Monday 8-31-26 Rainy Night, Hiking, Camping & Having Fun

 

Hiking through the Aspens

We had a great day.

It was overcast all day. At 4:30 the rain came and stayed around all night. The morning temperature was a cool 42 degrees and the high was 66 degrees. When the rain came in it dropped the temperature to 51 degrees.

Yesterday, while we were at Walmart we bought powder milk. Larry suggested we have apple cinnamon muffins in the morning. They're in a pouch you just have to add milk, that's why we bought the powder milk. We needed a half a cup of the milk to make the muffins. Larry and I worked together to figure out how much of the powder milk we needed. The box had three pouches and each pouch made one quarte of milk. It took us awhile but we figured we needed 1.5 tablespoons of the powder and half a cup of water to make half a cup of milk. I made the milk and let it set overnight. 

This morning Larry woke up his normal time and did his morning routine. I woke up at 7:15 to make the muffins because it takes 12-14 minutes to bake them. I had greased the muffin pan last night. This morning I just had to heat up the oven, mix the batter, fill the pan 2/3 full and bake them.  Our oven in the Minnie can be challenging. The package recommended to bake the muffins at 400 degrees but I baked them at 375 degrees for 12 minutes. The muffins tasted good except the bottom and the sides were a little over cooked but the center was very fluffy. 

After breakfast we went on a 5 mile hike. We started on our hike at 8:20 am, we usually get going by 8:00 am. The muffins took too long to bake. That was ok. We mainly hiked the Perimeter Trail for 4 miles and the last mile we took the Phat Loop for a half mile and the Peak One Campground trail to Pine Cove Campground for a half mile. We picked up the Perimeter Trail at the campground. The trail took us along the shores of Lake Dillon. At the beginning of our hike we met a gentleman and his dog. The dog let Larry pet her but she wasn't sure about me. She wasn't growling but she really didn't want me to pet her. We saw a couple of single skull rowers and a double person skull in the lake. We also saw a lot of Canadian geese swimming and a mother goose and her babies. The first single skull rower talked to the mother and her babies to get out of the way. She didn't want to hit them with her oar. It was nice to see people use the lake even though it's very low. We were about a mile into the hike when Ron texted Larry. Larry texted him back and said he had some time to chat. Ron just wanted to let Larry know where he was and that he tried one more thing on his generator. His generator is now working great. They figured it was bad gas and he also is 2,000 feet lower in elevation. Ron was one happy man and now he can relax and not worry about the generator. Once Larry hung up the phone we were back doing our hike. The perimeter trail goes for 6 miles but we only did four miles of it. We saw two gentlemen on the perimeter trail. One was going the same way as we were going. He had a bell, he rung to let us know he was behind us. We thanked him, that way we could get out of his way. The other one was coming towards us so we could see him. We also saw other bicyclists on a paved trail. that was outside the national forest. We rested a few time by stopping, there weren't any benches. The trail took us through the forest and out in the open. It was a great trail and didn't have a lot of inclines. It had some switchbacks to get us up a hill. After the switchbacks we came into a grove of beautiful aspens. We had hiked over three miles and came to the part of the trail, that turned to take us back to the campground. Before we turned we found a log to rest on. After our rest we continued our hike. As we hiked we saw a construction machine that is used to thin out the forest by cutting down trees. While we hiked we had noticed some trees were recently cut down. W figured this is how they help prevent forest fires in White River National Forest. We saw a beautiful woodpecker. The paved bicycle trail took us to the parking lot for the trails. When we got there we saw a group of six bikers just getting started. This is where we picked up the phat loop trail, which started our hike back to the Minnie. The hike was outstanding.

Dillon Lake

Dillon Lake and the hiking trail

A single lady rowing a skull

Woodpecker 

Tractor trimming the forest by cutting down trees

 By the time we got back it was time for lunch. Larry setup the solar panels and was pleasantly surprised they were putting out as much as they were because there was very little sun. We rested a bit and then had sandwiches for lunch. 

