Have you ever found good beer bottles or cans tossed by the side of the road?

From bargain beer to fast food remnants, the garbage that weekenders carelessly toss onto the county road near our place is a sad indicator of the way they treat their communities and their bodies.

As we take our daily run we find cans of Coors, Bud or Keystone (ugh), but we’ve never once seen a good microbrew bottle or can that was chucked from someone’s vehicle. What does that say about the typical consumer who likes pisswater beer?

Cigarette packaging also makes up a good majority of roadside garbage. And as for fast food containers, just look for the Golden Arches.

Personally I think there should be a garbage tax imposed on anyone who buys cheap beer or takeout from crappy fast food joints. Don’t you?

Editor’s Note: I vote for a garbage tax on these things for the same reason that many cities charge consumers for plastic grocery bags.  Not everyone lets their bags blow all over the landscape, but a large majority DO pollute our world. The same holds true for cheap beer, fast food and cigarette packaging.

There will be no Luck for us this year. Luckenbach that is, Texas. But the year is only half over so at the risk of shoulding all over myself, I guess I should clarify.

We didn’t make our annual pilgrimage to Luck earlier this year. We were nearly in Texas when we had to high-tail it back to Humboldt for our friend’s unexpected memorial. Since we missed out on the cold Shiner, good people and great music, I thought I’d reminisce by sharing this playlist of live music videos from past trips.

A stop at Luckenbach General Store is highly recommended for any full-timer who enjoys authentic American singer songwriter music in an authentic Old West bar, or anyone just wants to see what Waylon and Willie were singing about.

Overnight boondocking is available in the field if no big acts are on the bill. Just don’t get stuck. But if you do, grab another Shiner and realize there’s no better place to be stuck. Can you tell I miss Texas? With any luck we’ll get back to Luck by the year’s end when we head back South again for the winter.

With that said, I’m lovin’ our Colorado mountain summer! And while I wouldn’t necessarily call it “luck” we are very fortunate to be here. With the perfect climate, majestic views, fresh mountain air and occasional moose sighting, what more could we ask for? Except for maybe a couple nights at Hondo’s old hangout.

And with that said, what do you feel fortunate for? And where have you seen some of the best Music Americana in your travels? South by Southwest doesn’t count, that’s a given. Our visit to the Floyd Country Store ranks up there for us.

Two years ago this month, we found our place in paradise at Red Feather Lakes.

After searching the country to find Jerry’s Acres, we landed in a place we had passed three times in our travels.

Not once did we realize that paradise awaited deep in the Mummy Range on the way to Walden.

If it wasn’t for the relatively affordable land for sale and our awesome realtors Mike and Marie Edwards, we never would have guessed that everything we were looking for was just an hour from what we think is the best small city in the nation, Fort Collins.

The Honeymoon’s Not Over

When you’re in a spot for a while, those little annoyances you didn’t see upon your arrival tend to make their debut. But not here, not for us.

Sure, there’s the pine beetle epidemic that’s killed quite a few magnificent trees, but we can’t control what the beetles do (thank you, climate change), only try our best to shoo them off with pheromones and natural tree fertilizers.

Sometimes this place does cost more than if we were still fulltime RVers. And while I don’t like the financial burdens of having a piece of the American Dream, I keep reminding myself that ultimately our little place will serve us even better than it does now.

Property values actually increased this year up here, which was a shock. Still, we felt incredibly fortunate to have been in that boat, even if our taxes went up.

Where to Next?

If we stayed here during winter, I think my complaint list would grow.

But we’ll still fly south in winter for the forseeable future.  Just as we start to get fat, happy and settled into routines, it’ll be time to go test our wits out there in the world and live spontaneously once again.

We love Red Feather Lakes. And although it’s nice to have a beautiful place to stay for a while, the adventure of the road tripping lifestyle will always beckon.