Finding Focus

On June 16, 2024 I left the Denver area and drove to the other side of the state to my first stop at James M. Robb state park with my trusty co-pilot Dany.

Dany got to hang out in the a/c in the truck while I got everything set up in 99 degree heat. Lucky girl.

At the James M. Robb state park, there are 4 different loops. We stayed in the C loop which was right next to the Colorado River and has full hook ups. My favorite part about this park was the views. The campground is nestled between two canyons on each side and its really a sight to behold.

To see more pictures of the views, you can go over to my photography section for all of my best pics!

The first day after the hustle and bustle of set up, I had a quiet evening sitting outside snapping picture of the resident bunnies and birds preying on the local rainbow trout.

The first few evenings were pretty low key as Dany and I walked around on the trails and explored the park. As we were walking back towards the RV, I saw two birds fighting in midair. I had my camera with me so I pulled it out and snapped away. I didn’t realize until I looked at the pictures and zoomed in that I had gotten pictures of a bald eagle. I also didn’t realize until after that the eagle was trying to get a trout out of the other birds talons.

The chase begins!

There’s a fish up for grabs! And bystanders are getting in the way!

The eagle knocks the fish out of the other bird’s talons!!

The eagle makes a dive for it!

Oh but the trout just slips out of his talons and plummets to the mighty Colorado River below. It may have even lived to fight another day. Unclear.

Here’s an actual decent picture of the eagle flying away. The others weren’t great, but I wanted to show you some actual images of the midair fight.

After the eagle flew away in dismay or maybe just utter annoyance, Dany and I continued on our walk. After about 10 minutes when we were getting close to the RV, I was scanning the trees and saw the eagle roosting.

I assume that it was the same eagle at least because of the general direction that the eagle flew away to after the fish dropped and the fact that the eagle in the tree was quite clearly sulking. As I snapped a bunch of pictures, Dany patiently waited for me to finish, and the eagle lazily screeched at a crow that kept flying too close.

I started to lose light and it was making it really hard to find focus so I packed up and headed back to the RV for the night.

June 21, 2024 we had a pretty good thunderstorm. Lots of heavy rain, wind, and some thunder. Storms never really bothered me before, then I started living in an RV…

There were quite a few storms the two weeks that I stayed at James Robb, nothing too intense, but we did get a lot of rain. The nice part about thunderstorms though, are the rainbows and sunsets that often occur right after.

[insert sunset picture]

June 22, 2024 Dany and I decided to go check out the Grand Mesa. The Grand Mesa is the largest flat-top mountain in the world with a surface area of 500 square miles and up to 11,332 feet of elevation. Highway 65 goes through the canyon and up onto the top of the mesa, and it goes for 63 miles, so that’s what Dany I did. We took our time and stopped at many of the pull offs along the way for pictures.

As you drive along Highway 65, there’s a half paved/half dirt road that branches off where you can go check out Land’s End Observatory which was my favorite part of the day. Land’s End Observatory is an old ranger observatory that is no longer in service and the views are incredible. Pictures don’t do it justice, but here’s one anyway 🙂

So when I was researching getting to Land’s End the night before, I noted that a lot people who wrote reviews mentioned the road being pretty rough and there being a lot of potholes but 4×4 was not necessary. After about a mile down this dirt road, my GPS was telling me to make a right. I looked at the map and saw that no matter if I stayed on the current road or take a right, that I would get to Land’s End regardless. So I decided to give the right turn a try. I almost immediately regretted my decision as this road was a lot rougher than the previous road and there was only enough room for one vehicle to be on the “road” at a time. Plus there was no cell service. This was the maiden voyage for my new inReach satellite messenger/tracker so having that gave me some comfort otherwise, I would’ve never even attempted this road.

After about a mile, I was looking for a place to turn around. Then I saw another car coming towards me in the distance. I pulled off of the road to let them pass and saw that they were clearly doing the same thing as me and sight seeing, plus they were just in an SUV. This gave me instant relief to see another person, and I decided to keep going forward.

