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Day 8:

• Left camp around 8:30am
• Entered Rocky Mountain National Park
• Traveled to the Alpine visitor’s center via Fall River Road and returned on Trail Ridge Road
• Early lunch and nap time at camp
• Met Tim, McKenzie and Katie at camp to spend the afternoon together
• Visited the alluvial fan and Roaring River
• Visited Bear Lake
• Back into Estes Park for some late “lunch”
• Traveled to Meeker Park and tried out a nice offroad trail
• Parted ways with Tim and returned to camp

Today we arranged to meet up with Tim, his girlfriend McKenzie, and her friend Katie at noon so we could spend the afternoon together. To make the most of the day, Dusty, Evan and I got an early start and headed into Rocky Mountain National Park. We traveled up Old Fall River Road, a dirt road that winds its way up to the Alpine visitor’s center. Along the way we stopped a few times to look at some waterfalls. At one of the trailheads, we came across a couple of guys in an old pickup who were having trouble starting the truck. We offered to help, since we had a decent set of tools in the truck. They thought they needed a jump so we tried that, to no avail. I pulled my truck out of the way and walked back down the hill to offer them my tow strap, but by then they had gotten it started – they had a wiring problem with the ignition switch that a little wiggling took care of. After that, we finished our drive and took Trail Ridge Road (a paved highway) back to camp for an early lunch and naptime.

Tim, McKenzie and Katie (McKenzie’s friend visiting from Chicago) rolled in to camp shortly after Evan woke up. We caravaned into the park again and parked at the alluvial fan just inside the park. We took the short hike up to the waterfall and took some pictures. Tim and I climbed up the rocks for kicks, and when we returned Evan was antsy. He saw water, and he wanted to play in it. Evan and I took off our shoes and walked out into a calmer section of the water (named Roaring River, by the way). Evan had a good time, and was torn between wanting to get out of the cold water and the desire to keep playing!

The next stop was Bear Lake, which is a very popular place. We loaded up Evan in the backpack and took a hike around the lake. It’s at about 9500 feet elevation, so even the short hike around the lake was pretty strenuous for a flatlander like myself. After that we headed back into Estes Park and grabbed a late lunch/early dinner (3:30) at Subway.

The next part was a lot of fun for me. Tim led us in his jeep down to Meeker Park to some offroad trails he was familiar with. Tim offered me a choice of a somewhat technical trail or a simpler dirt road covered with softball sized rocks. I’d already tried a road like the latter, and it got pretty old pretty quick, so I chose the more technical road. Tim led the way up the trail, which was typically a section of decent road followed by a more challenging section to negotiate (exactly what I was hoping to find). Tim’s jeep made it through without any problems, but I had to be more careful, since my truck doesn’t have as much ground clearance and the long wheelbase increased the risk of high centering. There were a few pretty tricky sections, but careful planning and wheel placement got us through just fine, crawling in 4-low. After about a mile, Tim pulled over and told me the trail ahead got tougher. The sections I had already been through seemed to be about as much as my truck and myself cared to tackle, so we turned back. Evan was getting tired anyway, so we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

Returning to camp, Evan made friends with our camp neighbors and their three young daughters. The girls seemed to have a good time with the “baby”, and before long, the two little girls from our other neighboring site came over to join in the fun. Evan had some fruit and we put him to bed. The little girls came and talked with us on and off for the next hour or so. Cute kids!

More stuff we saw:

• The most expensive Subway I’ve seen
• Chasm Falls and the Lawn Lake alluvial fan in Rocky Mountain National Park
• Alpine visitor’s center in RMNP
• Tim, McKenzie and Katie
• The rough road that Tim made his friend drive his camaro up (the same one that discussed above). See ya later, ground effects…
• A truck pulling a large pontoon boat over Trail Ridge Road
• A marmot who posed for the camera
• Our camp neighbors almost losing their popup down the hill while trying to turn it around by hand

Day 7:

• Left camp around 8:30
• Gas stop in Golden (15.5mpg)
• Drove to Blackhawk to start the Peak to Peak scenic byway
• Took a side-trip up near “Dakota Hill”
• Lunch and playtime at the elementary school playground in Estes Park
• Set up camp and nap time
• Back into town for a trip on an an aerial tram and dinner
• Back to camp to relax

