Little Bluff Cabin cam April 26 - “Oak worms” on the trail this evening after a big rainstorm blew through.

Late Monday we packed up the pups and hit the road, stopping for the night at a Cracker Barrel north of Wichita, Kansas (VERY nice parking there for RV’s and we always try to get a quick take-out breakfast whenever we use their free overnight parking at most Cracker Barrels - not all allow this). We made good time across Kansas and onto and through Denver and spent a couple hours meeting some folks at Loveland, just north of Denver. We spent the night at another free parking area - a big truck stop - LOTS of interesting folks wandering around - again we were thankful to have this free spot to spend the night and filled out camper tanks (water and fuel) AND had a giant cinnamon roll for breakfast.

One bummer the next morning - it was cold, but while out walking the pups just before dawn I discovered the full moon was about to set into the snow-covered Rocky Mountains - it would have been a SPECTACULAR photo, and I was well prepared for such an event with a sturdy tripod and long telephoto lens. Only problem was my camera gear was back in the camper and the pups and I were on the other side of Interstate 25! So the moon sank into the snow and I stood there shaking my head at this wonderful missed opportunity. Oh well.

After we met with some folks for several hours we left the metro area and headed south and then west to eventually arrive at our Colorado Camp 9,033’ near South Fork. The miserable drive through downtown Denver I had dreaded turned out to be not at all - in fact we never even had to slow down once, 60mph or more all the way through town and Colorado Springs as well. It was GREAT to land at camp, and ESPECIALY for the pups - who had been stuck in the van for more than 1,000 miles!

The next morning we had another meeting with some folks at our campsite, and then headed back home. The drive down through New Mexico and across Oklahoma was pretty scary - tornado watches and really high winds all around, but we made it to yet another free camping spot for the night at a National Grassland at Fern, OK.

TODAY the wind and weather was pretty calm until we got close to Arkansas, then the sky opened up and we closed our eyes and drove on with fingers and toes crossed. After 2,100 miles we made it home just fine, and found not only a tumbleweed had hitched a ride, but also that it had rained more than THREE INCHES while we were gone - YIPPIE COYOTE!

Our Canvas Gallery will be open for walk-ins

Saturday April 27, 9-1. Click here for info and directions. (closing at 1pm Saturday and not open this Sunday)

ECLIPSE PHOTOS are available as prints here.

04/02/24 TORNADO WARNING blasted us awake at 2am and we spent the next hour in our built-in storm shelter. LOTS of noise and lightning, but only a few sprinkles and no damage to us. In fact we got less than .01 inches of rain out of the storm. Hoping other areas got more rain, but not any storm damage. One thing is for sure - the air has been swept CLEAN of recent smoke and we can breathe a lot easier now for a day or two - YIPPIE!

04/03/24 My alarm went off at 1:30 this morning and I spent several hours practice taking Milky Way photos (sample above - unedited - this is called "The Dark Horse" and is one part of the Milky Way that I enjoy trying to capture). A rentless wind we've had the past couple of days finally laid down and I think I got a couple of stars in focus (WIND is not good for doing 4-minute-long exposures of the stars - they turn into WOBBLY stars as my equipment blows around during the exposure - the glowing stars in this photo are supposed to glow thouugh). When I crawled out of the camper van in the garagge after a couple hours of sleep it looked like the landscape had all of a sudden POPPED into SPRING - a majority of the big trees are beginning to leaf out - WATCH OUT for clouds of pollen the next few weeks!

04/05/24 Another 1:30 wakeup call for me today and a few frantic hours of trying to capture the Milky - this time over at this wonderful place - Wilderness Rider Buffalo Ranch and Adventure Park (well worth the $10 entry fee, especially for the scenery and WATERFALLS!). My star pick didn't work very well, but I did get a great photo on the way home juust after sunrise.

040724 A beautiful sunrise today from the back yard - LOTS of wind though...!

04/08/24 This is a quiet moment at Pam's swing as the day began - this is our neighbor's pasture - all the cows must be on the other side of the hill.