Chilly In Santa Fe

It’s Wednesday and I’m in Santa Fe. While it’s chilly here is way warmer than I’ve had it the last few days. I left home on Monday morning just ahead of heavy rain and wind in the Denver area. I travelled south to Walsenburg, CO and then across La Veta pass and into Alamosa, CO. Just before getting to Alamosa I saw an ugly looking cloud bank ahead of me and by the time I pulled into the Safeway gas station in Alamosa it was snowing  pretty hard. My destination was about 50 miles south of Alamosa but out in the boondocks on a primitive Forest Service road and I thought long and hard about continuing…..but I did.

By the time I had gotten that 50 miles south the snow had disappeared but the primitive dirt road I needed to traverse was very wet and slippery/muddy. My original plan was to go about six miles on this road but I chickened out and after about a mile I pulled off on a flat spot right next to the road. They say that “discretion is the better part of valor” and in this case it saved my butt. On Tuesday morning when I drove the rest of the way to the area I was going to search I realized that if I had gone much further I would have gotten stuck big time. I dodged that bullet but there was no way to dodge the cold and wind. For two days the wind blew at a steady 15-20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Last night the temperature got down to 19 degrees and the high yesterday was about 40.

The wind and temperature made my metal detecting search for remnants of the west fork of the north branch of the Old Spanish Trail somewhat challenging. Besides the wind and cold, digging artifacts was difficult because the ground was frozen until about noon. In spite of the conditions, I had a great time. I only saw two other vehicles in two days. The area I searched is private land and has been used as a cattle stop over until very recent times. That meant that the area was loaded with modern trash. I spent a lot of time digging up tin cans, barbed wire, fence staples and all manner of modern stuff. I didn’t find anything that would date to the 1830-1860 time period but I did find artifacts from the 1880ish time period. The picture below shows a piece of a wood stove with a patent date of 1879. I also found a hand forged  carriage bolt which probably would date to the late 1800’s. On the other end of the spectrum, I found a 1960 penny. So I didn’t find anything in the era I was looking for but in searching for that stuff I found something a lot older.

While on the north side of the property I saw a few prehistoric basalt lithic flakes and thought it was interesting that with all the modern activity in the area there was still evidence of prehistoric natives to be seen. In the afternoon I went to the south side of the property much to my surprise I stumbled on a large prehistoric quarry.

A prehistoric quarry is an area where the ancient natives came and collected rocks that they could shape into tools. In the southwest those rocks can be chert, quartzite, obsidian, jasper or a number of other minerals including basalt. This quarry was a deposit of basalt and covered a very large area. The ground was littered with rocks that had obviously been broken or knapped by man. The ancients didn’t make tools at this site but they obtained the raw material to take with them and at some later point when they needed a tool they would flake off a piece from a “core” and make whatever they needed. From the size of the lithic scatter this site was probably used for thousands of years.

What a great surprise! I spent most of the afternoon wandering around looking at all the scatter and marveling at the fact that some of the stones I picked up were last held by a human being maybe 10,000 years ago!

When I got back to the trailer I tuned in the weather forecast and found out that the temperature was going to get even colder in the next few days…..a low of 9 degrees on Wednesday night.

Long story short, I decided to head south to a lower elevation and warmer temps so this morning I packed up and drove to Santa Fe. I’m staying at the Trailer Ranch RV Resort until Friday morning when I’ll head out to meet up with Guitar somewhere between here and Canyon de Chelly.

Tomorrow I’ll go into old Santa Fe and do some exploring. Tomorrow evening I’m thinking of going to the old La Fonda Hotel because a famous local Western singer is performing in the bar.

Bill Hearne is famous throughout the Southwest and has influenced many country and western performers like Lyle Lovett and Chuck Pyle. I saw him perform once in the Denver area and always wanted to see him perform on his “home ground”. His performance starts at 7:30 and I think I can stretch my normal bed time a bit and see him perform a couple of sets.

There’s still lots of adventure left so check back in a few days.

Thanks for visiting.

Pawnee Campground –Brainard Lake

Another weekend of camping! This brings me to a total of 50 nights spent in my trailer this year so far…and I have at least four more weeks of activities planned between now and October.

The Bride and I left home of Friday morning at about 9 am and headed for Pawnee Campground to meet the rest of The Circle….Too Tall-Two Timing, K., Guitar and Pic-E. This campground is about an hour and a half drive from home and is at about 10,300 feet in elevation. With all the adventures I’ve had so far this year, this is the first time this season that I’ve camped this high and we picked the perfect time to do it! While The Circle camped in 70 degree weather, the Denver area sweltered in 100 degree temps!

It was an adventure to start with. The campsite I chose was listed as a 40 foot back-in site. Plenty of room for both my trailer and truck….if you could get into it! What the description didn’t say was that the access road was a very narrow rough dirt road with ditches on both sides and the area was heavily forested. To make a long story short, it took me about an hour to get the trailer into the site and once I was in, I was wedged between two trees both less than two feet from either side of the trailer.

In the picture above you can see the tree close to the door side of the trailer. I had to climb on the trailer roof and cut some of the branches off of the tree to keep it from damaging the roof.

After that adventure I was ready to chill for the rest of the weekend and we did just that. We had two days of pleasant weather, good food and good friends. The campground itself was peaceful but the surrounding area was crawling with folks from the front range getting away from the heat. It was so crowded that the park rangers were limiting the number of people coming in and when we left on Sunday morning we saw them allowing one vehicle in for every vehicle coming out.

It was stunning scenery but there were probably as many people on the trails as at the mall here in town. A little too “peoplefied” for my tastes.

I now have a break of about two weeks with no out of town adventures and then I’m off to Twin Lakes, CO for a Passport In Time project. This project will be an archaeological survey looking for prehistoric Indian sites east of the Arkansas River. There have been numerous reports of tepee rings, lithic scatters and other evidence of prehistoric occupation but the Forest Service has never done an official survey of the area. It will be fun and an adventure!

The week after that I’m off to Wyoming for another PIT, this time using a metal detector to find evidence of the Cherokee Trail. And the week after that I’m back close to home at Guanella Pass doing another archaeological survey with the Forest Service.

I have applied for three more Passport In Time projects in September and October that I have not heard anything about yet….and The Bride and I will spend a week camping in the Black Hills of South Dakota in September so the adventures definitely will continue.

Thanks for visiting.

