The End 9/25/15 & 9/26/15

In two days, we have gone from crisp mountain mornings with our heater on, to sleeping with the windows open and a soft breeze, to needing the air conditioning.

Bob took the truck to the dealers and was given the all clear to head home. If the truck had needed work, they couldn't have gotten us in till the next Wednesday and this was Friday. So we were most fortunate. St. Joseph was nice, but not that nice.

We celebrated with a fabulous breakfast at The Big Biscuit and got back on 36 across Missouri. In Missouri, 36 was a four lane highway and very nice. The north part of Missouri was pretty rolling farm country with an increasing number of trees. We thought we might see some of the Ozarks, but those were in the south.

At Hannibal we crossed the Mississippi and went into Illinois. We saw all of the signs for Mark Twain places and would like to go back to those one of these days.

We got on Highway 72 east which was a freeway. We were at the point of just wanting to get home the quickest way. It is beautiful country, but oh, we miss those mountains.

We hit Highway 74 and crossed into Indiana on our way to Indianapolis. It was getting late and we were lucky to find a nice KOA in Crawfordsville. Again, there were no other parks around. RV people must not travel this way. The park was in a pretty grove of trees about a mile off the highway. People had campfires going and it smelled great and felt cozy. It was very dark as we set up and we heard trains and coyotes softly in night.

We treated ourselves to a last breakfast on the road at the Cracker Barrel in town. We, of course, ran into stop and go traffic north of Indianapolis. They always have road work in that city.

I had been reading a mystery/detective novel out loud to keep us going through boring stretches of highway throughout this trip. I finished the book as we entered Coldwater, Michigan. It was perfect timing.

Meanwhile, our daughter in law, Lindsey had been in a half marathon in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which we had just driven through. Our son had been sending reports. We got a text from her as she was now driving home, asking where we were. We found out we were only three miles apart. She caught up with us and passed us in Coldwater and held up her medal for us to see. Pretty cool!

We stopped a last time for gas and slid into our driveway at 3:00 in the afternoon. We were sad it was over, but so thankful to be safely home.

Thank you to those of you who followed along and a most "Happy Trails to You!"
The End (for now!)
Bob & Cherie

Not the Best 9/24/15

We slept so well and were so thankful after looking ahead at the map and my books. Had we not pulled in here, there was not another campground for many miles.

Bob talked to some of our neighbors staying in a camp cabin. There were 7 of of them from the Twin Cities in Minnesota who were here deer hunting. Together they had gotten 13 deer. The deer in this area are small and plentiful. You are allowed 2 deer each, but, it just didn't seem right.

As we packed up, the weather was cloudy and humid. My nose was much happier, but my hair wasn't.

We drove into Norton, which was a beautiful town, bigger than we thought. We thought we were far from civilization the night before. They had a very nice, big library and many lovely, well kept homes.

We drove on though rolling prairie and farmland as we listened to the Pope speak to congress. We stopped in a small dusty town at Sally Ann's Cafe for a big breakfast to carry us through the day. I was a little worried at first as it was old and there were some grubby people in there, but we felt better as people started to talk to us and the owner, Sally Ann was our waitress. We learned about their lives and family and compared grandchildren. It was interesting and cozy and we were ready for a day of travel.

We drove by a sign advertising a park that was the geographic center of the continental 48 states. 

It was only 2 miles out of our way and we decided to make the stop. It was sweet with a little chapel and a picnic area and a beautiful field of sunflowers, the Kansas state flower. 

We were most happy we had taken the time to stop.

Just as we got back on our route, a warning light came on the dash. The sun was bright and it was almost impossible to see the icon, but Bob was quite sure it was the transmission light. As I said before, we are now both gun shy, so we were panicked to push on. When we had turned off the highway to the geographic center park, we had passed through the tiny town of Lebanon. Bob was sure there was a service station there so we turned around and went back. A very nice man came out and knew diesel engines well. He knew where to look, he checked the fluid which was fine and recommended we stay on the road and just watch the temperature and keep going to a town of more size with a dealer. So off we went on the edge of our seats.

We stopped in Marysville at a Ford Dealer who sent us on to Seneca to someone who used to work on Dodge Trucks. Meanwhile, Highway 36 is called the Pony Express Highway and they had a cool statue in town and a museum. 

However, no stops for now. Add to our stress, miles of road work and very slow going and 84 degree heat. Not our best day!

