Heron Lake State Park 7/18/2016

Our 2nd trip of the season was an overnight at Heron Lake, unfortunately the lake levels are still extremely low, we generally do not use the lake as the campsite we like is about 1/2 mile from the lake front area, this trip we tried out our new Little Guy 5x7 screen room, we had some difficulty and could not get it connected, I got some tips from other users for our next trip to get it set up and attached correctly.

We did still use it but it was not fully connected to,the trailer, it was nice having dinner with no flys trying to eat our food as well, the screen room was awesome.

We lowbr this particular campsite because there is no one behind us and on one side you cannot even seemthe next space. That is our camp in the distance. Our dog loves running in the soft dirt out here.

The state has been very dry this year and many areas are no longer allowing campfires except in designated rings, luckily there was a ring at our site we used for a campfire, there was no ban that weekend of any kind, we had a delicious steak and baked potato dinner followed by a nice campfire.

Grilled some thick steaks on our new #VolcanoGrill 3-in-1 grill

https://www.volcanogrills.com/volcano-3.html this grill design allows us to be reqdy for any situation, campground won't allow Charcoal or wood no problem the Volcano has a Propane attachment

Our lovely campfire

So that concludes another sucessful overnight getaway.....See you around the campground.

Early Iron Club Car Show - Labor Day Weekend

August 29, 2014

Well we had planned on leaving early this Friday, but it was one thing after another with getting the El Camino ready for towing the trailer, there were so many miss fortunes leading up to today we almost did not go to the car show, first the battery died the weekend before when we were supposed to get the hitch connections for lighting all wired up, then went to wash the car and the battery died, bought new battery which the install had more issues and we thought the starter was dead, finally got the car almost wired up just a few things to solder and we could not find our soldering gun, luckily Sears sold what we needed and it was finally finished this Friday making us leave later than we had originally planned.

On the way we had made it to Colorado, we were about 10 miles or so out of Alamosa when some idiot almost ran us off the road, we finally made it to Alamosa and stopped to grab a bite and get the car washed so there would be no rushing in the morning.

Just washed and ready to go

We got to the KOA and pulled out our chairs and relaxed, it was getting cool so we did not hang out outside for long, we retired to the inside of our cozy TD and watched some Star Trek on Amazon Prime.

Ready set Camp - KOA, Alamosa, CO.

The next morning we did not have to rush around as the vehicle was clean already, it would just need some detailing at the show, we got to Cole park around 8 am (as it stated they opened at 9) we expected to be able to choose a spot, well they must have been lining up at least 2 hours prior as the park was getting pretty full already, they gave a spot at first near the concessions, we did not want all those people being right on top of us all day so we drove further down, and parked and then they came over and asked if we could unhitch and place the trailer next to us, so the SilverShadow had its own respective spot in the car show and rightly so as it drew more on lookers than the El Camino did.

The show as it turns out had their best turn out ever 610 cars or 609 cars and one Teardrop, we had many inquiries people loved our little home away from home. 

Made a curtain so people would not climb in on our bed

Had the galley open for viewing,  people were so surprised to learn it has a King size bed, Sink, Stove and Fridge all in a neat little package.







So after the show we went back to the LOA to unhitch as later on that night there was a slow cruise through the town, many of the hot rods from the show attended.

Hundreds of spectators line the streets, there is a band stand on one of the streets to entertain the on lookers, it is a lot of fun crusing through this little old town.

 

The next day we checked out of the KOA and headed north to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Mosca, CO. Where the mountains meet the dunes, it is a pretty cool place, our dog loved to run around in the sand.

There was a river running through the area, well more like a stream in reality very low water levels

Our Elky looks good towing our Little Guy

All in all it was a good show and trip, first time towing for our Elky and it performed beautifully, we are looking forward to next years show....Happy Trails.

Heron Lake State Park, Los Ojos, NM

July 19th 2014

We headed out for another quick overnighter, this time we visited Heron Lake State Park, the drive up was beautiful, some really  nice scenery

The lake unfortunately due to the extreme dought in the state of NM is suffering from extremely low water levels. Luckily we were there more for the forrested campsites and not lake activities.

The campground we stayed at was the Blanco CG inside the park, it has sites with both electricity and water which was really nice having that close at hand, this campground also has free hot showers, just a short uphill walk away.

Our spot was secluded, spacious and the campground was very quiet, we had no campsites behind us, just open wooodlands, we enjoyed hamburgers on the grill that night and I even had a few toasted marshmallows for dessert.

Saturday night's sunset was spectacular

This was the first camping adventure for our kitty too, he did really well despite still being skittish outdoors, he enjoyed some time in his cat condo as well as hung out in the TD.

He will be brought along on many more adventures to come, we want to get him more acustomed to the wilderness, he really did seem to enjoy the car ride, he even knows to hold on when his daddy is driving the HEMI fast.

We are planning another trip here very soon, this is our favorite campground so far, nice shade, peaceful, nicely spaced sites, and great camp hosts.  The scenery on the way back was just as breathtaking

                                                                                                      So until next time.........

