8/31
This morning the wind woke us up blowing at 15 to 20 MPH with gusts to 30. Gusts, on the highway, of 40 or more are dangerous for high profile vehicles like motorhomes. So we are hoping it doesn’t get any worse. We are on the road and the dust is blowing. We are heading east towards Wichita and the wind is straight out of the north. The winds were pretty strong for about 100 miles and then seemed to let up. Last fall when we were coming back to Kansas the wind gusts were so strong we had to stop for 5 hours until the wind subsided and it was safe for us to continue. I think Kansas doesn’t like us. We are staying the night at the Walmart parking lot in Newton. We had dinner at Applebee’s with my brother, Jerry. My other brother, John and his wife, Neva, were supposed to join us but had a last minute plan change. After eating we visited with Jerry’s daughter and family. It is so good to see family again.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
8/30
We are traveling along the flat land through eastern Colorado and on into Kansas. We heard the devastation in New Orleans and other gulf coast cities on TV this morning from Hurricane Katrina. It is very sad. I am praying for those who have yet to be rescued but my prayers won’t stop there. As the day goes along the conditions there seem to be getting worse. May God have mercy… The countryside today is hot and dry…and flat. It looks very much like western Kansas. Oh My? It is western Kansas. We are almost home. We will stay the night at Garden City Walmart. As we pull in we are very hot. We walked around inside Walmart to cool off.
We are traveling along the flat land through eastern Colorado and on into Kansas. We heard the devastation in New Orleans and other gulf coast cities on TV this morning from Hurricane Katrina. It is very sad. I am praying for those who have yet to be rescued but my prayers won’t stop there. As the day goes along the conditions there seem to be getting worse. May God have mercy… The countryside today is hot and dry…and flat. It looks very much like western Kansas. Oh My? It is western Kansas. We are almost home. We will stay the night at Garden City Walmart. As we pull in we are very hot. We walked around inside Walmart to cool off.
Monday, August 29, 2005
8/28 & 8/29
We made our way to Pueblo Lake Reservoir. We are now out of the mountains. Pueblo is a much larger city than I had thought...over 100,000 people. While we were there we took a side trip to Bishop's Castle which is in the San Isabel National Forest. This castle is being built by Jim Bishop, not to live in, but just as a tourist attraction. It is quite a site. He has an on going feud with the law concerning this project. Since it is on private land and he is not charging anything they really can not do anything. If you are ever in this area, it is well worth the trip to see it. For more information about the castle and more pictures go to:
http://www.moosh.net/mark/castle/ We had a great time with Kaley. She will be 5 in October and will start pre-school in a couple of weeks. She is very excited. We bought her some school clothes and spent time reading books we had bought for her. She seems to be ready for school. Kaley’s mother has 3 other little kids so she has her hands full. But she is doing a great job, very patient and loving to all of them.