Today was mostly a travel and relaxation day. We left town pretty early and took the scenic route up to Estes Park. I learned today why I see so many 3/4 ton trucks out here pulling popups. My Dakota has a 4.7L V8 engine and is rated to tow almost 6000 lbs. It’s no slouch – the engine makes 235 horsepower and 295 ft-lbs of torque, and can do zero to 60 in about 7 seconds. Loaded up and ready to tow, I’m still under 50% of my tow rating. That being said, the truck really got a workout on I-70 West out of Denver. It spent a fair amount of time in 2nd gear cranking away to keep up with traffic in the slow lane. I could have maintained 65 mph, but I didn’t want to risking blowing it up. Even taking if fairly easy, the fan still came on to cool the engine, something that’s never happened before. Downhills were just fine, but the altitude combine with the grades made uphill a bit challenging. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to have a bigger trailer or smaller tow vehicle.

We took the Peak to Peak scenic byway from Blackhawk up to Estes Park. The Dakota Mailing List club that we’re meeting up with next week plan to journey up to “Dakota Hill” (just because of the name), so we took a side trip up towards the top of that hill to scout it out ahead of time. We negotiated about 5 miles of narrow dirt road (not very rough) and got within about 2 miles from the top before discovering that the last road we needed was too rough to drag the trailer up. We continued up to Estes Park in time for lunch at a park and then headed to camp.

We’re staying at National Park Retreats for the next couple of days. It’s a fairly nice place. It’s more of camping-type of place than the center-for-stuffy-people-trying-to-convince-themselves-they’re-having-fun we were at before (which was still nice). This place if full of life – lots of kids, campfires, and a group of 8 teenagers trying to put up a 25 year old tent. Our site is a little screwed up, because it required backing up about 100 feet, past another site. It’s got plenty of room, but the electrical and water service is at the completely wrong end of the site, way closer to the neighboring site. I didn’t have a 30 amp extension cord to use, but they only have 15 amp service anyway. I had just enough regular extension cord to reach the outlet though. We can’t use the A/C (it needs 20 amps), but that’ll be OK. It’s supposed to being very cool at night, but it was 95 degrees when we arrived. I’m a wuss when it comes to heat though, which is one of the reasons we got the camper in the first place. It also just so happens that our next-door camp neighbors lived in Pekin, IL for quite some time, and noticed the “Peoria” on my license plate frame!

After Evan took a nap we went back into town, where we found an aerial tram to ride. It was a nice ride and a nice view, and Evan enjoyed it. We found a little pizza place, grabbed a bite to eat, grabbed a few groceries and headed back to camp to relax for the evening.

Some more observations:

• A lot of Subarus – I’ve never seen such a high percentage of Subarus on the road, which is not surprising with the mountain weather
• Brakelights – it’s amazing how many people don’t know how to drive down a mountain. We saw a lady at a visitor’s center who was asking whether it was OK to continue to the next town to get her minivan’s brakes fixed after she roasted them on the highway.
• Lots of pull offs – there were plenty of opportunities for us to pull off the road to let the traffic behind us pass
• A campground with free wifi – woo hoo! That’s good, because the cell phone doesn’t work.
• Lots of tent and popup campers – it’s nice to be among them
• Little girls collecting pine cones, and a pine cone that fell on my truck and stayed there for miles
• Very sparse facial hair – I haven’t been shaving on vacation, so we’ll see what happens
• McGregor Mountain, towering over our campsite

I’m also uploading some more pictures until to today.

Day 6:

• Left camp around 9:00am
• Drove the Lariat Loop and dropped off our travel bug in a geocache
• Visited Red Rocks and checked out the ampitheater
• Lunch in downtown Golden
• Back to camp where Evan took a nap
• Swimming at the waterpark in Golden
• Back to camp for a 2nd afternoon nap
• Dinner

First thing this morning we loaded up the truck and headed towards downtown Golden. From there you can pick up a paved road that goes up into the foothills overlooking Golden, part of the Lariat Loop. On the way up, we passed dozens of bikers, which brought up two questions: why on earth would someone want to ride a bike up a mountain, and when do these people work? There was an easy geocache on this road, so I hopped out to log it. It was only a few hundred feet off the road, but it was out on a point with steep cliffs on all sides, overlooking Golden and Clear Creek Canyon. There were a couple of employees of one of the park systems with binoculars documenting the herd of bighorn sheep they saw on the hill across the creek.