Abiquiu Lake, Abiquiu, NM

June 28, 2014

Headed out Saturday morning after calling to confirm we could still get a camping spot at the lake campground, they said if all the regular slots fill up we could be squeezed into the overflow area, so we made our way northward

We arrived at the campground about 1 hour and  20 minutes later,   We pull up to 

 the gate and asked if they had a spot available, and the attendant raised 1 finger and said they had "1" regular spot left...boy did we get lucky as the overflow area is apparently contains very primitive campsites. So we got our site info and proceeded to locate our campsite, it was located in the Chama Loop site # 18, we have an excellent view of the lake a good sized site with both fire pit and BBQ grill, we first backed began setting up, we later decided to turn everything around to be closer to the grill.

 

We decided to turn everything around to have the galley closer to the grill, this also helped block the wind.

 There was a very nice unobstructed view of the lake,  this was taken standing at the front of our campsite

We had grilled Hot dogs for a quick and easy lunch, and for dinner I had done some pre-vegetable prep, consisting of Potatoes, onions, bell pepper and some corn into resealable baggies for making our ground beef hobo packets for dinner, seasoned up some ground beef put that on the bottom added veggies and a little bit of water sealed and cooked on the coals. 

Packets cooking on the fire

 

Table is all set

  

The finished dinner, these were tasty, already have thought of a way to enhance them, next time going to add some cream of mushroom soup concentrate and cook them a bit less time

Corbin relaxing

The next morning when we got up we noticed the gnats had returned, we decided that to try and cook breakfast would only attract more, since it was not a far drive home we packed up and said goodbye to Abiquiu Lake...Until our next adventure...

NM to CA and back

Friday 6/6/14 - Well we set out on our first adventure, leaving NM headed to CA to visit family then back to AZ for a little camping time in our new 6x10 SS with our dog, did a little Dramping (driveway camping) in CA, We were very comfortable and might I add the Fan-tastic fan Little Guy uses in their SS model woks terrific you open a window and turn it on and wind rushes in....ahhhh refreshing. Now that we have the SS we no longer attempt the 12 hour drive straight through from NM to CA knowing we can pull off and sleep in comfort now.

The first night out we pulled off the highway about 2 am, had planned on staying at a small truck stop which unfortunately was full so we whipped out the handy smart phone and said where is the nearest Wal-Mart, figured we could sleep there're for a few hours, much to our surprise when we pulled in there were at least 20 other campers with the same idea, Hopped in the SS and went right to sleep. Next morning met two ladies in need of a jump start, so we assisted and then went to CoCo's for some yummy Denver Potato Pancakes (we have no CoCo's in NM)

So we were on our way once again as we were traveling along we spotted another SS going east bound on i40 in AZ at 10:26 am on June 7th, then shortly thereafter we were coming up behind a car and saw something was being towed behind it, when we caught up to it we discovered it was a custom teardrop, a cute little orange thing, 

so I immediately rolled down the window and give them the thumbs👍 up sign and he did the same, we were in need of fuel and decided to get off at the next exit, much to our surprise the little TD did too, he got out and said love your choice in campers, and I said same here, then proceeded to ask him where he got his and he said he made it himself to pull behind his Harley, 

SS and his custom side by side, we opened the back to show another passer by the inside because our trailer peaked his interest.

The other traveler normally pulls his little 230 lb TD! He was just using his SUV instead of his Harley this trip because he was under a time constraint, he was going from Virginia Beach, VA to CA., so we checked out his TD and he did the same, then we went on our way and he followed us the entire way to CA. I fondly named him our little bumper sticker because he never let anyone cut in between us, and when we got to i15 in CA it was bumper to bumper traffic and he had our backs the whole time, making sure no one rear ended us. We had our own mini TD caravan. We got to our split in the highway he was going south to San Diego then up to Lamour CA, we were going west to Lomita, we waved our good bye's and I took a final shot of his TD as he drove away...so long wayward traveler.

In CA we visited friends and family, took our dog to the dog beach and a dog park where he could run at top speed (he's a whippet top speed 35 MPH)

Wednesday 6/11/14 - When leaving CA we decided we would camp on the way back at the Grand Canyon, the drive was tiring so we decided to stop for the night and continue on Thursday morning we camped out at Johnson's Travel Center (truck stop) in Seligman, AZ. The next morning it was onward to the Grand Canyon, we got to the campground and took a drive around the campground checking out the campsites we saw no reserved signs so we picked one we liked and went back to book it, we were then told they had only 3 spaces left, all other 200+ sites were already reserved, so we took what they gave us and went to the Market plaza for some water and supplies, then back to the site for set up and some relaxation.  We spent one night camping, here is our campsite setup, it was really windy here, dust blowing everywhere so a 2nd night would not have been nice even if it was available, the weekend fire restrictions were no campfires at all, Thursday there were still allowed, so we made some burgers and grilled them up on the fire pit, then had a nice fire.

Enjoying the campfire

Friday 6/13/14 - We packed up everything, checked out of the campground then went to view the canyon on our way out of the park, Here are some shots of the canyon

When leaving we stopped in Williams, AZ so another magnet could be obtained for our TD travel adventures magnet board for the trailer, the drive home was pretty uneventful, except for the extreme winds, although we did see a hauling trailer loaded with brand new Little Guy trailers on their way west bound on i40, we did stop at Window Rock / Lupton, AZ for some pics of the trailer with the beautiful back drop of the colored hills.

This was a fun maiden voyage in our little guy, we look forward to many more adventures to come....

Some additional pics from this trip

Our LG in the side view at dusk

So small next to the big rigs

The adventures continue.......