This road was 8 miles long, and it was very slow going. I couldn’t go more than 10 mph on most of it. Here’s a picture of the road.

It was worth driving down as I saw some great views along the way and there were people camping on BLM land right next to a couple small lakes. I don’t think I could ever get the RV back this road, but I still made a mental note as it would be a great tent camping spot.

After one of my many sessions of pulling off the road (as best as I could in this case) and taking pictures, I got back in the truck and was getting ready to pull back onto the road when I saw a couple cars coming in the distance. Since I was already pulled off with my flashers on, I decided to just wait for them to pass. After all, I was in no hurry. As the first car approached me, it was full of older men all with long white beards, I’m guessing they were in their 70s. As they approached me, we both waved at each other, and they mouthed “are you okay?” I gave them the thumbs up and they gave me the thumbs up back and kept driving past me. It made me feel like I was back home in northern Pennsylvania in Potter County; the remoteness of it all and the friendliness of the people there. It was nice and gave me a good feeling, and I’m glad I got over my initial fear and kept going.

Anyway, so after about an hour, Dany and I finally got to Land’s End. I took Dany out of the truck and we explored a little bit to stretch our legs. The views were amazing and well worth the trip back there.

After getting back in the truck, I ate my PB&J and gave Dany her dinner and then we were on our way. We went back the regular road and it was much faster, and I would recommend that road if you don’t have 4×4 or are running short on time.

Here’s one more picture of Land’s End.

After driving the rest of Highway 65, we stopped in Grand Junction for dinner. Dany found some really nice grass that was very soft and green and had fun just rolling on it for a while. I let her have her moment since she had been a trouper all day in the truck and if you know Dany, you know that she’s not the biggest fan of car rides.

We ate at Goat and Clover Tavern which has English and Irish dishes. Dany wasn’t a fan of all of the flags outside, but luckily it wasn’t too windy. She was wore out from riding in the car all day.

I got some bangers and mash and it tasted really good, especially after just having a PB&J earlier for lunch. We walked around town a little, but it was hot so we headed home after that.

June 23, 2024 I drove out to Palisade which is only 10 minutes away from James Robb to go to their farmers market. Palisade’s Sunday farmer’s market might just be my favorite farmers market to date. It was the perfect size in that it had plenty of vendors, but it wasn’t so big that it was overwhelming. The mix of vendors was also really good in that it didn’t feel like you were looking at the same stuff just at different booths over and over again. One can only look at soaps for so long. I got a ton of stuff.

It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning.

The rest of the week it was pretty hot and I think the influx of rain awakened all of the mosquitoes because they really came out with a force that second week so Dany and I did a lot of hanging out in the RV after work during that second week.

Dany was on bunny watch the whole time we were at James Robb though. They were hanging around and under the RV a lot and Dany was very intrigued.

On Saturday June 29 2024 Dany and I got up early to go to the Fruita Farmers Market before heading up to the Colorado National Monument. The Fruita farmer’s market was laid out nicely as it was in a park rather than on the street which I liked, but there weren’t as many vendors. I got some breakfast tacos and coffee along with some fruit, and Dany and I headed over to the Colorado National Monument.

I didn’t know what to expect of the Colorado National Monument and before I go to new places, I really try to not look at pictures ahead of time. Let me tell you, the views along Rim Rock drive of the rock formations and canyons were amazing.

After spending the afternoon taking in the views, Dany and I stopped at Palisade on our way back for a late lunch/early dinner at Fidel’s Cocina & Bar.

Fidel’s was named after the owner’s rescue dog so you can imagine that this place was very dog friendly. They even had a frozen beef broth drink for Dany at no charge!

They had some very unique drinks and the food was local, made from scratch, and very delicious. I got Elk Chorizo, Carne Asada, and Quesabirria tacos.

Dany and I got back home to the RV and had a relaxing evening before heading out to our next destination the following day.

Check back soon for the next blog entry detailing the next leg of our summer trip. Thanks for reading! You can click here to go back to the home page.