Day 7-8: Sunshine and Rain

Last couple of days we have had sunshine and afternoon rain. We grilled up some beef and chatted around the bonfire with friends. Certainly enjoying the 50 degree nights. We have not had to run our heater or AC at all since we arrived. We even put on the winter comforter on the bed so Yoli could keep her window open for fresh air. Low 50's at night have been great for sleeping, and the fresh air and pine scent is priceless. None of that in Grapevine for sure. The lack of humidity does dry the skin and crinkle the nose, but a small price to pay for the views and temperatures. Lotion is a required commodity to keep the skin from drying out. Outside is wonderful with very few mosquitos, it is the biting flies that sometimes get to be a pain and drives us indoors or full clothing. Wearing long sleeve clothing and pants helps. All in all, it has been wonderful our first week at 8500' altitude near Buena Vista in the San Isabel National Forest.

 

Day 4-6: Buena Vista

As we get camp further unwound and spread out, we ventured into the town of Buena Vista. We ate brunch at Cool River on the patio, and finished the day at Quincy's steakhouse. We walked the downtown area and picked up some swag and deals of the day. It was getting warm approaching 80 degrees! Kidding aside, we are loving the 50's at night and low 80's during the day with a brush of cool rain here and there. We are just enjoying hanging out with our friends, planning pot lucks, and bon fires. We may do a raft trip this week, we will see. Tonight we cooked burgers on the grill, and sat at the bonfire until dark thirty.

Day 3: Summer Camp Arrival

Today we drove from Walmart in Trinadad, CO to our favorite boondock spot near Buena Vista, CO.  It was a 170 mile day plus a stop to dump and fill tanks in Ponca Springs. We arrived around 4pm to meetup with old friends and such a great surprise to find Bob Ide amongst the friendly faces that greeted us. We have not camped with Bob since Baja two years ago. We broke out the fire pit, and caught upon on everyones travels. Fun times for sure and today was certainly a Gooder Day.

Miles: 170 / 765

Day 2: Trinadad Colorado

Today we left Amarillo around noon after sleeping in until 10am and having our coffee. We topped off our fuel at Buc-ee's across the street from the visitor center where we spent the night. This overnight boondock spot is our fav when passing through Amarillo. Todays drive was 245 miles that took us north of Amarillo to Dumas, then across the NM/TX border at Texline. We passed the volcano where every time I do, I say I need to stop and go up that volcano and check out the crater, for 30yrs of trips to Colorado from Texas, not once have I made that trek. Some day, on my bucket list... Tonight we parked the rig at the local Wal-Mart so we could make a final provision run before we head to one of our favorite boondock spots near Salida, CO called Raspberry gulch. Nothing notable today, we did disconnect the Jeep and had Yoli drive it over the Raton pass to be easier on the RV as it is a slug climbing mounts with the Jeep attached to its rear.  No rain, cool temps in the 70's and looking forward to nightly temps in the 50's over 6000 feet in elevation for the next two weeks.

Miles 245 / 595

Day 1: Amarillo

Today we left home for cooler weather. Heading to Colorado for a couple weeks to meetup with friends in the mountains for altitude living. First stop on the trip was Amarillo to visit with family. We had a great dinner at Salt Grass Steakhouse and caught up on all things in life. Casey, Stacy, and Tyler are good people that we just love hanging out with any chance we come through Amarillo. Unfortunately we did not get to meetup with Miles, Courtney, and Kyle in Panhandle, next time through for sure. 

Miles: 350 / 350

I am converting our old blog to this one, so it will take some time to get all the old ones converted to this format. AlanYoli.com/blog will move to AlanYoli.BlogSpot.com. We will keep our AlanYoli.com website where hopefully, I will get some time to get all the video's updated for 2023-2024.

Alan Yoli Travels

Alan Nail & Yolanda Helu

Day 2: Regatta Point - Tarpon Springs

Today we head to our next stop in Tarpon Springs at Anclote Village Marina. It was a short day with only 52 miles for the day, but we had great weather and seas. The marina was busy, so we anchored out, had lunch, then motored in and tied up in a transient slip for the night. We gobberdf an uber into town and had dinner at Rusty Bellies and it was fantastic. We walked the streets and checked out all the Greek places and sponges as this place is known for its natural sponge business.

50nm / 160nm