The Adventures Continue

It’s been a while since my last post but that doesn’t mean that “his-self” has been bored or lonely. One of the reasons for the lack of posting is that I’ve just been having too much fun to sit down at the computer. This post is being typed in my trailer which is parked in Lathrop State Park in Walsenburg, CO….but more about that later.

Last weekend we three couples of The Circle had a 4th of July camping outing at Mueller State Park just to the west of Colorado Springs and on the north side of Pikes Peak. The Circle socializes a lot while we are in the Denver area but because of our diverse schedules, we don’t get to camp out together all that much so this weekend was a treat. It was a great weekend with liberal amounts of sightseeing, relaxing, group dining, laughter and fun. To add to the fun, Jamie and Betsy (part of Guitar’s extended family) joined us.

On Saturday we took a tour of the mining gold camps in the area. The picture at the top of this post was taken in the historic mining town of Victor, CO…birthplace of Lowell Thomas. For all you whippersnappers out there, Lowell Thomas was a very famous news reporter in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Victor is also the home of some of the most famous gold mines in the United States. The Independence, the Cresson, the Gold Coin and pictured just to the left of the American flag above, the Portland. At it’s peak in about 1902 Victor had a population of about 17,500. Today the population is about 400 and it looks more like a ghost town than lively bustling mining town.

There is one active mine left in town and it is just over the hill from the Portland Mine in the picture above. The Portland represents the old hard rock mining of the past. The new mining is open pit mining and while I understand the necessity of this approach to mining it sure is a shame to see what happens to a mountain when gold is mined in this way.

To give you an idea of the scale of this type of mining look at the picture on the right. The dot that the black arrow is pointing to is a pickup truck!

The weather for our outing was just perfect with the exception of one night when all hell broke loose. We had just finished dinner outside at the picnic table when and evening shower commenced. The shower rapidly got ugly and it rained, hailed, thundered and lightninged, blew and every other thing for about two hours. At one point we had about an inch of hail on the ground and my trailer awning nearly collapsed. Since the entire group was eating outside my trailer we all rode out the storm in my trailer….all eight adults and five dogs! It was a might cramped but we all had fun as you can see by the picture to the left.

On Monday morning we had our traditional group breakfast…with Mimosas, before breaking up and returning home.

Now about my current location. I left the Denver area this morning (Friday, 7/9) and headed south to the little town of  Walsenburg. Tomorrow morning I’ll be meeting up with a number of people who are all members of the Pike’s Peak Adventure League (I’m a member too.) This is a metal detecting club based in Colorado Springs. About once a month during the good weather months they have an outing. Tomorrow we will be going to metal detect at an old coal camp site that is located on private land. This area of Colorado had numerous coal camps to supply fuel for the railroads and other industry from the 1890’s until the 1930’s and later. This will be my first outing with the group so I’m not sure what to expect, but it should be interesting. The person who set up the outing informed us that we would be in rattlesnake country so I have come with snake gaiters for my legs and I’ll be carrying a  .38 caliber pistol loaded with snake shot! Hopefully my next report will tell you about all the cool artifacts we dug up…and the lack of snake activity so stay tuned.

I’ve also been selected for two more Forest Service Passport In Time adventures which I’ll tell you more about after I get home next week.

Thanks for visiting.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It’s Tuesday (6/15) morning and I’m seeing the sun for the first time since I left Denver on Sunday morning. I’m camped at Ft. Robinson State Park just outside Crawford, NE. The drive up on Sunday was tiring to say the least. The first 100 miles was on Interstate 25 to Cheyenne, WY. That part wasn’t too bad but splash back by passing cars meant I had to “drive” the whole way. There was no opportunity to  relax and enjoy the scenery.

Once off I-25 it was a series of increasingly smaller highways and unfortunately the further north and east I got, the harder the rain came down. I made it to Ft. Robinson at about 3pm and I was more than ready to stop. The camping gods didn’t give me a break by slowing down the rain after I arrived so I got pretty soaked while unhooking the trailer. On the drive up here I kept remembering the description of the route into the Hudson-Meng PIT site. “Narrow dirt road that can become treacherous or impassible in wet weather”. This might prove to be interesting!

Yesterday the weather was a bit better…it wasn’t pouring, but it was still drizzling off and on. I decided to drive into Hudson-Meng site in the truck to see what the road was like. It’s about 4 miles from the campground to the dirt road and then it’s about 14 miles of dirt road.

When I hit the first portion of the dirt road I thought that it wasn’t going to be a problem. It was a county road, well graded and maintained and a semi-gravel surface. After about 4 or 5 miles of that, I hit a Forest Service road and things got ugly quick. The road was not built up above the surrounding area and consequently had very poor drainage. It also had no gravel surfacing and there was a fair amount of clay in the soil. All of that resulted in a gooey, slimy, slippery mess. I had the truck in four wheel drive and I was still slipping and sliding. A couple of times I almost gave up and turned around but I pressed on and in about another four miles the road got better. The rest of the way into the site was decent, not great but passable.

When I first arrived at the site I didn’t see any sign of human activity except for two cars parked in the parking lot. I thought that maybe the project had been cancelled and they forgot to tell me. I walked towards the two cars and as I did I came to the crest of a small hill and then saw 8 or 10 small tents, a small Casita trailer and two field tents.

I found the project leader hunkered down in one of the field tents. He said that they hadn’t gotten a whole lot accomplished because of the rain but were hoping that the weather would improve this week. He said there were about 18 people working as volunteers on the project and most were archaeology students from Minnesota. He also said that Tuesday (today) was a day he planned for a field trip to some local sites.

After some discussion I decided that I would stay at Ft. Robinson for at least two more nights in the hopes that weather would improve and the roads would dry out. I will meet the group in Crawford in about an hour and go with them on the field trip. Tomorrow morning I’ll drive into the site for the day. If the roads are dry enough to allow my 12,000 lb trailer to pass over them, I’ll drive it in on Thursday morning. More to come.

Thanks for visiting.

Two Week Road Trip

I will be headed out first thing Sunday morning for two weeks of travel and adventure. I’m headed first to the Hudson-Meng Archaeological Site in the Nebraska National Forest. This site is about 20 miles north of Crawford, Nebraska. My plan is to drive from the Denver area up through Cheyenne, Torrington and Van Tassel, WY and then head east on US 20 to Fort Robinson State Park where I’ll spend the night. Monday morning I’ll tour the historical park and then head for the Passport In Time project. The site is relatively remote so I don’t think I’ll be able to post any updates until at least Sunday 6/20 when I’ll head out. Right now the weather forecast is pretty good for that area with temps in the high 70’s at a max. That is great because this project involves excavation and that’s just like you see on TV, a lot of kneeling and brushing away minute amounts of dirt to reveal bison bones or stone age tools.