After lunch Larry asked Google: What causes muffins to burn on the bottom and sides and yet be cooked perfectly? It said the pan could cause the problem. If you have a dark pan it cooks faster. It also could be the oven temperature was too hot. I figured because I've had problems before, that the next time I'll bake them at 350 degrees instead of 375 degrees. The next time we're in Walmart I'll look for either a light colored pan or a silicone muffin pan instead of the dark metal pan I have.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 5 games. It took me 11 minutes and 20 seconds to complete, which put me in 29th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

After playing games I continued reading The Five Wishes of Murray McBride. While I did my thing Larry read.

        Reading is fun

At 4:30 the rain came in so we didn't go on our evening walk. We saw a group of high school children jogging on the trail threw the campground in the rain. We stayed in the Minnie reading. Larry finished his book and will start another tomorrow. I ended up doing 13,000 steps.

Sunday 8-30-26 New Campground, New Forest & Errands

 

A cute sign about not littering in the campgrounds

I thought you may like to read this cute sign at our campground. I hope you had a great Sunday. 

We woke up to a brisk 43 degrees in Leadville CO and the high was 63 degrees in Frisco CO. It was overcast all day. About 4:00 pm the wind came up and rocked the Minnie. When Larry went to bed at 9:00 pm it sprinkled a little bit. It suppose to be the same tomorrow..

We were in Matchless Campground for the last week with no hook-ups but with our solar panels we got by just fine. We have moved to Pine Cove Campground, not sure how long we will be here but we might stay a week. It's suppose to be overcast for a couple of days, which means I'll have to conserve how much power I use.

This morning Larry slept in a little bit and woke up about 6:30 am. I woke up about 7:15 am. I woke up at 4:30 am to go to the restroom but I went back to bed. We weren't going too far so we weren't in any hurry to leave. The check-out time is 12:00 pm and the check-in time is 2:00 pm. When we are going to move on we get up and put things away and get ready to go. We have a quick breakfast ( coffee cakes and shake). Then if needed we do a dumpster run, I did it last night. We visited with Ron for a little while, he's also moving on today. We were on the road by 9:00 am.

Our next destination was 45 miles down the road at Frisco, Co. to White River National Forest. It has two campgrounds, Peak One and Pine Cove. Peak One has three loops and uses reservations. Pine Cove is first come first serve. We're staying in Pine Cove. It's setup like the overflow campground at Matchless, except it has a fire ring, grill and picnic table. There's a burn ban at White River National Forest due to the forest fires. We were surprised Matchless didn't have one because a few weeks ago there was a bad fire very close to the campground. They had to not only evacuate the campgrounds but some of the nearby housing. The National Fish Hatchery is still closed. Due to the smoke we didn't think we would be able to come here, fortunately they got some rain which put out the fire and the smoke was gone.

Our drive today was on a two lane scenic highway through the mountains called Scenic Highway 91. It was a beautiful drive. As we drove we saw the Aspens starting to change to the Fall colors. We drove through Leadville to Silverthorne. Silverthorne is a few miles from Frisco. We parked the Minnie in a parking lot very close to the Visitor Center and Recreation Center. Before going to the recreation center Larry checked his air pressure censor because one of them wasn't working. He was happy the sensor was still there he just had to replace the battery. Now it works, he has batteries for the other tires sensors if he needs them. After doing this five minutes project we walked over to the recreation center to take showers, they cost $8.00 each but are an unlimited amount of time, the shower rooms are private and very nice, they even provide soap.

Once we finished showering we stopped by the Walmart in Frisco to pick up a few things we were getting low on. After putting the items away we walked over to NAPA Auto & Truck Parts store to replace the clamps Larry used the other day when working on Ron's generator. While there he asked if they had an extension he needed but they didn't have the right one. After buying the clamps we walked back to the Minnie.

