Round 2, Day 1 27Jun06
Lone Rock Campground - outside Deckers, CO
I presume this is the lone rock, though the rest of them might argue.
It's frightening, really, that I control airplanes with gee-whiz technology, able to land themselves in 0/0 (no visibility, no ceiling) weather, yet I CANNOT get pictures to load correctly in this blog. Sigh.
My block of days off was from 28 June until 1 July so, as fate and AA scheduling would have it, I was called out the evening of 26 June for an all-nighter, but not your basic all-nighter. I dead-headed from Dallas to San Francisco leaving at 8pm, picked up a plane and flew all night to New York City, then dead-headed back to Dallas arriving at 1100. I drove home in one quick hurry, finished packing and headed back to the airport for a 1:30pm flight to Colorado Springs. I arrived there at 2:30 (the beauty of westward travels), cabbed to the store-it, loaded up, headed out, and arrived at Lone Rock Campgrounds outside Deckers CO around 6 pm, one road weary rider. I have no idea what time-zone my body thought it was in, but it definately knew it was Miller Time, or, in this case, Brechenridge Brew Time.
I made my mark, paid my 14$, and set up camp along the South Platte River. It was a beautiful place to be, all the more special as it was a camground my daughter Emily and I shared a couple years ago. To one side was a not-so-much-older retired couple in their Toyota Tioga cab-over, on the other side and past some empty sites what looked like could be trouble: 3 guys on a camping trip. Turned out I was right where I needed to be. Well, I would be after going back to the intersection to get some grub at the store and some beer at the other store. Alas, in setting up camp and enjoying the view I'd waited too long - the food store was closed, but Hazah! the liquor store was still open for beer and snacks.
I've notice there are certain things Colorado-ans take seriously: water rights, roof racks, road repair and liquor stores.
Back at camp I was amused that John Steinbeck absolutely nailed campground behavior. That established campers will allow the new guy time to set up, covertly eyeing him and waiting for the right moment to engage in parallel activity or some other excuse for introduction. The couple upstream of me began their evening walk, looking at lisence plates. Coming to mine they stopped, offering me a chance to introduce myself. As we were so engaged a little wind came up and sent my free standing tent on 'walk-about' towards the river. NOTHING would do but that they GIVE me a set of heavy duty nail like tent stakes to secure my home. Good people.
Having decided that a couple beers and some peanut butter filled cheese crackers would suffice for dinner, I heard the group of guys on the other side begin an evening of story-telling. More accurately, Hangar-Flying, as 2 of the 3 were Stealth Fighter Pilots from Holloman AFB NM. That was my cue to wander over and introduce myself to them! As they were enjoying home-made burritos, it was also their opportunity to offer a 'snack' to the newguy. And a beer.
Turned out they were on a fly-fishing mission covering several states and one of them was a near guide caliber firsherman. They were planning a jaunt up to Cheesman Canyon the following day and I was forcibly invited.
now THAT was a good day!
This is the view upstream from my tent.
I presume this is the lone rock, though the rest of them might argue.
It's frightening, really, that I control airplanes with gee-whiz technology, able to land themselves in 0/0 (no visibility, no ceiling) weather, yet I CANNOT get pictures to load correctly in this blog. Sigh.
My block of days off was from 28 June until 1 July so, as fate and AA scheduling would have it, I was called out the evening of 26 June for an all-nighter, but not your basic all-nighter. I dead-headed from Dallas to San Francisco leaving at 8pm, picked up a plane and flew all night to New York City, then dead-headed back to Dallas arriving at 1100. I drove home in one quick hurry, finished packing and headed back to the airport for a 1:30pm flight to Colorado Springs. I arrived there at 2:30 (the beauty of westward travels), cabbed to the store-it, loaded up, headed out, and arrived at Lone Rock Campgrounds outside Deckers CO around 6 pm, one road weary rider. I have no idea what time-zone my body thought it was in, but it definately knew it was Miller Time, or, in this case, Brechenridge Brew Time.
I made my mark, paid my 14$, and set up camp along the South Platte River. It was a beautiful place to be, all the more special as it was a camground my daughter Emily and I shared a couple years ago. To one side was a not-so-much-older retired couple in their Toyota Tioga cab-over, on the other side and past some empty sites what looked like could be trouble: 3 guys on a camping trip. Turned out I was right where I needed to be. Well, I would be after going back to the intersection to get some grub at the store and some beer at the other store. Alas, in setting up camp and enjoying the view I'd waited too long - the food store was closed, but Hazah! the liquor store was still open for beer and snacks.
I've notice there are certain things Colorado-ans take seriously: water rights, roof racks, road repair and liquor stores.
Back at camp I was amused that John Steinbeck absolutely nailed campground behavior. That established campers will allow the new guy time to set up, covertly eyeing him and waiting for the right moment to engage in parallel activity or some other excuse for introduction. The couple upstream of me began their evening walk, looking at lisence plates. Coming to mine they stopped, offering me a chance to introduce myself. As we were so engaged a little wind came up and sent my free standing tent on 'walk-about' towards the river. NOTHING would do but that they GIVE me a set of heavy duty nail like tent stakes to secure my home. Good people.
Having decided that a couple beers and some peanut butter filled cheese crackers would suffice for dinner, I heard the group of guys on the other side begin an evening of story-telling. More accurately, Hangar-Flying, as 2 of the 3 were Stealth Fighter Pilots from Holloman AFB NM. That was my cue to wander over and introduce myself to them! As they were enjoying home-made burritos, it was also their opportunity to offer a 'snack' to the newguy. And a beer.
Turned out they were on a fly-fishing mission covering several states and one of them was a near guide caliber firsherman. They were planning a jaunt up to Cheesman Canyon the following day and I was forcibly invited.
now THAT was a good day!
This is the view upstream from my tent.
posted by Randy Masters at 7:42 AM
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