And the Mountains Seem to get Better Everytime we Go!

And we're back! How time flies when you are in the mountains. We started our adventure about 3am and headed out. I have a goal of getting out to CO and having lunch with a beer with a mountain view.

However, I do manage to always forget to look up some places to do this and inevitably we end up famished and driving around aimlessly looking for that perfect spot that I have in my head. Needless to say, this does not typically end well. About the third time I have woken everyone up at 2am in order to do this and yet not having the foresight to actually plan a place has the dog even looking at me like he is going to plot and organize a family mutiny.

So after spending an hour looking for a spot, 4 u turns and a near miss with a tuck, add some crazy road construction outside of Littleton. The dream was dead and the Mikky-D's drive through, were the nails in the coffin.

From there we got to spend some quality time with my wifes sister Nan and her wife Jane, who took great care of us. It's always nice to make a pit stop to family with hearts of gold. Sally got to catch up and after a nap I even got a ride in, I am in the front range hills 10min from their driveway. Boom!

They grilled out some food and told us about their past and upcoming adventures and it was wonderful seeing them. Another ride out of littleton in the morning and came back to a big awesome breakfast. Shame we couldn't have stayed longer but we had and agenda to get back to. CB was calling!

From their house it was another 4+ hours and drove through Fairplay (if you want a rental,

check out my buddies ABAB

) and Buena Vista. Towns we need to stop and spend some more time in for sure, but not this trip.

Once in CB we decided to

boondock

the van for the first night and went driving up

Washington Gulch

to look for a spot.

I think we picked the wrong week, it was packed! Virtually every site I had scoped out on Google maps prior to the trip was full. I originally thought it would not be an issue, we are literally on dirt roads miles from town. It is so beautiful up there, I guess the secret is out. So further up the mountain we went. So far up in fact, once we hit another steep pitch and followed up by a sign that reads "roads narrow, 4x4 (something)" my wife and co-pilot just looked at me and said "pretend you know me". Not that I needed any non verbal cues like hyperventilating, I do know her, and turned around immediately. By immediately I mean whenever I could which was not immediately. The road was pretty narrow and steep (yet some crazy people have their Toyota Camrys up this road. Beyond my comprehension) and after some further driving and ever increasing anxiety on all accounts. We found a spot to turn around and head back down. This time with better luck. Someone moved out from the time we drove up and we got a spot and a pretty darn good one at that.

Once we got settled partially, a crazy rain came in. The awning on the Van was a trip saver for sure. Official day one was a s We were fortunate that the rain only stayed around for about an hour then passed. This day that is.....