Labor Day Weekend - 2011

I LOVE 4 day weekends!!! I packed up the final items on Thursday night while Glenn was working on the ATV trailer - he decided THE NIGHT BEFORE (is this not a typical man thing or WHAT??) that the wheel bearings needed to be repacked since we'd had a couple of flat tires on it and when he got the trailer apart, you guessed it - they were bad!! So a trip back to town to see if Napa had any didn't do him any good as they didn't have them. HMMMM............He said we COULD just repack the bearings and see if the trailer would make it over there but his opinion was it would probably break down so we both decided that was NOT an option!!

But sitting at the bottom of our driveway was our OLD trailer which had never sold - now I know why!! Unfortunately it had a flat tire and not only was the air compressor at work but also the ramps to load the ATV - Glenn just ran into Florissant to get a fix a flat can and got it aired up enough so we could make it into town the next morning and figured out another way to load the ATV - he's pretty good at stuff like that!!

Finally it was early Friday morning and we headed out - our 3/4 ton pickup is pretty rough to ride in and we barely had started before my head was spinning and I didn't feel good AT ALL!! I just knew at that point I wouldn't be riding the ATV!

By Buena Vista I was feeling better so we stopped and I got some coffee - it only rated about a 5 but was drinkable at least!! The road back in to our camping spot was pretty rough and I was glad when we arrived and found the campsite EMPTY!!! Between the campers and the hunters, I really didn't think we would get that spot!!

We quickly set up and I told Glenn that we needed to take a ride to see if I could handle the ATV so we did - not a problem AT ALL!!! I figured out that since I was pretty much grounded on that ATV and hanging on to something, that the bumps and rough spots didn't bother me at all and in the pickup, you're not really hanging onto anything and your entire body jumps and moves around with each bump!!

We were heading down a high pass on this first time out when something happened to my ears - they opened yes, but that wasn't the word I wanted to use - it finally came to me - RELEASE - something had released inside my ear!!! We went back to camp to eat lunch and pack up for the rest of the day and as we were eating lunch, it felt like both ears were "wet" inside - a weird feeling but I felt great and that was all that mattered!!

It was FANTASTIC to be out and about on the ATV - the weather was gorgeous and we loved every minute of our trip!!! I saw this neat tree so had to stop and take a picture! What a cute little spot for someone to sit!!

We drove up high to look down on O'Haver Lake - it was beautiful!!

We ended up going down "Bob's Blvd" on one of our trips - yes, someone actually nailed up a sign on a tree to mark this trail - the guy had passed away and this must have been one of his favorite places to ride!! It's REALLY steep but a neat trail and I had to stop and snap a picture of this tree that has bent over and started growing back into the ground!!

The only time I drive the ATV is when Glenn has to stop and open a gate!!

And here's a picture of our great campsite!! Notice the little green tent on the left hand side of the picture? That's our pop-up port-a-potty tent - it's sure a heck of a lot nicer than just using the forest!!

It was COLD the first night but we didn't think about turning the furnace on before we went to bed and we DID regret that - it was DARN cold sleeping!! I didn't have any panic attacks, due to the fact we had 2 large solar lights all lit up - one inside and one outside where I could see it - they worked perfect!!! I slept great with only one dizzy spell when I laid down - I KNEW at that point I was getting BETTER!!! To be cont'd...............