FULL

Saturday morning. The campground is nearly full. Bright sunlight fills the Conejos canyon and the temperature is rapidly climbing. Overnight lows were 36*, and by 0830 hours it will be 65*, with todays forecast high being in the low 80’s. It will be another day in paradise.

We are out early, carrying steaming cups of coffee as we make our first round of the campsites, insuring that all is well and campers needs are being met.

Everything seems to be in order but a quick sweeping and light mopping makes everything fresh for the dawning day.

Soon, we are back at our 5er and it’s time for breakfast. Here is a look.

Eggs, grits, ham, toast and Aunt Maybelle’s Peach preserves ! Oh, yeah ! The campground ain’t the only thing around here that’s full !

TREED

Poco is in Squirrel heaven ! This afternoon during a snow shower, the kind that are mostly beautiful and pleasant, because they disappear so quickly, Poco treed a pine squirrel in a ponderosa pine.

Looking over his shoulder, Poco seems to be saying,” common’ Dad ! He’s too high up for me !”

Just to the left of the tree that Poco is rearing up on, is a large cedar tree. Note that it is mostly green, with little snow showing on it.

Here is another look at that same tree about five minutes before, as Poco and I were checking campsites.

Rio Grande National Forest, Conejos District, Aspen Glade Campground. 8500 feet of elevation in the Rocky Mountain’s Front Range, beside the Conejos River.

VORNADO2

We were pretty proud of our Vornado electric heaters when we first bought them. It showed in our blog entry about them. We had read some negative reports on them, but, they were out numbered by the positive ones. Here is how our Vornado experience has gone, so far.

We bought our first Vornado’s on the 25th of January of 2011 and put them to use right away. They worked well and as advertised. However, before we left out for Colorado and our first workamper job of the year, one of them had quit working. We thought, “oh, well, that can happen, sometimes”. We planned to exchange it at Bed, Bath & Beyond, at the first opportunity. The first week in May, we left for Colorado. During that trip, our second Vornado failed, working only on low heat. Total elapsed usage time, a bit under three and a half months.

Stopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond in Santa Fe New Mexico, they readily returned them for two more Vornado’s, that had simpler controls, giving us a store credit for the excess. They would have credited the balance to our card, but Betty already had eyes on something else that she needed.

Here is a look at the new Vornado’s that arrived today by UPS, they were drop shipped from the factory at no cost. Bed, Bath & Beyond rocks !

This model has three heat elements and simpler analog controls. It retail’s for just under $80.

With the fan set on continuous and the thermostat on 1, it is also a nice quiet fan.

We have test ran them and put them in service. Tonight’s forecast low is 33*, (we are expecting a couple of degree’s lower up at 8500 feet), with today’s high up near 80*, so we usually run one of the heater’s on low. Then in the morning, we kick both heater’s up on high, to quickly bring the 36’ Coleman 5er up to, “check email in your Hanes” comfort level. 

Like the other Vornado’s, these look great, heat well and move a lot of air quietly. These, however, are lower tech, and, we are looking for them to hold up better from a bib overall wearing RedNeck’s, use !

DSL

Sunrise, high up in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. As the first rays of sunlight strike the mountainside high above our campsite at 8500 feet of elevation, I am on the internet checking email. WHAT ? Yes, the local phone service provider Century Link was able to send a tech named Andy, out to get us hooked up. Unbelieveably, we now have DSL at our campsite ! WooHoo ! Here is a look.

The first thing we did was to turn off our Net Zero account that wouldn’t get on line most of the time. It was about eighty miles to our access phone number for them. They tried, but there were just too many obstacles in the way for them.

Here is a look at our router and phone handset.

We checked our line speeds and they are right up there where they are supposed to be at t1 levels.

We can now view photos and videos from our friends !

TRAIL

Located within Aspen Glade campground, is a parking area for Trout Fishermen.

A well traveled trail runs from the parking lot, along side the Conejos river.

During the day, trout fishermen will pull in, put on their fly vest, pull on their waders, grab their fly rod, and head up the trail to their favorite area on the river.

Since it is early in the season, there is some Winter damage, such as erosion or trees across the trail.

Here is one such “blow down”, that was close enough to the campground that I could assist in the clearing.

A couple of minutes with a chainsaw, and life gets easier for fishermen in waders.

One of the many hidden “perks” of working out in the National Forest, is the beauty of the surroundings.

The hill side just above the blow downs that we were sawing out of the trail, had many of these little beauties on it.

We are at 8500 feet of elevation this year.

OFFICE

One of the rewards of  Rocky Mountain Camping is the great view out of our office slide out’s windows.

First morning’s view. That’s the Conejos River of Trout fishing fame, just below our picnic table.

Second morning’s view revealed a light dusting of overnight snow. It was almost there and gone before we noticed.

Here is the view of the Conejos River , out of the other office window, taken right after breakfast. Just that quick, the snow is all gone.

SETTLIN’

Our first day on the road, we stayed with it until El Reno Oklahoma, just the West of Oklahoma City on I-40. Overnighting on Wal Mart’s parking lot. Waking up early, we were ready for more road, and the Murphy Station wasn’t going to open up until 7AM. After a quick breakfast, we hit the road, arriving at Estancia New Mexico in the evening. The Cook family’s most gracious hospitality is always one of the high points of our journey West.

Winds forecast for the next day was bad for high profile vehicles.  Our Coleman 5er, that we call SPF-60, because it can nearly totally block the sun, is definitely in the high profile vehicle category. The winds would be gusting up to 60MPH. We chose to get a very early start, getting up at 0415 hrs, to try to out run the winds up into the shelter of the canyons of the Rocky Mountain’s front range.

We arrived at Aspen Glade campground about mid morning, as the wind was beginning to really pick up.

Here is a look.

A look at the rear of the land train.

How about those giant Ponderosa Pines ! Oh, yeah ! Let the settling in begin !