We drove further down the road to the county RV Dump Station. We didn't have to dump the tanks but we were getting a little low on fresh water. We were surprised there was no one at the dump so we dumped the tanks and filled the water tanks. It cost $10 dollar to dump and the water was free. We got there just in time because a couple other RVs ended up waiting for us to finish.

Afterwards we went to the campground. We arrived at the campground at 1:00 pm. It was very busy, they had a big bicycle event going on at the Frisco Adventure Park, which is located by the campground. The event was the Colorado High School MTB League Race #1, the Frisco Bay Invitational Race. The event took place August 29th to August 30th. We saw a lot of bicyclists at the park. We turned around in the park and went back to the campground. We were surprised to see the event considering we didn't know it was going on. We had no problem finding a site we took site #1. This is the first time we have been here so it's exciting.

Minnie at our site

A beautiful mountain range

We'll probably stay about a week because there are a lot of  trails here and around the area. Once we setup the Minnie we paid for three nights to start with. They don't have running water bathrooms but they have vault toilets and water by the bathrooms. Our site should be looking over Dillon Reservoir but it's almost empty. There is a boat ramp right beside us but it is closed because there is no water. Our site is very nice.

New campground and new National Forest

Dillon Reservoir

After dinner we walked around Peak One Campground three loops of 2 miles. This campground has very nice sites but how we travel we don't make reservations. The roads are paved through out the campground and they have running water restrooms. It was a nice walk.

I played my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Spider Adventure of 20 games. It took me 3 hours and 7 minutes to complete, which put me in 10th place in my group. Today I didn't play Angry Birds Friends or Angry Birds 2.

By the end of the day I had done 10,000 steps.

         

Saturday 8-29-26 Hiking, Camping, Reading & Games

 

Matchless Campground and Turquois Lake

We have been at Matchless for a week and tomorrow we're moving on. The mornings have been brisk with the temperatures in the mid 30's and mid 40's and high temperatures were in the low to mid 70's. We did four hikes for a total of 13.5 miles and walked for 27.5 miles. We had great weather and helped a very nice gentleman (Ron) from Tucson. 

Today was a little cooler the morning temperature was 47 and the high temperature was 68 degrees. We had sunshine on and off so we got plenty of solar to charge our batteries. 

I crawled out of bed at 7:15 am and got dressed. Then I made pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast we got ready for a hike. We did an easy hike because my right knee was bugging be a bit. We hiked 3 miles for two hours on three trails, which were Turquois Lake, Nature and Fallen Tree. We started from the Minnie, walked to the overflow campground and picked up Turquois Lake Trail. We hiked it for about a half mile to the Nature Trail. We hiked the Nature Trail for another half mile, where it met up with Fallen Tree Trail. We hiked Fallen Tree Trail Loop, which was 1.5 miles. The trails took us through the trees along the banks of the lake. We hiked up and down small hills. We hiked by a small campground, a maintenance building and an old holding pond for the dump. They don't have the dump any more. As we hiked we noticed that the Fallen Tree Trail had been raked. We figured it was because of the run they had last weekend. While hiking back to the Minnie on Turquois Lake Trail we saw five bicyclists (two men and three women) and a woman jogger. The bicyclists were very courteous by saying how many cyclists there were in their group. We saw the woman jogging through out the hike, she was jogging Fallen Tree Trail. We had a super hike.

Turquois Lake Trail

When we passed by Ron's rig he was trying one more thing with his generator. Larry stopped to see what was going on. Ron had the generator running but it is not perfect. At least it's idling better. Larry visited with Ron for a bit. Larry gave Ron some suggestions on where to go considering this is Ron's first ever camping trip.

I played games while Larry visited with Ron. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 42 minutes and 23 seconds to complete, which put me in 18th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I continued reading  The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride by Joe Siple. 

