Okay I am temporarily back from the mountains (in San Antonio with the DW) and had a great time. Will be going back next week Boulder for a few days before driving back to Florida.
The free campsites site was helpful as I crossed the country south to north (to NY) and then east to west. I updated those sites (on the website) that I used, such as old costs or important missing information. One site went from $8 to $12 and another posted about the I-70 rest areas in CO, but CDOT says no to overnighting. Some local governments do not allow overnighting in Walmart parking lots as well, so do not assume.
As far as the hiking I was able to start slow in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, doing 3-5 mile hikes for a week before my cousin came in. He and I did some more of those at 9-10,000 feet. Then, we completed a 27 miler up to a bit over 11,000 feet (could not get over Buchanan Pass due to ice/snow). Couple of days down in Fort Collins and then way down to the White River WA (Maroon-Bells) for the 4 Pass Loop. I was reluctant to do this from the start, but went ahead with it and in one way it was beautiful, one way one of the most difficult hikes I've had (edit - that is a good thing :)), and one way scary as all get out. Crossing a sliding boulder field and very steep snow field above Snowmass Lake was something I'll never want to do again. The 12,400-12,600 foot passes were awesome and I had no health or respiratory issues - as well as rain, hail, lightning two nights. We even saw new snow on the way out from Aspen while crossing Independence Pass (in the van).
Hard to be frugal when eating out down in the city (groceries as much as possible), but the rest of the trip has been so. A couple of 900 mile driving days was fuel costly, but hiking for 80 miles cost about $5 for the permit (I purchased freeze dried food months earlier) and no other costs showing up on my tally sheet those hiking days. Also, split all shared costs with cousin - good too.
Was down in the low 40s in CO, but yesterday it was 107 on the I-10 road in San Antonio! I'll be glad to get back up in the mountains.
Thanks for all the assistance!
So, back to Boulder next week!