One of my daily blog reads is Brian over at "RV Boondocking the Good Life". A week or so ago he mentioned wanting to ride Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. Brian had done this before and declared that it was a spectacular drive. I have known about this road for some time but had for some reason never explored it. Brian's post brought this possibility back to the top of my list. A couple of days ago I decided to make a day trip to do just that.Today was the day and in true retiree fashion I decided to start the journey at about 8:30 am, right at the tail end of the morning rush. I was super excited because Rocky Mountain National Park is a real gem...and a huge one at that. My "mountain fix" quotient was also running miserably low and need some adjustment. I have been to RMNP a number of times and it is undoubtedly something very special. The thought of exploring someplace new in the park had me giggling like a little girl.
Fall River Road is the original road into RMNP and was completed in 1920. It's a dirt road that is narrow and twisty and steep in some areas. The speed limit on this road is 15 mph but I don't think anyone even considers going faster because to do so would mean you couldn't look at the incredible beauty all around (hard to enjoy scenery whilst plummeting thousands of feet off that narrow road into the valley below).
I picked today, Wednesday, for this trip because I reasoned that even though it was high tourist season, it was mid week and the road had only opened last week. There surely wouldn't be too many people on this road mid week? The start of my trip seem to confirm my logic. I breezed through the west side of the Denver metro area and headed up through Golden, CO and the Leftist Republic of Boulder. Traffic was light, the weather was good.
As I expected, once I got to the gateway to RMNP, Estes Park, things got more active after all this is a premier destination in the middle of July. I did not however, expect what I ran into on this one way, dirt, narrow, twisty, steep road.........
Traffic jam!!!!!!!!!
Incredible, there seemed to be very little traffic right until I got to the one way, narrow, twisty, steep road and then all of a sudden WHAM! I was behind a line of I don't know how many cars....because the road was so narrow and twisty, I could only see about 8 cars ahead. Yes, you heard me, I could see 8 cars ahead of me and about the same behind me.
The scenery was indeed spectacular but it was really hard to enjoy while driving in a caravan. This caravan included cars from just about everywhere in the US. I saw plates from Missouri, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma. Those are states whose drivers are considered by Coloradans to be "flatlanders". Flatlanders are not someone you want to be behind while driving in the mountains, especially on dirt, narrow, twisty, steep roads! This road is narrow enough and the hair pin turns are tight enough that if your not used to driving these types of roads....you can't negotiate the hair pin turn and have to back up and give it another go. That happened on 5 or 6 different turns....4 or 5 cars had to stop, back up and turn again.
My original plan was to take at least half a day doing this relatively short road. I wanted to stop at every pullout and look, take pictures and commune. Just about every pullout though was jammed with cars. People would stop and wait for people to get to their cars and pull out so they could have their parking place.....all the time blocking the who knows how many cars behind them.
I wasn't more than a mile into the road when it became clear that I should just cut my losses and get back up to Trail Ridge Road as soon as possible. It was incredibly beautiful but surreal at the same time. Imagine slapping the main street of any busy metropolitan area into a rustic wilderness and that's what I had today.
After about an hour "commute" I arrived at the junction with Trail Ridge Road. Trail Ridge Road is the "new" road in the park. It traverses the spine of the Rockies reaching an altitude of 12,183 feet. After driving both I think the raw power of the scenery on Trail Ridge makes it more to my liking. It was crowded too, but because it's more modern, wider and paved it didn't seem as crowded. That is until you tried to pull off the road. Just about all the parking areas were full or almost full.
I did find a few places that were not totally jammed and was able to get out of the car and adjust my mountain fix meter a bit. I kept trying to take some good pictures to post and then when I got home I realized that what I needed for this post was to take pictures of the hordes of people on either side and behind me that I studiously framed out of all of these pictures. THAT, really would have been and enlightenment to the reader.
