Fairplay Colorado. Looks like the narrow gauge steam engine is just pulling into the depot.

I'm slowly getting back to normal after my mini-vacation. I work slowly, so it takes me a while to unload the little Bronco camper's camping stuff. I leave most things in their so they're ready when I want to go again, but things like the ice chest has to be emptied.

And speaking of the ice chest, you may remember that I bought an ice chest to use in the little Bronco camper instead of dealing with the refrigerator it came with, and I actually liked using the ice chest better than the fridge. I didn't have to worry about leveling the truck to keep the refrigerator working, and some of the places I boondocked, not having to worry about being level made my life much easier.

I had to use bags of ice, which would only last two or three days at the most.  They weren't hard to find, but they were pretty expensive in some places, such as at Mesa Verde National Park I paid four dollars for an 8-pound bag of ice. And at Walmart, I paid $1.80 for a 10-pound bag. But with all the towns I went to and all the stores I shopped at, I only found one place that sold blocks of ice, and that 10-pound block lasted almost 5 days. But despite the annoyance of dealing with ice, I still liked the ice chest better than the refrigerator.

My five-year-old grandson started Internet school today. The school district is offering online schooling and classroom schooling, and most people are choosing online teaching. The problem is Mom has to stand by and help run the computer, which means she can't get her work done on her Internet business, and it's really affecting everybody's life. My son-in-law is in upper-level management, so he works on the Internet at home instead of at his office. So everybody in the family is on the Internet all day except my three-year-old granddaughter.

                         theboondork

I know this picture makes it  look like a miniature but its not. This is a really huge Indian ruin in the side of a cliff

A sign of the times.... 2020 can go away now, the sooner the better. I'll be 74 years old this month, but as optimistic, hopeful, and cheerful as I normally am I think this has been my worst year ever.

This blog post marks the beginning of me using up pictures I  haven't shown yet that I took on my mini-vacation. And due to my inherent laziness there will be no rhyme, reason, or thought, given to showing pictures in any particular order.

This is the west side of Cottonwood Pass heading for Tincup on the brand-new freshly paved road.

I'm back home now. Actually, I got back yesterday, so today finally catches me up with my current situation.

I decided that the end of my mini-vacation calls for a brief synopsis of how things went, so I will call it the good, the bad, and the ugly... And I'll start with the ugly.

There was no Ugly! How could anything be ugly in the Rocky Mountains? It's some of the most beautiful country God ever created, and I am blessed to spend so much time in it.

There wasn't much Bad. I would say the only bad parts were the crowds, The smokey views and the difficulty of finding places to camp. Now bear in mind that I always found nice places to camp, even though my roadside campsite at Black Canyon of the Gunnison somewhat stretched the meaning of nice. But even then, I felt comfortable and safe. It just took a bit more effort on my part to find places to camp. But my ability to boondock, even in the little Bronco camper, made me feel that I would always be able to find someplace to camp even if it wasn't ideal.

There was a lot more Good than anything else. Everyone I met was friendly folks, even though I felt there were too many of them. But I won't forget the motorcycle guy that was camped next to me. He had just come from the big motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, telling me how a dozen or so Antifa types showed up and tried to march down the street where over 100,000 America loving, flag-waving motorcycle guys were partying. And the Antifa types had to be rescued by the police.

Or the friendly folks hosting a very crowded city Park camping area telling me about some great boondocking near there where I went and really enjoyed myself.

So it was a great trip, with beautiful scenery, although partially obscured by smoke. Meeting some great people. And finding plenty of things to take pictures of to put on my blog.

But like all vacations, even mini ones, it was great to get back home again and sleep in my regular bed in the Arctic Fox. But I don't think I'm done with my mini-vacations just yet. Since my intentions are to stay in Denver till after Thanksgiving, there may be another opportunity for a mini-vacation to see the leaves change later this fall.

                         theboondork

The campground I stayed at in Durango Colorado. This picture shows an excellent example of one of the reasons I don't like to stay in commercial campgrounds. Check out the slides on the two travel trailers. Those folks might as well be sitting in the same living room.

Two narrow gauge passenger cars in Durango Colorado waiting to go somewhere.

 Clicking the pics might magically transport you to the top of a dune.   If that happens, which is doubtful, you will be required to get yourself down without any Wizardry.

Any other time I've been to the Sand Dunes all the people you see in this picture would be walking in water. But now, not so much.

I got to the Sand Dunes National Park, which is only about 10 miles from where I'm camped, just about when the park opened. I want to get an early start because it was supposed to start raining and acting stormy after lunch. That turned out to be a wise decision on my part because the weather did get pretty bad right after I got back to the little Bronco camper.

Thank goodness there were no mosquitoes, I guess it's been to dry for those miserable critters to survive, so I was able to snap some pictures without having to cover myself in repellent.

Every time I go there, I'm reminded that there's really nothing to do at the Sand Dunes National Park. Other than walk around a little bit, take some pictures and watch the young, healthy, and ignorant, people climb to the top of those sand dunes for no other reason than to say they did it, as if anybody cares. Been there, done that.

I did see something there that I've never seen before, which may explain the lack of mosquitoes. Every time I've been to the Dunes, a creek flows at the sand dunes base, and you have to walk through it to get to the sand dunes. This creek is about 100 yards wide and around 2 inches deep. It's so shallow that you can walk across it without getting your shoes wet in some places.  It''s always been there whenever I've gone to the sand dunes. But this time, there was nothing but dry sand where the creek used to be.

It's a good thing I had the State Wildlife Area to camp at because the Sand Dunes National Park campground was full. Which was pretty much my experience everywhere else I went. There are still a whole bunch of people running around in the Colorado mountains. I didn't do any serious counting, but it did seems to me that I saw a bunch of car tags from California. I hear that California's been locked down kind of tight, so maybe California folks don't have jobs to go to, so there throwing their camping gear in the car and heading for the Colorado mountains.

                           theboondork

The little Bronco camper in the Sand Dunes National Park parking lot waiting for the sun to come up.

Some of the sand dunes against the mountain backdrop.

A handful of people struggling through deep sand to reach the top of the Dunes. If you've ever walked up a sand dune at the beach you'll know how difficult it is to walk on dry sand that your feet sink into. And that's why most folks at the beach walk on the hard wet sand near the water's edge. so you can imagine how difficult it is to climb a 750 foot tall dune taking two steps forward and sliding one step back.

It pays to get an early start if you want to walk to the top.

Sand Dunes National Park up against the mountains that keep all that wind blown  sand in place.