California has great state parks, one of my favorites is Moro Canyon which is nestled between Laguna Beach and Newport Beach. This campsite is perched about 200ft above the road and beach with all of the sites on a step formation giving every campsite an amazing view of the ocean. The park also had full hook ups so I could really relax and explore and that I did getting on my bike and touring through laguna beach and seeing everything it had to offer. 

From there I headed to Long Beach staying at a small RV resort right by the ocean. this was a great location especially with my bike since I was less then a mile from downtown and close to so many things. That being said, it had been so long since I had been in a truly urban area I was not ready for the night to be as bright as the day! That being said it was a lot of fun, I got to a farmer market, hit up another Drag Show (the most expensive and probably the worst of all I saw) and just explored as much as I could for free.  Probably the best thing I did was go to the laugh factory which was a half mile from where I was staying. I realized that it had been probably 7 or 8 years since I last saw a standup show. While it was surprisingly inexpensive, it was really great with two of the writer of "the Neighborhood."  Granted, I already think that show is one of the best written shows and listening to these two I can understand why.

I also learned that Dodger fans really like politics and its time to think about Christmas!

We made our way to San Diego, about a mile out side the beach Joy perked up and slowly started to go crazy. One of Joys favorite things in the world is to run and play on the beach and as soon as we checked in at the RV site was went to the Dog beach. It was hard to contain her excitement when we parked and sure enough the moment I could free her from the leash she was in the water with the biggest smile like she was saying "I'm Home!" of course we stayed for the next hour until her limp started to come back.  It was so fun to watch her!

But my time in San Diego was not about getting Joy to the beach I had work to do! So I met up with Ross, the Finance Chair at my church who is stuck down there caring for his mother. It was great to see him and be able to work through a few things. 

I also wanted to meet up with my Uncle's Husband. As many of you know the week before COVID hit I was down in San Diego sitting with my uncle in his last days. He died the Thursday before everything shut down and that marked the beginning of the most intense part of my adult life, so much so I had not had the chance to get back down or even see the grave. So I met up with Joe for lunch at the stone brewery across form his house and we drove up to the cemetery.  It was good to see the grave and really good to catch up with Joe.

While in San Diego I could not skip going to the Hillcrest neighborhood. I also got to catch a drag brunch which was a lot of fun!!!

After leaving the north rim I headed from the beautiful 50-70 degree temps I had been enjoying since the middle of August to the 110 degree temps of Camp Verde. which would have been OK had my AC not decided to fall apart! thankfully I was able to get it fixed and enjoy the couple days I was spending there.  

On my way to Camp Verde we stopped at an old mormon settlement that is thought of as the "start"  the Grand Canyon, Lee's Ferry. it was interesting to see the ruins of the old settlement but what really struck me was the Colorado and watching this river that I had seen so many times on this trip and thinking about its impact and importance to so many people and to nature itself.  This river has changed the world around itself and literally carved its path to move life through so much of our country not only for human use but for the habitats it touches,

By Lee's Ferry you have the bridge that crosses the Colorado and the Navaho's have an interpretation center and walking bridge.  I went about a quarter of the way across the bridge, but I am a big wimp when it comes to heights so I turned back giving me a little time to read the interpretive information about the Navaho in that area. My drive to camp verde took me through Sedona where I got one more chance to enjoy those beautiful red rocks and Verde Ranch (the RV park in Camp Verde)was exactly what I needed t regroup before heading back to California for the last leg of my trip.   I have to say this was also the cheapest and nicest park I stayed at for $32 per night they had an amazing clubhouse with two hot tubs a giant pool, weight room and so much more, such a col place.. 

Back in January, I realized that I better book out the holidays so that Id have a place to land so I figured that the north rim of the Grand Canyon would be fun and being that it is not close to anywhere who knows when I'd have the chance to get to it again. Am I glad I went there. The other times I had been to the Grand Canyon (South Rim) I have always been awestruck with the beauty and expanse of the canyon but with so many people it was always hard to really enjoy. The North Rim was like being in a completely different park. While it was still full, both the campground, cabins, and lodges it was not that bad being able to get to the most scenic places without fighting crowds or jostling to get a view. In fact, there were times I forgot other people were there especially when sitting in the many quiet overlooks. I even got to see a lot of wild life and was able to go to their evening star gazing program and listened to a presentation from a guy who spends months out of the year touring the western part of the canyon which is inaccessible to most people. his photos were amazing! It wa an interesting place to think and begin to start planning for what will come next. 