On Sunday I’ll drive from the project north along US 385 to Hill City, SD and spend the night at a commercial RV park so I can dump my waste tanks and take on fresh water before going to the next PIT project which will be about 15 miles from my overnight stay in Hill City in the lovely Black Hills National Forest. This project is also pretty remote and there will be no internet connection and most likely not even any cell phone reception.

When I complete this project on Friday afternoon, I’ll get to meet up with Too Tall – Two Timing and his bride K who will be staying at an RV Resort just south of Hill City. They will be in the area for about a week taking in all the sights and there are a ton of things to do and see in the area. Check it out here. We should have a great mini Circle The Wagons night and once again I’ll get the opportunity to dump my waste tanks and take a nice long shower!

I brought the trailer home yesterday and began cleaning and loading it for the trip. While shuttling between the house and the trailer I heard the low powerful roar of a piston airplane engine. Looking up I saw a vintage B17G Flying Fortress fly right over the house. This plane visits the Denver area at least once a year and is available for ground tours and if you want to fork over about $400 you can take a 15-20 flight in it. I kept an eye out all the rest of the day hoping I would see it again and get a picture of it but only spotted it one more time at a distance. I’ll bet today, being a Friday, I’ll see it more.

This will most likely be my last post for about a week, but stay tuned….adventure ahead!

Thanks for visiting.

John Martin State Park & Plover Patrol (5/19/2010)

I left the Denver metro area Tuesday morning and headed for southeast Colorado. John Martin State Park to be exact. The park is about 20 miles east of Las Animas, CO and what that means is that I don’t have a whole lot further to drive to get to Kansas, if I want to.

I arrived in early afternoon and was told that I could take the Camp Host site which is nice because it’s the only site with both electric and water in the entire campground. The Host has not taken up residence yet for the summer season. The campground sits right below the dam for the reservoir and it’s an eerie feeling to look up from a camping spot and realize that there is almost 100 feet of water just on the other side of that wall…over your head.

More eerie things happened as the evening approached. First the wind started absolutely ripping through the campground. My trailer was really rockin & rollin! At about 6:30 pm one of the park rangers came by and said that there was a storm 20 miles to the west with a potential tornado in it and everyone in the campground needed to go to the restroom/shower building for safety. For the next two hours the few campers in the campground stood around the restrooms looking at the sky and listening to the park ranger’s radio. Luck was with us as we got wind but nothing else. We could see that about a half mile north of the campground they were getting rain/hail/lightning but fortunately the tornado did not appear. The wind continued until after 9 pm before it finally quieted down for the evening.

At about 5 am this morning the wind started again and it rained…..poured, for about four hours. My Plover Patrol was not starting out very well! At about 10 am the local Division of Wildlife biologist showed up at my trailer and without much ado we headed out to survey the Plover Nesting sites.


Before I go any further I need to clarify exactly which Plover I’ll be patrolling this week. In previous posts I have called it the Mountain Plover…Wrong. On arriving here I was informed that the bird of interest is the Piping Plover. This bird is classified in The Sibley Field Guide to Birds as “rare” and listed by both the Federal Government and Colorado as “Threatened”.

As we drove to the first site, the biologist told me that there are only 12 confirmed Piping Plovers in Colorado. The total US population of this species is only about 2500 birds.  All of the Colorado Piping Plovers are right here in this small area of the state. Of the twelve that are known to be in Colorado, I saw six this morning in between rain showers. I wasn’t able to get a picture of one of them this morning because of the weather but hopefully sometime in the next couple of days I’ll get a good picture to post.

All of the nesting sites have been cordoned off by the biologist but “fun seekers” plying the waters of the reservoir have been disregarding the signs and ropes and have picnicked and camped in these areas. My job over the next few days will be to visit these sites several times a day. If I see any human activity I’m supposed to contact the local DOW enforcement officer by phone and not approach or even speak to the people violating the restricted area. In between my visit times I’m free to do whatever I want and I have a list of some local places I’d like to visit so hopefully there’s more adventure to come.

Thanks for visiting.

Another Passport In Time Project!

I received an email today telling me that I was chosen for another Forest Service Passport In Time (PIT) project! This one is in South Dakota and involves restoration of an old gold mine and mill.  The project actually lasts for two weeks but I signed up for the week of June 21-25.
This will be my seventh PIT project and will be the furthest I’ve ever travelled to get to one. The project is located about 35 miles south west of Rapid City SD and it will take me two days to get to the project site.  I’m already looking at the calendar and trying to figure out if I can add several days to the trip so that I can take in some of the other attractions in the area.
There will be plenty of adventures this summer!
Here’s the official write up for the project.

Black Hills NF

Gold Mountain Mine & Mill Restoration Project, Phase II

June 14-18; 21-25
Must commit to one full session; may participate in both
Please join us in the beautiful high country of the Black Hills for the second year of the Gold Mountain Mine and Mill restoration! The mill served the historic Gold Mountain Mine during the "Gold Rush" of 1875, and is the last "living" ore-processing mill on the Black Hills National Forest. The structure is one of many that stood here during a prosperous period of the gold-mining industry in the region. The wood frame of the mill still retains many of its original features, including its ore crusher, ore shoots, and distribution gates. Today, little else remains beyond the mill and its associated features, and the area's history is quickly slipping away. However, in 2007, the Forest Service and local volunteers began to explore plans to restore and preserve this unique site. In June of 2009, the plans became action. Phase I of our project consisted of a detailed survey to fully record the site and its features and preliminary restoration of the mill frame. Additionally, volunteers removed overhead hazards and emptied an estimated 12 tons of ore and debris from the mill, and planning crews began efforts to interpret the site for visitors.
During Phase II, we will continue to restore the mill structure and develop means for the site's interpretation. Restoration will focus on the mill-frame structure. The surviving original components will be removed, treated, repaired, and replaced using power and hand tools, though we will also bring in heavier equipment, such as cranes and bobcat tractors. Simultaneously, those assigned to interpretive crews will do historic research, develop trail plans, and design signage and other displays. This area of the Black Hills offers many popular attractions and boasts some of the best scenery to be found, and early summer here features warm days and cool nights, perfect for enjoying yourself around a camp fire! So, whether you're back for year two or will join us for the first time, we look forward to seeing you in June!
Number of openings: 20 (10 per session)
Special skills: Participants must have an interest in learning! Construction, carpentry, woodworking, art, and/or research skills helpful, but not required
Minimum age: 18 years old
Facilities: Tent and RV camping at no charge at nearby FS campgrounds; drinking water, toilets, no hookups; private campgrounds available nearby; facilities vary with campgrounds and may or may not include pit toilets, water, and/or RV spaces/hookups; reservations recommended; Hill City, Custer, and Rapid City are full-service communities with hotels/motels, restaurants, and a full range of other amenities; volunteers responsible for personal camping equipment, food, and transportation
Nearest town: Hill City, 5 miles; Custer, 20 miles; Rapid City, 35 miles

