Woke up Friday May 1st. in Salina at the Best American Inn, an adequate motel with the right price, $63 including tax. Managed by an Indian from north of Bombay India, not atypical of many smaller off-brand motels scattered across the U.S. This is a natural occupation for these emigrants, as it requires no initial money and all family members can contribute to operating the motels, which is frequently how small businesses are operated in India.

Since the Go wasn't unpacked I headed out to the Super Walmart where I was hoping to find a GPS, as mine went into semi-retirement mode in Memphis, only allowing me to enter cities as destinations with no addresses. In the two years since I had purchased my last GPS at Walmart in Hilton Head, they no longer carried them in their big-box stores but did sell them online, which was of no use to this traveler. I got on the road north on I-35 to I-70 West at around 7:10AM and sailed along through the rolling, brown, farmland of Kansas. No corn this time of year to block the views of the often pancake-like landscape. Eastern Colorado was much the same as Kansas with minimal, visually interesting panoramas. About an hour out of Denver you spy the Rockies, Longs and Meeker Peaks, 14,000+ feet mountains. 

Boyd at CO Welcome Center

Arrived using my IPhone GPS at my friend Billy Spain's, who has a vintage 1999 doublewide trailer in Boulder Meadows, a sprawling trailer park on the north side of Boulder. We had a big hug and proceeded to catch up on things since we last saw each other in June of 2014, during which we canoed the Edisto and stayed in a treehouse. 

Bill Spain on arrival at his trailer in Boulder

Did a few I.T. related things including purchasing Billy a new IPhone and doing some rudimentary IPhone tutoring, since unlike the Millennials, I remain a relative ignoramus when it comes to the phones full functionality. Billy's friend John, a master plumber was repairing his hot water heater which was leaking cold water out the relief valve. He got the leak fixed, but to my chagrin, the pilot light was out and with our best efforts, Billy and I couldn't get it going so it was a cold sponge bath in the tub the next morning at 6AM.

Sunday May 3rd. Billy and I took off to Cheyenne Mtn. State Park near Colorado Springs, home of the Air Force Academy, the International Olympic Committee and Fort Custer Army Base. I had gone online to find a campsite with electric as the temps at elevation hereabouts were still in the 40's. Found one site open, but with no opportunity to book on the weekends. We punted, drove the 91 miles to the campsite and even though the camp office said full, no vacancies, I spoke to the ranger and asked him to look up site 042 at Swift Puma campsite. He was surprised it was open, and put us in for two nights. 

Bill Spain, Cheyenne Mtn. State Park, CO

Campsite at Cheyenne Mt. State Park

Unfortunately, Billy fell going into the park office and came down hard on his left side, so he isn't up for much activity like hiking.

We are on an open plateau with some hills behind and Colorado Springs unfolding below us. Landscape is covered ubiquitously with scrub oak, with some nice ephemeral spring flowers nestled amongst the ground cover. 

Spring Wild Flower

Spring Wild Flower at Cheyenne Mtn. State Park

We took a quick hike in the afternoon after doing a little shopping for foodstuffs (tofu sausages and avocados). Had a pleasant dinner at our dining table and then cranked up some Lennard Skynard on the IPhone and built on nice bonfire out of the oak I had previously purchased. Crashed around nine with the wind buffeting the Go, which was later followed by 3-4 hours of rain. All dry and comfy inside with the little electric heater cycling reassuringly on and off.

May 4th and an early wake up around 5:45 to the sounds of birds chirping their Aloha. I made coffee, breakfast of oatmeal, V8 Green Juice, and whole wheat English Muffins with jam. Stomachs sated, we headed out to find the Garden of the Gods,

Garden of the Gods near Colorado Srings

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods

a red sandstone edifice of rock that is breathtakingly beautiful in it's grandeur. Billy is restricted in movement because of the fall yesterday, so we limited our viewing from the parking lot and pullovers. We came back to the Go and I purchased laundry detergent and operated a coin washer for the first time in likely 20 years. The Speed Queen commercial washers and dryers were very efficient.

Tonight will be some more quiet time likely with further instructions on the cell phone with Billy, finishing this blog offline, since we have no internet, and getting into a little reading. Signing off for now.

