Sometimes it’s worth the price of admission.
It’s been extremely windy on the drive from The Ranch to Sky City Casino and then north towards CORA. Usually, I can relax a bit driving the Moho, but this trip, I seemed to be fightlng a headwind or a cross wind of 20 mph or more. I was really over gripping the steering wheel and my shoulders got a bit sore. So, I ended up stopping at Joyful Journey Hot Springs for the night.
Joyful Journey, http://joyfuljourneyhotsprings.com is located in Moffat, Colorado, just south of the junction on Hwy 17 and HWY 285. They have RV sites with electric and tent sites. RV sites are $70, but include unlimited hot springs soaking 8 am - 10 pm, with breakfast and Dinner included. When you consider that a day use pass is $12- $15, and the two included meals, the RV site is actually very reasonable. I also reserved a 1 hour massage, which was a bit more. But I really decided I needed to pamper myself.
So I left Acoma Sky City Casino RV Park around 8 am, fueled at the Dancing Eagle Casino and 309 miles later I was ready to be relaxed. I took a quick shower, a 15 minute soak in the mid temperature pool, then had a great massage. Dinner was healthy and vegetarian, but tasty and I didn’t have to cook. I then took a very long soak in the 106 degree pool..YAHOO!!!! Sorry, no pictures of the soaking tubs, I didn’t want to be the “creepy old guy” photographing young ladies in bikinis. :)
Non-electric sites
The next morning I checked in with my buddy, Mark, at CORA, who informed me that CORA had received about an inch of snow overnight. The made my decision for me, I would have breakfast, take a long soak and not get back on the road until 10 am. It was only a 70 mile drive to CORA but I needed to cross Poncho Pass and Trout Creek Pass, so I wanted time for the sun and warmer temperatures to dry the road. The drive over Ponchos Pass was beautiful, the snow on the peaks couldn’t have been any whiter.
Since the Moho would probably not move all summer, I also needed to top off the diesel. It was a tight squeeze with the Moho towing Enzo, but I managed to get into the little gas station in Ponchos Springs and filled up at $3.18 a gallon. Of course with the small nozzle on the pump it took me the better part of 30 minutes to put in 45 gallons. The large nozzles at truck stops really spoil me. There is a Truck stop in Johnson Village which is 20 miles before CORA, but diesel there is alway higher and as I passed it, the posted price was $3.49 a gallon.
I arrived at CORA around 12:30, disconnected Enzo, filled the propane tank and then parked on my vacant lot. The park model, aka cabin, was perfect, just like I left it in October. I moved a bunch of my stuff in but spent one last night in the Moho. The next day I de-winterized the Cabin and settled in for the summer.
My cabin, Enzo and the Moho, settled in for the summer
This is the earliest I have ever been at CORA, and I was rewarded with the sight of a herd of 50 or so Elk running in the meadow, across the highway from CORA on my return from a short hike behind CORA up Deadman's Gulch.
Buffalo Peaks, from the top of Deadman's Gulch, behind CORA
The weather was perfect, mid 60s and sunny for two days, this weekend it cooled off and snow is predicted for Monday. I'm snug in the cabin with the propane fireplace. It's predicted to be in the mid 50s and sunny by Wednesday.
Safe travels and tight lines
woohoo - so glad to know you made it and sounds like you are snug as a bug in your cabin!! Hoping you can get out fishing soon! Thank you for your update - been thinking of you. We don't miss that driving stress at all!!
ReplyDelete"Dinner was healthy and vegetarian, but tasty" . . . LOL! Hahaha Larry! That made Jim and laugh so hard. You'll have to hang out with us so we can cook for you. Our vegan dinners are ALWAYS tasty, no ifs, ands, or buts about it! ;)
ReplyDeleteWe love Joyful Journey but dannnnng. Last time we were there the sites were half that cost. I think we paid $28 because we boondocked so even less than half for cheapstakes like us. Nice that they include dinner and breakfast but it would be nice to have the option to pass on it since I'm gluten-free and rarely find stuff to eat in group settings like that. But still sounds nice.
The scenery at CORA looks fantastic. Glad you made it without any issues. Enjoy!
Yes, prices have risen. Last time I stayed, it was $50 with elec, and breakfast no dinner, unlimited soaks.
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