July 24, Hugo Welcomed Us

We left the town of Limon this morning. We actually stayed at a KOA RV park there overnight. It was nothing special, although there was a swimming pool that neither of us used. I did take advantage of the laundry room, though. And it was great to have WIFI and electricity.

Jeff actually got a later start simply because they had a pancake breakfast at the RV park that started at 7 am. I just took advantage of the free coffee. And I actually slept a bit later than usual, as I had stayed up way past midnight to work on catching up the blog. But, once I got going, it was business as usual. Dump the tanks, fill the water, sweep out the coach.... etc. I also went to get gas for the vehicle. That seems necessary every couple of days! Sure wish we had gotten a fuel sponsor for this trip!

As Jeff took out of Limon, he took the time to walk through town and get a few pics. This town is actually at a state highway intersection with the interstate. So it was a bit larger than some we have been through. 

        

Like many of these towns through here, the railroad was very instrumental in their survival.

The town quickly faded away once we crossed the interstate, and we were once again surrounded by ranch land. This is where we saw the first oil well. They are not nearly as prolific as in areas of Texas, but they are there nonetheless. Jeff thought this one was interesting as it had a propane tank in order to run the pump, yet they were burning off the gases produced.

And then we went by the local golf course. At least we saw the sign. I never saw any evidence there actually was a course out there. But the sign was cool anyway.

On this particular stretch of road, the local sheriff and police were very attentive to us. There were a number of them that stopped to ask if we needed help. Particularly when I am taking my couple of miles so Jeff can have a nice lunch break. I am not wearing the super hero cape. I just look like a weirdo out in the middle of nowhere with running stuff on walking down the highway! And the past week I've had to ratchet down the jogging due to pain in my left Achilles. I guess it is always something! So I'm walking more and jogging less. It does seem to be helping. Anyway, the guys were all very nice. Then a lady stopped, and she asked if I was with the group going cross country! Someone actually saw the news spot! She was cool. She came back after a few minutes, and said that once we got to Hugo, she and the Assistant Fire Chief would meet us. So, they had to wait longer than normal, because I was the one on my feet. Ooops! And it was slow going that day due to the Achilles. But, once I got there, Chief Marshall Joy Hemby and Assistant Fire Chief Clayton Hale were talking to Jeff.  He gave us both a Hugo FD ball cap, a couple cases of water and a cash donation. Hugo was a great little town!

Thanks so much for your help!

Jeff said the keys were it it! Cool!

They also had quite a bit of artsy stuff in their town complete with a bronze statuary!

 

There is apparently a bit of presidential history here, as well.

But once we were past the city limits, that was it.

Once it began getting late, we started looking for a place to park for the night. The highway we were on was extremely busy, particularly with 18 wheelers. So, I found a spot about 1/2 mile up a gravel county road that was a bit wide due to the access to the field through a big gate. There were no fresh tire tracks or anything to indicate that it was frequently use, and there was a sign saying not to hunt without permission. There was no other sign on the fence. So, we cooked our dinner and were relaxing outside, watching a lightning storm to the west. Then this pickup pulled up and an irate guy got out. I thought he wanted into his gate right then, but no, he just told us we couldn't just pull over on private property and camp. We tried telling him what we were doing, he just kept going on about private property. Incidentally, we only had a couple wheels off the actual road. He seemed to be getting madder and madder, so we just started packing up to leave. Then he drove off! There was absolutely no way that we would have inconvenienced him by staying there. By this time, it was beginning to rain and we had to drive looking for somewhere to sleep. I really wanted to argue with him, that yes, we had been doing exactly that for almost halfway across the country, but he didn't seem to be one of those people that will ever listen to reason. Really, this is the first person we have come across that wasn't as helpful as they could be!

Great storm off to the west.

This sign does not indicate no trespassing...

Notice we are mostly in the road, with  just the wheels over the "line". Nope, guess I can't let it go!

So we found another place. It is sad that people are sometimes that way. That particular exchange will taint my memories of Colorado, even though everyone else we have met along the way have been wonderful!

Interesting that we didn't find any Mailbox that stood out! And we went through about 3 different towns.