From Leadville, we drove on smaller roads through a few mountain passes to get to the Crested Butte region.  It was a beautiful drive, green pine and aspen filled mountains littered with wildflowers.  It’s green everywhere except at the peaks where the mountains snow has yet to melt, like at the top of the Cottonwood Pass.  Eventually, the peaks, pines and flowers give way to a peaceful, serene Lake Irwin.  It kind of feels like you discovered something or stumbled on a little treasure.  I should keep this little place to myself, but it’s too good not to share.  There is a campground here, with about 20 campsites (a few are right on the water).  This by far was my favorite place to stay this whole trip.

What an incredible location!  This is the Devil’s Garden Campground inside Arches National Park.  There are only 20 sites or so that are first come first serve.

This campground offers both rv sites and tent camping.  Tent camping is located off a trail and is private.  If you are tent camping, this is the place to do it.  There are several trails that surround the campground.  They are all easy, short hikes.

The above photo was much of our view of the lake.  Sadly, the mountain pine beetles have done their damage on the pines at Steamboat Springs Lake.  The park is in the process of cutting down the dead trees, and are planning to replant 18o0 trees this year.  The loss of the trees also means, there is little shade or shelter.  We stayed two nights; our first evening we got drenched in a hail and rain storm, and the temperature dropped to 36′F.

 The morning however, turned out to be sunny and beautiful.  We spent the day fishing without any luck.  The night would have been perfect, if not for the swarms of gnats everywhere.

It’s hasn’t been that long since we’ve been back home following out trip around the world, but we’ve gotten the summer travel bug.  So we’ve decided it’s time to start our next adventure and explore the great American Southwest.  Concentrating on the Four Corner States, we’re planning on hitting Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico over the next few months.  We’re looking forward to seeing some of the U.S.’s best national parks like Zion, Bryce, Arches and the Grand Canyon.

We were planning on tent camping until Christine found these great little Scamp travel trailers while browsing eBay.  Neither of us had ever seen one of these before, but aparently they were quite popular in the 70s.  Check out the Fiberglass RV website to see some cool pics of all kinds of small vintage RVs.  Only 13′ long and made out of fiberglass, they weigh just over 1000 pounds and are very easy to tow.  We found a guy in Illinois who renovates these little guys and are now the proud owners of a vintage 1978 Scamp travel trailer.  Fitted with a small stove, fridge and AC, we won’t exactly be roughing it, but we’re looking forward to being self contained as we go back on the road.

Hermanus is one of the top spots in the world to whale watch from land, so Mike and I decided to make it our first stop. We heard there was a sighting the day before at Sievers Beach, so we headed over there but didn’t see any whales.

Around 5pm, we decided to make camp at Onrus campsite right on the Indian Ocean. The sun doesn’t set until 8pm or later, but I thought we might need the extra time to put the tent up. It took about an hour to get the tent looking like the schematic, and two hours until we were completely set up and our bellies full from our first meal camping.

We drove a few hours east today to Lake Breton, and tonight the mosquitos are out in full force. But as far as getting the campsite up and running, it only took 15 minutes to get the tent up. From the looks of it, camping isn’t so difficult for Mike. It’s like he’s at home…with his laptop and internet connection.

It’s been nearly three weeks, and we’re finally ready to check out of Cape Town and discover the rest of south and east Africa. To prepare for our departure, we’ve been to every camping store in a 1 hour radius. I’m quite certain we have all the essentials to camp, and a lot more– tent, sleeping bags, lantern, gas cooker, plates, cups, forks, chairs, food, cooler, mosquito repellent, sunscreen, etc, etc, etc.

For those of you who don’t know, the plan is to drive from Cape Town up to Tanzania, and then back. The original plan was to head up to Kenya and Uganda, but I think we’ll stay clear from all the trouble going on in Kenya right now.
We bought a 1994 Nissan Sani 4×4 which we hope will make the 7500mile journey. According to the woman we bought it from, “She’s a really solid ride”. We had “her” tuned up and gave “her” new tires. For security, we installed a safe in the back of the truck.
To start off, we are taking the scenic Garden route along the coast of South Africa. Most people would say the Garden route is a nice transition into the rest of Africa, for me it will be a good way to ease into camping. I’ve never been camping before, so it’s a bit of a nature challenge for me.
I’m excited to give it a shot, but the odds aren’t in my favor. Considering I prefer driving to walking, A/C to fresh air, and clean bathrooms to shared out houses, the odds really aren’t looking so good. Not to mention I am a magnet for mosquitos, and I cringe at the thought of spiders, ants, or any other insect invading my personal space. But I want to give camping a shot and will be providing detailed reports on our progress to become outdoor sportsmen.

After Petra, we went to Wadi Rum. We had a Bedouin guide, who drove us around the desert all day. Luckily it’s winter so the heat wasn’t bad at all. In fact it was a bit chilly in the shade. We spent the day climbing stuff and enjoying the scenery.

At the end of the day he took us to our campsite where we would stay for the evening. We were the only ones there, so it was pretty quiet.

The number of stars you can see at night in the desert is incredible. We spent the evening eating dinner by the campfire and listening (and sometimes participating) in some Bedouin music.