Our Little Guy Travels

We have a love/hate relationship with our Norcold that came with the T@G. Without the solar panel it’s useless. Without sun it’s really in the way. So we have our yeti cooler for a back up system. We are finding this a great setup with things in the Norcold that don’t need full refrigeration and things in the yeti that must be refrigerated. We just replaced the ice today (5 days). We buy what we will eat for the day and night and stock up as we need to. So far so good!

This campground is about three miles south of Mountain Village. We again have a beautiful site (9) and the overlook is just a few steps away. Just $10 a night (with senior pass) so we’re staying two night to avoid weekend traffic and hopefully ride our bikes.
We took Henry and Simon on the gondola from Mountain Village to telluride. They did great although Henry preferred to stay on the floor while Simon jumped on the bench seat to see the sights. Telluride is under construction everywhere it seems and crowded with the Cars and Colors festivities so we didn’t stay long. Dark skies around 9pm allow for seeing the Milky Way and shooting stars.

This campground was about half way up the pass and we decided to stop there even though it was just past noon. We stayed in site 10 and were so pleased with the site, the views and the other campers.
We took a short hike overlooking the reservoir which sadly was nearly empty of water. The views from the overlook were spectacular. Even though we weren’t expecting any great foliage sites, we were treated to some beauties.
This morning we were on our way towards Ridgeway. We could only go about 10 mph due to the road and our trailer. But that was okay cuz again the views and colors were awesome. We arrived in Ridgeway around 11:00, resupplied for a couple of days and headed towards telluride.
Henry and Simon are having fun chasing squirrels and staring at the cows that wandered into the campground.

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While picking up our dinner at the deli, we met Jim. He practices kindness ever day. Today he was carrying a small basket in his cart which he gave to us. Guess we looked like we needed it for our one item 🤔. Anyway we visited for a minute. He told us that the store I cimmaron has the best pies. Hmmm.

Scouted out
the parking lot at the ski area and picked a flat place for the night. No signs saying no overnight camping. Sweet!
Picked up some stir fry at City Market in gunnison and cooked it up on our t@g stove. Yummy! Watched a bit of a ski movie at the base area before going to bed. Brought both dogs inside to start but Henry isn’t used to such small space so he was sent to the truck. Simon is a veteran of inside the trailer so he stayed. Pretty good nights sleep. 31 degrees this morning! On the road by 8:30 heading towards ridgeway via owl creek pass by cimmaron. Gonna stop at city market for more stir fry!
Forgot to get a photo of our parking lot site. 😜

Our first long trip of the season starts today. We are heading southwest towards Sedona with no schedule or reservations. We are traveling light planning to pick up food as we need it. First stop: Crested Butte.

We started our day by going to Deckers and were amazed at the extent of the Hayman burn scar. When we got back Susan jumped on her bike and rode the bike path to woodland park about a 15 mile ride. Apparently the path needs a lot of maintenance and she felt “beat up” when she got back.
About thirty minutes later the skies opened up and it rained off and on all afternoon. This picture is Simon hiding in his bed when it started raining. Not much else to do so we went to the woodland park aquatic center and took much needed showers. A pretty full last day here much of it spent drying things out.

We can see these from our campsite. There are several scattered around the campground. The cg host came by to tell us that there have been bears, coyotes, and mountain lions around recently. 😳. Everything is put away and locked up tight tonight!

We can see these from our campsite. There are several scattered around the campground. The cg host came by to tell us that there have been bears, coyotes, and mountain lions around recently. 😳. Everything is put away and locked up tight tonight!

It started slowly. Then it picked up.

The the start of the trip.

We are just about an hour from home but seems like a million miles away. We are in site 6 in Silver Dollar CG. So quiet here.
I’m realizing that camping puts me in the here and now. Thoughts of home and events happening there are not here. Nothing moves too fast and time is moment to moment. The storyteller in my mind has quieted down and my peaceful brain has emerged.
We are staying here for three nights and will explore the lake area and town of Leadville. Probably won’t ride the whole loop around the lake. Just parts of it. Mineral Belt trail looks interesting too. Dogs are happy too guarding the site and hanging out together.