We made our way to Pueblo Lake Reservoir. We are now out of the mountains. Pueblo is a much larger city than I had thought...over 100,000 people. While we were there we took a side trip to Bishop's Castle which is in the San Isabel National Forest. This castle is being built by Jim Bishop, not to live in, but just as a tourist attraction. It is quite a site. He has an on going feud with the law concerning this project. Since it is on private land and he is not charging anything they really can not do anything. If you are ever in this area, it is well worth the trip to see it. For more information about the castle and more pictures go to:
http://www.moosh.net/mark/castle/ We had a great time with Kaley. She will be 5 in October and will start pre-school in a couple of weeks. She is very excited. We bought her some school clothes and spent time reading books we had bought for her. She seems to be ready for school. Kaley’s mother has 3 other little kids so she has her hands full. But she is doing a great job, very patient and loving to all of them.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
8/21 to 8/27
We arrived on Sunday at Mountaindale Campground just west of Colorado Springs, Co in the foot hills of the Rockies. We will stay here a week. The Springs, as the city is called, is a big city but easy to get around in. We, of course, spent time at Walmart shopping and the mall. They actually have 2 malls, one on the north side and one on the south. On Tuesday we drove clear to the north side of town to get the passenger windshield, which got broke in Canada, replaced. They also fixed the chips on the drivers side. We can still see those chips but they are much less noticible than before. We took a side trip in the truck to the Cripple Creek area which is an old gold mine town from the 1800’s. The first time we were here was in 1967 and was the first vacation we ever took. We really didn’t have much money and probably shouldn’t have even taken a vacation but we had fun. That time we stayed at the Imperial Hotel in Cripple Creek. As I remember, the only place to eat in the little town was an expensive buffet at the hotel restaurant. It was late by then, the food was cold and the only meat left was very dried up chicken wings. It seemed like everything was flavored with nutmeg. It is a memory. Now the town is lined on both sides of the main street with casinos. The few gift shops they had are fronts for the casinos. In 1996, with the price of gold rising, mining resumed in the area. The surface mine, CC & V, is located between Cripple Creek and Victor. It is quite large. Information about it can be found at:
http://www.cripple-creek.co.us/gold.html We drove the Phantom Canyon Road back to the Springs. It s a gravel road and has some spectacular views. We found the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo starts on Friday. Since we are planning to stay in Pueblo Sunday and Monday nights we decided we should make sure we could find a campground to stay in. So we drove to Pueblo, about an hour’s drive from our campground, on Saturday to check it out. We will have no problem finding a spot. While in Pueblo we stopped to see our great granddaughter, Kaley, for a short time. It is to spend time with her that we are staying in Pueblo.
We arrived on Sunday at Mountaindale Campground just west of Colorado Springs, Co in the foot hills of the Rockies. We will stay here a week. The Springs, as the city is called, is a big city but easy to get around in. We, of course, spent time at Walmart shopping and the mall. They actually have 2 malls, one on the north side and one on the south. On Tuesday we drove clear to the north side of town to get the passenger windshield, which got broke in Canada, replaced. They also fixed the chips on the drivers side. We can still see those chips but they are much less noticible than before. We took a side trip in the truck to the Cripple Creek area which is an old gold mine town from the 1800’s. The first time we were here was in 1967 and was the first vacation we ever took. We really didn’t have much money and probably shouldn’t have even taken a vacation but we had fun. That time we stayed at the Imperial Hotel in Cripple Creek. As I remember, the only place to eat in the little town was an expensive buffet at the hotel restaurant. It was late by then, the food was cold and the only meat left was very dried up chicken wings. It seemed like everything was flavored with nutmeg. It is a memory. Now the town is lined on both sides of the main street with casinos. The few gift shops they had are fronts for the casinos. In 1996, with the price of gold rising, mining resumed in the area. The surface mine, CC & V, is located between Cripple Creek and Victor. It is quite large. Information about it can be found at:
http://www.cripple-creek.co.us/gold.html We drove the Phantom Canyon Road back to the Springs. It s a gravel road and has some spectacular views. We found the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo starts on Friday. Since we are planning to stay in Pueblo Sunday and Monday nights we decided we should make sure we could find a campground to stay in. So we drove to Pueblo, about an hour’s drive from our campground, on Saturday to check it out. We will have no problem finding a spot. While in Pueblo we stopped to see our great granddaughter, Kaley, for a short time. It is to spend time with her that we are staying in Pueblo.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
8/20
As we cross the border into Colorado we can see the amazing Colorado Rockies in the distance. Ft. Collins, where we hope to stay at Walmart, is less than an hour away. We were held up on the highway for about an hour due to an accident. There were 3 lines of traffic. As we passed by the scene we could see a small car had collided with a semi. Ouch!! We pulled in to Walmart at about 3:30 and found there were many RV’s already there. We found a place just right for us. During the rest of the day several more arrived. It was almost like a campground. On our evening walk we found a girls softball game being played so we watched it.
