Good morrow, friends and fam! Another week down, another post up. When you caught up with us last, we were just leaving Little America in Wyoming and had our sights set on Fort Collins, Colorado. The drive was pleasant enough, though pretty long and unremarkable…except for the very end. We left Little America at about 2pm and had about 5 hours of driving to do. We made stops for gas as needed, keeping in mind the fluctuating price of gas at different places. We had already scoped out a spot in the Red Feather Lakes area of the Roosevelt national forest to camp for the night, but by the time we got close our gas light came on. We checked our maps (luckily Brian downloaded lots of maps ahead of time so limited phone service wasn’t an issue!) and discovered that there were two gas stations close enough that we could make it there with our limited fuel. We tried the first one…and it had closed. 20 minutes prior. Brian recalled that we had about a gallon and a half of gas in a little red can that we’d been holding onto in our rooftop storage, so we quickly glugged that into Lloyd’s gullet in the hopes that he’d be able to get us to the next station. We made it there and…that one was closed too! By a similar frustratingly small margin of time. By this point I was getting a bit panicky and we were both tired (and it was raining. Of course. It doesn’t just happen at inopportune times in the movies, apparently!) So we decided to call it a night at a forest service road down the street from the gas station where another van was parked. That way we could head back bright and early to fill up. The next morning we met Rex, the mining techy fellow who lived in the van next door. He had lots to say about the surrounding area and little bits about “the man upstairs” and he gave us a free pen with an offer to stay at any of his mines around the country if we need! What a sweet guy. Luckily the gas station was open at this time ($3.99/gallon…highway robbery compared to the $2.50 in town) so we got just enough to take us out of the mountains and were back on track to Fort Collins.

We arrived first at a park in a suburban area of Fort Collins. There was a small waterpark next to a lake and little prairie sunflowers smiling at us from every angle. We sat and contemplated what life might be like if we moved to FoCo…and we thought it might be a pretty good time. We sort of fell in love with a 2-bedroom Zillow listing and just had to go and see it for ourselves. it was adorable…we didn’t buy it. Too much trip left to have! But we discovered that we were about 5 minutes away from downtown Loveland, so that wound up being our next stop. We LoOoOoOoved Loveland. It was small enough to be quaint but big enough to hold our attention. There were tons of little independent stores in the downtown area and we got to chatting to a guy in a record store called Downtown Sound (where they had a Beatles butcher album on display, as well as a first pressing of In Utero with yellow vinyl 😍) about what he thought of the area. He gave it rave reviews! The only negative comment we heard from a lot of folks we talked to was that there was a lack of diversity in the area…which is something we’d heard before. But at least people are aware of that, right?

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After admiring, and ultimately not purchasing, expensive collectors’ edition records and a sweet glittery double-necked guitar, we headed down the street to a little coffee shop and then to Door 222 for some happy hour treats. Brian did some remote work (so we can afford all these happy hour stops!) and I journaled for a little while. We then headed to Planet Fitness for our first PIZZA MONDAY!! For those of you who don’t know, Planet Fitness provides pizza to its members on the first Monday of every month. For us, it means free dinner on those Mondays!…and also a slightly increased incentive to actually work out. But only slightly. After that it was off to a free campsite in the surrounding forest area where we were able to camp in the car right next to a little river in the shade of some overhanging trees. So cute!

The next day we headed out to Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove around a little, stopped at a visitor center to get some insider info, and took a lovely little hike where we were passed by several horseback trail riding groups. Such pretty horses! We avoided mountain lions and bears and saw a handful of handsome elk with big ol’ antlers. We also happened upon a big wedding party taking pictures near the trailhead and tried to slink back to the car without getting in too many of the photos! They were a finely dressed bunch and we wished them well. By this point we were tuckered out and ready for some more refreshments…time to visit a Colorado brewery at last!

We had been communicating with Tom’s friend John, whom I was also friends with in high school but had fallen out of touch with. He was doing work stuff during the day with “lasers” and “time” and all kinds of other physics-lab-smart-guy things that he so graciously explained in layperson’s terms over beers at the Twisted Pine brewery (happy hour all day Tuesdays, ayooo!) I had to dip outside for a little bit to be video conferenced in to the gender reveal party for the new addition to our family…whose sex I won’t reveal here in case of readers who want it kept a secret. But it was very sweet to be included in this family get-together – thanks for the heads up, ma! And thanks for calling me in, McCoot! It’s hard to be away from family for so long, but technology makes it much easier to stay connected. After a good few hours of drinking and eating and great conversation about all sorts of things (and a nostalgic glimpse of a familiar little blue SUV), we parted ways with John and headed back out to the mountains nearby for another peaceful night beneath the stars, wildlife all around us, getting in touch with nature…. OR SO WE THOUGHT.

