14 Percent

14 percent....that's the humidity level here in St. Vrain State Park.  Coming from Houston, the humidity capital of the US, 14 percent humidity is pretty sweet!.  Even afternoon temperatures in the high-80's are quite comfortable and the lack of water in the air means the nights are always in the mid-50's.  I could get used to this.

Here's some random photos I've taken during my stay at St. Vrain:

Sunrise over the pond.

Geese.

Great Blue Heron

Lego-like leveling blocks to level the camper

The Rockies are out there in the distance

Tank from across the pond

My time here is through Friday.  Back to the RV park in Golden for the weekend then...?

Thanks for reading!

Moving Day

I spent the 4th of July weekend in an RV park in Golden, CO because all the state parks were reserved.  I met some very nice neighbors on each side of my rather tight RV parking spot.  One neighbor guy from Ft. Worth is an avid metal detector/hunter and he spent a half hour showing me how to use my newly acquired metal detector (thanks again to my brother Jerry!) so no doubt vast riches will be detected and help fund my nomadic life! During my time there I reserved Mon - Thur at St Vrain State Park near Longmont, CO (35 miles north of Denver) so I moved to my campsite this morning.  St Vrain is somewhat unique in that every campsite has water access which is what drew me to it (Kayaking!).

View from the door, shower house in the distance.

I'd like to get to the degree of comfort with my camping skills to boon dock on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land for free but I have a ways to go before I get there so these (paid for) state campground outings are sort of like my "training wheels" until I get the kinks ironed out.  The campsites here at St. Vrain are fairly level and positively spacious compared to the Golden RV park I left.

The door was soon shut so AC could run in today's 89 degree temps.

 It'd be too hot to go kayaking until it cools off towards evening.  This will be a shorter post but I'll put another one up later in the week.

Thanks for reading!

Museums & Camping

My brother Jerry and his wife Nancy hosted me at their beautiful home in Lake in the Hills, IL for several days while I plotted my next trip.  Their home on the northwest of Chicago made a good jump-off for heading west so I did. 

My brother's place outside Chicago.

I eventually wound up traveling west on US 80 through Nebraska bound for Golden, CO (tour of the Coors brewery maybe?).  Just short of Ft. Kearney I noticed a sign for Pioneer Village Campground where I remembered reading of a small museum adjacent to the campground.  Both are located in the small town of Minden, NE.  When I paid for my campsite the check-in guy mentioned that I got a complimentary ticket to the museum (a $6 dollar value!) which was about a quarter mile from where I parked the Tank.

Tank at rest after a long drive from Chicago.

The museum is called the "Pioneer Village Museum" so I expected predominately exhibits from the 1800's of which there were some.

Pioneer guns, only a small portion of what they displayed

Stagecoach...one of John Ford's classic westerns.

I would say that a major portion of the displays concerned cars and planes from the early 1900's though, which was OK by me.

Ford Model T

They had one of the older Harley's I've ever seen.

Older model Harley.

Where else can you see a carboat?

 And, finally, what trip through a museum on a mid-70 degree sunny day would be complete without a Christmas bulb collection display?

Eclectic?

On to Colorado tomorrow.


Thanks for reading!