So why was I building this again?? Oh yeah, TO CAMP!
First big trip. Up first, Paradise Divide outside crested butte. Camped there about 15 years ago. A lot more popular now, but there was only one other camper there on a Monday night, and nobody else on Tuesday. A lot of daytrippers, though:
The tent is for me and the kids, and my wife sleeps on the cushy mattress in the sleeper. We covered the whole back end with a mosquito net, and that worked nicely to allow a lot of ventilation. The back did get a bit wet when it rained, but the bedliner has deep grooves that can take a lot of water before getting anything else wet. Nice alpenglow the second night:
The plan is two nights camping, one night with a shower. First shower was Cathedral Rock Ranch outside lake city. Nice rustic cabins, with everything you need (shower, fullsize fridge with freezer for refreezing your icepaks) and nothing you don't (like paint over the chipboard on the walls!) Nice folks, lovely views, pond for the kids. We had nice weather, so everything had a chance to dry out...
Next up, we decided to try half of the alpine loop, over Cinnamon pass. Conclusion: Lovely views, but way more bad road than we feel like doing in a day. It was about five hours of driving. I think one hour on a bad road is worth it to get to a nice remote campsite, but we won't be doing any long passes like this again anytime soon.
Picked wild strawberries up at American Basin, that was very fun! Here's the family full of strawberries heading back to the truck for more punishment. The kids didn't mind the rough ride at all, though. It was like an amusement park ride to them!
Here's the truck up at Cinnamon Pass:
Very pretty, but too much driving yet to do before camp, so couldn't spend much time enjoying it!
Next was three nights at Cunningham Gulch, San Juans. It's almost like a campground there, including the world's sturdiest pit toilet. But we had a site at the end, and except for cars up and down the road, it was pretty quiet. We hiked up to the lovely Highland Mary Lakes. Lots of pics of those on the web, so I won't post mine. No pics of the campsite, though. I swear I took some, but maybe I dreamed it?
Then a night at Weisbaden Hotel and Hot Springs in Ouray. Not really cold enough for hot springs, but they have a small swimming pool at 103 degrees, which would be awesome in cooler weather.
Last campsite was on grand mesa. Not the best spot, but it was getting late, and it was only one night. Still quite nice, and we all gorged ourselves on wild rasperries the next morning.
So the first trip was a success! The sleeper held up just fine. We averaged over 16 mpg on the trip, which given how much driving we did at 5 mph seems pretty good. It was hard fitting everything in for a 10 day trip. We didn't want to stop to wash clothes, since the kids aren't vaccinated yet, so we had three duffel bags of clothes, two coolers and two food boxes. Oh, and a guitar! We were full up. After the lunch stop after the last night of camping, I FINALLY figured out a good way to pack everything:
So that's it so far. I plan to keep it in its current half-finished state through the fall. Then this winter, I'll take the windows and door off, finish the interior, finish the fairing, and get it properly painted. Maybe someone with a booth and a sprayer....
Thanks all for your encouragement and support! I'll probably be back here to post some trip views, and/or when I get back to working on it.
cheers,
-eric