So far, so good

DAY ONE - Sunday, July 14, 2019

Off to a rough start

We went to Church on Saturday night so that we could get on the road early Sunday morning, no later than 10:00.  My stomach had other plans and we left at 12:30 pm.  Fortunately, we didn’t run into any unforeseen problems with pulling the trailer.  Remember... this is our. Maiden voyage!  After being on the road for 6 hours, we began looking for a place to set up for the night.  I am using an. App call Allstays and it showed me a few places where we could spend the night - all of them which we had already passed.  So we pushed on.  Finally as we came close to Seneca, KS, a small RV park popped up on the App.  Really good ratings.  And as luck would have it, they had vacancies!  We pulled in at 7:00 pm and were shocked at what we saw.  This place was the absolute cleanest RV park we have ever stayed at, located on a small lake and Golf Course.  The owners were the sweetest couple.  The cost was only $35.  I wish we could have stayed there a few nights, but we had only covered 299 miles and needed to push on.

Lesson learned:  Don’ worry so much that you make yourself sick.

View from our camp site in Seneca, KS

DAY TWO - Monday, July 15th

We caught Hwy. 36 towards Colorado and stayed on it all the way through Kansas.  So many sights to see!  Corn, soybeans, hay bails, cattle lots, straw bails, silos, wind farms, abandoned farm houses, more silos, cattle lots, soybeans, corn, straw bails and... well you get the drift.  With Kansas being the Sunflower State, you would have thought we’d see at least one field of sunflowers, but that wasn’t meant to be.  Kansas, we won’t miss you.  Kansas always was the dreaded portion of the drive to Colorado and still is.  The only good thing I can say is Hwy. 36 is better than that 70 and the people were nice.

By 6:30 pm we were tired and couldn’t find any camp grounds, WalMarts, or Truck Stops within 70 miles.  As we were driving through Yuma, CO, I noticed a motel with an almost empty parking lot.  Nelson Inn.  We decided to turn around and see if they would let us park there overnight for a fee.  That is when we noticed that behind the motel were ten RV hookups.  I kid you n to.  They had RV hookups!  We “checked in”, again for $35.  The site came with their Quick Start breakfast.  We enjoyed the coffee.  It was a good thing we didn’t plan on doing anything but sleep because it was about the worst site we’ve ever camped in, but it did have electricity and we slept like babies.

Comments about the Cargo Trailer.  We really like it.  It pulls good.  We are slowly working through where everything fits best, the fact that the first thing that has to happen when we get up in the morning is to put the bed back into couch position, the bed sleeps pretty darn good, and the porta pot is working out great.  It isn’t a chore to empty at all (so Jim says... I will never be verifying that.  I promise).

Lesson learned:  Don’t despair and say a prayer.  It worked for me.

DAY THREE - Tuesday, July 16th

Time to head towards Rocky Mountain National Park.  I made reservations at Larimer County Hermit Park, about 10 miles from RMNP.  We were close, but needed a place to stay elsewhere for one additional night.  I found a place, Larimer County Flat Iron Reservoir, about 30 miles from where we had reservations.  It was a very pretty place on a reservoir (hence the name ha ha).  We were able to do a bit of sight seeing of the Upper Reservoir, Lake below, and the whole set up.  The reservoir was visible from our camp site and we walked to the rocky area quite a few times.  Across the water two Eagles sat watching us most of the afternoon and early evening.  They apparently had nothing better to do.

Lesson learned:  Time tends to stand still when you travel.  Check your dates often.  It turned out my reservations at Estes Park were for Day Three (Tuesday), Wednesday, and Thursday.  Not Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as I thought.  Oh well!

Sunset at the Reservoir

DAY FOUR - Wednesday, July 17th (Happy Birthday Julie!)

As I said above, time tends to stand still and dates become meaningless.  We missed wishing our youngest, Julie, Happy Birthday.  I do believe that is a first.  You were not forgotten dear child.  We have spent a lot of our road time talking about family and how lucky we are.

Our reservations were for a primitive site in the mountains, Larimer county Hermit Park, Bobcat Campground.  Even the toilets were primitive.  No running water.  But I have never experienced cleaner out houses.  They had no foul smell to them at all.  How is that possible?  It is a mystery.  We are here for two nights (it would have been three if I hadn’t messed up).  So we are making the best of the time we have.  The camp site is nice, nestled among Aspen and pine trees.  The flies are mean little devils.  They bite like I am the first piece of flesh they have seen in forever.  We used our Coleman Stove and Lantern that Gregg and Alicia gave us, for the first time.  We were able to spend a few hours driving through the beautiful Rocky Mountains.  The temperatures dropped to the 60’s at night.  Talk about awesome sleeping weather.

Lesson learned:  Take time to appreciate the sights, sounds, and all around beauty everywhere around you.  I’ll never forget the sounds of the Aspens as the wind whispered through them.  We were surrounded by wild flowers and beautiful sights every time we turned around

Are Ravens bad luck?