Anyhow, I enjoyed this beautiful creation called the Rocky Mountains as best I could and headed back home. Somewhere just on the north side of the Leftist Republic of Boulder I spied an interesting thing. Seems as if a developer has created a high density development called the Holiday Neighborhood on the site of an old drive-in movie theater called the Holiday. As part of the development the sign for the drive in was saved and restored....a unique and commendable thing.
The drive back home was pretty hot with a lot more traffic than I experienced on the way up. Now that I sit in the comfort of home I'm thinking that this trip didn't really restore my mountain fix meter the way I wanted so maybe I'll have to head off to one of my special places next week. Before I do however, The Circle is scheduled to see Baxter Black, the premier cowboy poet, in concert this Saturday and I am looking forward to it. Coincidentally, Saturday happens to be my 61st birthday. More on that in a future post.
Thanks for visiting.
It's amazing how much computers influence our lives. Today I'm dealing with two very different computer issues.
The first issue (Bad Computer) is one that I fear will send me the last little bit of the way to a babbling, spittle drooling, eye twitching, neurotic foot tapping, simpering, whimpering.....well, you get the idea. This computer issue involves the engine computer in my 1999 Suzuki, Grand Vitara. It's an issue that has been going on for about four months now and may just continue until this vehicle ends up on the scrap pile.
About four months ago after driving to a nearby store, I returned to the car and started it up. The engine started but ran like it was missing one cylinder. The engine shook coughed and had almost no power at all. I had a sinking feeling but thought if I could only get back home I could deal with the problem more easily. I made it home but the whole way the "Service Engine Soon!!!" light flashed in my face and I had visions of the engine either exploding or dropping out of the car onto the highway. After getting home I considered my options and just to be sure I really had a problem I went out to the garage and restarted the car. The "Service Engine Soon !!!" light was still on but the engine ran close to normal so I decided to take it to my local mechanic. The mechanic did a diagnostic check (That will be $60.00 please) and found nothing. When they started the engine prior to the check the service light was NOT on.
To sooth the pain they said if I could get it over to them the next time this happened and the engine was still running like it was missing a cylinder they would do another diagnostic check and not charge me for it.....You know where I'm going with this don't you? The problem repeated itself two more times over a period of about 3 months. Each time I struggled to get the car to my mechanic only to find that the diagnostic test revealed nothing. The local mechanic finally said that I would be best in taking it to the Suzuki dealer (In other words, get lost!) as it was almost certainly an engine computer problem. Since the problem always corrected itself in a relatively short period of time I just lived with it until last week. The Bride was driving the car when it had one of these seizures. By the time she got back home she had the look about her that I described in the second paragraph of this post and suggested, strongly, that I find some way to resolve the problem.
This morning I took the vehicle to the Suzuki dealership and explained the problem hoping they would say, "Oh yeah, we know about that. It's the fritzle fratzle and it will cost you about 5 cents to fix." Instead they told me that if the "Service Engine Soon You Idiot!!) light was not on and the problem wasn't actually occurring when they inspected the engine, they really couldn't do anything. They would be glad to run a $110 diagnostic test (Note to His-self: Thank the local mechanic for not gouging you another $50 for the test) but they could categorically say that it would show nothing and it probably was a engine computer problem of some sort.
So.....I guess I'll have to live with this problem until something breaks so bad that they will be able to figure out what the problem is....Problem is for me, that probably means the engine will have to quit completely somewhere and with my luck it will be in a VERY inconvenient place. BAAAAD Computer.
To balance things off here's a Good Computer issue. I have two computers that I use both of which are pretty important to me. I have a laptop that I use everyday and that I take with me on my trips. I also have a desktop that The Bride uses on a regular basis and that runs our home finance program. I have been living ever so on the edge because I have never backed up either computer. I have backed up the data for the home finance program but that is the only backup I have ever done. I know, I know, that is a very dangerous thing and I have been extremely lucky. Well, today I decided to buy and external hard drive and do the right thing by backing up both computers.
