Buena Vista

Thursday
Went looking for other disbursed camping areas around here. Lots of good tent and truck camper sites but not much for us. We drove the Lenhardy Cut-off Road (CR-376), from US 285 west to CR-371. Stream crossing, sand, rocks, up and down. Part of the Fourmile Travel  Management Area (TMA). A fun Jeep ride.
Fourmile TMA

Has lunch at the Bearded Lady food truck. Jalapeño popper empanada and a pork torta. Outstanding.
Bearded Lady

The city utility dept at 755 Gregg Drive, less than a mile from where we are camped, sells water. $2.00 for 265 gallons.  It uses one of those credit card machines like you see at some dump stations. Good thing. I make it a habit of turning the water pump off whenever we're going to be gone for a while. Apparently, one of us had, for some reason,  left the sink faucet in the bathroom opened. When we got back, I turned on the very quiet pump. Given a little time, all the fresh water filled the grey tank and a few inches of the shower. There is no public dump in BV and the nearest commercial campground is a good drive from here. Since the grey tank held basically clean water, I didn't feel terrible about giving some of the sparse vegetation a drink.

After driving all around, we decided the Rodeo Arena is the most convenient choice for us. Nice and level, convenient to most anywhere, surrounded by views of the mountains. Here we will stay until Sunday.

Buena Vista from CR 304

38.824318 -106.155301
8,100'. The refrigerator is doing just fine.

The rivers are running high and fast. The rafting companies are loving it. Business is great. The roads are jammed with the old school busses carrying the customers to the river.

Sunset from our campsite

Friday
More interesting drives through the Fourmile TMA. Found some nice disbursed camping areas but no cell phone service.

Saturday
In the morning, we drove to the St. Elmo ghost town. We've been there before, but it's a nice scenic drive.
This weekend there is a Rapids & Grass Beer Fest going on. I went down for a while to take a look. The river area is a small city of tents. Apparently the city lifted their no-camping-in-parks policy for the weekend. Lots of serious river rafters, "more than 40 breweries", free music, etc. Plus a car show. Not caring about grass or beer, I did enjoy the car show.

A 1942 Jeep

For dinner we went to the Jade Garden Chinese Restaurant. Another good choice in BV.

From the archives.

From a trip heading West. Gopher, Bagera, Balou, Carol
Bagera and Balou have since passed away. 16-17 years old.

The easternmost point in the US
West Quoddy Head. Lubec,Maine
July 29, 2007.

From a trip through the Canadian Maritime Provinces.
August 27, 2007

In the morning we leave for the O'Haver Lake campground near Poncha Springs. We lucked into a cancellation starting tomorrow for 4 nights. Then we will decide what to do from there.
The summer crowds and traffic are not to our liking at all. Maybe head home until school starts. That's what we did last year. Took off after Labor Day.