Evening, Oct. 23rd....Great Sand Dunes NP...

Today finally dawned with little chance of precip...we had camped just outside of Pagosa Springs, in the San Juan Mountans...a brief morning hike was followed by coffee in town, and then a ride into Creede, over Wolf Creek Pass....Creede has a unique geography to it, with abrupt, uplifted rock faces abutting the north border of the town, leading into the mountains where Creede's mines were located in the 19th century....

At its largest, almost ten thousand people lived there....now, 800 call it home, and it is the largest town in Mineral County! I had never heard of the town, nor the area, and I want to go back and spend more time in this pretty mountain range...there are still interesting, abandoned structures dating back to mining days:

Anyway, had a wonderful brisket sandwich at a pub in town, and then a hike up into the abandoned mine area.

Afterward, we decided to head east to visit the Great Sand Dunes - who knew Colorado had them?? Which is where we are pitched for the night....we'll visit the dunes in the morning....tonight we will dine on duck confit, sausage, and lentils....we can see the sun setting to the west, peeking through clouds....just to the east are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, an imposing site from our campground - snow-capped and steep, rock-faced peaks, holding eight of Colorado's fourteeners....

Evening, Oct. 21....

Wonderful day here at Dutton Hot Springs....super hike in the morning....Molly brought a friend along for the hike....the two of them became fast friends.....

It was cool, and we had a brief shower or two, but the sun eventually broke out....

That's the owner's contemporary house in the left of the picture, and the resort in the distance....learned they are very busy here in the winter with cross country skiing and snowshoeing, AND, even some heli-skiing right from the resort - Amy and I are going to look into this....

After a yummy lunch we had siestas....

The bed is much bigger than toutou's! 

Amy and I hit the hot springs afterward and I had a relaxing massage.....tomorrow we get back on the road and head south, towards Mesa Verde and Durango....can't wait!

Wednesday, Oct 21.....

Yesterday was a travel day, leaving Ouray for a two day break at a resort, Dunton Hot Springs...first we had a stop in Telluride for lunch - we had skied there thirty four years ago! It has really changed....

The town is wonderful as ever, retaining its traditional architecture and appeal. And the setting - incredible!!! A wonderful spot....

Then onto Dunton Hot Springs...."you can't get there from here" describes it well...the owner took the old (probably abandoned) town of Dunton, brought in old cabins and painstakingly restored the "town"!

It is unique, expensive, and in a wonderful setting. There is a bath house with a hot spring pool, and wonderful showers; massages available (apres-hike today).....Room for about forty guests (Robert Redfod was here last week), there are six of us here at the moment. Large staff, great beds...The other two couples are delightful, and that's good because we share the main meals together...lots of good hiking right out our front door, which we will partake of after breakfast. Meals and other activities center around the main building:

We're here for one more night, and then we'll get back on toutou and continue the road trip...the weather is still unsettled, and we are discussing heading south to New Mexico, but we'll see....

2nd Trip...Oct. 19, Ouray.....

Awoke last night to feel the RV moving, side-to-side, in a fairly strong crosswind! Then heard the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof....drifted back to sleep...Molly walked down the aisle between our beds at about 7am, and nosed me awake....she always wants some rubs in the morning before we get out of bed...I put some fleece on and a jacket, grabbed the umbrella, and took her for a walk...an illegal one yet again (no leash)....it was overcast and showering a bit, and I was unsure about hiking today...but by time we had our coffee and got dressed it had stopped and we broke camp and headed into Ouray....

Driving into that beautiful town situated in a box canyon, we could see the clouds parting and that the night's showers had been snow on the tops of the surrounding peaks - a gorgeous scene....grabbed some more coffee (and a yummy sticky pecan bun for me), and then did some shopping at Ouray Mountain Sports, a really nice store...then drove to the edge of town, parked the RV and joined a different part of the Perimeter Trail, this time to the west of town...great views as we hiked up the steep trail...notice the snow on the peaks???

