As we were driving into our destination, we stopped at the "scenic view" spot overlooking Taylor Lake. There were some women there from Crested Butte and we all took turns taking pictures. One of the ladies was visiting from the windy city, Chicago, and the other one lived in Crested Butte and had unfortunately lost her job at some resort through corporate downsizing. They went on their way and we went on ours.
We have arrived at our ultimate destination. I personally had no idea of what to or not to expect. I was more than pleasantly surprised - this was awesome. Typically I'm a Big Bend kinda guy - www.nps.gov/bibe or www.bigbendchat.com (where I currently have 9392 posts). I like the desert and the solitude of the West Texas Trans Pecos Big Bend Region - the cactus, the dry air, the Rio Grande river, and the Chisos mountains. I'd been to Colorado many times to go skiing, before blowing my knee out on the Vagabond run, first run of the day, at Steamboat Springs www.steamboat.com - I'd also done some day hikes up with my friend Emily up at Rocky Mountain National Park http://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm but had never been camping in Colorado.
As you can tell, we arrived late in the day at Taylor Park which is part of the vast US Forest Service Gunnison National Forest http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/gmug/ We had been taking our sweet time getting here and had done some sightseeing on the way in, had to stop for groceries and a late afternoon lunch in Gunnison, and finally make our way on in.
There were Brazillions of ATV's, (all terrain vehicles), 4 wheelers, and motorbikes here. Obviously no sign of recession in these parts as people were partaking in vacation in record numbers. There were also Brazillions of recreational vehicles too - toy haulers, campers, pop-up campers, and extravagant motor homes. http://coloradoadventurerentals.com/atv_rentals/index.html
We secured our fishing license, I've never understood why one has to have a fishing license - other than it's a revenue generator for the state, but never the less I purchased one at the Taylor Park Trading Post http://www.taylorparktradingpost.com/
Many will be shocked by Shane having a fishing license - I'm not much of a fisherman and not a hunter at all. I probably hadn't dunked a hook in the water since my days in undergraduate college way back in the early-mid 1980's
We quickly went in search of our campsite. Lucky for us, there was one site still open where Tred had been intending on us to camp at. He's been camping here for a long time so he obviously knew the area. Nice campground. The campsites were not "on top of each other" as is often the case at TPWD campsites in Texas, Texas Parks and Wildlife www.tpwd.state.tx.us. The campsites are closer together than Big Bend National Park or Big Bend Ranch State Park, but it was no problem.
I was tent camping for the first time in more than five years, sans backpacking tent camping. Ever since I had purchased a Starcraft 11RT off-road pop-up camper, I had forsaken tent camping for all the comforts of a home on wheels. In the UK they call these caravans. Fortunately, I still had a cabin tent to use.
As I tend to snore like a runaway freight train, Tred had wisely brought his own tent.
We were truly roughing it as each of us had either a cot or an air matress.
I was truly roughing it as I even had a tent heater - which unfortunately didn't work for some reason. It would light, stay lit for a while, then go out. Fortunately, I had my zero degree sleeping bags and never really needed the heater.
After quickly establishing the campsite, we sat down for more important things.
I got on this gin and tonic craze the last time I was in the UK at the home office of Synchro32 in November 2009. In the UK, the proper way to drink a gin and tonic is with a lemon twist - as opposed to a lime twist in the USA.
Didn't have to worry about Tred absconding with the gin as he is a Shiner Bock kinda guy - brewed in Texas in the metropolis of Shiner. I used to drink Shiner Bock, then I found out that I'm kinda allergic to beer, brewers yeast, so I haven't had a beer in over 3 years! Manged to lose a lot of weight by giving up Budweiser and Shiner Bock in exchange for gin and tonic too!
Of course, we had to have a campfire. Fortunately, the camp ground host was selling wood as we did not have any room in the Avalanche to haul any. That Avalanche was stuffed to the gills. So stuffed it was I had to use the "hitch extender" platform at the rear to haul the ice chest and water canteen along.
Tred took over the cooking duties, I cooked the beans :) and we had an outstanding feast of BBQ chicken. Yum. Chicken legs are the best part of the chicken - they are easy to cook and even easier to eat! We had a mess of chicken!
In addition to taking pictures of food, I have this annoying habit of often take pictures of people devouring the food as well. It was an outstanding meal.
Funny thing about camping in the great outdoors, after a few Shiner Bocks or one, two, or maybe even three gin and tonics, - it's generally time for bed. There are no "clocks" in the wilderness. One goes to bed and rises when ever they feel like it. I do know after two days of hard driving we were both tired and called it an early night. It was a pleasant night too - chilly, but not cold. Nothing like a warm campfire.
See you down the road tomorrow on day three of this mission extraordinaire.
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