As we cross the border into Colorado we can see the amazing Colorado Rockies in the distance. Ft. Collins, where we hope to stay at Walmart, is less than an hour away. We were held up on the highway for about an hour due to an accident. There were 3 lines of traffic. As we passed by the scene we could see a small car had collided with a semi. Ouch!! We pulled in to Walmart at about 3:30 and found there were many RV’s already there. We found a place just right for us. During the rest of the day several more arrived. It was almost like a campground. On our evening walk we found a girls softball game being played so we watched it.
Friday, August 19, 2005
8/17 to 8/19
It is cloudy as we leave this morning and a few sprinkles on the windshield. It never did actually rain. This stretch of highway, about 300 miles, is really boring. Every mile looks like the last. We arrived in Cheyenne at about 3 pm. We are staying at the Greenway Trailer and RV Campground. This is on the east side of Cheyenne and close to Walmart and a shopping mall. We went to the Visitors Center to find out what there might be to do or see here. There really isn’t much other than museums which don’t interest us much anymore. We have decided to cut back on our slat intake so we shopped for food that ar net high in salt. Everything good is either high in salt, sugar or fat. Sooo MODERATION is the key. Close to the mall was a nice park that had a walking/bike trail that went way beyond the park. It was a great place to walk. We also walked around the mall looking for summer clothes bargains but didn’t find much. Basically we didn’t do much in Cheyenne. Cheyenne has a number of Cowboy Boot Statues around their city. These are a fund raiser for the city as were the buffalo we saw in Great Falls and the horses in Billings. It is our understanding several cities are doing this. The city furnishes the statue and citizens paint the statue and give it an appropiate name. Then at a later date they are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
It is cloudy as we leave this morning and a few sprinkles on the windshield. It never did actually rain. This stretch of highway, about 300 miles, is really boring. Every mile looks like the last. We arrived in Cheyenne at about 3 pm. We are staying at the Greenway Trailer and RV Campground. This is on the east side of Cheyenne and close to Walmart and a shopping mall. We went to the Visitors Center to find out what there might be to do or see here. There really isn’t much other than museums which don’t interest us much anymore. We have decided to cut back on our slat intake so we shopped for food that ar net high in salt. Everything good is either high in salt, sugar or fat. Sooo MODERATION is the key. Close to the mall was a nice park that had a walking/bike trail that went way beyond the park. It was a great place to walk. We also walked around the mall looking for summer clothes bargains but didn’t find much. Basically we didn’t do much in Cheyenne. Cheyenne has a number of Cowboy Boot Statues around their city. These are a fund raiser for the city as were the buffalo we saw in Great Falls and the horses in Billings. It is our understanding several cities are doing this. The city furnishes the statue and citizens paint the statue and give it an appropiate name. Then at a later date they are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
8/13 – 8/16
We are back on the road again. A cold front pushed through here last night and the temperature this morning is 45 degrees. They did not have much rain here in July and so far in August so the countryside is beginning to dry up. The terrain is small rolling hills and not really useable for farming or grazing. In other words its “boring”. We are planning to stay at Kaycee, Wyoming for 4 days. It is one of the parks we can stay at for ½ price. It is a small town, 200 people, so not much to do but it is economical. We took a side trip to the areas around the Hole in the Wall and Outlaw Cave where Butch Cassidy and his outlaws hung out.This web site, http://www.willowcreekranch.com/hole.html, gives some good information and pictures of the area. It is actually on private property. You cannot get close to it without a tour guide which costs $85 per person. I am not sure many people choose to take the tour. The area was beautiful and the canyon where the cave is was awesome. Kaycee has a small museum with interesting old stuff and the lady there really knew the history of the area.
