CO -- Front Range, 8-29 Oct 2012

 

Three weeks taking care of business and visiting family along the Front Range…

Our drive from South Park to Loveland was a culture shock!  From Kenosha Pass, we dropped nearly 5,000 feet into Denver.  It was the first time we had been below 6,000 feet since late June which is also the last time we were in a city.  It was a bit stressful towing our home through city traffic, but it went smoothly.  My super navigator made things much easier by making sure I was in the correct lanes and confidently guided me through the mayhem!

- Loveland

We spent four nights in Loveland.  Our mission was to get a skirt for our home. 

The first morning we met Curt, owner of RV Skirting ( http://www.rvskirting.com/ ).  He took measurements and fitted the trailer then had his crew work all night.  The next morning he showed up with our new skirt and showed me how to install it.  Based on our research, the skirt will make a considerable difference this winter.

   

Fitting our home with a skirt

 We also took a day trip to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was Arleen’s first visit and like everyone else, she was impressed by the views along Trail Ridge Road.  The huge layered standing lenticular cloud above 14,259 foot high Longs Peak was a big treat for us weather geeks!  The park is known for its wildlife.  We just saw one lone, impressive bull elk.  The rut was over and the elk had dispersed.  Unfortunately, we didn’t hear any bugling elk either.

We had some great BBQ for lunch and then checked out a few campgrounds.  In the future, we plan to spend two months exploring Rocky Mountain National Park.  We’ll spend one month on the west side in Grand Lake and another month on the east side in Estes Park.  That adventure is high on our wish list!

       

Standing lenticular clouds over Longs Peak

Arleen’s cousin, Terri and her daughter Rachel live north of Denver and managed to take time out of their very busy schedule to visit us for an evening.  We headed to Smashburger for delicious sandwiches and salads.  Arleen and Terri spent a few hours laughing and catching up on each others lives.  Terri and Rachel plan to join us this winter for some skiing.

 

After just a few days in the city, we had enough!  How do you city dwellers do it?!?  We miss the polite slow pace of mountain living.

- Colorado Springs

We had a lengthy to-do list and our time in Colorado Springs passed quickly.

The Air Force Academy campground was very nice.  We had full hook-ups, decent wi-fi, and good laundry facilities.  Other than occasional nearby noisy trains, it was very peaceful.  Base facilities were great and easily accessible.  It was nice walking our four-legged friend around the campground, especially the closed loop, and down by the railroad tracks and creek, and up to the impressive football stadium.  We will gladly stay here again.

Our first Colorado Springs adventure was to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  We met my sister and her family and had a great time!  The animals were active and quite entertaining.  My nephews, Jordan and Austin, really enjoyed themselves.

   

   

   

Best burritos around…My friend, Brian, grew up in Colorado Springs, and has spent a good chunk of his life here.  He is a superb tour guide!  He knows I like Mexican food and told me that I had to try El Taco Rey’s pork and avocado burrito smothered in spicy green chili.  Brian was right…it was excellent!  The little hole-in-the-wall joint only has 5 or 6 tables and it’s proximity to downtown Colorado Springs, makes it very popular at lunch.  It’s often voted one of the best Mexican restaurants in town.  I liked the burrito so much, I ordered two to go, and we had them for dinner that same night…yum yum!

Visit with Mary and Kendal…We drove out to their house in Elizabeth and had a nice day.  We played a golf game that Kendal invented…they let us win!  Then we played Yahtzee, and I let them win!  To top off a nice day, Mary fed us some excellent salads and spaghetti.

   

Time with friends…First, Dave came out to our home.  Dave is excited for us and was a very receptive audience as he listened to our stories and asked a bunch of questions.  Hopefully we can hook up with him and Kristin this winter for some Colorado skiing.