We started to get into bigger hills with lots of trees, creeks and rivers. It looked somewhat like northern Michigan near the cherry orchards. We crossed the border out of Kansas and pulled into the larger town of St. Joseph, Missouri where we found a dealer and an RV Park about 5 miles down the road. The dealer couldn't get us in till 8:00 the next morning so we went down to register at the RV Park. It wasn't where I ever would have picked to stay in Missouri as it was in town and crowded, but it certainly was convenient. 

The internet connection was also bad, so that combined with staying in a state park the night before, was putting me behind in my blog. However, the owners were so nice and helpful. We sat in rocking chairs on the office porch to check email, but the signal still wasn't strong enough to post pictures to the blog.

At the park owners recommendation, we were able to walk right next door to the park to a delicious Chinese dinner. We were very happy with that and had enough leftovers for our dinner tomorrow night.

After dinner, Bob checked the truck again and in the better light, it showed that we were out of windshield washing fluid. He drove up to an auto store and got some fluid and put it in. The warning lights were gone. He decided to leave it for the night and check it again in the morning. He still wanted the dealer to take a look before we pushed on. We're not sure what happened to the transmission light, but the temperature was good and the fluid was good.

Both of us were zapped from the stress and both of us were now very ready to be home. We could have cared less about traffic noise or park noise, we crashed.

Goodbye Mountains 9/23/15

We packed up in the cool mountain air and drove into town for a big breakfast at Claires before heading out.

 We left Estes Park and curved down though the Rocky Mountains with the roaring river and signs warning of Mountain Sheep crossing. 

There were many lodges and cabins crowded into any available space between the massive rock walls. 

We also saw many fly fishermen. Bob wondered how many fish could still be in the river with fly fishing being so popular.

We were soon in the town of Loveland and then crossed into high plains country. It was sad to leave the mountains and we soon lost the hazy sight of them as we moved east. We cut up to Highway 14 east as it was marked scenic and we passed through huge, beautiful farmland. It reminded us of the Dakotas as you could see forever. 

We were in the Pawnee National Grassland. It was remote with very few settlements. A campground named Crow Valley advertised listening to the coyotes sing you to sleep and another sign warned of the next fuel available being 60 miles away.

The few towns we went through were dusty little 4 corners with maybe a cafe and gas station. Then we stopped in the bigger town of Sterling for gas and there were actually big box chain stores there. We planned to turn south on 61 to pick up 36 east and actually got lost in the little town. There were one way streets and we almost turned the wrong way when a big truck blasted at us, thank goodness! We ended up following train tracks and got on highway 76 from back roads. Who would think we could get lost in such a small town. 76 was a freeway that merged with 80 in Nebraska. We decided that a freeway might be good for awhile to make some time and get across some of the farmland. At North Platte, we dropped south on 83 to get down to 36 east and on to back roads. There were rolling hills and miles of farmland and prairie. It was beautiful and reminded us of the north Texas hill country.

We stopped in McCook, Nebraska for groceries and crossed into Kansas as rain and wind moved in. It rained hard and then cleared as a lovely rainbow came out. We were both tired and beginning to get worried about a campground. I was searching my campground books and the internet and coming up with a big zero. Back road travel is beautiful, but it has it's drawbacks. Near Norton, Kansas we saw a State Park called Prairie Dog and decided we'd better pull in.

There was just a little building and a sign was posted that due to lack of funds, there was only someone on duty from 8:00 to 12:00.

We had to self register and slide an envelope with the $25 fee into the slot in the door. We drove down a path next to the building past piles of junk and then a dead end. We decided that maybe this wasn't the right way as we saw no hook up places or other campers. We were able to back around and go back out to the entrance where we saw a sign pointing towards the campground down a narrow paved road. Up over a hill and around a curve and here was a very nice campground on a small lake with several motor homes and trailers. It was beautifully peaceful with many trees and a clean bathroom. It was perfect! We settled in, had dinner and went for a nice walk in the moonlight. We slept with the windows open and sometime in the night, the yip of coyotes.

Elk! 9/22/15

We had a relaxing morning and finally caught up our laundry. It felt good not to hurry to get on the road, but after a while we felt like we were wasting time. We packed a lunch and headed off to the Rocky Mountain National Park.

On the way we passed the stately Stanley Hotel which is the hotel they used in filming The Shining. We  did not take the tour as time was short, but it was fun to see and a little creepy.

We drove up Highway 34 into the park and stopped at the huge visitor center and talked to Mario for advice on a plan for the day. 

