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I am an early riser. I enjoy watching the sun rise. The first seven photos were taken at the San Luis Lakes Wildlife Area, Mosca Campground in Colorado. The last three were taken from our campground at Chatfield State Park in Littleton, CO.

I thought this park was going to be one of those "too good to be true" stories, but wow, it is true! Once you purchase an annual Colorado State Wildlife Pass, currently $36, you can stay up to 14 days with no further fees. Electricity is provided, and there is a dump station, but no water. Our stay basically cost us a little over $2 per day. We will probably stay another 14 days on the way back to Georgia, so that stay will truly be free. The park is located about 15 miles from the Great Sand Dunes National Park. You can see the dunes in the distance from our campsite. The closest town is Mosca. The closest town with a variety of services is Alamosa. It used to be a State Park but apparently Colorado was unable to keep it going so it became a State Wildlife Refuge. First come first served camping. They turned off water access, but will leave electricity going for a while longer. Cell phone reception is hit or miss.  View from the park Sand dunes barely visible

Visited the Great Sand Dunes Park in October at 7:00am as the sun was rising and climbed the dunes. This photo was taken outside the park. You can see the dunes in front of the mountains.

We visited Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs on two consecutive days (Oct. 9, 10). It was crowded when we 1st visited, so we decided to get up early to beat the crowds on the next day. We did not expect the snow, but enjoyed the unique landscape it created.  

Parked at the Visitor's Center at Wilkerson Pass, CO Didn't expect snow to this extent in early October. We were planning to drive on over the mountain and camp on the other side. Thought better of it and turned around at Wilkerson Pass, Colorado. Temperatures are uncharacteristically cold for Colorado. Apparently, it was about 90 degrees here last week. Where we ended up - Cheyenne State Park, CO. We decided to go back down to Colorado Springs area, and camped at Cheyenne State Park.

Leaving our home base in Loganville, GA, on Monday morning, October 1.  Arrived at Meriwether Lewis Campground in Hohenwald, Tennessee on Monday evening. This campground along the Natchez Trace Parkway corridor is free, primitive, and available on a first come, first serve basis. There are clean, well maintained toilets, but the campground does not offer electricity, showers, or dump station. The setting, however, is beautiful and quiet. We stayed for one night in a pull thru site with plenty of room.  (GPS: 35.5225, - 87.456) Our traveling cats (all three of them) are quite content on the highway in our truck, but they especially like looking out of the windows of our Airstream once we are settled into our campsite. After traveling most of the day, Oct. 2, and spending a night in a Walmart parking lot somewhere in Missouri, we arrived at Lamar City Park in Lamar, Missouri. This is a 56 acre park maintained immaculately by the city of Lamar, with walki

Washing the Airstream before we head out. Won't have the opportunity again for a while. Planning to make it to Tennessee on Monday. Not making reservations, but I have some locations in mind. We are planning to do a lot of dry camping (no hookups) along the way. We prefer State and National Parks and Forests, and public Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campgrounds over private RV parks. I will try to share what we learn along the way. I will also include links to my Amazon Affiliate Shop, to some of the gear we use. Click the "Products I Use" link on my website, and scroll to the bottom of the page if interested.