May 4th and a misty-rainy morning in the clouds. After making coffee in the Go and having a bananna to stave off any hunger pangs, I broke camp in the cold rain. Didn't like putting the Go tent wet away along with other things like the camp chairs but had no options if we were to get to Boulder and visit with Billy's daughter Jordan. Had an uneventfull drive back through the rain to Boulder. I set up a network wi-fi router at Billy's so he can get access throughout the trailer, then we had a snack and coffee with Jordan. Spain.

Boyd and Jordan Spain

She is delightful, intelligent and impassioned about theater and drama. She plans on attending school in London to study theater next year. 

Jordan and Bill Spain

In the afternoon we met with a Medicare Counselor with the Boulder County Area Agency on Aging in Longmont. She was very patient and we spent a couple of productive hours going over different insurance options for Billy. Got some delicious Chinese take-out for lunch/dinner; coconut curry vegetables

Tomorrow I head to Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Santa Fe Forrest where I have a campsite reserved.  Cranked up early again this AM around 5:30, completed the round of teeth brushing and shaving, but with no hot water, wasn't about to take a shower.  Will have to let the bacteria have their day.  Did some editing on prior blog draft before Billy arose, had a banana to fuel me, said my goodbyes to Billy and headed to Denver to pickup I25 South. 

Rocky Mountains enroute to New Mexico

You know your in the wide open west when you plug in your destination into the GPS and it has no
intersections of note for 329 miles. Drove along I25 past where I got off to Cheyenne Mtn. State Park the day before then started a long climb. Saw some spectacular high peaks along the way to
my north and west.  A hint that you are no longer in South Carolina are the yellow warning signs for bear and elk crossings.  Stopped for gas a lonely little burg and a man with a cattle hauler was also stopped and the cattle were making a god awful racket banging around in the trailer. Felt sorry for the beasts as they were likely terrified of the trip and close confinement. GPS like usual took me to the wrong location for my campsite; slow learner on this aspect.  For some reason the Garmins don't have the parks in their data base, and the street address was 15+ miles from where I eventually found the National Forrest campground in Black Canyon, about 8 miles up a winding road from Santa Fe town. Nice campsite, but primitive with no electricity or showers.  Temps are expected to be around 39F tonight so I doubled up with the foam mattresses, used my winter sleeping bag, and covered it with the summer sleeping bag, using it like a quilt on top.  We will see if I can stay toasty in the sack. 

Santa Fe Cathedral

Went for a short hike and talked to some folks who were out stretching their legs and bird watching.  One of the men had a spotter scope and I saw some nice Grosbeaks, and he had previously spotted a humming bird.  I was amazed that these little birds weighing in at 1-2 ounces could survive the nighttime temps down in the thirties.  They apparently survive on small bugs since flower nectar was in no supply up at that elevation, at least at this time of year.  Also spotted a Stellar Jay, which is brilliant blue with a black head and top notch.  Quite the looker compared to our Jays. Went into historic part of Santa Fe and reacquainted myself with the downtown area, it's old cathedral and square where the Indians ply their bead, silver and lapidary work.  Had dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant and then drove back up the canyon to my campsite where I did a little work on the computer and shut down in the early part of the night.

Drove into New Mexico at Raton Pass after seeing signs to the Ludlow Massacre Memorial (the most violent engagement between mine owners including John D. Rockefeller and the American Union of Mine workers with some 69-199 killed). New Mexico hits you with these stark but beautiful panoramas with the high plateaus and striated rock formations.  The Highlander was working hard at altitude (6,000+ ft.) to maintain 84 miles an hour which is what I cruise at with a posted 75 MPH speed limit.  Gas mileage must be low as I am down to a quarter of a tank after only 200 miles of driving.  Always get a bit nervous as the Highlander's gas gauge isn't very accurate at the low end, so you only have maybe 3 gallons in the tank when it registers a quarter of a tank.  Seems this is typical of most vehicles. Filled up at a lonely small town at $2.69/gal which is the highest I've paid on the trip so far.

Tomorrow will see me driving 5.5 hours to south of Flagstaff, Arizona near Sedona.

May 7th and early breakdown of the camp with ice on the tent from some light rain overnight.  All quiet in the campground except for me, going through the routine of unloading contents in the tent to the car and storage boxes, sweeping out the tent, removing the aluminum spring poles that hold up the sides and front, removing the poles that support the wings, collapsing the tent and tucking it away in it's fiberglass shell.  Following this series of tasks, the storage boxes are positioned back on the trailer, the wings are folded up and the whole top unit with fiberglass shell containing the tent is
cranked down into the low towing position.  I checked the screw cam on the Thule bike rack that I had a temporary fix on with the zip tie and it was holding fine, tightened the hand screws which need
to be tightened  once a day, and with a final check around the campsite, drove the 8 miles down Black Canyon to Santa Fe where I located a Jiffy Lube on the outskirts.  I have already put on over 2,500 miles so the Highlander was due for it's oil change. 