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Our spot in the Walmart parking lot was too brightly lit and busy with traffic to allow for a good night’s sleep. So we were on the road by 6am to start our journey south and west. It took about an hour to realize we were not on the best road and by the time we got back on track we had been traveling for more than two hours. We got to see some back roads and pretty countryside even though it was raining.
Decided to head to a state park in Ohio for the night. Listening to Siri took us to the wrong state park and once again on the wrong road. During the day we had been talking with Pat at the state park (we thought) who said she would wait for us to arrive. As we neared the state park we realized that Pat was at a private campground. We backtracked and finally found her. The state park was closed for the season but not sure how we ended up talking with Pat.
So instead of Pymatuning State Park we stayed at Lake Village CG, a resident owned park in the woods. Picked our site carefully and enjoyed a home cooked meal, a hot shower with lots of pressure and peace and quiet. Glad we had our shower shoes though cuz these bath houses need some maintenance and updating.
Fortunately we knew that it was going to rain in the night so we packed up camp completely and went to bed. We didn’t know it could rain that hard for so long.

We are surprised to find one spot left in Blackwoods CG. It’s early so we’re going to explore the sights. First on the list is Catilac Mountain.

Our site only has a fire pit and picnic table. We’re not going to set up too much since we’re only staying one night.

We’re going to go up Rt-1 tomorrow in daylight. The AllStays app doesn’t seem to know where many camping locations are in this part of the country. We found a few camp and RV sites while driving that are not in the app. It did know where this Walmart is though. This is one of the better Wally Worlds we stayed in. There are landscape islands around the parking lot and the perimeter is mostly treed. We found a spot out of the way and quiet.

This is just a few minutes drive from Rick’s mom’s house. Nice walking path around Lake Winfield. It’s a place for Simon to walk and sniff things. Yesterday he jumped in the lake. Still hot and humid but cooler weather is coming. Planning another bike ride today. Maybe we’ll stay on the path this time.

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It has been so humid at night that the moisture collects on the T@G windows and it appears to have rained. Skin feels good though and my hair and nails look great too!

Seems like all the campgrounds have electricity at the sites. Using it has taken all the worry out of wondering if we have enough battery power to run the Norcold, the fan and even the stereo. It’s been warm at night so running the fan is a necessity. This is new territory for us since we have only used our solar panel for charging the battery all summer.

Took this shot of punderson lake while riding my bike. Beautiful quiet morning.

Our spot for tonight. We were able to find this state park with an app called AllStays. There seem to be CG far and few between in this part of the country.  Guess it’s because there isn’t as much US Forest Service land and the much more dense population.

We’re glad to find this park  These are Susan’s old stomping grounds as a child. She may want to add her own words here, but she seems to remember things as familiar names and terrain and horse farms and such. She’ll see something and tell me stories about her childhood as we travel along the country roads.

Simon is traveling well. We put ointment in his ear last night and it seems to have helped his ear scratching.  It’s nice to have him here as a warning guard dog.

We’re planning on staying here tomorrow until final check out time. The park and country roads are inviting us to get on our bikes and get a little exercise.

One nighter outside South Bend, Indiana. This is another one of these resident campgrounds that allow campers like us too. We are amazed that so many sites are here with homes on them. This would be a trailer park in colorado and would not allow transients like us. Very humid. The sky is white. Good thing our primitive site had electricity. Ran the fan most of the night. Heading east to see touchdown Jesus.

Here’s our spot for tonight. We drove for about seven hours today. We’re getting ready for dinner. We’re not used to the humidity. Seems muggy to us. I think Simon is getting an ear infection.

Almost forgot to take our point-in-time picture marking our departure this morning. We very much enjoyed our stay at Wendy and Matt’s home in Iowa.