is all I can take anymore. My hip gets to aching, that's why we make so many stops. We had a good trip with no major issues.  Pretty sure its my last mountain trip pulling a trailer. Old age is catching up.  Short day in the morning, maybe 2 1/2 hours.

July 21-26 2025 La Veta Colorado

 I'm just going to group all the days together. I did not have good cell service in La Veta so it was too much trouble to do a daily blog. We left Around 8 on Monday.  It was eleven miles down the terrible washboard road to get to US 24.  It took us about 30 minutes and shook us to death. After that it was smooth sailing to La Veta.  We got set up. Its nice to have full hookups.  Our trailer looked like a bomb went off in it. There was stuff everywhere. One side of a shade came down. In my closet one end of the dow rod came off. Got that all fixed up and we went to our favorite store to get ice cream. We made a stop there every day. The weather was great every day. the mornings were about 50 and the highs were about 76. We made a few drives thru the mountains , so pretty.  One day we went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It"s a pretty interesting place. We took Cooper up to Cuchara to the dog bar so we could all eat together. He liked it but I put him back in the truck so I could eat.  He just couldn't settle down. It's our last week. I'm ready to head home but Im not looking forward to the heat.

July 19,20 2025 Our Last Two Days Boondocking

 Pretty much the same  routine so not much to write about.  Beautiful sunrises every morning. Susan sewed and Cooper and I piddled around.  Cooper loves it here because he can run loose and explore. On Sunday I went to the State Park and got a day pass.  I took our trash to put in the dumpsters and I filled my water bladder. The lake looked pretty and lots of folks on it. You not supposed to swim in it as the water is pretty cold. When I got back I loaded everything in my truck so we will be ready to roll in the morning.  We never got any rain but it was all around us. We did get a nice rainbow late in the evening.

July 18, 2025 Another Nice Day

It was another beautiful morning starting out about 47 degrees. As good daylight came I could see that some more campers had arrived sometime late yesterday evening.  I figured that as the weekend got closer there would be more people. We are at the last site before the road gets pretty rough. There are not many trailers past us but there are a few.  We decided to drive into Woodland Park .  There was a lot of traffic in town. On the way back we stopped in Divide and got ice cream.  There are about 4 forest service roads that take off from the main road heading to Eleven Mile State Park. You could see that a lot of campers were arriving. When we turned on our road there were new trailers along the way to ours. It's about 200 yards to our nearest

neighbor so its not bad. We pretty much just chilled the rest of the evening. There was rain showers all around us but we didn't get any rain. 

July 17, 2025 A Chilly Day

It was only about 49 when I got up this morning. Cooper slept in and didn't get up till Susan did about 7;15. It was nice outside as there was very little wind. I cooked bacon and fried eggs for breakfast. We decided to stay home today. The forecast was for some showers off and on. Cooper and I took a hike thru the open meadows. We did find a little elk sign but it was old. We did about a two mile circle and I was glad when we got the trailer back in sight.  Susan was doing some sewing work. Cooper and I drove down to the Eleven Mile Village store which is very small. He gave us the story on why the road is not paved anymore. According to him the county decided they could no longer repair the pavement so they put down 4 inches of gravel , mashed it down and then sprayed it.  It gets washboarded often and can get very rough. It's also dusty. He said the whole community is in an uproar about it and the county officials no longer answer his calls.  He said they do grade it at times but after one weekend all the traffic to the state park and lake traffic make it bad again. I finally got my ice cream and head home. It never really warmed up too much and the wind and light rain started around 2.  Temps stayed right around 60-65 all evening. Really didn't get much rain but it was big drops and cold.

 

July 16, 2025 Cripple Creek

 I slept a little later and the sun was peaking thru the horizon when I got up. It was pretty chilly and not for the first time I wished I had a remote start for my generator. Got everything going and took Cooper for a short walk. I have not seen any mule deer or elk so far, I think maybe because they are cutting timber around us maybe the critter have moved to a quieter range. There is supposed to be black bears around but I have never seen any here. We decided to take a day trip to Cripple Creek. We drove up and came in on the east side of town.  It another pretty drive up a mountain to get there. Curvy with some mountain dropoff views. There is not a lot to do if you don't gamble. They have a gold mine tour which we didn't take. They do have a small train ride which we did. You can take your dog so Cooper got to go. He loved riding in the open car and looking around. It's a small little train and takes about 45 minutes to ride. After that we went down main street and I lucked upon a place to park. We got some ice cream and then headed home. We took the west route down the mountain. It's a much easier drive. On the way home we stopped at a water station and I filled up my water bladder. When we got back to the trailer it was threatening to rain. Susan and Cooper took a nap .  We did get a little shower with some wind, the temp dropped to 54 degrees. After it blew thru it cleared up and was a nice evening.

July 15, 2025 A Relaxing Day

 It was a cool 45 degrees when I got up this morning. I eased outside and started the generator then started my coffee pot and the heat in the trailer. I thought about an outside fire but the wind was blowing a little too much for me. After breakfast we decided to stay home today and chill.  Cooper and I took a walk back toward the main road. Someone had started a new campsite about 150 yards from us.  The closer you get to the main road the more campsites there are. Both sides of the main road have a forest service road that are popular to camp along. The other side has more ATV campers because there are a lot of trails to ride. I would like to go further down our road but it gets a little too rough to pull my trailer thru. It's doable but Im so long I would drag in places. Later in the day I did drive down to check things out. They are cutting the buggy trees  in places. One of the reasons I like this place is that they have always managed this mountain for fire prevention. I think this district was one of the first to do this. Definitely helps with the wildfires.  Back in camp Cooper had a great time. He trailed a chipmunk back to his hole and spent about 2 hours trying to dig him out.  When I finally made him quit he was filthy. He got a bath and he didn't like that. Susan sewed most of the day. The weather was great, it got to about 78 with 10% humidity. It's sure nice not to have to run any ac.