In a couple of hours I’m off to Chatfield State Park for a Circle the Wagons get together. Check back in a couple of days for a report!
Thanks for visiting.

Same Ole Same Ole

So we got 12-15” of snow early in the week and then we had two days of nice weather (high 50’s). Time for another storm! This one is not supposed to be as bad but the weather shamans are saying I may be looking at 5-10” on the ground by tomorrow morning. I hope they’re wrong this time because I haven’t gotten the parts for my snow blower yet and anything that ends up in the driveway will have to be dealt with manually.

While I don’t really mind the winters here or the snow, this time of year it’s hard because of the teasing that Mother Nature does. It would be one thing if it were just crappy weather all month long but the Spring weather that is wedged between the frequent storms gets my hopes up that it will be an early end to the snow and it will be RV season again.

Hopefully, this storm will be the last of any consequence because The Circle is planning on a Circle The Wagons camping trip in three weeks. This will be a local camp out at Chatfield State Park which is only a couple of miles from here…..about 8 miles to be exact.

The picture at the top of the post is a shot from the roof of my trailer “Bivouac”. It not only shows some of the snow left from the last storm but It shows the new wiring job on my solar panel. The original wiring was located under the panel and went through the roof and towards the back of the trailer. This new wiring goes to the front of the trailer and down the plumbing vent stack in the middle front of the roof.

The picture to the right shows the new Tristar TS45 Solar Controller installed in the basement storage area. The battery compartment is behind the wall to the left of the controller and the red “knob” on the left of the picture is a Perko battery cutoff switch that allows me to shut off or disconnect the batteries when the trailer is stored. That prevents the batteries from being completely discharged by things like the fire and CO2 alarms that cannot be turned off inside the trailer. 

Finally the picture to the left shows the remote meter that is installed inside the trailer. This digital display tells me all sorts of information about the charge state of the batteries, how much charge the solar panel is providing to the batteries and how much electricity is being used by all the electric things inside the trailer. It will also track this information over time. Cool stuff!

I expect that to be able to boondock for extended periods I’ll need at least one more solar panel but before I spend the money for that I will spend some time testing out the one panel system. The good news is that there is plenty of room on the roof for several more panels and it’s simple to add panels to the base system I now have.

Thanks for visiting.

A Typical March In Colorado

It was in the 70’s two days ago and even yesterday morning was pleasant. Yesterday afternoon however a storm blew in and for much of the evening it was blizzard conditions here. By the time it all ended at mid day today we had 10-15” of wet, heavy snow on the ground.

How do I know it was “heavy”? Well about 3/4 of the way through snow blowing the driveway the snow blower quit. Not the motor but the wheels and the auger. Seems as if there is a little  $0.50 plastic piece that keeps the control cables for the wheel drive and auger in the exact spot it needs to be to have the proper tension to work…..that broke.

That unfortunate breakage meant that I had to do the rest of the job manually. I haven’t done that in a while and the last time I did do it, the snow was our standard Colorado champagne powder which is exceedingly light and easy to move…if it’s not 3 feet deep.

My normal thorough and neat job….wasn’t today. I did the bare minimum to get by and I still think I’ll be a little sore tomorrow morning.

Now back to the snow blower. I pulled out the parts diagram and called Sears to see about ordering a replacement. The good news is that I can. The bad news is I can’t just get the $0.50 part but have to buy $30.00 worth of other parts to get that tiny little plastic part! While I’m pretty peeved about that there was no doubt in my mind that I would spend that much if I had to to get the snow blower back in operation. Before I called the parts center I checked all the miscellaneous junk I have in the basement trying to figure a way to jerry rig a fix and to my disappointment could not come up with a plan. So Sears has now got my $30.

The roads were so bad around here this morning that I decided to drive The Emmer to work. I’m glad I did because it was pretty slick at 5:30 am. Heavy wet snow is a different driving experience than champagne powder and The Emmer doesn’t have experience in the heavy wet stuff. The snow stopped and the sun came out right about noon and as of now (3pm) the main streets are clear and dry. Some of the side streets have a bit of snow left but that’s melting fast.

I mentioned that the weather yesterday morning was fair and pleasant and it was. I decided to go down to the RV storage lot and check the progress on the solar system upgrades I mentioned in my last post. They were just in process of finishing the last part of the job and everything looks great. I’ll report more on that at a later date.

The other reason for going to the RV lot was to replace some of the light bulbs in the trailer. I’ve got quite a few lights in this trailer and while that’s a good thing for being able to see, the light bulbs use a lot of power and put out a lot of heat. I’ve been investigating the possibility of replacing the incandescent and halogen bulbs with LED light sources. LED bulbs use very little power, produce almost no heat and last a very long time.

The picture to the right is one of the LEDs that I used. It goes in a recessed light fixture and produces almost the same amount of light as the halogen bulb that is currently in the fixture. It’s a simple swap out of bulbs so it’s an easy project.

I replaced four bulbs yesterday and if I’m happy with them I will replace all the rest of the bulbs both inside and outside the trailer with LEDs.

Thanks for visiting.

Waiting For Spring

Not much to report this week. We are now in the swing weather period here on the front range of the Rockies. We had a little snow on Sunday and today the high will be around 70. Friday night another cold system moves in and there is a chance of a lot of snow with lows in the teens on Saturday. While I enjoy the days of good weather it’s tough to be teased with a touch of spring, knowing that things are still pretty iffy weather wise for an RV trip….that is unless I want to head to Arizona again.

