HEADING TO MUELLER STATE PARK, COLORADO

Friday, rain and no hiking - which was OK with me because we had hiked to my limit on Wednesday and Thursday.

Saturday, rain and no hiking. Inspired by the fact that Odel had shampooed our carpets on Thursday, I got into the cleaning act, too. Out came the wipes - leather wipes, wood wipes, disinfectant wipes, aromatheraputic wipes. Wipes are the most effective way to control the endless dust in the full-timing life. While I cleaned, Odel shredded, carrying out two BIG bags of shredded "sensitive", outdated paperwork - including the now unnecessary login list. The Olympics provided background entertainment.

Sunday, MORE rain! I scrubbed the sinks and countertops. Odel washed the sheets. We jacked up Scoopy and Odel crawled underneath to drain any water out of the compressed air tanks. I "wiped" the leather dashboard and dusted all the gauges. More Olympics.

Thanks to the inclement weather, Scoopy is sparkling - and I know more about the summer Olympians than ever in years past. I know Michael Phelps, and his mother. I've heard every detail of the Big Question of the Chinese girl gymnasts' ages. Sixteen? HAH! Misty May and her partner Kerry, and the tape on her shoulder. The horses, the fencers, the syncronized divers, the one-one-hundredth-of-a-second, too-fast-for-the-human-eye-to-see win of Phelph's 7th gold medal... We've seen it all. The endless replays and detail-by-detail analysis gets tedious, but it is SO much better than usual daytime/summertime TV!

We are longing for sunshine.

Three years ago, we visited a state park in Colorado that we loved - Mueller State Park (read our review and see photos here), west of Colorado Springs. Tomorrow we are returning, happy to have reserved our favorite site for a few days.

This is the view from site 4 in the Peak View loop, looking towards Pike's Peak as the sun set. The loop has just 5 sites, looking towards Pike's Peak to the south, deep forest to the east, and a meadow and pond to the west.

The only drawback to this great site? No Verizon service - no phones, no aircard.

We'll be at Mueller, and out of touch, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Ta, ta - we're on vacation. :-) Wish us sunshine.