Sunday 8-23-26 Buena Vista & Matchless Campground

 

Buena Vista City Park

We had a gorgeous day with clear skies and a lot of sunshine. The skies were smoke free. 

We woke up to a brisk 54 degrees in Salida, CO Walmart parking lot. When the front came through it cooled off. We slept with the windows open. When Larry woke up 5:45 am he closed the windows and put on a lite jacket. He did his normal routine of reading the groups he follow and posting my blog. I got out of bed about 7:00 am. We put things down and had crumb cakes for breakfast. We weren't in any hurry because we didn't have far to go. Our next destination was Buena Vista, which is 24 miles from Salida.

We were on the road by 7:30 am. Before leaving Salida we stopped by Crossroads Visitor Center to top off our fresh water because Matchless Campground doesn't have water. We were here last year so Larry knew where to get the water. People had said, that the city slowed down how fast the water would fill because locals were filling their water tanks for their homes. When they slowed down on the flow this stopped the problem because people didn't want to spend hours on filling their tanks. It didn't matter to us because we didn't need a lot of water and Larry runs it slow so it wouldn't kickback. Crossroads Visitor Center is a gorgeous facility. If you want to you can stay over night in the parking lot. They also have a dump station.

Once the water tank was filled we were on the road to Buena Vista, it's on the way to Leadville. We love stopping in Buena Vista to take a shower at the city park. It cost $1.00 (quarters only) for two minutes. Today it cost us $2.00 each, which is cheap for public showers. The restrooms are clean and the shower head spray great. The water temperature is warm. While waiting for Larry to take his shower I walked around and took a few pictures. When I was walking back to the Minnie a gentleman (Forrest) asked me about the Minnie. He has an old class A and would like to have a smaller rig. He had been on the road for seven months and loves it. After I took my shower we had a little snack and then hit the road once again.

Beautiful day in Buena Vista

Buena Vista Dog Park

Minnie in the parking lot across the street from the showers

We arrived in Leadville at 10:00 am. We stopped by Safeway to pickup some gauze. Larry tapes up his feet when he goes hiking to prevent blisters and he wanted some gauze. From there we went to Matchless campground.

The site we like, which is #7 was occupied and the campground almost full. We asked the host (Bob) if he knew, which campers were staying or leaving. He didn't know. He said the family on the site we like he was sure they were leaving. We parked the Minnie in the middle of the parking lot to wait. The check-out time is 12:00 and check-in is 2:00. About 1:00 we walked over to the site and asked if they were leaving because they weren't finished packing up. The gentleman said they were after they had lunch. At 3:00 Larry finally went over and asked if they could move their vehicles so we could park the Minnie. They did move their vehicles. We parked the Minnie.

The campgrounds in this area had been closed due to a huge forest fire. They opened up Matchless about two week ago and they had some rain so the fire is almost out.

 

Our campsite more down trees due to the fire

While we waited for the family to leave we had sandwiches for lunch. We paid for three nights. We were going to pay online but it was cheaper to pay with a check. We walked down to the entrance and paid for three nights.

Larry finished a book and started another one. 

I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 51 minutes and 30 seconds to complete, which put me in 14th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

For dinner we barbecued hamburgers. After dinner we went for an hour walk for 3 miles. Larry walked with me for 45 minutes. We walked to Silver Dollar Campground and back. I walked around our campground. As I was walking I saw a lady riding her horse and her Great Dane was running with her. Both animals were beautiful and I told her that. When I got back I finished doing my 12,000 steps.

Turquoise Lake

A great first day of camping in Colorado.