Our dear friend, Dianni, and her family were heading home to Fort Collins after a long stay in Corvallis, Oregon. They picked this spot for our three-day rendezvous. It’s also cool that they know the owners, Mona and Karl. It’s always insightful listening to owners of a business. For them it’s definitely a lifestyle choice.

The Ute Lodge is between Meeker and the Flat Tops Wilderness. It’s isolated and a totally different camping experience: kind of like boon docking with full hook ups. It’s a large property with eight cabins, eleven RV sites, and a yurt two miles up a 4×4 fire road. They also have a pond, horses, pigs, laying hens, twenty-seven chicks, of which only one will be a laying hen while the other twenty-six will be used for meat, and finally, there is zero cell service.

It has been years since we’ve seen Dianni in person, so we had a lot of catching up to do, especially her and Amelia. The two of them are kindred spirits. So there were many meaningful conversations and a lot of socializing. It was quite a treat to see her and particularly interesting to see what characteristics and traits her two kids inherited and learned from each of their parents.

It was hard saying goodbye. It’s too bad we all don’t live closer to each other. One of the most heart breaking and tender moments of our entire trip was when Dianni started crying when saying goodbye to Sara. I’m tearing up a little writing about it.

 

 

Sig Alert! Sig Alert!

We encountered a 30 minute delay on County Road 8 when leaving Ute Lodge.  Three large groups of sheep were being herded eleven miles to National Forest Land.  It was a highlight for us city folk.  Sara was going bonkers.  Of course with sheep comes sheep shit and it was all over the road and now up inside all of our wheel wells and on the front of the Airstream. I’m betting it’s still there when we get home.

 

Baa baa!