Wednesday was Jim's birthday.  We'll just say he's as young as he feels!  Mid-day we headed to Silverthorne/Dillion/Frisco.  He had an item ordered and shipped to the Walmart there.  What's different in our travels this year than in the past?  We have a dog!  Lovable Buddy.  We hate to leave him when we are going to be gone more than 4 or 5 hours sooooo...he enjoys the ride...sitting on my lap. Or we will say occasionally sitting. What that also means is... Jim and I can't go into a business together. Or go eat in a restaurant when Buddy  is with us.   While Jim was in Walmart I walked Buddy.  We saw a we'll call "Mountain Man" walking with a back pack and two dogs.  When we went to wait for Jim to exit from Walmart we saw his back pack and the two dogs waiting outside the door.  The little dog was so cute.  We were still there when the gentleman came out and the dog was just like Buddy.  So excited to see his owner, he had to be picked up and loved on.  I guess we all just need a little love.  

Since we couldn't take Buddy into a restaurant, we picked up KFC and went to a park on Dillion Lake to eat.  Yikes, the mountain winds had arrived.  It was misting a little and it was chilly!  It was still a nice time though.

Another "issue" I have this year is my oldest grandson will be getting married in September.  I now know what type dress/colors I should wear.  The closet place to find anything is Denver, about 2 1/2 hours away.  There is an outlet mall in Silverthorne.  After much research online last night I found that Ann Taylor carries bridal wear.  Not at the outlet store though.  So I am in a quandary.  Should we make a trip into Denver now or wait about a month when we will be there and pray I can find something. 

We picked up a few groceries, pet food and a few other items and headed home.  Instead of a cake I gifted Jim with a Ding Dong with a candle.  He enjoyed it with icec ream!  I don't think either of us has had a Ding Dong since the company went out of business and sold and came back.  Since it was his birthday I had to have one too.  Very good!  Better than I remember.

All in all I think he had a nice day, really enjoying all his calls, texts, emails and FB messages. 

I love flowers.  Years ago I used to go by the flower shop on Monday to buy flowers for my desk. When Jim and I lived in Indiana the previous owners of the house we bought had a wildflower bed. When my Dad came to visit he came in and told us he had "pulled the weeds" which most of the wildflowers were to him when he found them in the field on his farm in Missouri. There was one that he referred to I believe as a thistle plant.  When he found one he would take his pocket knife out and dig it up roots and all.  So surprised to me when I went chasing after our dog and my feet, in thongs, identified a "thistle" plant.  Now I am not sure if it's the same because he never let them get that big on the farm in Missouri but here I found out just like roses with thorns, these thistle plants have beautiful purple flowers. 

I tired to identify the thistle plant by name along with the other wildflowers I have photographed.  I give up easily sometimes.  When there were pages and pages of just purple and blue wildflowers in Colorado...I gave up!  So I will share the photos and maybe some of my wise friends will identify them for me!

We are still boondocking between Kremmling and Grandby, CO.  Thursday we decided to take a drive to Steamboat Springs, CO.  We took a back road to Hwy  40 where we saw several deer.  Then just North of Kremmling we took CR 135 to CR 131.  It was a scenic route, entirely paved road, going through several small towns. and over Gore Pass.   We saw two does and a fawn, one of the biggest does I ever recall seeing.  There were also several interesting rock formations on the route.  Once there we went to the F.M. Light & Sons store, their tagline is "Outfittin' the West for over 100 Years". 

By then it was lunchtime and  we were hungry.  Since we had Buddy we don't/won't leave him in the car  so we went to Wendy's and then went to a park to eat.  After that, we headed to Fish Creek Falls.  It's less than 5 miles outside of Steamboat by car and then it's about 1/2 mile walking if you take the loop to the top view of the falls and then lower.  It is beautiful.  There apparently is a higher falls and a lake.  We opted not to make that 10 mile round trip hike! 

We went back into town and I had my hair trimmed, we went to the Walmart (not a supercenter) and then we headed home on Hwy. 40.  Another scenic route going over Rabbit Ears Pass! 
 
Beautiful day!  Ending with another beautiful sunset!

This is a pretty simple, although moderately expensive, procedure.  The most time-consuming is replacing the fluorescent bulbs with LED strip lighting.  There is a pretty good instruction video on YouTube that explains how this is done. 


I purchased a roll of LED strip lighting stipulated cool white, 24W in a 16.4 foot roll.  You can access their Web site for pricing, but they are relatively inexpensive.  

The real expense comes when you replace all the 12 volt bulbs throughout your coach.  The best site I found for all the bulbs you’ll need is TechnoRV. Not only does he have just about every bulb replacement, but he also has several instruction video’s that stipulate which type of bulb you’ll need for each replacement.

If you’re a dry camper, or boondocker, you’ll be very happy with the light these LED’s emit, and the small amount of energy they draw.