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The Long
story of our Rainbow Gathering Vacation |
I
do have some experience traveling hippie style,
but things are much different traveling with my
wife and child.
I tried to learn from some of the mistakes that
I have made last year. Such as planning where to
sleep. This year , the plan was to drive only
500 miles per day.
A child strapped into a 5 point harness will get
quite crabby after awhile. So we looked at our
Atlas and found the nearest camping sites
located on the map every 500 miles.
It took us so long to get to New Mexico because
we had to stop every couple of hours to let
Marianna get out and play.Besides all of the whining and complaining
from everyone, we did enjoy the trip. On our way to the 2009 annual Rainbow Gathering, we stopped
every 500 miles or so to sleep for the night. We did this
because last year we had such a hard time finding a place to
sleep.
Our first stop was near Council Bluffs, Iowa. We found
a nice campground called Lake Manawa.
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As Marianna and I were walking around checking out the
campground, we spotted a beautiful deer.
The doe was right in a campsite next over from ours.The deer was just munching away at the fresh leaves on the
trees.
Council Bluffs, Iowa has a nice campground,
we were able to take showers and I even met a
peaceful hippie named Deadhead Jed. He wasn't going to the Rainbow Gathering. I told him a little about what the Rainbow
gathering is like. I just don't know if he is
going to make it. Maybe some day. |
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When we left Council Bluffs, we headed toward
Colorado. Our plans were to stay at the
Jackson Lake State
Park off Interstate 76, toward Denver.
We plan that 500 driving miles per day will
get us to our camping spot in time for Sara to
cook us some dinner as I set up the tent. |
Jackson Lake State Park campground was a very peaceful place. As
usual, I woke up earlier than everyone else in our tribe.
I went around checking the lake out.I ran into a rabbit that
seemed to blend right in with the color of the ground.
There was a stork swimming in the lake. The mosquitoes were
kind of bad there by the morning coolness of the lake. |
I also seen some kind of duck
swimming. The fish were just going nuts. The fish
kept jumping up, probably to eat the mosquitoes.
We headed out early that morning.We drove that day all the way to New Mexico. It
was hot. Until we finally hit some rain it was
all we could do is put on sunscreen.
We stopped at a gas station to get some sport drinks to help
replenish the sodium in our bodies.
As Sara was in the store Marianna and I seen these horses that
were on there way to a horse show in Denver.I thought that
one of these horses was just so funny. It actually smiled at me
when I asked it to say "cheese". |
| We left the horses to go to their show as we
drove on to the
Ev Long Campground in the Santa'Fe National
Forest. It was our third day on the road and we were on the other side
of the mountain range from the Rainbow gathering.
I have
always known that it is best if you can show up to the gathering
earlier in the day rather than later in the evening.
It can be quite some walk from where you park to where you may
set your tent. So we decided to stay at the Ev Long campground
in the Santa Fe National forest. |
I shot video footage of John
Lennon's face in the clouds.
What a magical trip we had on our way to the Rainbow Gathering.
Marianna is growing up to be quite a tree
hugger.
This is here second peaceful hippie Rainbow
gathering and she is only two years old. |
| I took this picture as we were
on our way to the Rainbow gathering in New
Mexico. I know that there is something magical
that happens on the rainbow trail. Just like how
the cloud is smiling back at me as I take it's
picture. After a peaceful nights rest us
hippies headed off to Cuba, where the
Rainbow Gathering
was at. Just close this page to go back
reading
this page. It contains the rest of the
story. |
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