Most of the office supply stores were advertising a 500GB external hard drive this week for $99. That's large enough to back up both of my computers on the same drive and at $99 it's a deal. Everything is plug and play and very easy. So, in the time it has taken me to write this post, I have backed up both computers and now I have eliminated one of those nagging fears I've been carrying around for quite a while........had to make room for the Bad Computer, car blowing up fear.
Thanks for visiting.
Huh??
If you get past the first hurdle and know what a cappella means, does that mean fireworks alone? No, I don't think so....
A nice little semi Circle event was held last night that included a concert by The Nylons and a fireworks show at a nice little venue close by called Hudson Gardens. Too Tall - Two Timing and K. are away in Breckenridge, Co so the semi Circle consisted of The Bride and me, his-self, Guitar and Pic-E. Some of Guitar's relatives were in town for a wedding and they accompanied us as well.
The Nylons is a four person a cappella group. That means singing but no band. If you want to talk about musical talent try listening to one person or a group singing for over an hour and a half with no band, no background music, no nothing except their own voices.
Ah yes, back to the 50's and the 60's groups like The Belmonts, The Starlights, The Persuasions, The Platters.... Great music with great voices.
The Nylons did themselves proud. This Canadian group was not used to the altitude and their type of singing requires huge lung power so they really worked hard to belt out the 20 or so songs they performed. One of their signature songs is a cover of The Tokens 1961 hit version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. It certainly was one of my favorites. They not only sang the song but provided all of the background jungle noise of birds and animals. If you didn't know they were actually doing it you would have sworn that it was electronic background recordings.
They also sang Up On The Roof, originally recorded by The Drifters and taught me something about the song. I had no idea that it was co-written by Carole King? I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years. I was so skeptical that I googled it this morning...did I think they didn't know what they were talking about? I don't know I just wanted 2nd party verification. I got it and I am now a more informed individual.
Anyway it was a great outdoor concert on a very pleasant July 3rd evening and what could be more appropriate than after the concert to enjoy a fireworks show.
This is a pretty small venue so we were up close an personal to the fireworks. By the end of the display everyone smelled like gunpowder and we had to brush the dust off our shoulders.
Today I plan to chill and not go out if I don't have to...It's a retired guy thing. Why go out among the heathen hordes if I don't have to. The Bride and The Emmer, on the other hand are going to a Rockies baseball game this evening. They will take the light rail train downtown in late afternoon, get something to eat and then go to the ball field. This is one of The Emmer's favorite things so she will have a memorable 4th as well. There will be a fireworks display at the field after the game. If I walk about a block to the green area between a couple developments, I'll be able to see not only that display but several others in the area all at the same time!
I don't do politics on this blog but I would like my readers to consider the meaning of the 4th of July. In these times when everything seems to be going to hell in a handbasket consider the history of this great nation. We have been in much more terrible circumstances in the past....many times in the past. This nation has the unique gift of unparalleled freedom. That's our trump card. That's why we will endure. Things may change. Things may never be the same. Things will most likely be better once we work our way through the current challenges. Like Mark Twain the reports of our demise are premature.
Thanks for visiting.
Cannery Row - John Steinbeck. My last "Recent Read" was another Steinbeck book, "Travels With Charley". Reading that book gave me an appreciation for Steinbeck's talent and when my daughter, CaJenn, got married at the end of Cannery Row in Monterey, CA a couple of weeks ago I just knew I would have to read this classic too.
Cannery Row is a delightful, quirky story of a group of misfits who live in the sardine capital of the world. At the time this book was published (1945) Cannery Row was home to 16 sardine canneries. It was the peak year for this business and Monterey was a bustling town.
One of the central figures in the book, "Doc", makes a living by gathering and supplying various companies with specimens of sea life which he collects from nearby beaches. Doc is somewhat mysterious and while everyone calls him "Doc" he is not a medical doctor. That does not keep the locals from coming to him for medical problems and "Doc" does his best to help. Doc is a beloved figure to the downtrodden of Cannery Row.
Mack and the boys, Hazel, Eddie, Hughie and Jones, are the counterpoint to Doc. They are the fringes of society. They live in an abandoned warehouse, which they called The Palace Flophouse and Grill, and pursue the free spirited life, working only when absolutely necessary and constantly scheming for the next big deal.