Relaxing with a book

We had chili and corn chips for dinner. After dinner we went on an hour walk for 3 miles. We walked around Silver Dollar Campground and Matchless Campground once. Larry walked with me the first two miles, which was Silver Dollar Campground. We had a very nice walk.

By the end of the day I did 16,000 steps. 

   

           

Friday 8-28-26 Neighbors Generator Project, Camping, Walking & More

 

Rocky Mountains and Turquois Lake

We had another gorgeous day. The morning temperature was 38 degrees and high temperature of 73 degrees. We had high clouds most of the day. 

I woke up about 7:30 and got dressed. Then I made maple and brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast. After breakfast Larry went next door to help Ron with his generator. He was gone all day. First of all they worked on the fuel, they drained the fuel and checked out the tank. They found that the fuel filter had fallen in the tank, they fished it out. They decided to replace the fuel line and add a inline fuel filter. They took a little rest. Ron had to go to town to chase down the line filter, fuel line and clamps for the line. Larry came home to visit with me. When Ron came back it was lunchtime so they decided to take a lunch break. After lunch Larry went back over to the rig to work on the generator. Ace Hardware really didn't have the right stuff but they made the line work, however the clamps were too big so they used some clamps Larry had. They got the generator running but when you put a load on it, it stops. Next thing to work on was the carburetor. They got the carburetor back together and back in the generator. It still wasn't running good but it was running. Larry had told Ron he thought they had fixed the fuel problems and now the issue was due to how high we are in elevation, it causes the engine to run to rich. Ron called the service place and they weren't any help. Larry told him he didn't know what else to do. He also told Ron it may run great at a lower elevation. Ron was very grateful that Larry helped him. At least it will now run and idle. Ron did a great job of building a hoist for the generator where they could move the generator around. It worked great.

Ron's generator

While Larry was helping Ron I read and played games.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 30 minutes and 6 seconds to complete, which put me in 11th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I finished reading The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was a great novel. We had watched the 1993 movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. We liked the movie. When Larry finished his project with Ron I asked him to choose another book for me. He said I would enjoy reading The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride by Joe Siple. It's about a lonely 100 year old man, Mr. Murray McBride, who out lived everyone he loved. I started reading it.

Relax with a good book

I did two walks. First was an afternoon walk for an hour and fifteen minutes for 3.25 miles. I walked around Silver Dollar Campground's loops twice. The second was in the evening after dinner. I walked around Silver Dollar Campground's loops once and Matchless Campground and Overflow Campground once. While walking around I said hi to the other campers and met a dog. I walked for an hour and 10 minutes for 3 miles. By the end of the day I had 16,000 steps, which is 7.5 miles.

A squirrel I saw during the evening walk

When I got home I baked sugar cookies. I gave a few to our neighbor ladies. They thanked me. 

We had a great day at Matchless Campground.

    

              

Thursday 8-27-26 Camping, Walking, Reading & Helping Neighbor

 

Two deer hiding in the trees at Matchless Campground

We woke up to a brisk 36 degrees. Great sleeping weather. The high temperature was 71 degrees. The clouds rolled in and out all day. We got a little sprinkles on and off all day. The rain didn't prevent me from walking. We had another beautiful day.

Awesome Day

 

Yesterday, we set up the Wave3 heater because it was  little nippy. We ran it to take the chill out of the air. Today Larry turned on the heater when he got up and I was glad he did.

Yesterday, when it was nippy I got the little electric heater down to plug it in. Larry looked at me and said, that heater won't work, we have no power. What was I thinking? I put the electric heater back in storage area it was in. Then I got the Wave3 out of the closest and Larry assembled and connected it to the propane. Then we were ready to go.

Wave3 heater (March 2012)

I was surprised to find out we have had the Wave3 heater since March of 2012. We first had the Wave3 in the kitchen area, in the back of the Minnie and plumbed into the stove. Now it sits on the dinette table in the center of the Minnie. A few years back Larry redid some of the propane plumbing and he ran a line into the dinette seat. The heater now does a better job of heating the living area and if it is really cold we can close the curtain between the living and kitchen.  

