SURPRISE!!

"Beautiful Idaho" did it's job!!  It convinced brother John that we were not in Colorado!!  He really was surprised that we came to his 75th Birthday Party!!  "But they are in Idaho or Vernal UT!!"  All of Tom's siblings were in attendance with spouses,  plus friends and three generations!!   Great day; great party!!

So after high winds on the Yampa, two unnamed passes on Highway 131, one between Steamboat Springs and Oak Creek and one between there and I-70.  It was lovely country and not a bad road,  only a couple of box trucks passed us.  The little town of Yampa even had dirt streets,  except at the entrance to the Sinclair Station where one of the box trucks was parked for lunch!!   The Yampa River runs into the Colorado River prior to the town of State Bridge where the rafters begin the downriver trek on the Colorado.  We remember State Bridge from our several train trips via AMTRAC. We attempted to ascertain the route of the train up the Colorado River from where it turns north at Gypsum to where the tunnels are at Winter Park - the Moffit Tunnel being the longest railroad tunnel in the United States at 6.2 miles!!  We were not allowed to go between cars on the train in order to keep the diesel exhaust from asphixiating us al.l

The rivers were all high and fast with Spring runoff.  The mountains were covered with green velvet in both eastern Utah and western Colorado;  spring flowers were plentiful,  the wild critters we were constantly warned about not so much.  We saw more dead deer and rabbits; the one LONELY antelope ran in front of us and I was able to brake quickly to avoid hitting it!!  This happened just five minutes after our remarks about the lack of wildlife at the many marked crossings crossings!!

So after two nights camping on my sister's sidewalk - hey, we had water and power thanks to our long hoses and extension cords - we are in the much cooler mountains at Chief Hosa campgrounds for three days, or more if we can catch a cancellation!!  Colorado being the RV capital of the nation they have a dirth of campsites and unfortunately, the only ranchers we know here are out in Yuma, and we just saw all those folks YESTERDAY at the Party!!

We were so blessed to park at our old friends' outside of Alturas CA for the three day Memorial Day Weekend since we knew that there would be no spaces available for a Holiday Weekend on such short notice.  I have a photo of Clarence and Dee if I can get my IT helpers to post them to my timeline, I will do so!!  I did help with the gardening and Tom fixed the rear stabilizers on the COUGAR.  We had the crank for backup but better to fix the problem if possible before going further.

The night before we spent at the OLD FIRE STATION in Sun Valley NV, north of Reno.  Our cousins had said we could squeeze in at their house between and in front of the TWO RVs already there, but Tom opted out of that situation.  The cousin just happened to be talking to the Fire Chief and got permission for us to park there at the old station  on the concrete pad.  GOD IS GOOD,  all the time!  ALL THE TIME, God is good!!

So are we worried about having no reservations in Colorful Colorado, no - not really!!

Currently raindrops are falling on the roof and the grass and the gravel pad next to us!!  The smell of rain is such an amazing smell.