Crested Butte, CO

aka: Lake Irwin and a good friends house

The end of September will always be the most impressive time to take long drives in Colorado. This time of the year there are two types of people on Kebler Pass, hunters and leafers. I guess we counted as leafers, though we were only passing through to get to our next spot.  I would take that drive a million times if I could, but our trailer was not having that road. Every time you stop the damn thing there is three things to fix. A screw falls out (this happens A LOT), a decorative something or another falls off… a screw driver, wood glue, super glue and duct tape are mandatory for entering a trailer after any travel.

We landed towards Lake Irwin at some little camp site off the pass, got all set up and started taking visitors!  Tom had gotten off work and came to camp with us that night, and our friend Peaches (this dude has so many nicknames, I thought he was five different people for two years) came to drink wine and be merry. I actually kicked them all out around 10pm so I could take my prescribed Morphine (I’m not sharing, so piss off and get back to work. What do they pay you for anyway?) and go to sleep.  We ate breakfast at McGills the next morning, while it rained and got cold.  Look, we know it’s fall, this is how it goes in C to the O y’all. But we’re camping, at altitude, and haven’t seen sun in days, this is not the start we had in mind.  We were invited to hang out in a friends house while we were in town, as a home base, which honestly was the most amazing thing in the world. They had heat, and loads of electricity, and 4G and cable TV, and WIFI!!! Thanks Weezy!!!! A lazy day. That night Ken and I went back up to the trailer. About halfway though the night, our furnace quit working. Brilliant, it’s only 20 fucking degrees and snowing outside. I can’t fully cover myself because of my foot, and there is nothing we can do till the morning anyway.  That was a long night. The next morning wasn’t anymore fun.  We can’t get the fridge to stay on, our batteries are dead, and we don’t know what the hell to do.  Ken loaded me up and dropped me off at our friends heated house while he went into Gunnison to find a generator and a whole huge list of crap I wanted/needed for my foot. I spent all day on that comfy leather couch, crocheting, sleeping, watching crap TV and generally out of it from pain and boredom. Ken meanwhile got to fuel up the generator, take it up to freezing rain campsite and try to get a charge into the battery. After 2+ hours of running the generator he was able to get the fridge back on, and run the heat for a few minutes.

That night we got dinner with our friend Jen at Ryce in CB. Then everyone came and hung out at our friends house for a little while. I decided to sleep there that night. I was in no mood to try freezing my ass off again, and Ken and his friends were enjoying some great conversation and libations.

We spent the next day laying around too.  It sucks to say we didn’t do much in Crested Butte, but honestly the weather was miserable, loads of people were out of town, or working (dipshits just like you). We headed out that day, desperate to find somewhere not as cold, and hopefully with some sun to charge our struggling batteries. I would say Ken had a spectacular time catching up with friends like in old times.

Load up, take off, next stop: Fruita, CO.