Because the weather was so nice today, I went down to the RV lot and installed two vent covers on Bivouac. I bought these covers over a month ago but just haven’t gotten around to installing them. These covers allow you to open the roof vents when it’s raining and not get water inside the rig. I have installed covers like these on every RV I have owned and they are well worth the money and effort to install.

While at the lot I made arrangements with the service department to do some work on my solar system. The trailer came with one 100w solar panel and a solar controller to convert the energy from the panel to 12v electricity and then charge the two marine batteries that power the lights, run the fan to the heater and move the slides in and out when I’m not hooked up to shore power. Unfortunately, the manufacturer of the trailer is not an expert in solar power and the system really was sub-par because of the type of solar controller that was used and the distance of the controller to the batteries.

Over the last few months I have read a lot about solar power for RVs and decided to redesign and upgrade my system. I bought a new solar controller and a couple of accessories that will make it even more efficient and figured out a way that I could position the controller just a foot or so away from the batteries. The current controller is about 25 feet away from the batteries and in solar power, distance is an enemy. I will also install much heavier wire than the factory installed wire. All of this should mean that my one solar panel will be much more efficient and should keep my two batteries fully charged most of the time. My ultimate plan is to add one or two more panels later on.

On the adventure front….not much is happening right now but I’m arranging for some adventures when the weather turns. The latest is a couple of projects for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The first will be pretty mundane but it will offer me a chance to see a state wildlife area I have never been to before. I have volunteered to help clean up the Bosque del Oso Wildlife Area in late April. This 30,000 acre wildlife area is about 40 miles west of Trinidad, CO. I’m sure we won’t get to all 30,000 acres and will probably concentrate on the parking areas. My plan is to go down a day or so early and explore the area.

The second project will happen in the middle of May. I have signed up to help patrol the Mountain Plover nesting area at John Martin Reservoir in southeast Colorado. May is nesting time for the Mountain Plover and they build their nests on the ground in the sand around lakes and ponds. While they are not endangered by government definition, their numbers have declined seriously. John Martin Reservoir is a popular State Park and visitors to the park can disrupt the nesting activity so my job will be to interact with visitors to the park and explain why they can’t go into the nesting areas. I have committed to a week for this project and the Division of Wildlife will provide me with a camping spot with power and water hookups. Sounds like fun and I’m looking forward to it.

Thanks for visiting.

Tripping The Light Fantastic – NOT!

I had my foot surgery…or more correctly my toe surgery yesterday. My little toe on the right foot is now somewhat shorter than it was yesterday at this time. It’s hard to believe because it feels like it’s about the size of a dump truck! The fourth toe is a bit skinnier too but feels like a sumo wrestler. The doctor assured me that the shorter toe would not cause me to walk in circles but she did say that walking of any type for the next couple of days might cause me to fall on my face and writhe in pain. Judging from the way I feel this morning I believe her.

So, I’m ensconced on an easy chair in my bedroom with the computer in my lap, surrounded by books, remotes for music and tv, and a large bottle of vicoden. I Will Survive….(a great golden oldie from 1978).

To pass the time I’ve been working on plans for the maiden voyage of my new trailer. That will hopefully occur in about two weeks. My original plans were to do a big loop from here down through southern New Mexico across to the Tucson, AZ area, up to Flagstaff and back across northern AZ and NM to I-25 and then north to home. Part of the plan was to have The Bride fly in somewhere for a few days too. We did a similar trip last year and really had fun. Last year The Bride and Pic-E flew into Tucson to meet up with Guitar and myself. This year The Bride wants to see the Sedona and Prescott area.

After looking every which way at the map, I decided to scrap the big loop plan and go with a much smaller loop that would eliminate southern NM and AZ. Right now the first half of the loop is looking like this….

Leave Denver area and spend the first night in either Las Vegas, NM or Albuquerque. Then travelling to/through, Acoma Pueblo, El Malpais National Monument, El Morro National Monument, Gallup, NM, Window Rock, AZ, Canyon De Chelly National Monument, the three Hopi Mesas and down to Flagstaff where I’ll meet The Bride. From there we’ll spend two nights at the Grand Canyon and a night or two each in Sedona and Prescott before dropping The Bride off at the airport in Flagstaff for her trip home. I haven’t decided exactly how I’ll make my way home yet but I’ve got plenty of time in the next couple of weeks to research it. I would love to go north of Flagstaff through Monument Valley and the four corners area but seeing as how this will be in February, the weather could be an issue.

In other camping news we’ve made plans for two Circle The Wagons weekends with The Circle. The first on the July 4th weekend, we’ll all get together at Mueller State Park. This is a gorgeous facility not too far from Cripple Creek, CO. The Bride and I have camped here before. In fact, the picture on the left margin of this blog entitled “Training for Retirement” was taken at this park. The second event will be the third weekend in July at Pawnee campground in the area of Nederland, CO. I’ve never camped at this campground before but it is rated as one of the top 100 campgrounds in the state with five star views of the mountains and a beautiful alpine lake. The campground is at 10,400 altitude so it will be a break from the July summer doldrums along the front range.

My toes tell me it’s time for a little medication so I’ll end this here. Stay tuned for more.

Thanks for visiting.

Not Feeling Like A Motherless Child Anymore!

My new Arctic Fox fifth wheel was delivered to the dealer in Colorado Springs on Friday so first thing yesterday morning I drove down there to look at it. Due to the Christmas holidays I won’t be able to actually take possession of it until the 29th. The outside has not been cleaned up yet from it’s trip from Oregon and it shows. Apparently it went through a pretty good snow storm in Wyoming and it looks pretty grungy but the dealer promised it would look perfect when I come to pick it up. The dealer has started his inspection and prep and during the initial inspection found that the kitchen faucet had a small leak. He was unable to fix it so he has ordered a new faucet from the factory.

One of the reasons I drove down there yesterday was to give the dealer the “capture plate” that must be installed on the pin box of the trailer before I can tow it with my SuperGlide hitch. After talking with the dealer for a while I spent about a half hour just sitting inside the trailer dreaming of the trips I will begin to take in it starting in February. I have managed to keep my enthusiasm in check up till now but now that it’s actually here I am “overflowing”!

I brought all of the manuals for the different appliances and features of the trailer home with me so my task today is to go through them and read them.

I spoke with The Bride this morning. They didn’t get as much snow and ice as was predicted but it’s still pretty dicey there. While we were talking I checked online for her flights….she flies from Greensboro, NC to Washington Dulles, to Denver. Both flights are still showing on-time but Washington Dulles is starting to report short delays. She will lay over in Washington Dulles for about four hours and leave there around 8pm so hopefully things will have cleared up by then.

