We made the drive to Leadville today, a big climb up the mountain to the top of the world! Leadville is a cute little town. We stopped and had lunch and planned to go back in tomorrow to explore.
When we got to our campsites at Turquoise Lake we found that they were deep in the woods and impossible for Luanne and Diane to back into. My site was a bit more manageable but still a real challenge. Then we went looking for water and a dump site and found there are absolutely no services of any kind in the parks here. We passed a big parking lot on our way in and decided to park in it while we figured out what to do. Turns out there is camping in the parking lot, yes, a Walmart with atmosphere!
We hiked along the lake and old scavenger Teddy found himself a dried up fish head attached to a line and a hook which he managed to get attached to his back. It was gross!
The sites are actually quite nice as you camp on the asphalt but have a picnic table and fire ring which border the lake. Probably the nicest sites here. There were three sites available for tonight and then we have to move along tomorrow.
Our solution is breakfast in Leadville and then head to Central City. It USED to be a cute little town but now has eight, yes eight casinos! But it does have a KOA so we are headed there for tomorrow evening.
Luanne and Diane are homeless after that with nowhere to go. They are hoping they can get a site for a second night at Central City, and I’m going to camp much closer to Denver to have dinner with Ryan and Laura before I begin my long trek home.
Saturday dawned with winds and clouds again, along with chilly temps. I’ve texted my nephew and niece who were coming up to tent camp and who are expecting a baby in the fall discouraging them from coming up. I’m going to meet them for dinner before I head back home.
We can see the peaks of the Rockies and they got a good fresh dusting of snow overnight and this morning. We could see a real difference in them today.
We went moose hunting this morning, driving up into the mountain, then giving up and heading to lunch in town at the Moose Cafe. After we got back to camp we decided to walk up one of the four wheel roads that had been closed to traffic. It was a pretty steep climb but when we neared the top Luanne, who was of course in the lead having jogged up the hill :-( spotted a bull moose! By the time she grabbed Carly and signaled to us slow folk it had moved along and we never got to see it. She was really excited, said it was huge and black and moving slowly along through the trees.
It is blowing so hard this afternoon I literally couldn’t pull the camper door shut! The only good part of this is it is so beautiful everywhere you look. So, I decided a good afternoon to clean the dust and dirt out of here. We are going to have a barbecue tonight, I think! We have steaks for dinner tonight and Luanne swears she’s going to start a fire. I did the brats in a skillet on the stove last night, it was just too bad to be out cooking. We shall see.
Friday was a day of mixed reviews. We had periods of utter calm and breathtaking beauty mixed in with high winds, hail and chilly weather. We had been wishing for a low key day, and we got it!!! We spent most of the day lounging inside and reading.
But then the evening came, along with glassy waters, biting fish, utterly magnificent sunset and lighting an artist would have cried over. It was breathtaking.
We’ve had an eventful day today. It could have been an awful day, but was just eventful because of Yelp and good RV service technicians.
As we got ready to leave our camp in Gypsum this morning Diane had trouble with her slide, it was all akilter and wouldn’t close tight. She thought it would stay well enough to get to a larger place but just yards out on the road made us realize that wasn’t going to happen.
We all put our heads and fishing gear together, yes fishing gear, we used our nylon fish stringers to tie the leg of the couch to the magazine rack which held everything in place well enough for us to cross Vail pass and descend into Silverthorn.
Good old YELP on my smartphone found an RV repair facility in Silverthorn. The guy was totally booked but had a truck service he offered to send out. The guy met us within fifteen minutes of our pulling into a big parking lot that offered room for all three rigs AND a Subway! Life is good.
The technician was very good, he had to remove the whole couch to fix the slide but it was taken care of and we were back on the road in less than an hour.
If you believe in threes we have had ours. My new unit had a bad solenoid valve and mother board on the refrigerator which meant I couldn’t operate the refrigerator on propane. That took me much doing to get repaired and probably more to get my money back. Luanne bent one of her stabilizers somewhere and will have to have it repaired when she gets home.
We have made our way to State Forest State Park, it is a remote, lovely spot. We are surrounded by snow capped mountains and a beautiful lake. I’m sitting writing looking out over the gathering evening clouds with hummingbirds flying all around me. The two boldest are ruby throated and quite beautiful. I think they are attracted to the green color of the screen room.
Getting water and finding our way into the park was a bit challenging it didn’t take long to get set up and have the dogs planing in the lake. Teddy doesn’t get in too far but he does get wet and has a coat which takes a while to dry and attracts the dirt. He looks like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown! When he came up out of the lake he did his usual act and wallowed in the dirt. Now I have him tied out in the grass where he is whining and chuffing and occasionally barking to be sure I am aware of his displeasure.
Erlene was here when we arrived and has a less than stellar spot. She tried to move by us but the whole place is full and she is stuck in a dusty spot at the beginning of the loop.
It’s cocktail hour, more tomorrow.
After all the days of woodoos and spires and arches we headed today to Dark Horse State Park and Canyonlands where the WOWs were for the deep, multilayered, multihued canyons with the Colorado and Green Rivers lazily running through.
Our traveling bunch is greatly reduced today as Christine headed back to St. Louis; BJ left on her trek back to northern California and Erlene headed for the hills for a couple of days until she rejoins us at State Forest State Park.
So that left Diane, Luanne, Jeanne and me to one last exploration of this amazing state.
Here of some of the pictures from today.