I crawled out of bed about 7:15 and got dressed. Then we had breakfast, which was a bagel with cream cheese. We were a little stiff this morning so we decided to take the day off of hiking. We had three fabulous days of hiking. We had done three hikes for a total of 15 miles. 

We took the day off of hiking but I still walked around Silver Dollar Campground. Larry thought maybe he could walk around but when we got to the bathroom he said his legs were sore. He went back to the Minnie and I did a three mile walk around Silver Dollar Campground for an hour 15 minutes. I walked to the campground and walked around the two loops two times. I wore my jacket today because it was a little cooler. By the end of the walk it was getting warm. While walking to Silver Dollar Campground I saw a couple of deer in the trees. While walking the first loop I met the host and visited with her.  I had a very nice walk.

When I got back to the Minnie I rested. We were coming back from a bathroom run when we noticed our neighbor Ron was having problems with his generator. Larry stopped to see if he could help. He spent the rest of the day working with Ron on the generator. It was running terrible and Larry noticed it was leaking fuel. The fuel was coming from the carburetor. Ron did not know much about carburetors but fortunately Larry does. They had to do a bunch of work to remove the generator and get the carburetor off. They were able to get the carburetor repaired so the leak was fixed. The generator still does not run correctly. They will work on it some more tomorrow. Larry was over there until 4:00. He was tired and hungry. 

While he was next door I read and played games. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Klondike and 10 Free Cell). It took me 1 hour, 23 minutes and 22 seconds to complete, which put me in 12th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

I continued to read The Remains of the Day. Larry finished reading his book when he was relaxing in the evening. Tomorrow he will start another book.

Reading is fun and relaxing

I heated up more leftover bake for dinner.

After dinner I did another walk. It was the same as this morning. I walked around Silver Dollar Campground loops two times. I watched campers put up their tents and set up for their stay. I said hi to other campers. I had another great walk.     

 

   

Wednesday 8-26-2026 Birthday, Hiking, Project, Camping & More

 

Happy Birthday Larry

Happy Birthday honey. 

We had another gorgeous day with the low temperature of 36 degrees. 

Larry woke up about 5:45 am, this is normal for him. He received a phone call from his mom about 6:30. He wasn't sure who would be calling that early. She told him when she wakes up she gets up, might be really early, sometimes at 5:00 am. She called to wish him a happy birthday. He didn't stay on the phone long because he didn't want to disturb me while I slept. It's an hour behind in Tucson, which made his mom's time 5:48.

Larry's also received a call from his sister wishing him a happy birthday.

I rolled out of bed at 7:00 am and made oatmeal for breakfast. After breakfast we got ready to go on a hike. 

Today we went on a 2.5 hour hike on five trails, which were Fallen Tree, Bob Fish, Lateral, Rift and Turquois Lake. We walked from the campground via the road and picked up Fallen Tree trail. This trail took us to Bob Fish trail about .75 mile. Then we hiked Bob Fish trail, part of Lateral trail and Rift trail until we got to Turquois Lake Trail, which about 2.25 miles. We hiked Turquois Lake trail back to the campground another mile. The trails took us up and down hills and through the forest and open area. In the open area we saw some of the forest starting to come back from a fire many year ago. The terrain on the trails were about the same easy to moderate. The trails had roots, rocks and needle from the pines. We saw a chipmunk, it was busy looking for stuff to eat. It one point it came very close to us thinking maybe we had food for it. We heard the birds chirping in the tree. The forest is gorgeous with tall pines and other trees. We rested now and then on a log or big boulder. When we got to the lake trail we walked to a log, that looked over the lake. As we rested we saw someone wakeboarding and a few fishermen. We didn't see anyone hiking today. When the trail intersected each other there was a trail sign and map showing you where you were and where to go. The weather was great. We had a super hike.