Thanks for visiting.

Brrrrr…..

Last week I had a post with the title “Fall Has Fallen”. Well in the last couple of days it had done more than that, it has turned to winter!

On Thursday I decided to take my new truck and drive it to Colorado Springs to look at an Arctic Fox fifth wheel camper. The day was cloudy and chilly. By the time I got down to the Springs the temps had sunk to 30 degrees and there were periods of light snow.

The trailer was very nice. About 28 feet long and a quality build. It was a true four season trailer as it had upgraded insulation, thermo-pane windows and heating blankets for the waste tanks to keep them from freezing. On the down side there wasn’t a whole lot of storage area. A lot of the basement area normally used for storage was taken up by an onboard propane generator, something I don’t need since I have a little portable Honda generator. After looking at the trailer I decided to do something I had been thinking about for several years.

I went to high school in Colorado Springs in the early 60’s. My Dad, The Colonel, was stationed at NORAD at the time. I started at Wasson High School in 1962 and graduated in 1965. Two weeks after graduation the family moved to Ft. Benning, GA and I have never been back to the school for reunions or even just to look. This day I decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit the high school I graduated from 44 years ago.

I wasn’t sure I would be allowed to even look as a lot of schools these days have pretty tight security. I was surprised when after explaining what I wanted to do in the school office they said, no problem, just sign in and help yourself. Their one caution was to make sure I didn’t get trampled when the bell sounded for the period change! Some things never change.

I spent about a half hour wandering around and was amazed I remembered as much as I did. Wasson HS was opened in 1960 so it was very new when I attended. At the time it was “state of the art” with a great auditorium/theater, state of the art labs, several gyms, a pool, and other amenities that made it THE place to be when I attended. It’s now 50 years old but it has been well taken care of. I don’t have the connection to the high school that I do to my college alma mater but I’m still glad I went to visit. It brought back some pleasant memories.

Saturday The Bride and I had a number of chores to do including checking out a kennel that we were thinking of leaving Molly Dog at when we take our cruise and driving up to Ft. Collins to retrieve my little Suzuki that I left at the dealership when I bought the truck last week. Along the way we also stopped to look at some more trailers.

The weather had turned even more wintery on Friday night with some snow and ice on the roads. We probably saw 20 accidents on the interstate between the south side of Denver and Ft. Collins. At one point I was reconsidering driving up to Ft. Collins and just waiting until Sunday but I pressed on. We arrived in Ft. Collins about noon, picked up the car and had lunch at a local Olive Garden. By the time we headed back to Denver the roads had returned to normal.

This week I’m planning on visiting a few more RV places to continue the hunt for a fifth wheel. On Friday, The Bride and I are leaving town for Keystone, CO, a ski resort about half way between Denver and Vail. We have reservations at the Ski Tip Lodge for the weekend. In addition to being a great place to stay, they have a very nice restaurant in the lodge. We are both looking forward to it.

Thanks for visiting.

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

Especially on days like today. Today, for the first time in many years I do not own an RV. That’s right, last night I sold my Holiday Rambler Class A RV in preparation for getting a fifth wheel trailer. The timing isn’t exactly what I would like it to be but in the world of buying and selling RVs you kind of have to go with the flow.

Because of the economy, I thought it might take a while to sell my RV and I really didn’t want to “trade it in” when buying my new rig. Trade in values on RV are notoriously low, so, I decided to try to sell it through craigslist. I did my homework and priced it fairly but aggressively on Wednesday.

I got a couple of calls and emails on Thursday but nothing that I thought would turn out as a sale. Friday morning I got a number of calls and had one couple look at it at about noon time. At about 2 pm the same couple called again and asked if they could see it again with their son. About the time they arrived for the second viewing, I got a call from a man with whom I had traded several emails earlier in the day.  When I told him I had to call him back because some was looking at it right then, he offered to buy it sight unseen…he would drive about 50 miles after he got off work and pay for it in cash and drive it home! I accepted his offer and went to tell the people that were then looking at the rig. Before I could tell them I sold it, they said that they had decided that they would buy it.

Early in my work a day career I was a salesman and it was music to my ears to hear someone say they wanted to buy what I was selling. Telling someone that I couldn’t sell them what I had and what they wanted is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me….but I only had one RV.

The guy on the phone was true to his word and appeared at my doorstep at about 8:30 pm with his wife. He did a brief inspection….in the dark, with a flashlight on the outside and a little closer inspection on the inside..with lights. He said it was as advertised and handed me cash money!

So, here I sit, RV-less, without a truck to pull the fifth wheel that I have yet to buy. I guess this is a better condition to be in that to have the truck, fifth wheel and my old RV and not be able to sell the old RV.

I only had this RV for about two years but I certainly used it and enjoyed it. I figure that I slept in that RV around 100 nights over that time. I summit-ed just about every major pass in Colorado with it and travelled a lot of back roads in New Mexico and Arizona sitting in it’s driver’s seat.

So now the pressure is on to find a replacement to take me to new adventures. Before I leave this chapter however, I’d like to echo that old trail song of yore….Goodbye Old Paint ! Here’s some more pictures of good times had…

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting.

Goodbye Bivouac

Man, life is good!!

Two posts ago I reported that I have acquired a "new to me" Class A RV. I also own a 25 foot travel trailer. Now, this is a bit of an overkill in the RV department so it was always my intention to sell "Bivouac" after I found a suitable replacement.

Selling an RV of any type can be a hit or miss kind of a thing. You just never know. There are a lot dynamics to the marketplace and now with gas prices high it's an even more "iffy" market. I will admit that I had some concerns.

After completing the deal for the new RV however, I was committed, so late Thursday afternoon, I listed Bivouac on Craigslist. Friday morning I got one call inquiring about the trailer and made an appointment to show it on Saturday morning. That's the only call I got all Friday and Saturday so I was not feeling all that confident about my prospects.

Showing the trailer to a prospective buyer involves a fair amount of work as I have to bring it from the storage facility to my home, extend the slide out, hook up power and do all the other things to make it presentable. The neighborhood I live in does not allow me to keep a trailer on the street more than 3 days at a time so I could spend a lot of time and effort dragging the trailer back and forth to the storage lot.

