Rex and Nancy's Travels - "ALL WHO WANDER ARE NOT LOST" - JRR Tolkein

We left Loveland on Monday and headed up the Poudre Canyon where we were able to see the devastation from the High Park fire.   It has been about 4 years since we were in the Poudre Canyon and it made us heartsick to see it burned.  We camped at Jack’s Gulch, a Forest Service campground along the Pingree Park Road, our favorite campground when we were living in Ft. Collins.   The High Park fire was stopped here at the Pingree Park Road, so the downhill side of the road was burned and the uphill side was not – what a contrast.   We were happy to find that Jack’s Gulch Campground had not been harmed by the fire but were dismayed at the amount of damage done to the trees by the pine bark beetle.   Many of the dead trees had been removed and they have sprayed most of the remaining trees.  The Forest Service has also planted hundreds of tiny trees, but it will take a long time for them to get big.  We noticed a lot of large trees h...

We left the Black Hills on Wednesday morning and headed to Colorado.   We ran into a rainstorm by just before Newcastle. WY and it was overcast all the way to Loveland where it rained after we got set up.   We are staying at Loveland RV Resort.   The High Park fire is almost under control and we are glad that there is hardly any smoke here.      First thing Thursday morning we took the Jeep to Dinks Auto.   They spent a few days trying to unseize the motor but finally decided that it was ruined so we ordered a new engine.        It took about two weeks to get the new engine and have it installed. They also had to replace the clutch as it was bad.   The Jeep is running great and we need to put 500 miles on it and bring it back for an oil change and to make sure everything is working properly.   This was a very expensive lesson and we will make sure the Jeep is not in gear before we tow it from now on!   We le...