Fossil Freeeway, Black Hills, and Covid

[Tom&Shelly]

Shelly and I were feeling recovered enough by Wednesday that we decided to head back up to Colorado and finish our intended itinerary, namely helping crew for our friends who own several balloons, at the Gunnison 4th of July rally.



The Roadrunner balloon is their newest; they also own the red, yellow, and blue balloon behind it in this picture. Great weather this year! After ballooning (which is a dawn to about 9 am sport) we tailgated, then headed up to Crested Butte to see the Independence Day events up there.

So, as the rural water supplier says, all's well that ends well.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Just for completeness, our friends rented a house in Gunnison for the balloon rally, and we "camped" in the driveway



Turns out the grounds weren't connected to the exterior outlets, so we didn't plug in. Better safe than sorry, especially when you're in the mountains and don't need air conditioning! (41 in the early morning, as we got up for the 6:30 pre-flight brief. Luckily, we brought a wool blanket.)

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Since we had to alter our plans for this trip (now 2 trips?), we decided to spend an extra two days and see Florissant Fossil Beds. We were lucky enough to find a campsite at Mueller State Park



We went to City Market in Gunnison to buy some hamburger, but found $5 filet mignons. 6 ounces each, senior size! Shown here on our homemade grill. Shelly took the bacon off to reduce the sodium, and I fried that the next morning with breakfast. Had the steaks with our favorite brews





Florissant Fossil Beds is known for petrified 34 million year old redwood stumps



We drove home this morning, eating a picnic lunch at a rest area. Guess who showed up!



Not quite the trip we planned, but lots of fun!

Tom

[bdosborn]

Just for completeness, our friends rented a house in Gunnison for the balloon rally, and we "camped" in the driveway

FWIW, that's called moochdocking. We do it a lot.
Bruce

[Tom&Shelly]

Just for completeness, our friends rented a house in Gunnison for the balloon rally, and we "camped" in the driveway

FWIW, that's called moochdocking. We do it a lot.
Bruce

LOL!

Tom