Trip End Summary

What did we learn from 5 weeks in our new Winnebago Travato 2022 KL camper van? I learned that I could probably live in a tiny home (or at least a much smaller home) without much problem. Two adults and a dog lived comfortably in 135 square feet for 34 nights. I'm now wondering why I need all the rest...

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From Transactions to Relationships: Living in a gratitude-based world

 "The essence of the gift [economy] is that it creates a set of relationships.... [It] opens the way to living in gratitude and amazement at the richness and generosity of the world. [It] asks us to bestow our own gifts in kind, to celebrate our kinship with the world....When all the world is a...

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Final Days of the Trip

Today (8/19) is our last day of activities. The final two days will just be driving 618 miles over two days to return home.We departed our lovely camp site at the Riana Campground at Abiquiu Lake this morning. On the repeated recommendation of my friend Beth Michalak, we stopped at Bode's General Store...

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Bebop on Hiking and Big Floating Donuts

This is Bebop with an update. We are still on our extended adventure. We've been gone for over 4 weeks now. A few days ago, we stayed at a free campsite along the headwaters of the Rio Grande. The camper next door had two large dogs who would go nuts if I walked past their camper. They would run from...

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Rocky Mountains (are) High

On Friday (8/13) we camped at a campground overlooking the very depleted Lake Fork reservoir (Blue Mesa Outpost). Saturday (8/14) we took a lightly trafficked road down toward the small town of Creede, CO. I think we drove our highest elevation so far at 11,530 feet across Slumgullion Pass. Then we...

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Double Ducky Day

As we were passing through Glenwood Springs, we found ourselves with a free afternoon and Paul mentioned rafting -- my favorite thing to do in the world! Sure enough, a highly rated outfit had room on its early afternoon trip. Paul decided he would hang out with Bebop instead of coming along, so I was...

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Clothing Optional

We enjoyed a second relatively clear day today. We departed Old Snowmass and made a stop at one of our favorite free hot springs. It's literally right next to the highway and hardly anyone knows it is there. The hot water trickles out from seeps under the road and into the Crystal River. People have...

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Fractal Reality

Have you ever noticed how often a tiny new stream has the same folds, bends and miniature cliffsides as a mature canyon? Or the way each stretch of beach echoes the inlets, outlets, peninsulas and tidal pools of the larger coastline?Reality is fractal. Even if you don't understand the formula for the...

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Bebop Blogging about Mountains

After three weeks of hearing my hoomans complain about bad smoke and haze obscuring their views, they seemed delighted today. We went to a place called Maroon Bells and the air quality was not perfect, but it was much improved. I had to ride on a bus to get there as they are trying to limit the number...

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Time Frozen, Folded, Slipped and Pummeled

I fell in love with rocks for their beauty: the way they catch and throw light, the shapes of mineral crystals, their different weights and textures. But what keeps me captivated is what rocks teach us about time.In Glacier National Park, 2016In geology, a million years is a rounding error. Humans...

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I'm Not An Old Fossil

I’m 4 1/2 years older than Elena, so she often ribs me about being old. Today (8/10) we visited Dinosaur National Monument, where the ~150 million year old bones made me seem quite young in comparison. We first visited the quarry site, which is an incredible collection of bones just jutting from...

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