Turquois Lake Trail

Bob Fish Trail

One of the trail signs

By the time we got back to the Minnie it was 10:30 am. When lunchtime came around we had leftover seasoned pork for lunch. 

After lunch Larry did a little project on the Minnie. Larry had replaced the motor and seal of the air conditioner after our fall trip last October. He noticed that the air conditioner wasn't straight on the roof. After lunch he decided to straighten it. We took the motor cycle off it's carrier so he could get to the ladder to get on the roof. It took him about an hour to straighten it. It looks great.

For Larry's birthday we were going to go to the ice cream parlor in town but rain was in the area and it got windy. Instead I baked him cookies (peanut butter and chocolate chips). I made a dozen of them. We kept six cookies and I gave neighbors the rest. One of the neighbors couldn't have any cookies but her friend could so I left them four cookies. The other neighbor Ron, who's from Tucson said he could have cookies so I gave him two. 

In between hiking, walking and the project Larry read. I continued reading The Remains of the Day.

I played my games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 Pyramid and 3 Tri Peaks). It took me 11 minutes and 9 seconds to complete, which put me in 24th in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

For dinner we had a bake. When we finished dinner we went on our evening walk. I walked 3.25 miles and Larry walked a mile of it with me. We walked to Silver Dollar Campground and did the first loop. Then we came back. Larry went back to the Minnie I decided to walk back to Silver Dollar Campground and do both loops. By the time I got back I was tired. After resting I baked the cookies.

By the end of the day I had done 20,500 steps, which is a little over 9 miles. 

      

  

 

Tuesday 8-25-26 Turquois Lake Trail, Walking, Camping & More

 

Camping at Matchless Campground in Pike-San Isabel National Forest

We had a gorgeous day at Matchless Campground. 

The weather was perfect with the morning temperature of 41 degrees and the high temperature of 71 degrees. The clouds rolled in and out all day. In the late afternoon and early evening we had a few drops of rain. At times the wind sounded very strong but it wasn't. By the end of the day we had walked over 7 miles.

I crawled out of bed at 7:15 am. I made oatmeal for breakfast. After breakfast we got ready to go on a hike. Today our hike was for 4 miles on Turquois Lake Trail for two hours. We started the hike at 8:00 am. We walked to the overflow campground and picked up the lake trail. Yesterday, we took the trail to the dam and today we went the opposite direction. We hiked the trail for about 2 miles and turned around and hiked back to our camping site. The trail goes through the forest and along the banks of Turquoise Lake. We hiked by Silver Dollar Campground and Molly Brown Campground. When we got to Molly Brown we took stairs to the campground, which was a parking lot. It looked like the overflow campground at Matchless, except the campsites had tables. I am happy we are camped where we are in Matchless. As we hiked we saw a fisherman, a jogger and some hikers on the way back. One couple hiking had a cute dog, it saw a squirrel and ran after it. The dog didn't have a chance the squirrel was already up the tree way before the dog got there. The masters said it's going to be a busy day for the dog. A little ways farther we said hi to a couple. We also saw a group of people (six) our age hiking. One of the ladies were talking about the lake and the area. We said hi to them and wished them a great hike. We rested now and then. We saw a lot of views of the lake. Our hike was very pleasant and the weather was perfect. There were clouds but it didn't feel humid. 

Turquois Lake 

Once we got back to the Minnie Larry setup the solar panels. We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Larry finished reading a book and started another one. I continued reading The Remains of the Day.

I played my games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Exports Only Mini of 5 games. It took me 1 hour, 28 minutes and 1 second to complete, which put me in 22nd place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

For dinner we barbecued hamburgers. Then we went for an hour walk around Silver Dollar and Matchless Campgrounds. We walked for 3 miles. Larry walked the first 2 miles to Silver Dollar Campground and back. I did the last mile by walking around our area four times.

By the end of the day I had done 19,000 steps. We had a wonderful day.