Summer Migration

I said goodbye to Colorado and began my annual move back to the upper Midwest, specifically Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  Passing through Kansas I stopped off at the Lyons city park where the city thoughtfully provides free electricity and allows you to stay up to five days if you want.  I previously reviewed the park here:  Lyons Trailer Park Review .  If you visit Lyons you HAVE TO go to Scrambled Sams for breakfast (I did two days in a row!), the omelettes are so great!

And I'm not even a breakfast eater!

It's going to hit 96 today in Lyons which should make me grateful for the free electric hookups for running the Mini's AC.  There's another guy here with a tiny trailer without AC that I feel for, it's got to be like an oven in there.  Next up I'm heading north into Nebraska and hopefully at least slightly cooler temperatures.

Thanks for reading!

Oh, Hail No!

In my last post I bragged on how nice the weather is at Antero Reservoir in mid-May.  Guess that tweaked the Weather Gods:

The hail was marble-sized and pretty heavy in duration.  I ran out through it to rescue my deployed solar panels (they ARE 95 % glass) fearing they couldn't take the constant hits and as my "rescue" proceeded I took a few hits to my ears that really smarted!  Today as I post this the weather has returned to sunny and crisp, but I'm NOT bragging about it!

Thanks for reading!

Back to Antero

Readers of the blog know that I rated the camping experience at Antero Reservoir near Hartsel, CO as one of the best I've had in the years I've been wandering around.  I reviewed Antero Reservoir camping in 2013 here:  Antero Reservoir Review .  I tried to return to Antero in 2016 for another camping session only to find it closed (and drained) for maintenance and repairs on the dam that creates the reservoir.  Happily, the reservoir is "back in business" so that's where I'm spending the next ten days or so.

One of Denver's principle sources of drinking water.

Middle of the month of May is a great time to camp at the 8900 foot elevation, sunny days in the low seventies and nights in the low 40's....sleeping weather!

Great weather!  The views are OK too.

Even though the reservoir was drained and the trout removed, it was restocked after it was reopened and there are throngs of fishermen on and around the reservoir.

Fishermen trying their luck on the reservoir.

Even though it's the second half of May there are still areas with snow on the ground that hasn't melted yet.

A large patch of snow in a field near Antero.

I'm really looking forward to the next week or so of camping at Antero!

Thanks for reading!

Escape to Rabbit Valley

Needing to get my mail forwarded to me from the excellent Escapee Mail Forwarding service I needed to hang out near Grand Junction, CO for four or five days until the General Delivery packet got forwarded from Livingston, TX to a Grand Junction Post Office.  Initially, I planned on staying on the BLM land just north of the city where I had camped previously but after one day there I wanted to relocate.  Unfortunately, the locals have absolutely trashed this once excellent camping spot, littering it with everything from broken washing machines to what appears to be the remains of a demolished house, let alone the tens of thousands of spent shotgun shells that litter almost everywhere.  I couldn't help but think of the great camping in Rabbit Valley twenty miles to the west in the McGinnis Canyons National Conservation Area I had enjoyed a couple years back so I returned to the Jouflas Campground which I previously reviewed here: Rabbit Valley Review .

Like seeing an old friend!

I lucked out and got my old camp site when I got there.

The only site at Jouflas with some vegetation.

The difference between the condition of the pristine land within the McGinnis Canyons Conservation Area and the now pathetic BLM land near Grand Junction couldn't be more stark, I'd made the right move to relocate.

One of the tons of rock formations along hiking trails.

There's an excellent series of hiking trails near Jouflas Campground and I did my daily hikes along them.

Trail 2, one of the main trails in the Jouflas system.

A service road that connects Jouflas to a campground about 5 miles south.

Heartbreak Hill:  the climb back up to Jouflas from the trails.

I usually carry a Walmart shopping bag in my pocket in case I see litter while on my walks.  There was virtually no litter in Rabbit Valley so I left the bags back at the Mini.

Thanks for reading!

100,000

Tech-nically Homeless hit it's 100,000th page view today.  Wow, that's a lot of views!  When I started the blog five years ago I thought it would be a way to assure my daughter, who was very worried a newb like me would drive off a mountain road in the dark, that I was still alive and kicking, or at least I was whenever my last post occurred,  I honestly never thought I'd get more than one or two family views a day, given that my writing isn't the most scintillating.  Then I decided to include reviews of all the cool places I was finding to camp in with the hope that it would help other newbies like me starting out and I think that's what got the page views going.

I hope I've helped readers find destinations and learn good camping skills as much as the blogs I read have helped me through these last five years!  I'll keep after it!

The Happy Camper!

Thanks for reading!