We finished the loop and took a quick tour of Red Rocks, including the natural ampitheater there. It’s a very large venue and looks like it would be fun to see a show at. After Red Rocks, we headed back to downtown Golden and grabbed a bite to eat, then back to camp so Evan could take a nap.

Since it was Evan’s turn to have some fun, we spent all afternoon at the water park in Golden. Evan had a blast playing in the sand, sitting in the zero-depth play pool, and going down the big water slide with me. In the play pool, they have this giant bucket of water that fills slowly and dumps all at once. Evan sat in water about a foot deep for probably an hour and a half hanging on to me, laughing, and waiting for the water to dump. When it did dump, he’d bury his head in my chest and cackle until the deluge was done. The whole time we were in the pool, we wanted to hang on to me, but wasn’t afraid of anything- he was just having a good time cuddling and playing.

After the pool, we came back to give our exhausted son another nap and then dinner. Tomorrow we pack up and head up to Estes Park, so we’re taking it easy tonight.

More stuff we saw:

• A camper van with a popup roof, which just moved in to our loop
• Our neighbor’s unsealed sewer connection, which is certainly doing nothing to enhance our stay. The management asked them to correct the issue two days ago, but they haven’t yet.
• Dozens of cyclists climbing mountains in 90 degree weather

Day 5:

• Left camp around 8:00am
• Gas stop in Golden (14.9 mpg)
• Visited Georgetown
• Visited Silverthorne and Dillon for lunch and to let Evan play in the Park
• Went to Keystone
• Visited Breckenridge and explored the river walk
• Took Boreas pass to Como and back to Denver
• Dinner at Johnny Rocket’s
• Swimming at the campground

We get an early start this morning and headed west. After a gas stop (and discovering that my credit card was discontinued yesterday…) we headed west on I-70. Our first stop was in Georgetown, a small mining town. Dusty and Evan explored the shops downtown while I looked for a wifi connection so I could turn in some work that my boss was expecting. After that we found the road that lead up to Saxon Mountain, which we found in a 4×4 roads book. The road was listed as “easy”, but after seeing the around the first bend in the road, we turned back. It would have been fun, but the road was mostly composed of loose boulders and there was a reasonably high possibility of breaking something.

We headed west again to Dillon and Silverthorne, where we grabbed lunch at the park and let Evan run off some steam. Based on the advice of the guy at the visitor information center, we drove to Keystone to take a gondola ride. Unfortunately, they only run the ride during the evenings, so we were out of luck. Instead we headed over to Breckenridge and wandered around the river walk there. Blue River runs through town, and we took some pictures there. Evan got to see a dog fetching a stick out of the water, and that was a big hit. Afterwards Evan played on the slide in the plaza until he got bored of it.

We took the long way back to Denver, taking Boreas pass down to Como. Boreas pass was described to me as a 4×4 road by the guy at the visitor’s center, but that’s only true if a Mazda Protégé is a 4×4. It was a dirt road that got a little rough at times, but nothing a car couldn’t handle. There were a few short side roads that provided a few challenges, and a few that were more suited to a Jeep. The views were nice from the road, which took us over the pass and down into a bunch of farmland before ending up at 285 near Como.

Finally, we drove back to Denver, had dinner, and took Evan to the pool. We didn’t break anything today, for once, but we did discover our towels (and the camper, and the truck) had been irrigated by the sprinkler system here at the campground. Everywhere we’ve been people have been obsessive about the grass, and there are signs everywhere telling you to stay off, since it’s apparently hard to grow grass at altitude. Why they don’t just put down some gravel is beyond me – there’s no shortage of rock out here.

More stuff we saw:

• a Hi-Lo fifth wheel in Georgetown
• a bus load of barefoot guitar-playing young hippies taking advantage of the free coffee at the visitor’s center in Georgetown.
• Evan got to meet a small dog, and instead of calling it a kitty (like he calls every animal), he called it a “doggie” and said “bow wow wow” to it
• a truck pulling a large fifth wheel with a trailer behind it, loaded with three 4-wheelers
• a brave soul pulling a loaded 6×12 foot Uhaul trailer over a mountain pass with a Pontiac minivan
• extra-tall fire hydrants

Ok, I decided to splurge and spend the couple of bucks to get internet access here at the campground for the evening, since we’re planning on heading to Boulder tomorrow and could stand to read up on the activities there. We also owe Evan a trip to a waterpark or something. At any rate, to make the most of it, I’m uploading the first five days worth of photos. Take a look on the photos page. Of course, it’s taking quite a while, so hopefully the photos will upload before this gets published.

