June 25-27, 2014 Dutch George, Colorado

It is lovely to be camped in the mountains.

We went for a short walk after dinner. John in Elk Horn Creek. Sunset.

fringed puccoon, willow catkin, snow berry, chock cherry, bed straw, delphiniums, meadow rue, black-eyed Susan.

The next day is was rainy, then sunny, then rainy. John and Mandy came up to visit with snacks.

Mandy pulled out her fishing pole and I followed taking photo. I used to fish , and I think I am inspired to get another pole and start again. Mostly just to have an excuse to walk along the river.  Well also I might just catch some fish! the Poudre River and a ponderosa pine.

Mandy caught about 8 fish, 6 were too small and went back into the river. The evening was lovely. I took too many photos.

Cool clouds rolled in the evening.

We  had a shower, then a rainbow. John prepped Mandy’s fish for dinner.

The hummingbirds ignored John in their frenzy to eat before dark. The John’s cooking dinner.  It is so nice that it stays light till almost 9 o’clock at night now.

clover flowers, birch cones, penny royal seeds, mountain mahogany starting seeds,monarda bud, wet spiderworts, curled leaf, spiderweb

Hare bells, mustard, tiny flowers, thistle, wet cactus bloom, blue flax, bind weed, cinquefoil

spirea, purple flower, mountain mahogany seeding, wet cactus bloom, geranium with  out petals, saxifrage, wild licorice seeds, salsify seed head

wild mint, new needles , flower buds

Sunset was again very colorful.

June 23, 24 2014 Dutch George-Denver-Dutch George, Colorado

John discovered the antifreeze is still leaking so we packed up and drove down to Denver to the Cummings to have them repair the same thing again. Third trip there first to replace hoses and second to fix antifreeze leak, and now again. We have had really good luck with Cummings before. They located the loose hose clamp and then they checked every other connection they had made the first time we were in there. We spent the night at Cummings just to make sure that it was not leaking anymore.

The bus parked at Cummings, plugged into their hookups. A huge storm storm was coming in. John picked more oregano when we went by the house on the way and it is now drying on the bed.

The tornado sirens when off and where do  you go when you are in an RV when a tornado comes? No where here. . . But the storm passed with out sucking us up. There was some big hail too. Then a nice rainbow on the bus. Our pot of gold.

We met Cecil Stump ( a good friend of my brothers from Cody,Wyo), and my brother Jerry for dinner. It was nice to see them. On the way back to Dutch George we stopped and toured EarthRoamer. www.earthroamer.com. They are made just north of Denver in Thornton.  They are all custom made on a Ford club cab truck frame-so they are all different. They are designed to be self contained for the back country with solar. No generator or propane. If the solar is not enough you start  the truck engine to generate power.

They are incredibly well made, for off road travel. If we had ordered one today it would be ready April 2015 since they are all custom ordered and there is a back log. John with Katy our tour guide examining a brand new one. It is 28 feet long. Here is the inside of it-very luxurious . They cost between $26o,ooo-500,000 depending on what you want on them or what size, and used from $100,000-$400,000. We looked at a couple nice used for $150,000.

Very fancy and very sturdy. They are all electric. The one problem we saw was that they have a 90 gallon water tank and only a 29 gallon gray water tank and only a few gallon black tank. Not sure where all the waste is supposed to go. After that we drove back to Dutch George campground on the Poudre river. John wants to do some more boating and this is the closest to Fort Collins first come first serve campground. The rest are all reservations and they are full every weekend all summer. We are in the spot next door to the one were in last time, more trees.

Sunset this evening.

I walked along the river and photographed more flowers. Senecio, alder cones, alfalfa, sumack, penstamen, cinquefoil, yucca and something I don’t know what is.

Scarlet guara, mustard, narrow leaf cottonwood catkin, the one I don’t know, yucca, water on leaf and flowers of same bush.

Huge green bug on the yucca, cinquefoil, yellow evening primrose and a dup of the ones I don’t know.

June 22, 2014 Poudre River, Colorado

We are close enough to Fort Collins that our friends can come up and boat and visit with us.

This great vintage GMC bus parked next to us in the campground. The inside is the original retro browns and harvest golds, in great shape. Ended up to be a group of boaters that John knew.  John joined another group of boaters from Fort Collins for a class IV run-Rustic to upper narrows campground. Gary Breuner and the front of John’s boat.

Claire Cairn with Dave behind her. Claire and Dave posing.

Gary and Claire surfing.

Gary behind a big wave.  Meanwhile back at camp, Lea and I went for a short hike up Buck Horn creek.

Mandy arrived and she and I boated a more sedate section of the river closer to camp. Mandy in her cute little Jackson at the put in and me in my big fat rubber duck heading out onto the river.

After boating snacks at Gary and Lea’s campsite at Upper Narrows campground-the take out. John, Lea, Gary, Claire and Dave. Later back at our camp it rained hard, with the sun out. If you look close you can see the rain.

After it cleared John cooked dinner. It is so green and beautiful out. Still early spring in the mountains. The hummingbirds don’t mind that I melted and deformed the feeder pouring boiling water into it. All four spots full and one waiting. Even had hummers fighting over it. They are so cute. I was sitting so close that I could see them licking their lips between drinks.

Rosy sunset.