A large part of the book centers around Mack and the boys planning and throwing a party for Doc. They had to do it twice because the first time Doc was out of town and by the time he got home. Mack and the boys and all the other guests were totally drunk and had trashed Doc's place.
This is a very entertaining book and if you want it to be it has an intellectual sub story all about humanity, morality, psychology and social issues. To tell you the truth, I resisted the intellectual part and just enjoyed the hell out of a rollicking good story.
As I read the book I said to myself, this is really good but this is a guy book. Only a guy would understand the convoluted logic and antics of Mack and the boys. Maybe I'm wrong however, because this book would not have achieved the acclaim it has if only guys read it.
In any case I can heartily recommend this book to all the guys out there. Ladies, you might want to try it too....
Thanks for visiting.
In my last post I indicated that I was headed to the mountains for a few days to unwind after my trip back to Georgia to see my Dad. I did and I'm back...
I left mid-day on Monday after getting the RV stocked and ready. My goal for the day was to take a leisurely drive to a boondocking site just north of Buena Vista, CO, that I had discovered on my last trip to the area. This site is directly on the Arkansas River and I wanted to do a little gold panning for a day. The picture at the top of the post is the site I stayed at on Monday night.
The ride there was great. There was very little traffic and what traffic there was, seemed to be headed out of the mountains not into them. A great start for the trip. The camp site was a Forest Service activity area with no facilities except picnic tables and fire rings. That was ok by me as I have everything I need in the RV and the price of "free" is hard to beat. I pulled up to a spot not more than 75 feet from the river. That's the good news. The bad news is that when I looked at the river I had one of those "duh!" moments....
It's late June. This is the rafting season on the river. Why? Because the water flow is huge this time of year. Remember all the snow I was complaining about this past winter? Well it is now ending up in the rivers. One look and I knew that there was going to be no gold panning for me this trip!For those of you with a scientific bent the actual flow of the Arkansas River at this point, as of a few days ago, was about 3100 cubic feet per second. That's a heckuvalot of water! That is so much water that it's plain dangerous and while I was eating dinner Monday night, looking out the window at the Arkansas, listening to the radio, I heard a news report that 4 people had drowned in the past week while rafting in the river! Nope, I'm thinking gold panning is definitely out for this trip.
That didn't stop me from enjoying the afternoon by just communing with nature. I walked along the river, read, and generally chilled. I also developed Plan B.
Plan B was to move to one of my all time favorite campgrounds the following day. Cottonwood Lake is just about 8 miles west of Buena Vista and I was now about 6 miles north of Buena Vista. An easy hop the next morning would give me pretty much the entire day to enjoy the delights of this 9000' altitude mountain lake and the surrounding mountains.
I got to the campground at about 10 am. Being as how it was the middle of the week there weren't very many people there. I had lots of good spaces to choose from and I chose one a little more in the open but with a view of the lake. A bike ride, a little fishing and a nice hike up the mountain made that tight old innerspring in my body, unwind flat as a board.
The picture to the right above was shot from the mountain behind the campground. If you look real close you can see my RV in the trees a little right of the center of the picture. While hiking, I came across evidence of how hard the past winter must have been up here. Elk normally eat the bark of aspen trees during the winter when they can't get other food. Judging from the large number of aspens that had elk marks, there probably wasn't much other food available this past winter.
I also stumbled on to a very melancholy thing. About a mile from the campground I spotted a rock back in the forest that looked like it had a sign on it. On coming closer I saw that it was a plaque and getting closer still, I discovered that it was a grave. From the inscription I'm guessing that it was a free soul who wanted his last resting place to be the Colorado Rockies.
As far as I know all the land in this area, except for a very few privately owned cabins, is Forest Service land. Burials are not permitted on Forest Service land so I'll bet there is some story behind this person's last ceremony?