The title of this post is "Goodbye Bivouac" so you kinda know how things turned out. The first and only interested party in two days showed up promptly for the appointment and within 15 minutes made an offer to buy Bivouac. The offer was fair and very close to what I listed the trailer for so it was a done deal!....Well, it will be a done deal on Tuesday when money changes hands and I hand him the title.

Man, life is good!!

Thanks for visiting.

Busy, Busy, Busy

This retirement stuff can keep you pretty busy. This is the first week since my retirement that I really considered myself "retired". In my former work a day life, I normally took whatever vacation time I had left for the year during the Christmas, New Years period. With a lot of other people on vacation too, I really didn't feel seriously retired till the beginning of this week.

I have managed to clear a few things off my "to do" list around the house but the list is long enough and dynamic enough that I cannot foresee my ever eliminating it completely. My daily routine once again includes exercise....and to top it all off I have been taking it upon myself to do a lot of cooking around the house.

I have been able to sleep about a half hour longer on some days, but most of the time my body clock still gets me up pretty early. The picture above was taken a few days ago on a particularly fine morning. The wind mill is from the original ranch on which my housing development sits. Makes for a nice picture...

Right now I am limiting my cooking adventure to crock pot dishes. I figure once I get comfortable with that I'll expand into other things. So far I've done some pretty decent hearty soups, a Basque style chicken stew and tonight I'm working on a lamb stew.

On Wednesday I needed to take my trailer, Bivouac to an RV dealer to take care of a safety recall related to the propane refrigerator. Driving it there to get the work done ignited a small bit of road fever. It felt darned good just to be towing it anywhere, although I wished the direction of the tow could have been south towards New Mexico. I have a trip all laid out that will take me from here to Carlsbad, NM over about a two week period as soon as the weather breaks a bit. More on that in a future post.

Last night Guitar, Pic-E, The Bride and I went to the RV show downtown. K and Too Tall-Two Timing were supposed to accompany us but Too Tall has come down with the very nasty cold that seems to be making the rounds. I have been to the event several times and I always enjoy seeing what's available, even if I can't afford most of it. In past years I have gone either on a Friday or Saturday afternoon and it was somewhat of a hassle because of the size of the crowds...It gets a little cramped when 15 people try to get into the same RV at one time, regardless of the size of the RV. I've gotta tell you that Thursday night is the time to visit this one if you don't like crowds! What a great time. Everything was fully open but there were very few people.

We spent about two hours looking and dreaming and then decided to get some dinner. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company has opened up just about across the street from the convention center so we decided to give it a try. For Denver...not bad. Guitar and I both had a bucket of peel your own shrimp. This is a favorite of mine from way back when I lived in Savannah, GA and would catch my own shrimp and eat them this way. A good time was had by all.

Today, Guitar and I are headed for the Cowboy Poetry Roundup. I'll post later about how that goes. Also tomorrow we are planning on going to the National Western Stock Show. If Too Tall-Two Timing is not feeling up to it we may just wait until next week but check back soon to see.

Because of the Stock Show, many buildings downtown have not taken down their holiday lights. I tried to get a picture of a few of the buildings with The Brides new digital camera but only one turned out ok...that the one above.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Birthday K and BRRRRRR

Saturday afternoon The Bride and I left the Spanish Market and Rendezvous and headed back to the Dory Hill campground for another night of festivities. Not only was this the very first "Circle The Wagons" outing but it was also K's birthday so a celebration was definitely in order!

We got to the campground right around 4 pm. The campground is at 9200' elevation and with a little cloud cover that came in late in the day it was starting to get a little chilly. Time for a fire! There's nothing like a campfire for a little camp ambiance and to foster fellowship.

I'm not sure what the womenfolk talked about but us guys were into subjects like grey water tank capacities, battery life and all sorts of other trailer related subjects. The dogs, Rocket, Woodrow (in the picture) and Katie just made themselves at home.

After conversation and libations it was time to start the feast. This night it was steak on the grill, expertly cooked by Guitar, crab stuffed mushrooms, potatoes and green beans. A very nice bottle or two of red wine made everything even more special.

With dinner finished it was time to honor K with birthday gifts. Pic-E's birthday was a couple of weeks ago so we honored her as well. The festivities went on for some time and we moved out of doors again to huddle around the fire as we burned the last of the wood we brought. Dang, it was getting downright chilly so we decided to call it a night.

Sometime during the night I woke to what seemed like someone trying to move the trailer somewhere? After a couple of seconds I realized that the wind was howling like a banshee and Bivouac was doing an imitation of my old fishing boat.....rocking, and not so gently, back and forth. The Bride woke up too. This was not a quickly passing event and it kept up and kept up. I managed to go back to sleep although I would wake up every now and again as a particularly strong gust hit the trailer.

Finally early Sunday morning things quieted down and then the heat started coming on in the trailer. I got up at about 7 am (late for me), started the coffee and opened the blinds. The picture to the left shows what greeted me....22 degrees! It was COLD!

Not only was it cold but the outside, city water line was frozen so I had to unhook that and go to the onboard water system.

When I went outside to unhook the city water I noticed that all of the tents that were in the campground the night before were gone. They must have had their tents blown over in the wind and just packed up and left.

We weren't in any hurry and once the sun got up, it started to warm up nicely. We had a group breakfast in Too Tall-Two Timing's and K's trailer....no pictures...and got the rigs ready to roll back to the Denver area. A final "uncircle" ceremony and everyone was on the road.

So the first Circle the Wagons event is history. I'm hoping that there will be many more to follow. I can certainly see doing this again in the future....hopefully the near future. I could see Taos, Albuquerque, or Santa Fe before this coming winter is done.

What do you think Guitar? How 'bout it Too Tall?

Thanks for visiting.

Wagons Ho and Spanish Market

I finally got Joe Btfsplk to leave me alone and the rest of the weekend was a good time! Guitar and Too Tall-Two Timing showed up with their rigs...and ladies at about 7 pm Friday night. It took about forty-five minutes to get everyone situated and unhitched and we immediately started thinking about dinner. Guitar had made some chili and brought that along so all we needed to do was to heat it up.

We decided to christen Too Tall-Two Timing and K's brand new trailer with dinner and the five of us packed in and then packed it in! The chili really hit the spot and I even went for seconds. For some reason K has decided that the inside of their very nice trailer was a "no photo" zone so I don't have any pictures to show you of this nights festivities. Suffice to say that we did enjoy ourselves but called it a night by about 10 pm.

