The purpose of my traveling now is purely pleasure. I’m heading to Colorado Springs, Colorado and then west into the Rocky Mountains for some fresh air and camping in the mountains.
I’m beginning to get excited, knowing that within a couple of hours I’ll be in Chattanooga and the traffic will subside a bit as I enter I-24 bound for Nashville.
The traffic from Chattanooga to Nashville is relatively light as the bulk of the I-75 traffic continues on toward Knoxville. My destination is Colorado Springs and I know that once I get into southern Illinois, the traffic will be even lighter. You can probably tell, I do not enjoy driving in heavy traffic. It seems that the entire eastern seaboard is just one big flow of traffic.
Once I’m west of the Mississippi River, traffic has lightened up considerably. This I can handle. Once I’m in Kansas, I notice that the speed limit on I-70 is now 75 MPH. That’s a pretty good clip even with light traffic. I was traveling in west Texas last year and the freeway system there was 80 MPH. Of course not much in west Texas but maybe an armadillo or the occasional tumbleweed; otherwise, just a lot of wide open spaces and huge wind turbines harvesting the wind for energy. The speed limit on I-70 through the Colorado plains in eastern Colorado is also 75 MPH – making good time.
I exit I-70 in Limon, Colorado and take state highway 24 some 90 miles southwest into Colorado Springs. What a beautiful city, nestled up against the southern Rockies.
After spending a couple of days in Colorado Springs, I head west again to Buena Vista, Colorado. Buena Vista is another beautiful city along the southern Rockies. I plan on spending some time here dry camping in the San Isabel National Forest.
When I head out alone on one of my camping trips, without fail, my family and friends always ask, “don’t you get lonely traveling alone?” My answer is always the same, “no.” It’s not that I’m anti-social, I’m not, it’s just that I enjoy my alone time. I can go where I want and when I want and stay as long as I want. I love dry-camping and for those of you who don’t know what dry-camping is, the simple definition is this: It’s a location where electricity, water and sewer connections are not available. A good ninety five percent of my camping is dry camping on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. It’s free! The BLM lets folks like me use their land for free to camp on. I guess being a tax paying resident of this great country means the land belongs to you and me. So the kind folks at the BLM are letting us camp on our own land… There isn’t too much BLM land east of the Mississippi River, thus the primary reason I enjoy traveling west for camping. Most of the dry campers such as myself, that I run into during my camping trips, are enjoying this same type of lifestyle. High elevations and the mountains of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and northern Arizona are preferable states during the summer months as the weather is very comfortable and cool. During the winter months, the deserts of the southwest are the place to find dry campers, especially the Sonoran in southwest Arizona.
The Rockies around Buena Vista, Montrose and Gunnison are absolutely stunning. Each time I come here, I’m in awe of these majestic mountains and peaks, towering some 14,000 feet above sea level. I also travel to some of the scenic towns in that part of Colorado; towns such as Buena Vista, Ouray, Leadville, Silverton and Durango.
Traveling to these towns, took me through several of the most beautiful National Forests one could hope to travel through, such as, San Isabel, Rio Grande, Pike, Gunnison, Uncompahgre and San Juan.
And, sooner or later, all good things come to an end. In my case, I have an appointment with my ophthalmologist back in Georgia that I must keep. I have cataract surgery scheduled and as soon as that is all behind me, winter will be nearing and I plan to set a course for the Sonoran Desert in Arizona for some great dry camping and meet up with friends I’ve met on the road.
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Until next time…