My original plans were to go to Tarryall Reservoir on Wednesday morning. I thought long and hard about leaving Cottonwood as I was having a great time. There was no cell phone service available at all however and I had told The Bride that I would move to Tarryall on Wednesday and call her on the way there. I didn't want her to be concerned if I didn't check in so yesterday morning I left Cottonwood and drove to Tarryall.
I had been to Tarryall about a month ago and had a great time. There were very few people around at that time and I thought I had discovered another little gem. It seems like the rest of the world has discovered my "little gem" since then. All of the campgrounds were pretty much packed with campers and between them were the people there just to fish for the day. I found a spot to camp and fished for an hour or so. While I was fishing and watching the hordes of people....and listening to the dirt bikes and ATVs I thought to myself that I just wasn't going to enjoy this place this time. The great thing about being retired is that I don't feel obligated to cram in enjoyment to any particular time......so I packed up and drove home. No hard feelings. I just didn't want to stay. I arrived home about 5 pm about as unwound as you can unwind and am already thinking about the next trip.
Tomorrow night is a Circle dinner held at K's place. I'm sure we will talk about a Circle the Wagons trip for the group so come back for a report.
Thanks for visiting.
It's one of my favorite John Denver songs, "Back Home Again". Matter of fact it's one of my all time from anyone favorite songs and I am back home again after a trip to visit with my Dad, The Colonel. It was emotionally and physically tough but oh so very worth while.
When I originally purchased my flight tickets, the best I could get on the return 3 hour flight was a center seat in a packed plane. After the stresses and strains of the past week, I decided to try for an upgrade to first class using some accumulated frequent flyer miles. It was a small Airbus plane with only eight first class seats and I didn't think my chances were good. The fact that it was a very early Saturday morning flight helped and I scored. It was a nice way to begin to unwind from the previous week.
I had decided several days ago that when I got home I was going to take a few days and head up into the mountains for some fishing and gold panning to complete the unwind process. Right now my plans are to leave here Monday morning and to camp along the Arkansas River in the vicinity of Buena Vista for one to two nights. I'll then head back towards the Denver area and stop at Tarryall Reservoir for a couple of nights. A key part of the plan is to be headed back or be back in the Denver area before the hordes attack the mountains for the 4th of July weekend.
Sounds like a plan to me....stay tuned.
Thanks for visiting.
I left the Denver area Monday morning and had a fairly uneventful trip to Columbus, GA to visit with The Colonel for a few days. The weather here is downright oppressive compared to Rocky Mountain Front Range weather I left. Temps in the middle 90's with humidity at the same level. Don't know how I survived all those years in this part of the country. I guess my years in Colorado have thinned my blood too much.
The Colonel fell and broke his hip about a month ago and after an operation he was admitted into the skilled nursing care facility at the same location as he has his assisted living apartment. He will not be able to return to that apartment until he recovers sufficiently to ambulate and transfer himself from walker/wheelchair to bed or a chair. That may take months from what I've seen the last few days.
He also suffers from bouts of confusion where he doesn't seem to understand his situation and why he is not back in his assisted living apartment. I judge this to be more a function of his age, which will be 90 in less than a month, than to his hip condition. Either way it is difficult to watch one's own father in this condition.
I had planned to take him out away from the facility for lunch or dinner or just about anywhere just for a change for him. Given his current physical condition however, I don't feel comfortable in doing this by myself.
I'll be returning to the Denver area on Saturday.
Thanks for visiting.
We miss you.
....is now someone else's wife. Which is a good thing. Now, not only do I still have "Daddy's Little Girl" but I also now have a son.
I have been blessed with two wonderful daughters but I did not, until this time have a son. I am excited. My new son is a great guy who loves my daughter and they both have a bright future ahead of them both.
The story......Thursday morning The Bride and me, The Emmer and my mother in law S. flew from Denver to San Jose and then drove to Monterey to the site of the joyful occasion. The event was held at the Monterey Plaza Hotel, an absolutely perfect place for a picture book wedding. It's located on Cannery Row made famous by the book of the same name by John Steinbeck. The weather was perfect, everything went off without a hitch and you now have a his-self that is just full of himself with the warm glow of family and happiness.