The trail crossed a rushing stream and small falls....

Finally,the clouds parted and we got some warming sun on our backs...

Hydration is important when you hike, and your dog can be trained to drink from a Camelback!

Getting back to toutou (the RV) after our hike, we used the outdoor shower (a hose with a spray nozzle on it, hot and cold water available, located under one of the running boards in the picture) to clean our boots and Molly's four muddy feet...

We departed Ouray knowing we'll be back soon, as it is the prettiest town in Colorado (the U.S., maybe!), and drove back to Ridgway State Park - oh, we did make a stop for some necessary refreshment at the Ouray Brewery....32oz of their IPA.....

Tonight we have pork loin, squash, and carmelized brussel sprouts for dinner, thank you Molly Harrison! Tomorrow morning we leave for Telluride. Then, after lunch there, onto Dunton Hot Springs Resort for two nights in a luxurious log cabin....3 meals a day, a spa, free laundry service, it promises to be a nice break from RVing. Not that we've been roughing it, exactly. We hope to do some good hiking there, weather permitting - the weather is supposed to get worse for two days, which is the reason we booked this...

2nd Trip....October 18...Ouray, CO

Woke up this morning to low clouds and a shower here and there....had a brief walk along the rim of the Black Canyon - really strikingly beautiful.....a very deep canyon: the Empire State Buildng could stand up in it and not reach the rim....

Drove to Ouray for lunch -  it is my candidate for the prettiest setting of any town in the state. And friendly. And great hiking. Surrounded by mountains on all sides, the town has numerous hikes originating right from town, not the least interesting being the Perimeter Trail. Yup, goes around the town about a thousand feet above it:

And toutou is handling all the mountain driving like a Ferrari....well, OK, maybe more like a good, solid SUV....we're really loving it! 

Hit a hot springs just out of town and relaxed there for half an hour....then onto Ridgway State Park for a couple of nights....just ten miles from Ouray - we decided we like the peace and quiet of the park rather than the close quarters of the RV parks in town....but we'll be back to town tomorrow morning for more hiking....set up camp, and relaxed with a pale ale and watched the sun set on the mountains around the park here....tonight, it's chicken curry for dinner, with rice and naan....

2nd Trip - Starting October 17, 2015....Southern Colorado

First thing I learned - the hard way - coming home from our first trip was that the dip in my driveway bottomed-out the RV!! Thankfully, we engineered around the problem and now have a high-tech solution: 

Two planks, actually multi-layered to conform to the dip, expertly manufactured on-site by Shaeffer-Hyde Construction. Thank you, Albert.

We got started Saturday morning, in our wonderfully clean (thank you, Yangie!) toutou, headed for Southern Colorado for a week or so. Unfortunately, the weather forecast isn't great like this past week, but only chances of showers - so we'll see. First stop, was lunch in Redstone, a walk back through another era in Colorado's history. Lunch was homemade, on the go, as we wanted to get the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP campground in time for a hike.

Which we did - what a gorgeous canyon it is! Not terribly well-known, it should be. Just outside of Montrose....we made it to the campground around 4pm:

And then had a beautiful hike along the South Rim of the canyon in the fading sunlight...

I had made Veal Marengo (a French stew created to celebrate Napoleon's victory) among other meals for the trip, and it was yummy. Afterward we had a nice walk with the pup and settled in to our beds, happy to be on the road again....

Back home....

Had a fantastic two weeks, starting with a couple of days with the Advanced RV folks, who did such a spectacular job on our new RV! We love everything about it and look forward to our next trip in it starting later next week....meanwhile, toutou will be hooked up here at home....

Badlands and Mt Rushmore....

Long day of driving but made it to Badlands National Park by 5pm....in time to have a look around the strange looking formations....and set up camp....warmed up lamb shanks from Simply Good for dinner - delicious! Warm night, and the heat never came on in the RV, yet we were very comfortable....

