Gunnison National Forest

2015-09-15

We are in one of the most beautiful places in the United States, so with all of this gorgeous national forest around us why are we in a KOA? Believe it or not we just couldn't find a camping spot before the end of a long travel day.

The view on our right

The brakes are still not right. We found that out when going over some 10,000 foot plus over passes. The truck did great on the uphill part, but on the downhill we found the breaks were overheating. Fortunately, we used 2nd Gear and all worked out OK. We will just add this to our to do list for Salt Lake City.

The view on our left

This morning it is raining, so we are getting a slow start to our day. Hopefully, we can make Arches National Park by the end of the day? It's only about 5 hours away. Ops, gotta go. I smell bacon cooking.

And this is were we stayed.

There ain’ t no $50 brake job here

2015-09-14

Pueblo, CO

Spent the night here last night. This morning it was off to get the brakes repaired. Hopefully we will be on the  road by this afternoon?

Jack is probably taking pictures of bears by now. This is the best that I can do.

Sugarite Canyon State Park

2015-09-12

For many years I have wanted to go to Palo Duro Canyon, but it is just not on the way to anything that I wanted to visit. When I saw that we could get an almost direct route to Yellowstone, I jumped at the chance. It did not disappoint! We found the only shady campsite. At almost a 100 degrees in the middle of the day it was much appreciated. When they say to take a gallon of water per person on a hike they are not kidding. Mercifully, it was cloudy in the early morning which made for some fairly comfortable hiking and some great photography. You be the judge. Here are some examples below.

Kim setting out on our first hike

What a view!

It's hard to take a bad picture here.

For our next stop we had planned on going to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, but fell short by a couple of hours travel time. Instead we stopped at Sugarite Canyon State Park. At 6500 feet it was somewhat of a relief after the desert heat. With cool night and warm afternoons. It was so lovely that we would up spending 3 nights here also. Hey, what's the hurry anyway. Here are a couple samples of our exploratory car trip in the early morning fog.

What beautiful foggy morning

Wild flowers in the fog.

San Anglelo State Park

09-06-2015

We are off like a herd of turtles. We made it the 3 hour drive to San Anglelo, and arrived to 100 degree heat. I think that it is only 95 in Pipe Creek, so we felt a little cheated after driving so far north. We were wishing for an air conditioner, but we had to make due with a water hose and a fan. Really it's not too bad if you sit still and try to not move too much.

Here Kim is enjoying the shade.