July 27 Saturday Planning trip - I'm keep gnawing at it and am now planning on heading west out of here on Monday towards Glenwood Springs and then swinging south on Co. 82 to Carbondale where I will get on Co. 133 south to Avalanche Ranch hot springs, Penny hot springs, and Redstone. After checking things out there and probably camping out at the campground near Redstone I will head over the McClure Pass on Co. 133 to Hotchkiss where I will head south on Co. 92 along the north side of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison where I will camp at the Lake Fork Campground at the junction of 133 and US Route 50. From there I will go west to Montrose and then south to Ridgeway (and the "True Grit" movie sites). Then ... read more

July 16 - Tuesday - I just did some rat killing around town and some shopping at the Walmart in preparation for my departure towards Grand Junction tomorrow. July 17 - Wednesday – Morning - I must have been tired because I slept in till 9:30 this morning. It may have something to do with the fact that I had moved to a different site that had trees blocking the morning sun as well. The campground is almost empty since it is in the middle of the week. I really enjoyed my stay at the Meadows Campground 14 miles East of Steamboat Springs. It was easy to go into town and the view was stunning going down the pass and at night it was cool since I was at 9300ft elevation. Note: as I was leaving ... read more

This morning Bill, Rebecca and I came into town to MacDonalds for coffee and internet access. Or at least Bill and I did. MacDonalds was much too much Plebeian for Rebecca. She tolerated us being there just long enough for her to use the restroom and Bill to finish his coffee. Afterwards Bill and Rebecca went to Starbucks and then to hike up above Fish Creek Falls for the day. I stayed at the MacDonalds with the rest of the Plebs and drank my coffee while using their free Internet access. I could only stay on it as long as my battery held up as someone else was camped out at the only table that had an electrical outlet. The table was set up in such a way that I could not sit at a table ... read more

July 12, 2013 – Friday – I was feeling kind of sluggish and slow moving and all I really felt like doing was drinking my tea and thinking things over. I seriously considered just taking it easy and going tomorrow, but I had put too much work into getting ready for this trip so I dutifully finished loading up my truck and headed out albeit around noon. I headed around 470 to I-70 West and started the climb up towards the Eisenhower tunnel. I had been lucky on past trips and made it by the twin tunnels East of Idaho Springs without delay but this time I got caught in a 45 minute stop and start approach towards it. Here is a link for the I-70 closures: http://www.coloradodot.info/news/2013-news-releases/06-2013/i70ttweeklyadvisory061413.html After I got clear of the ... read more

Trip from Denver to Steamboat Springs via Leadville – Monday July 8 -I had invested most of the weekend preparing for this trip to Leadville, Turquoise Lake, and Steamboat Springs. I had a lot of my stuff set by the door for loading in my truck this morning but when I got up I was feeling kind of sluggish and so it was slow going getting ready to leave. I really felt like just drinking my tea and thinking things over and leave tomorrow but with all the preparations I had put in I felt I needed to get going. So I dutifully finished loading up my stuff in the truck and packed and loaded up my cooler and backpack. My backpack had a insulated cooler bag that I put a couple of frozen water bottles ... read more