Cloudy when we awoke, and Amy went for a strenuous hike while Molly and I fueled up the RV and had a little hike ourselves around Interior, SD (population 67).....we were to meet Amy on a dirt road where her trail cut across, but we were early so we hiked a half mile down the trail to meet her...Molly breaking the law yet again, off leash...

Said goodbye to the Badlands and made the hour or so drive to Mt Rushmore - the main goal of our west-bound trip from the Midwest. It was outstanding! Missed Cary Grant, though....And such a beautiful sunny day as well...hunkered down for a little siesta this afternoon at our campground in Custer at the moment...this is our second to last night before arriving home...its been a great trip...

Leaving the Great Lake State....

Today was a big travel day for us, as we drove six or seven hours...we went through the cheesehead state like Sherman through Georgia...but, it did start with a wonderful, early morning view of Green Bay (the waters of Green Bay, not the city) from our campsite in J W Wells State Park in Michigan.....

Tomorrow will be another big drive - seven hours - but we will be rewarded by camping in Badlands National Park....but tonight we will be feasting on that chicken pot pie I picked up at The General Store in Good Hart, MI....it is cooking as I type, and smelling amazingly well! Sipping a nice Italian red as the sun sets, nibbling on some Comte cheese and crackers....the girls on our beds in back, relaxing....all is good....

Saturday, and on to the U.P!

This morning we departed Petoskey and had coffee in lovely Harbor Springs....it was cloudy, windy, and damn cold!!! Bought some local honeycrisp apples at the farmers' market and then headed to the "town" of Good Hart - blink and you go past it.....BUT, earlier gastronomic research by yours truly uncovered The General Store, maker of over 10,000 chicken and beef pot pies annually, shipped, as they say, "from sea to shining sea". Well, I bought two large ones.... one of which we'll eat tomorrow night....had lunch in Mackinac city and crossed the bridge to that foreign land, The Upper Peninsula. Surprisingly, we did not need our passports (we have them because we are going to South Dakota, and figger we need them there)....

Long drive after lunch to J W Wells State Park, on Green Bay, near the Wisconsin border. Beautiful setting, sipping some wine now, will get to dinner in a bit....each day will include a good dose of driving from now on....our last stop will be Mt Rushmore before going home....I'm sure we'll find a few fun things to do between now and then...

Thursday/Friday at Sleeping Bear Dunes....

Met up with my two sisters and brother-in-law for a couple of days here....played golf at Arcadia Bluffs with Michele - my younger sis - and her hubby, Tom...had a wonderful if chilly round of golf....it's a beautiful golf course, especially holes 10 through 15....definitely want to come back another time....

The campground we used here, Platte River was wonderful...quiet, great walking, and convenient....getting the hang of the RV.....the cycle of your life changes, as you tend to go to bed when the sun goes down and arise when it rises...been keeping in touch with folks back in Vail, as we are purchasing a storage unit for the RV....seems like the deal is about done....

Got up this morning and hiked to Pyramid Point, high above Lake Michigan.....the pic is poorly shot, given the light, but I think you can get the flavor of the moment....it was fantastic!

Molly violated U.S. law by beeing unleashed, but no ranger was around, and she stayed close to us the entire time...no harm, no foul.....said good-byes to my family and headed up north along the coast after lunch, to Charlevoix, Petoskey, and into Petoskey State Park campgrounds....had a nice mile hike with Molly and Amy and am now sipping a nice wine....dinner will be pasta bolognese with a salad and garlic bread. Hungry just thinking about it!

Tomorrow we start the long road home....will go across the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninnsula of Michigan - never been up there....plan to boondock at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior - boondock being camping in the RV without hooking up to water, electricity or sewer. Our RV is perfectly designed for this....solar panels generate much of our electricity, with the engine providing the rest. The critical resource while boondocking really is water usage....but it's only for one night, as we need to drive about four or five hours a day for the next handful of days to get to Mt Rushmore, in time to be happy me by Oct. 8. All for now, dinner beckons....