The wedding was on Saturday so on Friday the his-self side of the family went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This is a world class facility for sure. We spent 4-5 hours there and just barely scratched the surface of what we could have experienced. With our party were The Bride's, brother's children and they were in kiddie overload with all they could see and touch. The picture to the right shows my niece K, The Emmer and Daddy's Little Girl, CaJenn.
The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring Cannery Row. A couple of weeks ago I did a "Recent Read" post on Steinbecks "Travels With Charley". I now have another Steinbeck book to read..."Cannery Row". The history is fascinating and I'm sure since I've now visited the place, I'll really enjoy the book.
Late Friday afternoon was the rehearsal and it was at this point that everything really sunk in on his-self. I have to admit that I got a bit misty eyed...several times...as I finally faced the happy reality of the event.
The rehearsal dinner was at Latitudes Restaurant at Lover's Point in Pacific Grove. Tell me, could there be any better place for this event than "Lover's Point". My new son's family did themselves proud and we had a memorable evening getting to know everyone in each other's extended family.
Saturday, day was a blur of activity, most of which I was not involved in until the actual ceremony which started at 6 pm. The wedding was held on the plaza over the Bay of Monterey at high tide. Winds were calm with just a little cooling breeze. The bride was as beautiful a woman as I have ever seen and the groom was as made for her as she was for he.
The reception was held at the hotel just inside from the site of the wedding and the new family bonds just continued to grow and get strong.
I do not yet have any really good pictures of the actual wedding or reception to post because I purposefully did not bring my camera. I wanted to enjoy the fullness of the moment and let the professional photographers take care of recording the history. Hopefully in about 3 weeks I will have some great photos to post.
Sunday, the happy new couple departed for their honeymoon on Fiji. I guess they have gotten there by now? I don't even know what or how to say anything about that. It's way out of my league. The Bride and I spent our honeymoon at Hilton Head Island.........My new son has class.
I'll tell you more in the next post.
Thanks for visiting.
There hasn't been much to report about the activities of The Circle lately but this weekend we decided to get together for a picnic dinner and a hike in Roxborough State Park. I guess my post about Checking the Bloom had piqued their interest. Guitar and Pic-E had been there before but K and Too Tall, Two Timing had not and I was anxious to show them this little jewel
Sunday afternoon we all gathered at a picnic area a mile or so outside of the State Park. Strange as it seems this State Park has no facilities for picnicking? Chicken salad, quesadillas, pork and beans, layered green 
salad and margarita pie all washed down with a little bit of Framboise Lambic. My mouth is watering again from just thinking about it. A perfect dinner for the June afternoon of the year. If this is how the rest of June is going to go, I'm really excited.
After a very relaxing outdoor dinner where we all had the chance to catch up on the events of the last couple of weeks, we packed up and headed for Roxborough. I was about 6:30 by this time, cooling off with a nice little breeze....things are really going our way! The park is open until 9pm and I didn't expect that there would be many people there on a Sunday afternoon. I was correct and we pretty well had the place to ourselves.
We decided to take the Fountain Valley Trail. A 2.2 mile loop (hence the post title "Circle for The Circle") which I think gives a good overview of the park. It was also a perfect way to work off the daiquiri pie we has just eaten!
I was surprised at how many more wildflowers had bloomed since I was there just 3 days ago. It's still no where near bloom but things are beginning to "bust out"
About a third of the way into the loop, the ladies who were walking ahead of the men, stopped and pointed ahead. There on the trail was a black fox. Now I've seen a lot of red foxes before but had never seen a black fox. I tried to get a picture but he hopped into the brush before I could. Then as we were talking about how cool that was, he came back out of the brush and stared at us for a few seconds before disappearing again. Seems he was as curious about us as we were of him.