Here’s how day 4 went…

• Left camp around 10:30 after Evan’s nap
• Visited Phoenix Gold Mine near Idaho Springs
• Picnic lunch near Clear Creek in Idaho Springs
• Drove up Mt. Evans
• Returned to camp and took Evan swimming
• Met Tim and McKenzie for dinner at Mimi’s

Today we got a bit later of a start than we had planned, but everything worked out fine. We headed west to Idaho Springs to the Phoenix Gold Mine. We took a short guided tour of one of the mines that’s no longer active. Our tour guide, Buzz, looked exactly like you’d guess a miner would look, but I really don’t think he was an actor. We put on our hard hats and ventures a several hundred feet into the mine, where they had displays of old equipment, etc. During the last part of the tour, a small rock fell off the ceiling and almost hit Dusty and Evan. Evan didn’t have a hard hat because Dusty was carrying him in a front-carrier. Afterwards they showed us how to pan for gold and let us try it. Meanwhile Evan insisted on walking into the small stream, even though the water was near freezing!

After a quick stop in Idaho Springs to eat our lunch, we trekked out to Mt. Evans, to travel on the highest paved road in the continental U.S. It was a long scenic drive, and thankfully on the way up the weather was very clear. It was strange – on the way up, we couldn’t tell whether we were driving uphill or downhill… It felt like we were going downhill, but I still had to keep my foot on the accelerator, so to prove it, I pulled over and put the truck in neutral – it rolled backwards! As we neared the top, we passed Summit Lake, which is only a few hundred feet below the summit, and I’m assuming very cold. The higher we got, the harder it was to breathe, and we even started feeling light-headed. When we reached the parking lot near the top, it was probably 40 degrees and Evan had just fallen asleep. I hiked up the last quarter mile or so to the top myself. It took quite a while to reach the top, because a storm blew up suddenly and because I was dizzy and couldn’t take more than twenty steps without stopping to catch my breath (I’m not in good shape, but I’m not in THAT bad of shape). When I reached the top (14,264 feet elevation), the visibility was pretty poor, but I could see the neighboring peaks and Summit Lake below. I found a log book hidden near the top (just by chance) and signed it, thinking it was a geocache. It wasn’t, but it was placed there by a local club. The way down and back to town was quicker, though we almost sideswiped a deer. I don’t think I touched the accelerator more than a few times all the way back.

We took Evan swimming in the pool at the campground (which was a big hit) and then met Tim and McKenzie for dinner at Mimi’s, a Cajun restaurant. Finally, since every day on this trip requires yet another camper problem, today Dusty was using the hairdryer connected to the porch outlets when it quit. I discovered that of the four pairs of outlets in the camper, only one now works. All of those are on the same circuit, and I checked the breaker and all of the GFCI’s. The hairdryer pulls 15 amps, and that’s what the circuit breaker is rated for, but I have my sneaking suspicion that the wiring to the outlets is NOT rated for 15 amps… I thought we’d worked all the bugs out in the first few trips last year, but we must have shaken some stuff lose dragging the trailer out here.

More stuff we saw:

• A seam of pure gold that couldn’t be mined because the mine would collapse
• Picnic tables 10 feet from people whitewater rafting
• Wine fermenting in an unused shaft of the gold mine
• A older Volkswagen motorhome with a very low profile, which I couldn’t identify
• Lots of insane bicyclists riding up and down Mt. Evans
• Mountain goats, bighorn sheep and marmots
• A pickup with a slide-in camper descending Mt. Evans
• Lots of eastern European people
• The tree line and sleet in the middle of July
• Our first runaway truck ramp on I-70

Day 3:

• Left campsite around 8:30am
• Visited downtown Golden and walked along Clear Creek
• Gas stop in Golden (14.2mpg, mostly city driving)
• Visited Heritage Square and rode the Alpine slide
• Lunch and Evan’s naptime at the camper at noon
• Visited the Molly Brown house
• Visited 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver
• Dinner at On the Border
• Took Evan into the Colorado Mills mall to play in the play area
• Returned to camp around 7:00pm

This morning we visited historic downtown Golden. We mostly spent some time walking along the paved trail that follows Clear Creek through town. Evan got to stick his hands in the rushing water, but would have jumped in if we let him. After that, we wandered around Heritage Square, a little tourist spot just a half-mile from the campground. The place seems to be designed like an old Victorian town with lots of little shops. We rode an “Alpine slide”, which looks kind of like the track they run bobsleds on, but you go down sitting on this flat wheeled platform with a brake handle. You have to take a chairlift to the top. Dusty took a turn down the hill as well. The track is about a half-mile long and very fast (unless you ride the brakes the entire way down…)

After lunch we toured Molly Brown’s (a.k.a The Unsinkable Molly Brown) house. Evan was very well behaved and let us carry him the entire time, which surprised me. Evan came up with a new sign; whenever Dusty wants to pick him up, she claps twice to get his attention and holds out her hands. Even though we weren’t teaching him that, he now claps twice when he wants picked up.

Next we visited the 16th Street Mall downtown, which is basically a long strip of stores and restaurants in the lower floors of some tall buildings. We didn’t go in any stores, but we rode the bus to one end and walked back. It gave us a pretty good idea of what downtown Denver was like. After dragging him around all day, we took Evan into the mall to play in the little padded play area they had. Evan struck up a conversation with a little blond boy a month younger than him. He fell asleep shortly after we returned to camp. When we got back to camp, we discovered that our air conditioner had frozen up. We had left it running on low to take the dampness out of the camper. We’re letting it thaw now, so hopefully everything’s fine with that.

Today is pretty clear, and though it’s hazy at a distance, we have empirical proof that mountains do exist!

More stuff we saw:

• The sun, and a hint of mountains
• A “Little Guy” teardrop trailer, which moved in next to us
• A prickly pear cactus (reminds me of being ten years old)
• The US Mint building
• Busses driven by electric motors powered by small natural gas generators (very quiet).
• A creek the size of any Illinois farm creek, but with water running orders of magnitude faster
• A giant chunk of ice inside our air conditioner
• A local with just the word F*** on his belt buckle
• The Coors Brewery, seen from downtown Golden
• 6 Starbucks in 6 blocks at the 16th Street Mall
• Several restaurants named “Chili’s Too”
• Thousands of locals, most of which seem to be “lower maintenance” than folks back home
• Only one guy panhandling, and one guy wanting us to sign a petition for domestic partnerships
• Free municipal wifi downtown

Day 2, and still traveling…

• Departed North Platte, NE around 8:30am
• Stopped at the Colorado welcome center to pick up some brochures and to let Evan play
• Lunch and gas in Wiggins, CO (15.3 mpg at 65 mph)
• Arrived at Dakota Ridge RV Park in Golden, CO around 2:00pm
• Visited the REI in downtown Denver
• Came back to camp and chatted with Tim
• Grabbed dinner around 7:00pm

Today we didn’t have an awful lot of driving ahead of us, thanks to our previous day’s drive. When we stopped at the Colorado Welcome Center, we let Evan plan in the courtyard. Before long the lawn sprinklers came on, and his fortune improved greatly! For lunch we had “Mexican sandwiches” at this little roadside restaurant (which Dusty thought were good enough to blog about!) By the end of the day, in Golden, we still haven’t seen the mountains, since it’s been raining and foggy all day. No big deal though, since we didn’t plan to do much more than relax today anyway. We did make a run over to the REI to pick up the aluminum roll-top table we’ve been wanting. After REI, we met our friend Tim (formerly a central Illinois resident) at our campsite. He’d been out hiking and stopped by on his way home. We discussed a few neat places to see, since actual word-of-mouth is more reliable than pamphlets printed by people who want your money.