Then we were invited to Paul and Shilo’s house.  They just arrived at the Academy and are thrilled to be here.  Shilo made an outstanding dinner and her and Paul listened intently to our stories.  They just had a four month adventure in their fifth-wheel travel trailer and are excited to experience more.  They also asked a bunch of questions.  I’ll bet that when Paul ends his Air Force career, they will be road warriors!

   

                                Me and Dave                                                Paul and Shilo and an excellent dinner!

- Hikes

Red Rock Canyon…Brian invited us on this great hike.  The canyon was quarried in the late 1800s for it’s pretty red rock.  In 2003, the land was sold to Colorado Springs.  Then multiple user groups eagerly became stewards and miles of trails were created.  The area is popular with hikers, dog walkers, and mountain bikers, but is usually not crowded like its northerly neighbor, Garden of the Gods.  If we lived in Colorado Springs, we would spend a lot of time in Red Rock Canyon!

   

   

Air Force Academy Stadium hike…We enjoyed walking around the Academy.  Our favorite hike was a loop up and around the football stadium.

Night out with Heather and Brian…Heather, Arleen’s niece, recently moved to Colorado Springs.  She is a busy young lady, working and taking a full load of college classes.  In spite of her busy schedule, we kidnapped her for a night out. 

Our trusty Colorado Springs tour guide, Brian, recommended a marionette show and Greek restaurant in Old Colorado City. 

We met at Jake & Telley’s and had an outstanding meal.  Then we were blown away by a very impressive puppet show.  David Simpich is incredibly talented.  He is a one man show.  He controls the puppets.  He does all the sound effects.  He does multiple voices and characters.  He even controls the lighting.  Often he simultaneously played three characters at once…it was brilliant!  We had never seen a show like it.  If you are in the Colorado Springs area, check it out:  http://www.simpich.com/theatre/theatre_home.html

To complete an excellent night on the town, we walked across the street and had some very tasty homemade ice cream.

   

         At Jake and Telley’s Greek Restaurant                                 About to enter the Simpich Theatre

Air Force Academy  vs University of New Mexico football game

    

   

   

       

A nice Sunday with family and our friend, Nancy

Sunday brunch at the Air Force Academy

 

Helping with groceries

Responsibilities

 

- Pueblo

 We went to Pueblo to get work done on our home, prepare more for winter, and spend time with my parents.  Though we spent a lot of time on responsibilities, we still managed to play.

   

Checking out smoke from the nearby Wetmore fire

   

   

Fishing the Arkansas River below Pueblo Reservoir

   

Night out…a good BBQ dinner and a movie about floating down the Yellowstone River

Dad and their new family member: Chewy

 

Next we head to Nathrop CO until roughly 1 March where we are eager to experience a Rocky Mountain winter.  We hope for tons of snow so we can snowshoe, ski, and snowboard.  It will get cold, likely below zero…brrrr!  We look forward to seeing if we and our trusty Arctic Fox can handle it.  And if we can’t, we’ll just move!  That’s the beauty of our amazing lifestyle.

We aren't sure how we’ll do blog updates…maybe one a month?  However, I plan to finish two blogs that some may find interesting: “Adjustments and Observations” and “Modifications and Additions”.  Stay tuned…

 

Go for a walk?!?

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CO–Eleven Mile State Park, 1–8 Oct 2012

 

One week fishing in South Park and trying to stay warm…

 Our campsite only had electric, but we filled our fresh water tank before setting up and flushed the gray and black water tanks on the way out.  The sites are big and have plenty of room, but most of them are quite unlevel.  We had a nice view of the lake and pretty sunsets.  The campground was nearly empty until the weekend when our loop was about 3/4 full.  The notorious South Park winds kicked our butts…more on that later.

   

          Our home bathed in a warm alpenglow               Pretty sunset over South Park & Eleven Mile Reservoir

- Fishing Spinney Mountain Reservoir

Spinney is known for big trout and northern pike.  Recent reports claimed “excellent” fishing so we were eager to check it out. 