As usual, we had scoped out a couple of good sounding free campsites whilst able to slurp up some wifi in the city. The one we had chosen for this evening, West Magnolia campground, was our ultimate choice because it was a backup place for a more populated campground and thus we assumed it’d be easier to get into. When we arrived it was pitch black. We saw the trailhead and another person camping in an RV, and we’d arrived at the GPS coordinates listed on the online posting, so we figured we were good. Brian was very confident that things would be fine but I had a weird feeling about it for some reason. We ended up just going to sleep as it was already 11pm and we felt reassured by the fact that someone else was there. At 11:30 we were awoken by a knock on the door and headlights shining on us. Nooo! We spoke in hushed voices while we scrambled to put on our shoes and tried to get a feel for what was going on outside. Brian got out first and talked to the guy from the Sheriff’s dept, who explained how they’d been sweeping through the area and moving people along who were “camping illegally”. He mentioned an influx of “transients” (a term that John had mentioned earlier in conversation as being widely used in Boulder in a not-so-friendly manner) who had been coming along and trashing the area. Despite our internal objections to a lot of what he said, he was reasonably understanding and gave us suggestions for other places to go. (I had a suggestion for where he could go, too! Jk…or am I? 🤔) He suggested a campsite called Gordon Gulch that wasn’t too far away, saying we could also stay anywhere along the peak-to-peak highway if we just needed to pull over somewhere to sleep. We checked out Gordon Gulch, but it was treacherous in the dark and seemed pretty full already. Side of the highway would have to do for the night!

We awoke the next morning with every intention to head into Boulder for the day and check out some city stuff. We stopped by a park in the mountain town of Nederland to make some breakfast and brush our teeth. When we headed off down the main highway out of the mountains, we discovered that it was closed from 10am-2pm. It was maybe 11am when we found this out. Dang it! We attempted some different routes but everything ultimately came back to the same road…which was closed at every point. Frustrated, we decided we’d pull over somewhere and hang out for the next 2 and a half hours rather than waste gas rolling through all of these mountain roads trying to find a way out. We happened upon a little parking area around the corner from the nearest road blockage that was just at the edge of the river. Optimistically we grabbed our swimming things and decided to head down and spend our time there. When we got to the water, however, we remembered that much of this is recent snow melt – so the water was COOLLLDDDD! I sat and read some more of White Teeth while Brian took pictures and stacked some rocks like a nerd. The time passed quickly and we were soon back on track.

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We didn’t have any specific goals to accomplish in Boulder other than some exploring. Somehow we found ourselves at a Goodwill and I found myself perusing all the aisles for cute stuff. We have a small list of things we’d like to find at thrift stores that we’ve discovered a need for since leaving, but we found none of them at this Goodwill. Somehow we still left $25 poorer…but immeasurably richer in style and class! We bought 4 things, one of which was this bitchin’ jacket. Tell me this wasn’t a DEAL and a half.

We decided to head out to the mountains earlier this evening and find a spot at Gordon Gulch in the daylight before they all filled up. We managed to find one quite easily, slopping through some muddy puddles on the way. We made dinner and spent the evening reading – I continued the book I’d been working on and Brian started Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder, which he’d picked up at Goodwill. We braved some serious lightning but very little rain, at least where we were camped.

Our next destination was Denver, CO. We were headed to stay with our friend Felicia, who I’ve known through Maddison since about 7th grade and who Brian vaguely knew from frequenting her Starbucks when she lived in Vegas. What a coinkydink! It had been a while since either of us had seen her so we did some catching up when we arrived at her cute place in Denver. She drove us around to some cool spots in town, including City O’ City for lunch and then to Sancho’s Broken Arrow, a little Grateful Dead themed bar, for some brews. We parted ways for a few hours while she went to an activist meeting, then we met back up afterward for some more libations – this time with her boyfriend James joining the crowd.

The next day Felicia was working, so we hung around her house for a little while in the morning and then went to visit her at Devil’s Food Bakery for some coffee and tasty treats. It was such a cute spot and everything we ate was delicious. Afterward we went to explore the arts district of Denver, stopping by the Blue Moon Brewery and very much enjoying some of their special floral/fruity brews. Then it was on to another cute little eatery to meet Felicia for dinner – this time we went to Vine Street Pub & Brewery where we talked for hours and watched a toddler who was enamored with a French bulldog almost climb over the fence to get a closer look. Adorbs.

We had more great talks back at chez Felicia about all kinds of things from the bogusness of horoscopes to distant connections in small-but-large cities, and lots about art and cameras and photography (shameless plug of her cool art shit here!). We had a v dreamy time and got a great sneak peek into the world of Denver. We definitely would’ve stayed longer if we could…but alas, it was on to the next place once again. Thank you, Felicia, for your hospitality and friendliness and for letting us be all up in your space on pretty short notice. You’re a pal.

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From Denver we drove to a place called Sutherland Reservoir in Nebraska. We hadn’t anticipated seeing much here that we’d be interested in (because…you know…Nebraska) and that pretty much held true. We happened upon a big family spending their weekend boondocking by the reservoir and they invited us over for some good ol’ Naturday hangs. It was a pretty raucous family affair. There were a few others in the area that were invited over, too. We retired to our car after an hour or so, promising we’d stop by before departing for some corn (honestly, how Nebraska can you get?) Before we made our way over in the morning, Donna (who had invited us to hang out the night before) came over to our car laden with ears of corn. We insisted that a dozen would be plenty and thanked her for her generosity. Then it was off to the next state – South Dakota!

I’ll wrap it up here as that takes us through to Sunday, August 11. Stay tuned for Brian’s update which will include Wounded Knee, prairie dogs aplenty, Bagel Tuesday, and us being eaten alive by mosquitoes (once again)! Peace and love to you all until next time ✌️❤️