Thursday, August 17, 2000
On the road again - Aug 17
We knew we were back in Boulder when the first three restaurants were Ethiopian, Thai, and Nepalese. It was fun seeing our friends, but the longer we stayed the itchier our feet got. So with very little fanfare, on Friday, Aug 11, we pulled out of Boulder heading west.The cats were rather upset, as they thought we had given up the wandering life. They soon discovered that we would eventually stop and return them to their "home", so the second leg was more peaceful.
Our first stop was Cold Springs campground in the Arapahoe Natl Forest. The Rocky Mtn HiLo Club was meeting there. We had a HiLo trailer for a year and joined the club -- we found them to be so friendly that we kept our membership afterwards, as "alumni" (members who no longer own a HiLo). On Saturday we had a group potluck in Russell Gulch, above Central City. One of the club members grew up there, and still owns a cabin on a nice-sized lot. What was most amazing was to see pictures from a hundred years ago -- the community looked similar, but there were no trees, even on the hills.
There was enough vegetarian fare that we could stuff ourselves. Then we all went for a tour of local ghost towns. Many of the ghost towns in CO are experiencing a resurgence in population, since so many people are moving here, and they need somewhere to live, and it's easier to build where somewhere has already built before. Consequently, we are losing many of our ghost towns.
Sunday we attended another potluck -- this one given by Karen & Eugene, a couple that we met during our recent stay in Boulder through our good friends Mark & Susan. The food and company were all terrific, but it was difficult saying good-bye one last time.
Monday we took a couple of nice hikes, getting our mountain legs back (Cold Springs CG is above 9000 ft), and watched the hummingbirds use our new window feeder. The cats love it!
Tuesday was moving day -- we left uncharacteristically early, for us (8:20) in order to try to attend a Escapee luncheon in Buena Vista (and yes, it really is pronounced "Byoona Vista" in CO). Getting there was half the fun -- we had to go through the Eisenhower Tunnel (elev 11000') and back down to Keystone (9000'), then over Fremont Pass (11300'), before gradually descending to Buena Vista (8000'), in plenty of time to set up and attend the lunch. The lunch was delicious and we got a tip on how to fix a problem with our trailer, so it was doubly worth the price.
We are now enjoying the sights in the Buena Vista area. Willie lived here for about 5 months in 1973, but a lot has changed since then. It has become a popular tourist and retirement destination. The scenery is still beautiful, and there are a lot of new parks around. We have a gorgeous view of Mt. Princeton (one of the most beautiful 14ers) right from our trailer.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:23 PM 
