I crawled out of bed this morning at 0600 hrs. to a very chilly morning. I wouldn't say I like getting up that early, especially when it's chilly, but I was excited to start a new mini-vacation and disappear into the hills for about a week.

I knew going to the mountains on a Saturday during leaf season wasn't a good idea, but it was the only day I could go when the volunteers that work on the train in Como had an open house, and I could take pictures of everything that I wanted a picture of.

I was sure it was going to be crowded on the roads, and it was; it quickly became apparent that I wasn't the only one leaving Denver early to beat the leaf peeper traffic, and by the time I got to Kenosha Pass it was 7 a.m. and the big pull off areas on both sides of the road were packed with cars, and leaf peepers were already starting to park alongside the road... And it was 7 a.m. when normal people should be in bed.

But being early was a big help when I got to Como at about 7:30, and nobody was there except me and a few railroad worker volunteers. I was worried about being there when the place was crowded with visitors, and I would have trouble taking pictures with all the people In the way. But getting there when I did, I got to take pictures and talk to the volunteers about railroad stuff long before anyone showed up; it worked out great for me for a couple of hours with no one there except the volunteer workers who loved talking about trains.

So when visitors finally started showing up about 9:30 or so, I was pretty much done taking all the pictures I wanted, so I moseyed on down the road to Buena Vista.

My thoughts of boondocking in Buena Vista for the night were quickly dispelled when I found the boondocking areas full; leaf peepers again, and it looked like folks got there on Friday, which is probably what I should've done. But It's no biggie. I just headed down the road another 30 miles to Salida, where I will boondock in the Walmart parking lot for tonight and then head to San Luis Lakes Wildlife Area campground in the morning.

Theboondork

Since there was nobody here but me and the volunteers I was asked if I would like to volunteer to help? And I had to explain to them that I have a severe lack of motivation, a streak of laziness a mile wide,  I can't be trusted to handle anything of value, and the only thing I'm good for is sitting in a lawn chair supervising from a distance.

I was then assured that my description fit most of the guys working there, so welcome aboard!.... I told them I would go get my lawn chair, but actually I got in my truck and left before somebody put a shovel in my hand.

There's a lot of work to be done to Klondike Kate, and if they weren't all volunteers this steam engine would never get refurbished.

Fall fell on Como. Como is just a wee bit shy of 10,000 feet so Fall gets here pretty early. As perfect as the weather is right now, the locals told me the weather forecast for Wednesday is snow. that snow in the forecast usually also means wind which will start blowing the leaves off the trees. So next weekend the leaves won't be as nice, so it looks like I got here just at the right time.

If the mountains would get a little snow on their peaks the Fall would be just about perfect. And I guess Wednesday that's probably going to happen. I'll be at a lower elevation by then so hopefully it won't affect me.

I had a busy day today. It didn't need to be a busy day; I wasn't paying attention, and it turned into a busy day before I knew what had happened, and suddenly, I had to do actual WORK before I knew what hit me.

I had been noticing that one of the batteries on the truck hadn't been holding its voltage like it should. One battery would be 12.5 volts, where it should be, and the other would be 12.1. A couple of days later, the good battery would still be 12.5 volts, and the low battery would be 11.9, which is not a good sign. I kept an eye on it for about a week, hoping it was me misreading my voltmeter, but the situation appeared to be getting worse, not better, so I realized that this was going to require some "work" on my part.

I bought those two batteries for the truck in Tucson, Arizona, at O'Brien's Auto Parts last year, so they weren't old at all, and like always, when I buy batteries, I keep the receipt. I hate to use a generalization like "They don't make them like they used to." But automotive batteries don't seem to last very long anymore, and I buy top-of-the-line batteries just because they're supposed to be better, but I'm having my doubts.

Fortunately, there's an O'Brien's auto parts about a mile from my daughter's house, so I schlepped my defunct battery into their store; they looked at the receipt and the age of the battery and handed me a brand-new one of the same kind for free. I've always liked O'Brien's auto parts, mostly because I see them everywhere I go, but this moved them to the top of the list of my favorite auto parts stores.

