Kremmling, CO - Days 1 & 2

Tuesday, Aug 11

Broke camp and left that wonderfully isolated boondocking spot on Independence Mountain this morning.  Got down the steep parts with no issues, using lowest gear and the occasional tapping of the brakes.

It being the cool of the morning still and a short driving distance to Walden and the propane dealer there; there were no issues filling up the propane tank on the URRV.  Often, when its hot out and I've been driving a while, the tank apparently heats up enough to cause enough opposing pressure within the tank that it prevents a propane vendor from pumping more in!  

Got gas at the station in Walden and then I drove down to Kremmling, CO and stocked up on groceries, dumped tanks, filled up with fresh water and went to check out the recreation areas about 14 miles away run by the BLM.  Oh, and speaking of small world, I ran into a former manager when I was doing contract work at United Airlines!  I'd not seen Steve in years.  We chatted for a bit, exchanged emails and hopefully we'll be better at keeping in touch.

Both the Pump House and Radium Campgrounds proved unsuitable!  The spots are really for tent campers and also for folks who plan on boating on the Colorado River!  Oh, and no signal either.

So, I returned to Kremmling, picked up CO Highway 9 South and less than ten miles later I was at a BLM boondocking spot I'd stayed at before just north of the Green Mountain Reservoir.

I discovered the mirror on the vanity cabinet in the bathroom had broken, when the door came open and the mirror struck a towel ring on the side wall, during my travels this morning:

Hopefully it's not seven years of bad luck eh?

Got camp set up in pretty warm weather, I think it got as high as 85°F outside and almost 89°F inside the URRV before things started to cool down with the onset of evening.

The fires to the west made the skies gray and hazy and there was the faint smell of smoke in the air.

I went to fire up the small generator and it kept going into "Overload" condition.  Hmm.  Tried a different power cable, same condition.  Checked oil and air filter, both seemed fine.  Tried different outlets for the power strip, same condition.

Finally examined the power cord of the AC adapter for the laptop and found a frayed section where the wires' insulation was worn off and they were touching!  Sigh.

Got the frayed wires separated and re-insulated, and no more troubles with the generator.  Although using the weBoost got me three bars of 3G, the Internet wasn't accessible though I could text and make calls so all good for one night.

Wednesday, August 12

After dealing with some issues with stuff in the URRV, all caused by me being careless, finally got geared up to ride towards Kremmling which was less than 10 miles away.

I wanted to check out the BLM areas just outside of town to the north.  I also wanted to see if I could find a specific spot to replicate a picture I'd seen at the grocery store yesterday.

First I explored the BLM areas accessible from near the Red Mountain RV Park.  Didn't go very far in but I did find a nice flattish area where there were already four RVs boondocking!  Bonus, it had good cellular internet signal!

Retracing my steps back to town, I got on CO Hwy 9 North and found the entrance to Grand County Road 227.  This road allows one access to the road on top of the rocky escarpment:

Google Satellite Image of Kremmling

Following CR 227, I eventually was at the edge of the escarpment, looking down on the town and searching for the spot featured in the old photograph:

I believe that's Gore Canyon in the distance

Then, near the end of the road, I found the spot!

source: Kremmling Mercantile

What do you think?  Did I get it?

No, I didn't want to sit and let my legs hang over

the precipice.....

Yagi at the spot

From near the above spot, I spotted the open area where I'd spotted the four boondocking RVs.  A bit dusty but not too shabby eh?

I retraced my way on CR 227, and got this shot of the precipice where the spot is located:

Wolford Mountain

I rode back to the campsite and after some dithering, decided to break camp and move to the BLM site I'd spotted during the morning's riding.  (You saw that coming, didn't you?)

By 3PM, I was onsite and set up, my URRV basically finishing the circle of RVs: