Life's Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, totally worn out, shouting "Wow...What a Ride!"

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Clinton Lake State Park

We have enjoyed Clinton Lake State Park as much as possible, with the temps and winds it has made for some cold days here and brought about some changes in our travel plans. We are leaving here this morning and plan to arrive in CO on Monday a week early, Cheyenne Mountain State Park has a few full hookup sites open all year. We are planning to spend a week there then head south,  when we will probably spend  3 days traveling in search of warmer temps. Looks like we'll have to get all the way down to southern NM before we have much warmth.

While here we have spent time biking around both campgrounds, surprised myself by not having to walk my bike up any hills. :) Dave has drowned more worms, we've enjoyed a campfire or two, we took a ride around Lawrence KS, nice town but too big for our taste, heck Burlington VT was too big we are just not large city folks. But for our sons we will go to the cities of Colorado Springs and Phoenix, Tom already has plans for us (bowling & a Halloween party?) and David wants some advice on a few things around the house.

9-2011 last time we saw Tom & Krystal







 Halloween of 2010 Tom & Krystal were living in VT with us, looking forward to seeing their costumes this year.





Clinton Lake
 Clinton Lake State Park is a large park with a variety of site types, there is fishing, boating (too windy for us this time), hiking and biking trails all at the campground.We had heard about this park from a visitor to our campground in VT, she had told us it was a nice place and worth a visit, well it is and definitely worth a return when the weather is nicer. The temps have hovered in the 50's, that would be fine but add in lots of wind makes for whitecaps on the lake and then the evening have dropped into the 30's. Our fireplace is doing a great job of keeping the rv warm so we've kept the furnace off, as our friend Mark would say no cringing since we're not using our propane instead using the campground electricity.

amber waves of grain at Clinton State Park

We have found we really do like the state parks over all much better than the private campgrounds, still haven't made it to a national park this trip but imagine they will be much like the state ones. Everything I've read about Cheyenne Mountain State Park sounds good too, we're looking to our stay there. For the next two nights though we have found a few places just off the interstate to pull into, all Passport America parks of which we are now members. Thanks for the advice everyone, the saving just over the next two nights will pay for half the membership whenever our 4th stay occurs it will have payed for itself.

So today we head down the road three hours to Russell KS then tomorrow we are aiming for Stratton CO and Monday on into CO Springs, all around 3 hour drive times with the last day being a bit shorter. We will be gaining elevation every day so hope the winds calm down, the forecast is for good weather and the only large town between here and Colorado Springs is Topeka KS. We've always loved this drive into CO and how the Rockies show up from so far away, just glad it's CO Springs and not some of the northern part of the state we're headed to. 

Until next time...

12 comments:

  1. LOL at "drowned a few worms". You are brave souls to be traveling to Colorado. I'll be interested to see where you finally end up that's warm. I'd like to winter in the SW one day but I'm such a weenie when it comes to cold. 45 is about as low as I'm willing to go and it's colder than that in Virginia now so I'm not a very happy camper. Love state parks the best too, well almost, National Parks are even better.

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    1. Call us crazy the things we do for our kids. :) hope we get to compare the national and coe parks to the state parks this trip. Hope you're getting south soon, I'm hoping NM and AZ are warmer, that's what I hearing at least.

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  2. I think we found the warmer weather! LOL! It was in the 90s in Yuma, and now we are in Benson, AZ (higher elevation at 3500 feet), and it still gets into the 80s during the day, but into the 40s at night. Your fireplace should do fine with that. (I'd KILL for a fireplace in our coach!)

    We really like state parks, too......lots of natural beauty. We haven't stayed in a national park campground yet, but I'm sure they're at least as beautiful.

    Safe travels to CO, and hope to see you soon in AZ! :-)

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    1. Save us some of the 80's, as soon as we get closer we'll try to figure something out. Dave wouldn't have to cringe if we could us the fireplace on when we're not paying for electricity, just ran out of propane in one tank.

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  3. We really enjoy our fireplace too and frequently use it to take the chill off at night.

    Bowling and a Halloween party sounds like fun! Safe travels to CO.

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    1. Thanks, bowling-haven't done it in 13 years, started bowling in 10th grade and continued until '00. Halloween party with young folks in their 20's could be interesting.

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  4. Can't belueve Halloween is on our horizon. Suppose I should have some candy on hand. Enjoy time with family...you are almost there!

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    1. 2 more days to go :), doubt we'd have many trick or treaters at the state park, only a few sites open this time of the year, hope we get one.

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  5. Brrr! You're making me cold :) We are down in Florida and it's been 80 all week. Just what I like...boring weather :)
    We prefer the state parks too but really love the COE parks. We stay in commercial parks when we have to and sometimes, it's the wisest choice.
    Safe travels!

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    1. Thanks, heard from an uncle who said it was in the 80's in Ft Lauderdale, I hope we get the chance to compare state, national and COE parks this year. Glad you came to our commercial park in VT :)

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    2. We had reservations to stay at a Corps of Engineers campground on Clinton Lake earlier this month. That was cancelled with the government shut down, so we found a commercial park in Peculiar, MO. Sorry we missed Clinton Lake after reading your post.

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    3. Definitely a place we hope to return to, I imagine though the COE parks there are just as nice. We missed a COE park in IL for the same reason, thanks for commenting.

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