August 12^th – Another travel day – just not as bad as yesterday. Actually it was good. We stopped early after only 300 miles or we would have ended up in a big city (Boise) at rush hour again. The first 80 miles through Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden were less than fun but uneventful. Nice campground – big sites, grass and quiet. After tomorrow we should start a schedule of longer stays and shorter moves.

 

August 11^th – we will travel the next few days – probably to Pendelton, OR and across the Columbia river after they messed up our Bend reservation.

 

We had a hard day of mountain driving today over 8000 three times and several 5 to 6000 – good for mileage… The worst was when we got near Provo the GPS took us to the wrong address. A nice young man came out and asked if we were looking for the campground. It happens a lot he says… after 45 minutes and three sets of directions we finally got there and what did we find?? It had been bought out by KOA. So we had the most expensive, crowded, and noisy spot in out history. But at that time I was not going another mile.

 

 

August 10^th – We took a little different route on the morning hike – still got above the 8000 ft mark. So far the altitude here has not been an issue. We found an interesting wood sculpture – the remnants of an old tree. Also some interesting little wild flowers. Either we are easily entertained or it was a good excuse to stop and catch our breath.

 

After breakfast we headed out to see the South Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It was suppose to be the better side to view the Canyon but other than a nice Visitors center with a movie showing the history of the canyon formation and early exploration we thought the North rim was better. One other exception was the Painted Wall – 2300 feet – almost twice the height of the Empire State building! Still a long day of hills curves and mountain passes.

 

August 9^th – After our coffee, morning hike and more coffee we said our good byes to Steve and Peg as they were heading back to Buena Vista. Then we headed into Gunnison for the Farmers Market and some groceries. We looked at some of the shops but most are aimed at tourists or the College crowd. Some really interesting pastries including a $28.00 peach pie – wow – we’ll have to guard our pies a little closer – LOL… we did fine some Palisades peaches that were supposed to be the best anywhere but I’ll still take Missouri peaches any day. We will have to savor those we froze before we left Iowa.

 

After lunch we went to the lake for some play time for Lexi. She has been very good about all the travel and being left behind so much. We went back to town tonight for Church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuel $3.75 6.7 gal (Honda)

 

August 8^th – Another cool morning hike. Just a bit longer and a little more strenuous.  We mostly spent the day with friends/cousin visiting, eating and playing cards. We taught them some new ones and vice versa.

 
 

 

 

Still marginal cell, text, and email. I will try to find time to go to the clubhouse for internet today. Forgot how spoiled we are by the “Smart” phone and handicapped without it.

 

 

 

August 7^th – Cool morning – mid to upper 40’s. We hiked up behind the campground to get a view of the Blue Mesa reservoir. We just did an hour to see how the elevation would affect us. A few breaks to catch our breath – otherwise no problem.

 

After a morning of cleaning – Linda inside and me outside, we headed out to tour the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We knew the canyon was long – 40+ miles – but didn’t realize that by way of the hilly and very curvy road it was over 70 miles. So four hours later we were at a dead end road we thought went through to the south rim – darn map! We had many stops along the way with short hikes to the edge of the canyon and breathtaking views if you were brave enough to get close to the edge to look down – some places 1200 to as much as 2700 feet. Most of the big viewpoints had fenced lookouts.  Then we had a nice evening with Steve and Peg – supper and cards. We got involved with a new game and forgot dessert – how bad is that!

 

August 6^th – We woke to the view of the sun rising over the mountains out the front window of the motorhome. The crisp morning air at just over 8000 feet was enhanced by a west wind. We had coffee and a light breakfast and headed down to explore Historic Buena Vista, the Arkansas River that runs through it – which provides rafters, kayaks and paddle boarders with much opportunity. Then we looked through the new homes and condos they are building – really liked what they are doing. We saw the Pickleball courts but not enough time – darn. The smell of fresh roasted coffee drew us into the shops and with a quick trip across the street rewarded us with bakery goods to go with the delicious Bolivian coffee.

 

After a little more exploring we went back to Steve’s and they were hooked up to the 5^th wheel and almost ready to go. We followed them sometimes at a distance as we made our way up through Monarch Pass at 11,512 feet – UFDA!! Then the equally harrowing 9 miles down 7% grade with 35 MPH curves. We leveled off about 8000 feet for another hour and found the campground 12 miles past Gunnison - beautiful view of mountains all around and a huge reservoir across the road. We got things set up and I helped them work through a few things on the new 5^th wheel – I think this is the maiden voyage. And it is a BEAUTY.

 

 

 

 

 

August 5^th – Another long day in the driver’s seat, but the view out the front window changed from the flat Nebraska farm fields with irrigation circles to the rolling hills of eastern Colorado to the sights of Denver and the mountains in the background.

 

We went through Denver pretty uneventful in early afternoon and started the climb through the mountains to Buena Visa where Linda’s cousin Steve lives. We found them and the brand new site he built for his new 5^th wheel where we parked for the night. We had a nice visit with them and played some cards until there were yawns all around.

August 4^th – long driving day with a stop at the Archway over I-80 just before the end if the day. An interesting display of history of pioneers going west in wagon trains, Pony express, stagecoach, railroads, the Lincoln highway, diners from the ‘50s and more. But even more interesting to me was the way it was constructed and moved into place.