We are back on the road again. A cold front pushed through here last night and the temperature this morning is 45 degrees. They did not have much rain here in July and so far in August so the countryside is beginning to dry up. The terrain is small rolling hills and not really useable for farming or grazing. In other words its “boring”. We are planning to stay at Kaycee, Wyoming for 4 days. It is one of the parks we can stay at for ½ price. It is a small town, 200 people, so not much to do but it is economical. We took a side trip to the areas around the Hole in the Wall and Outlaw Cave where Butch Cassidy and his outlaws hung out.This web site, http://www.willowcreekranch.com/hole.html, gives some good information and pictures of the area. It is actually on private property. You cannot get close to it without a tour guide which costs $85 per person. I am not sure many people choose to take the tour. The area was beautiful and the canyon where the cave is was awesome. Kaycee has a small museum with interesting old stuff and the lady there really knew the history of the area.
Friday, August 12, 2005
8/11 & 8/12
We are heading to Buffalo which is only 32 miles away. We are in an area of rolling hills sort of like the flint hills only much higher and with the Bighorn Mountains to the west. The clouds are hanging down over them. It is a great view. We are beginning to back track on highways we were on last summer. Since leaving Kansas in June of 2004 we have been in 21 states, 3 provinces in Canada and crossed the border in Mexico three times. We have gone a little over 15 thousand miles in the motor home, 12 thousand miles on the pickup and around 7 thousand on the motorcycles. We praise God daily for our safety. As we get close to Buffalo we are in an area that was some of our favorite rides last summer. We are staying 2 nights in the same campground we stayed in last year, Bighorn Mountain Campground. One thing we didn’t get to do last year when in this area was to go to Crazy Woman Canyon. It is on a very rough gravel/rock road and not suitable for a motorcycle. So we took the pickup and saw a spectacular and unique area. It is 5 miles long and down hill all the way with a beautiful creek running all along. Towards the bottom the canyon was very narrow. When the canyon was formed gigantic boulders, some as big as houses, rolled onto the canyon floor. Some were balanced on small ones. The colors in the rocks were many and beautiful to see. It was a magnificent view and quite different from any area we have been in. This web address:
http://www.travel-to-wyoming.com/buffalo/crazy_woman_creek.htm give some of the information on how this canyon got its name.
We are heading to Buffalo which is only 32 miles away. We are in an area of rolling hills sort of like the flint hills only much higher and with the Bighorn Mountains to the west. The clouds are hanging down over them. It is a great view. We are beginning to back track on highways we were on last summer. Since leaving Kansas in June of 2004 we have been in 21 states, 3 provinces in Canada and crossed the border in Mexico three times. We have gone a little over 15 thousand miles in the motor home, 12 thousand miles on the pickup and around 7 thousand on the motorcycles. We praise God daily for our safety. As we get close to Buffalo we are in an area that was some of our favorite rides last summer. We are staying 2 nights in the same campground we stayed in last year, Bighorn Mountain Campground. One thing we didn’t get to do last year when in this area was to go to Crazy Woman Canyon. It is on a very rough gravel/rock road and not suitable for a motorcycle. So we took the pickup and saw a spectacular and unique area. It is 5 miles long and down hill all the way with a beautiful creek running all along. Towards the bottom the canyon was very narrow. When the canyon was formed gigantic boulders, some as big as houses, rolled onto the canyon floor. Some were balanced on small ones. The colors in the rocks were many and beautiful to see. It was a magnificent view and quite different from any area we have been in. This web address:
http://www.travel-to-wyoming.com/buffalo/crazy_woman_creek.htm give some of the information on how this canyon got its name.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
8/10
We are on our way this morning to Sheridan Wyoming. We will stay there tonight at the Walmart. We stayed in Sheridan last at a campground and paid the most we have ever paid -- even when we were in Canada and Alaska and with a lot less services. We are passing through a big Indian Reservation. Whenever we are in a reservation we see a lot of poverty. The Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument is here. This is where Custer was killed in that battle. We can see the Bighorn Mountains to our west. We rode through them last year and they are awesome, especially the Bighorn Canyon. We will not be going through them today. We parked at the Sheridan Walmart and then walked around the shops downtown. As usual we bought nothing but we did spend our share at Walmart stocking up.