I really love the site recreation.gov which it what you go to to reserve spots in national forests, parks, and other government properties. Most of the time I end up where I want to be, this time I had wanted to go to Aspen, So I booked at the Aspen campground. Unfortunately the Aspen campground is in the Pike National Forest over 90 miles from Aspen. Upon finding my mistake I was able to rebook all but one night. While this kind of sucked because I had to drive way out of the way the drives were beautiful. Along the way I was able to go to Fairplay, CO famous for being the town South Park is molded after, in fact the "ghost town" there is called South Park city and they have the characters all around this rustic town. 
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Finding the campsite was something as it was truly in the middle of nowhere but the drives might have been some of the best I have had especially as I drove from the Aspen campground over the independence pass to Aspen Co,   Standing at the continental divide you really has the feeling of being on top of the world!

Aspen itself was great, another cute mountain town, though more expensive then anything I've experienced on this trip so I only ate out once. While it rained a lot, I did get a nice 20 mile bike ride around the area which was a lot of fun especially with the great bike paths that they have everywhere. The campsite itself was amazingly beautiful, nestled in an aspen grove the thick vegetation made my campsite feel like it was all by itself.  It was also a cool site with its own little wading pool off of the creek.

Today and tomorrow are going to be a lot of cleaning and maintenance stuff, I am writing this while I am as a dealership dealing with a recall and getting an oil change, then I will be getting the van ready to park for a week as next week is my Vail week. it will be the first time I will have not slept in the van since March, I think it is going to be weird. 

As the story goes 15 years ago a guy moved to Denver and one of his friends who worked at a rafting company said that he should get a group together and come rafting. He had one problem, he did not know anybody, so he put out a post and that year a small group joined him and fun ensued. Over the years without any advertising, this has become an event happening twice a year with an intense June on the rapids and a less intense "float" in August which is the one I went on.  While most of the people came from the Denver area, there were a number that came from across the country like New York and California. 

This was a great mix of nature and fun with a great group of people. Along the way I got to see the Glenwood canyon closer than ever before which was amazing.  We also saw a bear and bald eagles! The campground was great too! It was pretty close to everything and a few others stayed there too which was fun. 
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In the boat I was in we had two doctors, a nurse, a claims adjuster and me, we figured that we were the boat most likely to survive if something bad happened.  I also got a lot of great stuff for my project.

Sometimes in the mountains when you book a site you don't really know what you are getting until you get there, This week I stumbled into an amazing campsite halfway between Frisco and Breckenridge. My plan was to bike into the towns soaking up all the activities those communities have, but when I got to that campsite I was amazed at what it held, at close to 11,000 ft up I felt like I was in the heavens as I could see for miles and miles around. Quickly I realized that going into a town was just not right when I had so many trails to explore and quiet to embrace! So that is what I did and was I glad I made that choice. It was a great time to refocus and begin to think about how my project will come together as well as start to think forward to what comes next.

​After Rocky Mountain National Park I wanted to visit Steamboat Springs since I had never been there and a friend raves about it as the best place in Colorado. Unfortunately, I probably picked the wrong place to stay which probably shaded my experience as the KOA had so much smoking there I really had a hard time breathing which is weird since it was the lowest elevation I had been at in over a week. The town was cute, but a carbon copy of many small tourist town. They did have some good stuff though. I had “Colorado Style Pizza” for the first time, and I have to admit it was not bad even if it is a tourist thing. They also had a Distillery that had a live musician doing classic rock which was amazing!
 
From Steamboat Springs I went to the farmers market in Minturn and saw a scary site, my front tiers were worn down to the warning strip.  Getting Service for my rig is not the easiest thing especially on a Saturday afternoon so after visiting Costco who would not do tiers for me and calling a couple other places, I called camping world which does not do tiers, but their service person pointed me to a place that could get me in and saved the day! 
 
So with a couple hour delay I got to visit another old friend in Littleton, CO.  Steve and I meet while I was the chaplain to the college staff at Ghost Ranch, and then Steve transferred to SFTS my last year there. We also ended up in the newly ordained clergy seminar together and had done some studies over the years which was a lot of fun. While he is not in a parish he is doing an amazing ministry for a housing agency.  Connecting with old friend has been one of the most fun things over my trip but also reminds me so much of how I have let my workaholic tendencies separate me from those I care about.
 
Now I am Staying about half way between Frisco and Breckenridge for a couple nights and then will head to another campground in the area as I try to get some writing done before the Big Gay Rafting trip this weekend!

In my original plan my goal was to go to Colorado and be a little off grid to start writing and reflecting on my journey. I had been trying all summer to get a camping spot in the Rocky Mountain National Park and finally landed 2 nights. Not only that, but I landed in probably the best campsite for me where I could easily bike to many of the hikes that are hard to get to because of the lack of parking and timed entry. It was fun since I remembered so much of those from when I was a kid, and our family would vacation at YMCA of the Rockies Winter Park. Of course, I don’t remember that many people from when I was a kid, so I asked a ranger and they said that is why they had to do the timed entry because it had gotten so popular that it was effecting the ecology of the area. It is understandable why people love that park, it is very accessible and amazingly beautiful! It is also one of those places where you can almost touch a glacier in places!