We did not experience “excellent” fishing nor did others that we spoke to.  We fished two or three hours on four different occasions and caught a total of seven nice trout.  They were 17-19 inches long and STRONG.  Once hooked, Spinney trout take off and it’s almost impossible to stop them.  Fish nearly got into my backing twice.  They hit a size 10 olive and black lake leech, size 16 callibaetes mayfly nymph, and size 10 chironomid.  The chironomid attracted the most fish.

Brian joined me one morning, but he got skunked!  That’s all right.  A tasty breakfast burrito at the Donut Mill in Woodland Park, erased his memories of poor fishing.

   

   

 - Day trip to Fairplay, bristlecone pine forest, and Breckenridge

The weather was funky so we decided to hop in the truck and do a little sight seeing. 

Our first stop was Fairplay where we got warm chai teas at the Java Moose.

Then we headed towards Alma, the highest incorporated town in the U.S. at 10,578ft, took a left turn on County Road 8, and climbed a narrow and rough dirt road to an ancient bristlecone pine forest.  Some of the gnarled trees were nearly 1,000 years old!  We had the neat forest to ourselves and really enjoyed wandering around the old trees.

It was mid-afternoon and we were hungry, so we decided to go to Breckinridge for lunch.  There are lots of good eating options in the cool resort town and we chose Mi Casa.  It was about 3:00pm and we were the only ones there for dinner so we got the best table right by a big window with a good view.  The menu was fun and so was our waitress.  We knew we were in for a treat when she made fresh guacamole right at our table…it was excellent! 

After filling our bellies with good Mexican food, we drove about six miles north of town to check out Tiger Run Resort.  A lot of RV parks throw the word “resort” around quite loosely.  Not Tiger Run…it offers all kinds of resort type stuff and looks like a great place to stay.  It comes at a cost, but the cost is reasonable if you stay for a month.  I’d gladly stay a month or an entire season!

   

Fairplay Colorado

   

   

   

- South Park critters and scenes

   

                     Pronghorn in the fog                                       Bison with storm clouds sneaking over the mountains

- South Park weather

The weather is always a wild card in South Park.  Unfortunately, during our one week stay, two storm systems moved through.  The main problem was wind.  Winds blow most of the time in South Park, but you can usually count on a few hours of calm most mornings.  That little rule of thumb flies out the window when storms move through.  We had 20-30mph winds more often than not which limited our fishing opportunities.  The wind peaked at 45mph at 1:34am one night making it very difficult to sleep in the rocking trailer.  Surprisingly, we didn’t get any snow, but did get .14 inches of rain one night as the temperature hovered around 40 degrees. 

The second storm system was interesting to watch.  Cold air moved south along the front range and finally “back doored” us from the east.  When we were driving back from Breckinridge, there was a line of low clouds across the entire eastern horizon.  The clouds tried to flow west over the mountains into South Park.  The strong easterly winds and cold air finally overtook the westerly winds and mild air.  The temperature dropped from 50 degrees to 30 degrees in about 30 minutes!  That cold air moving over the relatively warm reservoir made an eerie steam fog that whisked in fingers across the lake.  We are “weather geeks” and this nearly pegged our geek scale!

A final weather note…we experienced our coldest temperatures yet:  20F and wind chills 10F to 15F.  Our trusty Arctic Fox handled it just fine!

45mph winds at 1:34am

   

  Low clouds and cold air spilling over the mountains                           Steam fog over the lake

Next we will spend three weeks along the Front Range.  First we head to Loveland, CO to get our home fitted for an RV skirt.  Then we will spend 10 days in Colorado Springs prepping the RV for winter and visiting family.  And finally, we will spend a few days in Pueblo doing final winter prep and visiting more family.  If all goes smoothly, we will be in Nathrop CO around 1 November and tough it out until 1 March. 

As far as the blog goes, we’ll likely do a single Front Range post in about two weeks.  Stay tuned…

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