We are on our way this morning to Sheridan Wyoming. We will stay there tonight at the Walmart. We stayed in Sheridan last at a campground and paid the most we have ever paid -- even when we were in Canada and Alaska and with a lot less services. We are passing through a big Indian Reservation. Whenever we are in a reservation we see a lot of poverty. The Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument is here. This is where Custer was killed in that battle. We can see the Bighorn Mountains to our west. We rode through them last year and they are awesome, especially the Bighorn Canyon. We will not be going through them today. We parked at the Sheridan Walmart and then walked around the shops downtown. As usual we bought nothing but we did spend our share at Walmart stocking up.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
8/3 to 8/9
We are on I 90 heading to a small town near Billings. The countryside is quite interesting and beautiful. The rolling hills are very colorful. The farmers grow crops on any areas possible, and because of little rainfall, they have to irrigate everything. So the fields are very green and the rest is many earth tone colors. There are foot hills to the north that are spotted with trees and in the distance a tall mountain range. The sky is dotted with big puffy clouds. Isn’t God good?!! Amen. Just out of Bozeman, we bare now heading into the mountains through a narrow canyon with awesome rock formations. The canyon has now widened out into a gorgeous area with crops, including corn and wheat, in the flat lands and houses dotted along the mountain side. The vehicles on this interstate highway seem to be mostly RV’s and big trucks. We are straight north of the Bear Tooth Mountain range in Wyoming which was some of our favorite rides last summer. We are staying at Laurel, MT in the city park campground. It is shady and very nice. We hope to be able to stay here a week. We want to take a side trip to Red Lodge. Also hope to get the windshield replaced while in Billings. Billings is only about 20 miles east of here.
The first day here we went to Billings to stock up on groceries and supplies at Walmart. There doesn’t seem to be much tourist places here for us to visit. Billings has a number of Horse Statues around their city. These are a fund raiser for the city as were the buffalo we saw in Great Falls. It is our understanding several cities are doing this. The city furnishes the statue and citizens paint the statue and give it an appropiate name. Then at a later date they are auctioned off to the highest bidder. We did drive south to Red Lodge. We took a few pictures on the way to Red Lodge and then some of a coal mine which was working until the 1950’s. When we got home I copied the pictures to the computer and deleted them from the camera. Then I shut down the computer program before saving it so those pictures are gone, gone, GONE. I have enclosed a wed site with info about the coal mine as well as Red Lodge. http://www.redlodge.com/visitors/categories.asp?catID=VIS02 The town, Bearcreek nearly became a ghost town after the fire but now is finding new life as a bedroom community for the growing city of Red Lodge. We did get our mail here the morning we left but we did not make contact with the insurance company soon enough to get the windshield replaced while here. Arrangements were made for us to do that while we are in Colorado Springs.
We are on I 90 heading to a small town near Billings. The countryside is quite interesting and beautiful. The rolling hills are very colorful. The farmers grow crops on any areas possible, and because of little rainfall, they have to irrigate everything. So the fields are very green and the rest is many earth tone colors. There are foot hills to the north that are spotted with trees and in the distance a tall mountain range. The sky is dotted with big puffy clouds. Isn’t God good?!! Amen. Just out of Bozeman, we bare now heading into the mountains through a narrow canyon with awesome rock formations. The canyon has now widened out into a gorgeous area with crops, including corn and wheat, in the flat lands and houses dotted along the mountain side. The vehicles on this interstate highway seem to be mostly RV’s and big trucks. We are straight north of the Bear Tooth Mountain range in Wyoming which was some of our favorite rides last summer. We are staying at Laurel, MT in the city park campground. It is shady and very nice. We hope to be able to stay here a week. We want to take a side trip to Red Lodge. Also hope to get the windshield replaced while in Billings. Billings is only about 20 miles east of here.