Back on the road, I traveled the mountainous I-25 south towards Flagstaff, Arizona. Highlander was working hard through the 5,000 feet elevations and passes, but the mountain scenery was outstanding with snowcapped peaks visible for quite a ways. Along the way I looked in the rear view mirror to see the passenger side mountain bike floating on it's brackets two inches above the cross bars which hold the entire assembly to the Go's racks.  I stopped emergently on the side of the thruway, manhandled the cross bar back into it's bracket which had now lost it's plastic end cap, and decided to bungee cord the passenger side rack to it's sister rack on the driver's side.

Loose Thule Crossbar with bungy

It was all I could do without special tools to tighten the bracket that has proprietary screws from Thule.  I kept my fingers crossed that my jerry rigging would hold together at my normal operating speeds of 84MPH. Without further issues, I rolled into the outskirts of Flagstaff, had a late breakfast/lunch at a Denny's and noted how unique it was for this Easterner to be surrounded by American Indians, with their often broad, proud faces.  Stopped a little down the road and bought some mustard to go with the remainder of the tofu Italian sausages Billy and I had while at Cheyenne Mtn., along with some potato salad and Greek salad.  Since my hands were going numb each morning breaking down the pop-up, I headed to a nearby Home Depot and purchased some lightweight work gloves. 

 

Cave Spring Campground near Sedona, AZ

River flowing by Cave Spring Campground

Getting back onto I-17 South, I picked up 89 South to Sedona and after about 12 miles on the familiar road, I pulled into Cave Spring campground.  A nice campground by a running mtn. river, and a decidedly popular one at that as I was surrounded by big RVs. Finally got down my bike and went onto the Red Rock trail for bit to see the canyon better and get some exercise.

Boyd biking on Red Rock Trail near Cave Springs

the pop-up for warmth. Spent a little time editing this off-line blog, bringing pictures down to the laptop from camera and phone and called it a night at 8PM, when it was already dark in the canyon.

 

 I had another standard non-electric site for the night.  After settling in, I cooked up the tofu sausage and balance of meal, had a nice glass of white wine from my refrigerator/cooler in the SUV and tucked myself in after bringing the stove into the Go for warmth. May 8th, and it was another early camp breakdown and on the road by 6:30AM. Drove south towards Phoenix then headed to Yuma and on across the desert to a high pass and terrible driving conditions of rain, fog and winds as I crossed the Tekate pass at 5,000 feet.  Before starting up to the pass, the signs warned drivers to turn off their AC to preclude engines from overheating, and there were stops where they provided radiator water. The Highlander handled the climb handily but driving conditions were sketchy.  Rolled into Mission Bay in San Diego, found Dane and we had a beer and did a quick catch up. Dane looks his effervescent self, with the handsome good looks that seems endemic to California's youth oriented culture. Am so lucky to have such a loving son, who gives great hugs!

Dane returned to 710 Beach Rentals which he is the Operation Manager for, and I drove three miles up Mission Bay Blvd. to our rented digs, a $2,200 a week house overlooking the Pacific. When I pulled in my niece Ellie, greeted me from the second floor balcony, followed by my sister Susan, both of who had just had showers and were trying to dry their hair when I arrived with a four minute notice.  I disconnected the Go from the Highlander, took down the bikes and put the Go and bikes
in the garage before relaxing over a beer with Susan and Ellie.  John, my brother in-law was catching some Zs and came out shortly before his brother Walt arrived.  Walt has lived in San Diego for 30+ years having managed a Best Western Hotel in town.  We met Dane, his fiancée Anna, (on left and Jess on right in pic)

Anna Strangman & Jessica Bracamonte at Isabella's Cantina

 

 my former wife Kate, and daughter Jess, who flew in from Guam for the family reunion.  Jess is looking outstandingly fit and trim, and despite being completely jet lagged with only three hours of sleep the night before, managed to hold her own throughout dinner and later at out rental digs.  We agreed to meet around 1PM tomorrow the 9th to hike around Torrey Pines.  Kate is staying back to bake some Pavlova for the baby shower tomorrow.