Departing Texas for Colorado

Our trip to the Caribbean with the kids was a great way to get re-energized. Now back in Smithville, it is time to get ready to leave Texas for an extended period on the road. Our first tasks to accomplish include a number of medical appointment for the two of us. A check up here and there to make sure we are good to go in the physical department. With that out of the way, we said our good-byes to the villagers and departed Smithville.

This year-round, family friendly campground accommodates both tents and RVs and has many amenities, such as a playground, restrooms with sinks, flush toilets, and showers, and an activity center.

Our first destination is Live Oak Ridge campground located at Belton Lake close by the dam and the city of Belton. Belton Lake was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the construction of Belton Dam in 1954. The 12,300-acre lake is located on the Leon River, just upstream of the confluence of the Leon River and the Little River. Belton Lake is a long, narrow and winding lake with many curves and coves, providing some of the best camping, fishing, and boating in Central Texas.

We stayed here two nights and met Al and Marilyn Tumazi, a couple we met on the last cruise who live in the area, for dinner on Friday, April 10. We had a fun visit and dinner together at Luigi's Italian restaurant. What a blessing to make new friends wherever we go.

Saturday I was scheduled to assist another Coast Guard Auxiliarist in teaching a Texas boating safety class, but it got got cancelled due to lack of registration. So I met up with Mark Prentice from Flotilla 081-05-07 at his home to talk and get to know one another. Mark is a retired USCG Chief Warrent Officer and has a wealth of knowledge about all topics associated with the Auxiliary in Texas. He will be a valuable resource for me in the future.

With the weather expected to deteriorate substantually in the area we packed up in the rain Sunday morning and headed northwest towards our next stop. It would be a long day of driving, about 6 hours to Levelland, Texas in the panhandle. We stopped twice for fuel because of some severe headwinds but eventually arrived at this gem of a stop.

One of Levelland's special use parks, this park is reserved for Recreational Vehicles (RVs). The RV Park is located south of Levelland on Highway 385, adjacent to Levelland Municipal Airport and includes seven paved spots with access to water and electricity. The park is for short-term visitors to Levelland to use without cost! Camper spaces are provided free of charge on a first come, first serve basis.

This is my review on RV Life, "The city of Levelland's RV campground was level (no joke intended), had water and electric at each site with a dump station available. Be advised, it can get windy here, so we parked our door on the leeward side of our space. There were two large dumpsters for trash. The site is just off the highway into town, so you might experience some road noise. We didn't notice it as a problem. If you're heading either north or south and don't want to drive through Amarillo, Highway 36 is a relaxing drive and you can get everything you need in the smaller towns along the way. Just can't beat the price and the accommodations! We camped at Levelland RV Park in a Fifth Wheel."

We drove through Levelland the next morning and that town has everything you might need for the continuing journey. We didn't need to stop so we pressed on for another five hours with a few more fuel stops until we reached Raton Pass Camp & Café, conveniently located off Interstate 25 at the top of Raton Pass between Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, New Mexico. Easy access from either the northbound or southbound lanes is accessed using Exit 460. Crossing into New Mexico we gained a hour entering the Mountain Time Zone. With the rain behind us and traveling downgrade, we hoped to make better fuel mileage than 200 miles on a tank. Diesel was running at between $4.85 and $5.39 a gallon on this leg. Fortunately we are almost to the final destination we booked for a week which was not far from our son, Erik's family, in the Denver, Colorado suburbs..

Located in the Denver metro area and open year-round, Cherry Creek State Park offers visitors a unique chance to enjoy the surrounding prairie with a camping getaway. It has 128 camping sites located on multiple loops at 5,657 feet above sea level. Cherry Creek State Park is a 4,200-acre recreation haven in the Denver metro area for boaters, anglers, campers, bicyclists, equestrians, swimmers, hikers and picnickers alike. Anchored around an 880 surface-acre reservoir, the park offers a natural prairie landscape of gentle, rolling hills and complete outdoor recreation amenities, including camping, picnicking and facilities for group events.

They have a saying here in Colorado, "If you don't like the weather, just wait an hour!"

On Tuesday, April 14, we arrived at our pull-thru site #149 on the Buffalo Loop with plenty of room for our fifth-wheel and the detached truck. This was our base for the next week until Tuesday, April 21. From here we would drive about 35 to 45 minutes to visit Erik, Tori and the grandkids at their home in Thornton.

We arrived just in time to help out before Tori left for a trip to Paris, France with her mother and other relatives. Erik really appreciated the help with dinners in the evenings and driving to practices and games the kids have after school and on the weekends. The weather was crazy with 3 inches of snow on Friday, April 17, the very day that Tori was flying out. It worked out for the good because all the practices got cancelled. On Saturday there was still too much snow on the ground so soccer and baseball practices got cancelled. Erik, Mattis and I went to see the Dodgers play the Rockies at Coors Field, Karen, Emery and Arley went to the movies.

Sunday, Karen and I took the boys to church and later met Erik and Emery at her soccer match at noon.

Monday was our last full day visiting the area. We got to see Mattis play on his baseball team that evening. It was a wonderful, action packed week filled with quality time with our son and grandkids!