Our Little Guy Travels

Spent the night in Elko, Nevada. We were on our way to Winnimucca but decided to stop here instead. We were getting tired and must have misjudged the distance. The Walmart Super Center in Elko seemed quiet and safe. They lock the doors of their Auto Center, Garden Center, and Pharmacy entrances at night which ends up making a huge section of their parking lot vacant. They don’t allow trucks to idle after 9 pm and so it gets quiet. We restocked on some food, grilled up some steaks, had some pie and rested for the night.

During the night it rained pretty hard with lightning and thunder so sleeping in the Little Guy was nice and cozy. We did learn one thing about leaving things on the ground in the rain. Even though our plastic bins keep stuff nice and dry, the rain drops splattered dirt all over the sides, even on the pavement. Not really a big problem, just wiped things off with rag. Something to consider though before going in for the night.

Tip: Rain will splatter dirt on things if they are on the ground.

This park is midway between Lake Tahoe and crater lake. It’s $12 for a campsite and free entry with seniors access card otherwise it’s $20 to get in and $24 for the campsite. Lassen has been devastated by fires and drought so lots of dead vegetation.
We were nearly out of gas and the campground ran out. But rather than wait till 11:00 we took the risk and went to Old Station where we paid $3.69 for gas. Yikes!
We were going to head to lava beds national monument but after looking at the map thought we would push on to Klamath falls to re supply.

Tip: Get gas when you can.

Love our umbrella. We move it around as needed.

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State campgrounds aren’t really our thing, but national forests tend to be fairly off the beaten path and harder to find. The official U.S. Government website is almost useless when traveling down the road and looking for a place to camp for an evening. There’s just too much info to wade through. There ought to be an app for that but have not looked for it yet.
We took Simon for a run this morning on on our road bikes. He totally enjoyed it. 😀
We’ll be on our way to Winnamucca, NV right after we use the park shower facilities and pack up what little needs to be. We’re pretty settled in where all the stuff is where it belongs and easy to find. Not having to set up a canopy is a huge time saver.

Tip: If using an umbrella it helps to bungie it to the handles of the galley lid. The umbrella is not very tolerable in the wind.

Standard back up to table.

Great views from up here.

We were pleasantly surprised to find almost all the camp sites open in the Colorado National Monument. It was about 4 o’clock when we arrived. Again setting up with the umbrella is sooooo much easier than a canopy. Great view from our site, number 38, loop B, of the valley.
We picked up a bundle of firewood in Montrose, but can’t use it here. No fires allowed. We have some charcoal, but probably won’t cook with it tonight.

Tip: Forget the firewood. No open fires here.

We got out of Salida around 1:30 after a morning of reorganizing and packing.  We realized that carrying the bikes on top of the truck would free up alot of room inside so Rick modified his ladder rack to hold the bikes.  Nice job!  We got to Gunnison to stop at our favorite camping store, Gene Taylor, and found our stadium chairs and a replacement skillet for the one we forgot.  Back on the road we ended up at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park campground and set up in Loop C.  A beautiful rainbow and yummy grilled veggies for dinner was all we needed.  It rained off and on and our new umbrella worked really well – just moved it wherever we needed it to be.  Simon is dealing with his new environment and will most likely get more comfortable as the days go by.

Today we are on our way to Grand Junction and Brown’s Cyclery to consign my Trek mountain bike and shop with the credit I have there for selling my Pinarello.  Should be a fun day!  Not sure where we will be tonight.  Stay tuned.

Tips:

1. Bikes don’t go well inside the pickup topper because we need that storage space for camping gear and they are too hard to get out. Bikes are better outside.
2. Square frying pan works better on a propane stove with wind guards.

Soaking up some sun this morning in the Colorado National Monument, Saddle-horn campground loop A. It was a little chilly last night but a down comforter for each of us kept the cold out. This is our first trip of 2015. Some lessons: don’t move boundaries in national forest campgrounds, choose your site carefully, if you plan on eating out find a campground closer to town, don’t forget the boombox. However this was intended to be a shakedown cruise, so all is good. Learning to chillax.

Tip: Don’t move USFS campground boundaries because the man in uniform gets upset.