The rest of the hike was much less eventful....thank goodness. That's an odd statement you say? Well, in this case "discretion is the better part of valor". When we got back to the ranger station a little while later, the ranger said that a momma black bear and her cub had been spotted on the trail we were on, just a little bit before we finished the hike.
The ranger also said that he had seen the black fox only once and it is a rare sighting so we felt pretty lucky.
By about 8:30 we were headed home. A great gathering of The Circle with great food, great friends and a most enjoyable nature walk.
Thanks for visiting.
It's starting to get awfully close. #1 daughter, CaJenn, will be getting married a week from Saturday. That's her in the picture above and her husband to be. I have not chosen a moniker for him just yet....Hmm, any suggestions CaJenn??
Both sides of the family are excited and are looking forward to the event. These are two fine young people and we know they will be very happy together.
The Bride and I and The Emmer and The Brides mother "S" will be flying from Denver to San Jose next Thursday. The wedding itself will be in Monterey, CA but San Jose was as close as we could get with a direct flight. From there we will meet up with The Bride's brother and family and drive to Monterey.
I've been pretty successful in putting everything related to the wedding out of my mind and letting the ladies of both families do all the heavy lifting. I can't put it out of my mind any longer and I'm now counting days and having good wishes along with everyone else.
I'm sure there will be many stories to relate about the event in....eleven days!
Thanks for visiting.
What is this? Am I stuck on three days and two nights? I came up short one night again, but the good thing is...So What? Conditions turned less than ideal so I headed home on a Thursday. On the way back into the Denver metro area I saw lots of folks headed up....into the snow. Bound and determined to use all of their Memorial Day weekend come hell or high water, or whatev
er. A smile spread over my face as I headed down into more reasonable weather.
The picture at the top of the post was taken about 5 miles from my campsite at about 9 am this morning. Three days and two nights provided plenty of "decompression", mountain fix, and just plain good times to last for a while. The picture to the right shows what my campsite looked like on Tuesday afternoon...What a great place.
I was about 200' from the lake. One other camper in the small campground. Camping was FREE. Temperature was in the upper 70's. Can it get any better than that?
Well, I was there to find out, because a big activity on my list was fishing. Could I have all of this good stuff and catch fish too? I guess the "his self" mojo was working because I didn't have any problem catching fish. There is a four fish limit on trout at this reservoir and I had that filled within the first hour and a half. Nothing spectacular but plenty of fun with 10-12" rainbow and Snake River cutthroat trout. After I had my limit I continued to fish and release everything I caught. I probably caught 10 or 11 fish that afternoon.
Because it was proving to be so easy, I even bent the barbs down on my hooks to make it more difficult. That solved my problem big time. Once I did that, I still had numerous "fish on" but failed to land a one. Wednesday was not as easy but I still caught my limit and then some when I went back to standard barbed hooks.
All these fish were caught on #2 Mepps spinners. This is a venerable lure, invented in 1938. I have fished with this lure since the late 1950's and it is always the "go to" lure. It will catch fish when everything else fails.
While fishing occupied a lot of time, there was still time for some hiking, reading and plain old "communing with nature".
This morning broke cloudy with numerous rain/snow showers and temps in the 50's. I decided to try a little more fishing in between showers but it proved too uncomfortable...even though I caught two fish inside of 30 minutes. When it started snowing I said enough is enough, packed up and headed down to the Denver area.
Round trip for this excursion was 175 miles. 175 miles and free camping may just get a lot of workout this summer. This is a place I will definitely return to.
I was totally out of contact while I was gone. No cell coverage and absolutely no internet. When I returned I discovered that my father, The Colonel, has had some medical issues that are concerning. He fell an broke his hip on Tuesday and while at the hospital it was discovered that he had pneumonia and some heart issues as well.
Brother #1 will go to Georgia next week to be with him. If need be I will follow in June after my daughter's (Cajenn) wedding. After a good trip, this is a sobering return. It's hard to keep an old Horse Soldier down but the years are making it difficult for him. My thoughts and prayers are with him.
Thanks for visiting.
Traffic jam!!!!!!!!!