Dakota Ridge RV Park is a very nice and clean place for a reasonable price, but our site leaves a little to be desired. Our trailer is 20 feet long when open, and they put us in a campsite that is about 28 feet long. I’ve got the trailer two inches from the fence at the back of the site, but there’s nowhere to put the truck. If I angle very carefully, I can squeeze the truck sideways at an angle, with both the front and rear tires an inch from being on the grass (a big no-no), missing the corner of the trailer by inches, and sticking 2-3 feet into the little circle road we’re on (and nearly blocking the neighbors site). The other choice is the overflow parking a few hundred feet away, but that lot is full of all the full-timers’ extra cars. This site would be fine for a mini motor home, but no trailer, except maybe an Aliner behind a small car, could fit here. It’s still a very nice place, despite the managements apparent misunderstanding of or disdain for popups (there are two of us amongst all the retirees in their Class A’s and 5th wheels). We’re also not allowed to put up our awning, since ours requires poles and stakes, and they’re very concerned about their grass here.

I started to notice the effects of the altitude (5000 to 6000 feet) on the truck. I can feel it not pulling as strongly (though only by a little bit). Of course, even at this modest altitude I’m a little short of breath myself. Towing through downtown Denver and the freeways (after we got lost) in low-visibility conditions was a little stressful. I’m anxious to see how the truck does up Mt. Evans.

More stuff we saw:

• A semi trailer losing a tire on I-80 (and leaving a black streak for miles as it drug the carcass)
• Fog where mountains would normally be
• INVESCO Field at Mile High (the stadium where the Broncos play)
• Downtown Denver REI (a very big store)
• Tim, who is no longer a flatlander
• A Trailmanor and a Hi-lo both pulled by Suburbans
• A dually Ford pulling a triple axle fifth wheel with a Jeep Grand Cherokee behind it (and bikes on the back of the Jeep)
• An old half-ton Ford with a slide-in camper pulling a travel trailer (just barely…)
• Several trucks pulling travel trailers/fifth wheels with boats behind them
• Our first “full hookup” campsite
• Our first campground host who insisted on “helping” you back in to your site.

As some of you might know, we’re on vacation to Colorado. We’re driving our truck and pulling the camper, and we’re planning on staying two weeks. As we’re able to find Internet connections, we’ll post our log and maybe some pictures.

Day 1:

• Departed Peoria at 9:30am
• Lunch in the Quad Cities
• Stopped for gas at 3:00pm in Colfax, IA (14.2 mpg at 65 mph)
• Dinner at Council Bluffs, IA
• Let Evan play at the mall in Council Bluffs
• Left Council Bluffs around 8:00pm
• Stopped for gas at 10:00pm in Grand Island, NE (14.6 mpg at 70 mph)
• Camped in the Walmart parking lot in North Platte, NE

We had originally intended to leave after Evan’s afternoon nap and drive mostly at night, but instead we left after his morning nap. We’re glad we did. We covered about 675 miles in a 15 hour span, and Evan was awake all but 30 minutes of it. He was a trooper though, and just sat there in the back watching the Wiggles and Finding Nemo, only fussing a few times. Usually he goes to sleep at 7:00pm, but not in a moving vehicle, apparently. We made sure we stopped a number of times as rest areas, etc. to let him run a bit.
There’s not much to report on today, since we drove through 675 miles of cornfields, but we did have problems finding a place to stay. Our intention was to find a motel wherever we got tired of driving. We pressed on to North Platte, only to find that every motel room was booked. The next city with motels was an hour further. At any rate, at 12:30am, faced with the proposition of dragging our poor exhausted non-sleeping son another hour only to find no rooms there, we saw in the Walmart parking lot that there were over a dozen RV’s. We left the camper hooked up to the truck, popped up the roof and caught a few hours of sleep.

We discovered our trailer’s battery was nearly dead at our night stop. I don’t think the charge circuit from the truck is working properly, because the fridge basically ran the trailer battery dead. I was surprised to find the truck getting as good of mileage as it did pulling the trailer over the rolling hills of Iowa.

Here are a few of the things we saw that were worth noting (to us):

• 675 miles of corn.
• A Toyota 4-Runner pulling a t@b (neat little camper)
• Archway Monument over I-80 in Nebraska in the dark
• The world’s largest region of McDonald’s restaurants without playlands
• Lots of semi trailers with the “super-single” tires instead of duals
• Electric power generation windmills
• A Kia Sedona pulling a Casita (our neighbors at the Walmart)
• Big gates which could be shut to close the highway
• A small plastic-bodied trailer which looked like it was made by Rubbermaid