July 19, Another Great State Park

Jeff took off that morning, and I set about finding a dump site. This is becoming a bit more difficult in this part of the country! Which is a bit amazing, since Colorado is an outdoor state. Just about a mile from where we spent the night, there was a little town called Hartsel. There wasn't much there. There was, however, a convenience store and a saloon. The saloon was open for breakfast.

And they had a fire station. Fire station #1! In addition to the fire station, they had some nice recreational facilities for the fire fighters.

 

 

This was actually a pretty uneventful day. We went through a few dot on the map towns, that didn't have too much to offer. One town, however, had a bar on the highway with live music going on. It was a really hopping place! Some of the patrons had seen one of the news programs about Jeff and the non-profit.

We drove on, looking for a place to stay. Bear in mind, we needed a dump site! According to the map, there was another Colorado state park not far off the highway route. So, I drove up there to check it out. I think Jeff would have rather stayed on the route, but once we got up there, it was well worth a couple of miles! The park is at about 9,000 feet, and the campsite we got had a great view of the back of Pikes Peak. It was pretty cool! There had been some thunder around the area, but by the time we got settled, the sky was clear. And I found some of the most amazing quartz boulders! Wish I could have taken them home with me.... And the air was crispy cool that night! Finally, no worries about the a/c for a bit! On our way to the camp, we passed a meadow that had about 4 deer, 3 of them still in velvet. We didn't see any bears, though.

 

 

     

The flower of the day continues to be no problem finding! And, once again, Jeff has found something unexpected on the side of the road. You have to wonder how someone's car keys ended up there.... must have been an extra set!

   

It seems to be either feast or famine for the Mailbox of the Day! This was all a lot of pasture land, and the small towns must have been on general delivery or something. Or maybe the creativity skipped this area!