Colorado River

Fly-fished the Colorado River this evening for the first time in a long time.   A #14 caddis was what was hatching and I ended up with 5 browns on the other end of my line by the time I called it a night.  Ryan was fishing without waders like usual and Bobby found himself hooking up with one on a wooly bugger. 

Juls took the pictures here while we fished.  I came back to the car to find her lounging drinking several of Colorado's finest beers...Busch and PBR.  And yes, I did keep one of the 16 inch browns that I caught for dinner.  Julie surprised everyone by eating everything including the skin.  The only part of catching dinner that Juls didn't like was the fish's final moment before a large rock ended his life.  But like they say there are always more fish in the sea.

 

Notice in the one photo I'm waving to Juls as she takes the photo.

 

Fraser Valley

Spent the night in Winter Park after we got drinks and dinner at Untamed in downtown.  We have no pictures from the night but are posting our favorite picture from Julie's camera.

Today we woke up and headed to WP for some coffee and the Fraser Valley River Festival for some music with Sputnik, Max and Chris (our generous guest from the previous evening).

Corona Pass

Spent the day on top of Corona Pass (11,660 ft) hiking and cooking lunch in the parking lot.  Julie h
ad a stellar performance hiking on Devils Thumb Trail and up one of the peaks.  Some may have mistaken her joy for complaining on the way up to the top, but once on her way down there were claims of being a "professional hiker" on par with the likes of John Muir and Edward Abbey. 

Ryan fished King Lake with little luck while we were out hiking.  Afterwards we set up shop in the parking lot with our lawn chairs, coleman stove and variety of foods.
Our cookout may have looked second rate to some, but it's hard to mess up a bbq at 12,000 ft with 360 degree views
all around.

Even with a overcast day (rare for Colorado) I'd say everything was a success.

Kanorado (real town)

Juls and I left St. Louis Wednesday afternoon to get a head start on the driving out to Colorado.  We drove for
about 300 miles to get just past Topeka, KS where we found a great campground at Mill Creek just a mile off of 70. 

Leaving Mill Creek at around 10 am we made it to the Colorado border by 2 pm Rocky Mountain Time, and finally in to Winter Park by 6 pm.  The weather was rainy but all new and old friends welcomed Julie and I to a Paraguaying birthday party complete with steak, rice, bread and even some tai food thrown in there.


The highlight of the day though has to be finding a sunflower field that seemed to stretch forever.  I won't try and describe just how nice it really was, but here are some pictures.

Note:  Juls' bug bites are doing much better and she would like to thanks everyone for their concern
.

Buggin out of St. Louis

One sushi boat, 3 hours at the Z double O and 40 bug bites later (not kidding) on Julie, we have decided to head
out of Missouri and start heading west again.  We will be making our way into Kansas somewhere today, then out to Colorado for a few dayas.

The Green Monster is running great and have found that we can get atleast 500+ miles to a tank of gas. 

Still In Wyo

Still hanging out in Wyomissing, decided against going to the beach to save some money before we head off on the trip.  Organizing our gear, putting in the mattress and making curtains for the van.  Trying to figure out what to name the beast of a van we will be driving... open to suggestions.

Went out Friday night in Wyo to The Works and ended up back at 3 am hanging out in the van with some friends.  Leaving tomorrow for our trip.  See you in St. Louis!

Hitting the Road

Had to bail on my attempt on the Colorado Trail with achilles heal problems.  Click below to see some photos from t
he 170 miles I did do in only 7 days.  I was on pace for finishing the trail in 18 days.  You can check out some of
the  photos here COLORADO TRAIL PHOTOS.

Tomorrow I head down to Wyomissing to pick up Julie and do some last minute packing for our little road trip.  By little I mean 8,000 miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back hitting all the fun spots along the way.  Taking my fly rod, camera and laptop  so I'll be posting from wifi spots as I go.

Our ride is a Dodge Ram 2500 15 passenger van with the seats

cleared out for a single bed and all the fixings.  I'll take some pictures of that as well since I'm sure you're all jealous of our

luxorious sleeping arrangements.

Either way I can't wait to be on the road with my favorite girl, seeing some of the most beautiful places in America.  Oh, and look out, I may be getting a dog when I return.

[The flower photos above I edited to give them a painted effect.]