Since I was there, I figured I should get a new air filter for the truck because the one in it now is about three years old, and I drive on a lot of dusty dirt roads. I remember it being pretty expensive, somewhere around 65 bucks from O'Brien's, but I guess I shoulda bought two or three more  back then because this new one was a bit over $85.... I drove CARS while in high school, which cost less than that.

My fuel tank was low, so I filled up with diesel at $4.39 a gallon, twice what I paid when a previous president was in charge. But I figure some folks prefer giving OPEC there money instead of the American oil workers, and since it's a free country folks have that right, but it breaks my heart to see them OPEC'ers get my money instead of Americans that work in the oil industry.

I find it rather strange that oil coming from America causes global warming, but oil from other countries doesn't. Or maybe one political party will break the entire country to keep fuel prices high, just to force us into electric vehicles.... Either way it sounds un-American to me.

Installing the air filter was easy, requiring turning only one screw. But getting the batteries out and in, not so much. I had to remove a couple of brackets that are in the way of lifting out the battery, and needless to say, the batteries nowadays are either twice as heavy as they used to be, or more than likely, my muscles have been replaced with flab.

Being a four-wheel-drive, my truck sits up a little high, and lifting a truck battery shoulder-high is not as much fun as it was before I got so geezerly.

But I got it done; that's what desperation can do to a person that desperately needs a reliable vehicle. After accomplishing what amounted to an entire week's worth of work in one morning I thought I was going to settle down and take a well deserved break, but...For some strange reason, I decided to defrost the freezer in the camper. I'm not sure why that even crossed my mind other than due to an overabundance of ice I couldn't even get an ice cream sandwich in the freezer anymore.

So anyway, I got everything done and now I can relax knowing that an attack of ambition and motivation of that magnitude will not be seen again until  well into next winter.

As a closing thought I should mention that tomorrow morning, really early, I will be heading for the mountains and spend the day in Como Colorado which will be the beginning of my mini-vacation.

I will be leaving very early in order to beat some of the mountain traffic that will be converging on the High Country to see the beginning of leaf season this weekend..... None of which is the reason I'm writing this. I'm writing this to give everyone a heads up that I don't know where I will be tomorrow when it comes time to write my blog, I may have Internet, and I may not; that's the way it works in the High Country. So if you don't hear from me tomorrow, to quote General MacArthur.... "I shall return."

Theboondork

I'm glad I'm going on a mini-vacation Saturday, because I'm even running out of flowers to take pictures of.

I'm hoping that between the pictures I get during my mini-vacation, and the neighborhood Halloween decoration pictures, I will have enough pictures to last me until I leave on my winter travels.

The weather is perfect in Denver: low 80s in the daytime, low 50s at night, typical for Fall. But in Alamosa, Colorado, while I'm there, it's supposed to be several days when the highs will be in the low 60s and night times in the high 20s. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about what clothes to take with me since I always carry my coats and warm clothes in the Lance no matter what time of year it is.

And speaking of warm clothes. Last winter in Arizona, since it was my first time spending the winter in the Lance, and I was worried about the weight of the camper on the truck, I didn't bring many warm clothes, thinking I would buy some in Arizona if I needed them. But, it was so cold in Arizona everybody was buying warm clothes, and I couldn't find anything I needed. I don't plan on that happening again, so I'm carrying more of my warm stuff.

When I lived in a house without wheels, I had a whole closet full of coats because Colorado has a whole passel of different temperatures you have to deal with depending on the season and the altitude. I've seen times and places in Colorado where I would need a heavy coat in the summer, and I've worn a long-sleeved shirt in the winter;  in Colorado, you never know.

But I gave away most of the coats in that closet, and all I have left with me in my teeny-tiny home is my very warm, medium-weight winter coat that I mostly used for hunting, and a fleece jacket that works well in anything except the coldest weather.

My medium-weight hunting coat saved my bacon last winter when Arizona was so cold that I actually needed it every once in a while, but normally, all I need is my fleece jacket 95% of the time. And most of that time is if I'm running around early in the morning because, normally in the winter in Arizona, I'm back in a T-shirt by 10 o'clock.

And since I'm usually back in Denver by late May, my winter coat comes in handy here because it will sometimes snow a time or two just to let me know what I've been missing all winter.

Theboondork

A brand-new Rose on top replacing the beaten and battered, slowly dying rose on the bottom...the flower eating bugs have been especially bad this year.