I am far behind in my blogs. I will catch up! Living in this moment, Wednesday, June 10th in Idaho! Found an unique campground 8 miles outside of Preston, ID on the Cub River. I had to share the joy of this moment – I am delighted by – Fresh cool mountain air, big sunny day, a river runs through, and a gentle breeze.

We arrived in Utah May 29th, 2020. We drove to the bottom of the Little Grand Canyon camping right next to the San Rafael River. We saw a beaver each morning and evening checking out his realm! Lots of birds- Loggerhead Shrike, swallows, Western Kingbird, robins and finches. I will share the snake story in another blog.

We spent several days in the Grand Junction & Fruita area- handling vehicle maintenance, meeting up with friends and enjoying the camping and recreational fun in the area! Got to ride on Roses’s paddle board on Highland Lake – great place for water activity!

Cows, gnats, beautiful Delores River, more lovely San Miguel River, Blue- Gray Gnatcatcher, Stellar Jays, Yellow Warblers, and more gnats!

On Saturday, May 23 I left Ridgway State Park for Montrose, CO. I shopped for groceries, got gas, made a couple of phone calls, And answered some texts and emails.
MollyG & Abby drive us up onto the Uncompahgre Mesa. We found a campsite at 9500 ft – beautiful fresh from Melting high altitude snow. This was the last of the cool weather we have seen!
woke up on May 25 to break camp and find my van would NOT start. Took awhile to figure out I had cranked the Wheels too much while leveling and when the steering wheel was released the van started. Also was the start of the “ shock air bag saga”.

My 1996 Dodge Ram Leisure Travel van is quite different than Rose & Steven’s Earth Cruiser.
My MollyG is 2 wheel drive with a heavy wide back end. she is 24 years old and NEVER meant for off road travel.
Abby is much younger, 4 wheel drive, solar powered, can drive in 3-4 feet of water , ability to filter ANY water, and was built to go off road.
i did not know how long I could follow the Earth Cruiser!
Yes, Beverly their rig is a tank with amazing abilities! My van is a camper van.
We have been traveling together for over 2 weeks. Yes, they are taking consideration for where we camp with MollyG! With that said “ MollyG and I have driven into places I should have Stopped!

However, after experiencing rutted dirt roads, steep inclines, rocky and washed out roads, dips, sandy, dusty roads MollyG and I are fairly seasoned backroad travelers.

A big hiccup in our travels was the rear shock air bags quit inflating when we were 9500 feet up on the Uncompahgre Mesa in National Forest. MollyG and I got down the tricky mountain roads to find a wonderful campground in the beautiful Dolores canyon. Steven spent time figuring out the problem, using Abby’s compressor to fill up the air shock bags to get us to a big city (Grand Junco) for parts.
Airbags for the shocks were fixed in the Safeway parking lot in Grand Junction. Once fixed, we can easily take on mountain roads with MY new confidence in my driving skills and MollyG’s capabilities! Thanks to Steven and his well rounded brain power!