The first day here we went to Billings to stock up on groceries and supplies at Walmart. There doesn’t seem to be much tourist places here for us to visit. Billings has a number of Horse Statues around their city. These are a fund raiser for the city as were the buffalo we saw in Great Falls. It is our understanding several cities are doing this. The city furnishes the statue and citizens paint the statue and give it an appropiate name. Then at a later date they are auctioned off to the highest bidder. We did drive south to Red Lodge. We took a few pictures on the way to Red Lodge and then some of a coal mine which was working until the 1950’s. When we got home I copied the pictures to the computer and deleted them from the camera. Then I shut down the computer program before saving it so those pictures are gone, gone, GONE. I have enclosed a wed site with info about the coal mine as well as Red Lodge. http://www.redlodge.com/visitors/categories.asp?catID=VIS02 The town, Bearcreek nearly became a ghost town after the fire but now is finding new life as a bedroom community for the growing city of Red Lodge. We did get our mail here the morning we left but we did not make contact with the insurance company soon enough to get the windshield replaced while here. Arrangements were made for us to do that while we are in Colorado Springs.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
8/1 & 8/2
We stayed at Lewis and Clark Cavern State Park near Three Rivers, MT. with plans to take a side trip to Virginia City. One of United States’ richest placer mining camps once lured people to Virginia City. From 1863 to 1865, at the height of the Civil War, more than $30 million in gold was washed out of the rich gravel of Alder Gulch. When the placer mining slowed down they began to use a dredge to remove the gold. Charles and Sue Bovey found the town in the dark days of the 1940’s, after President Franklin Roosevelt declared mining to be a non-essential industry during wartime. The last scoop of the ore had been removed from Alder Gulch. Only 400 people were left in town. The Bovey’s struggled to preserve what was left of the town. They used their own money to buy and restore property after property. They rebuilt the town with a combination of past and present with the past being 100 % authentic. In the days of decline of the town, the business owners skipped town leaving their merchandise on the shelves. This merchandise is now on display in some of the old buildings that are set up like individual museums. There are displays of groceries and medicines, patented, and guaranteed to cure blacksmith shops, dry goods and general merchandise. The buildings still look like 1800’s but now, besides the museums, are gift shops, restaurants and even a bank and post office. They have an ice cream shop which makes their own ice cream in a unique way. At the Opera House they have live shows 2 times a day. In 1997 the Bovey’s son convinced the State of Montana to buy the properties and to set aside moneys to further restoration. We enjoyed the campground and the cool weather we had while at the State Park.
We stayed at Lewis and Clark Cavern State Park near Three Rivers, MT. with plans to take a side trip to Virginia City. One of United States’ richest placer mining camps once lured people to Virginia City. From 1863 to 1865, at the height of the Civil War, more than $30 million in gold was washed out of the rich gravel of Alder Gulch. When the placer mining slowed down they began to use a dredge to remove the gold. Charles and Sue Bovey found the town in the dark days of the 1940’s, after President Franklin Roosevelt declared mining to be a non-essential industry during wartime. The last scoop of the ore had been removed from Alder Gulch. Only 400 people were left in town. The Bovey’s struggled to preserve what was left of the town. They used their own money to buy and restore property after property. They rebuilt the town with a combination of past and present with the past being 100 % authentic. In the days of decline of the town, the business owners skipped town leaving their merchandise on the shelves. This merchandise is now on display in some of the old buildings that are set up like individual museums. There are displays of groceries and medicines, patented, and guaranteed to cure blacksmith shops, dry goods and general merchandise. The buildings still look like 1800’s but now, besides the museums, are gift shops, restaurants and even a bank and post office. They have an ice cream shop which makes their own ice cream in a unique way. At the Opera House they have live shows 2 times a day. In 1997 the Bovey’s son convinced the State of Montana to buy the properties and to set aside moneys to further restoration. We enjoyed the campground and the cool weather we had while at the State Park.
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