Saturday morning I had to drive back to the Denver area to help out at the Spanish Market and Mountain Man Rendezvous at The Fort Restaurant. The Fort is a reproduction of Bents Old Fort, a fur trading outpost in the 1840s, outside La Junta Colorado. The restaurant version has been in business since 1963 and is a perfect setting for an event like this.

I manned the ticket booth from 10 am till 1 pm. The Bride had to take a college course test that morning and then met me for a late lunch and to check out the event. There were a number of Southwest artisans displaying and selling their wares. A group of dancers entertained the crowd by doing Mexican folk dances. One dance they did with an odd number of men and an even number of women. The man without a partner danced with a broom. He would dance between the men and women and then drop the broom and grab a woman. The unlucky man that wasn't quick enough to get a woman dancing partner then had to dance with the broom. Kinda like dancing musical chairs.

There were also some vendors that were part of the mountain man rendezvous. They sold period clothing, hats, iron works and a variety of other things.

While all this sissy stuff was going on, the mountain men were doing manly mountain man stuff...like competing in hatchet throws and shooting events. You could see that some of the participants were really into authenticity. One thing that I found amusing was the guy in the picture shooting his period long rifle. He was going for authentic but still wore shooting glasses to protect his eyes.

After looking everything over, The Bride and I headed back up to the mountains to join the rest of the circle. I'll tell you about the rest of the weekend in the next post.

Thanks for visiting.

Joe Btfsplk Strikes Again!

It’s been a while so I guess I’m due. I was really pumped for our first Circle the Wagons event. I decided to take all Friday off instead of a half day. I reasoned that if I left early I could beat Guitar and Too Tall-Two Timing to the campsite and maybe get in some “communing with nature” before they got there.

Got up at my usual 6am, had a leisurely breakfast and then set out to gas up and get a few supplies from the grocery store. I tried to get gas first but the morning workaday slobs had all the pumps tied up. I’m not going to let that bother me and I figured I’d just get the groceries first. I didn’t have much to get so was to the cashier pretty soon. For some reason they couldn’t find the price for the store brand coffee and since it was still early it took some time to get the price….I’m starting to feel that “uh oh” sensation.

“Don’t let it bother you“, I say, think about the great weekend coming up. OK, back for gas. I do all the preliminaries at the pump, put my credit card in and the pump won’t take the card….”See the cashier” the screen says. “The heck with this”, says I, “There’s plenty of other gas stations.” I drive to the next one on the way to get the trailer, start to pull in and realize I can’t get to the pumps because a bunch of big trucks have the road blocked. *&%$#! I’m really starting to get that Joe Btfsplk feeling now. I finally get gas and make it to the trailer lot. As I get out of the car to start hooking Bivouac up, I realize that I have forgotten the keys to the trailer…can’t hook up without keys!

Back to the house, get the keys, get the trailer and pull it to the house to load. “Joe, you better get gone”, I say. “I intend to have a great time today and I’m not letting you get your hooks into me.”

Finally, things seem to be settling down and I get the trailer loaded without incident. I decide to take a shower before I leave and have some lunch. That’s a good way to change the mood and it seems to work.

It’s not too far to Golden Gate State Park and it is a nice day so I’m enjoying the trip. Guitar made the campsite reservations and emailed me the spots. This is a real popular time at this state park because it’s close to the Denver Metro area and the leaves are close to peak color. We couldn’t get 3 campsites next to each other but because of the circumstances we were happy just to be able to get in.

Being the nice guy that I am, and knowing that this is Too Tall-Two Timing’s first trip with his new trailer, I decide to cruise the sites first and leave the biggest, easiest backing one for him. As I cruise the campground I find that two of the three sites already have an RV in them! The third has a reserved sign…but the name is not the right one!

A trip to the office confirms that Joe Btfsplk has somehow snuck along with me. No reservations in the name of Guitar. If Guitar cannot come up with a reservation number or proof of payment we are homeless! In Guitar’s defense this is the first time had as used Reserve America online to reserve a campsite. Those readers who camp will know how…how…how screwed up Reserve America is.

To make a long story a little shorter, we were homeless. The very helpful and sympathetic man working at the office suggested a commercial campsite a few miles away from the state park. It was now almost 3pm so there really wasn’t any choice. We had to find three campsites and fast.

I drove to the campsite and it sure didn’t hold a candle to the state park campsite but I got 3 sites and unhooked Bivouac. Cell phone reception was really bad but I managed to get thru to Guitar to let him know what the plans were. He advised that they were on the way…..kind of. Seems there is some type of snag and as of 5 pm they hadn’t left yet.

Stay tuned for more.

Thanks for visiting.

Circle the Wagons!

After my rather depressing post of Wednesday, I have something a little more uplifting to look forward to this week.

I mentioned in a previous post that Guitar has recently gotten a one ton dually truck and an awesome Arctic Fox truck camper. Well, Too Tall-Two Timing was kinda feeling left out so he recently purchased a 26' travel trailer. Now that all of us in the circle had RV's what would be more appropriate than to have a Circle the Wagons camp out? The event is to be made even more festive because it is K's mumbleth birthday.

Right now our plan is to leave the Denver area sometime Friday, drive a short distance to Golden Gate State Park and set up camp for the weekend. This state park has year round camping with both water and electricity so Guitar and Too Tall-Two Timing won't have to rough it too bad on this first outing....This will be the very first time camping in the new trailer for Too Tall-Two Timing and only the second time for Guitar.

With just a little bit of luck on the weather this could be a perfect weekend. The temperature is really starting to get "fall-ish" and the Aspens should be in fine autumn form. I promise that I will take lots of pictures for a post when we get back.

We had to wedge this trip into an otherwise busy schedule. I had volunteered some months ago to help out at the Tesoro Foundation's annual Spanish Market on Saturday morning. I joined this organization about six months ago because of my interest in Western history. If I enjoy myself at this event...and I fully intend to, I,ll probably volunteer on a regular basis in the future. Maybe I'll even find an outlandish bolo tie at the market! Waugh! So, I'll take Bivouac the trailer to the park on Friday and Saturday morning, I'll drive back to the site of the market.

While I'm doing this The Bride will be taking an online test for a college course she would like to get credit for. The Bride has been attending night courses for about fifteen years now, working towards an accounting degree. She hopes to finish next year. She will need that degree to support me in the style to which I've been accustomed, once I retire!....Anyhow, she will join us at the campground on Saturday afternoon.

So....stay tuned for the full report on The Circle's, Circle The Wagons adventure!

Thanks for visiting.