He suggested the one way gravel Old Fall River Road up to the visitor center. Then we could take the paved road down to the meadows to watch for elk and moose and come back into town on the lower paved road. It all sounded good to us. He warned that the gravel road was quite narrow and we might have a little trouble with some of the tight curves, but he thought we could manage. We had no idea!

Our first stop was a short hike down to Chasm Falls which was quite pretty, but we just clicked some pictures and hurried on as we wanted lots of time up in the mountains.

We began to climb and curve with no guard rails and straight drops to the valley far below. I thought we had been on steep, but nothing compared to this. No wonder it was one way. There were times that we had less than two feet from our tires to the edge. For some reason I felt if I leaned towards the mountain wall it would help. The other cars we saw were either compact or Jeeps. Bob admitted that even he got a little nervous.

At one point we slowed to navigate a curve and heard a kind of rusty squeak and I thought maybe it was an elk bugle and Bob said maybe it was just our brakes and then he yelled, "Oh look!" There in the middle of the road in front of us were two beautiful big elk cows. 

There were other cars slowly coming up behind us and we motioned that we couldn't move with the elk in the road. About three cars stopped behind us and came up to have a look. At that moment, a huge and I mean huge, bull elk crashed out of the woods right beside our truck bumper. 

He walked towards the cows and bugled at them to move on and kept looking over his shoulder at us snorting a warning. 

Once they were safely out of the way, he turned and came right at us. Everyone jumped back in their cars. We were not sure if he was going to attack or not and Bob was picturing a punctured radiator. But, he jumped up on a rock right were he had come out of the woods and lowered his head as he broke branches and crashed back into the woods. It was so incredible to have that happen right in front of us. We felt more than blessed and I was choked with tears. Feeling weak with the whole experience, we moved on navigating the tight turns climbing ever higher.

We came out well above the tree line on tundra at the visitor center which was over 12,000 ft above sea level, The hills had paths to walk with indescribable views. It reminded us of some of the scenery we had seen in Scotland. A cute little marmot posed for me.

On a side note, I saw a lady a bit younger than me trying to help her elderly mother into the car. Her mom was shaky and using a cane and the daughter warned her to move closer before trying to step off the curb into the car. The mom kept right on with a determined, stubborn look on her face. The daughter warned, "Mom, that's your weak leg!" But the mom kept on and made it to slide into the seat. The daughter looked up at me and for a second, we connected. I blessed her heart and  told her she would never regret the time she was giving her mom. She laughed and said, "Pray for me." Boy did that bring back memories.

Driving down to the meadows, we passed a campground right in the midst of it all. We met some people later who stayed there and they said it is so noisy at night with Elk bugling, you can't sleep. It was called Timber Creek Campground and now it is a goal to one day stay there.

We stopped at one of the meadows that had a ruins of an old hunting lodge and kind of dude ranch owned by a family called Holsworth. It was a lovely path to walk ending in a wooded area with quaint little cottage sized log cabins. 

Also, we crossed a stream on a little bridge and saw that it was the head waters of the Colorado River.

Looking for elk or moose farther up, we met a lady who volunteers here in the park who was originally from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. Her husband had managed the Seney Wildlife Refuge. She gave us advice and told us we really needed to stay until at least six o'clock for the best chance of seeing elk and moose.

We drove back up the road and pulled off at the Beaver Creek stop. There were two picnic tables there and we thought we might relax for a while and watch the meadow. 

There was another couple at the other table and the man looked so much like Willie Nelson. Soon they joined us and they were retired teachers from New England who had moved out here several years ago. The time passed quickly as we chatted with them talking about everything under the sun. Several more joined us and it was great fun. We were beginning to hear elk bugle and the excitement was growing.

Eventually we all left that pull off and moved to where we saw several cars gathering and it was an amazing sight! A large bull elk had 27 cows grazing in a field by the road. Across the road, were two younger, but still impressive bulls. 

They kept trying to cross and entice some of the cows to run off with them. 

They would not give up, but as soon as one of them crossed the road, the big elk would call his ladies to him and then charge the young bull sending him running back to the other side. 

This happened a few times as we watched. It was fascinating. Three Rangers were there keeping order and making sure everyone was safe. At one point as the large bull chased off the young one, it ran right at us as we stood taking pictures. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that as all of us scattered to get behind cars. I know my only thought was to get out of the way as I slid in gravel on the steep ditch behind someone's car giggling with two other ladies. It was a great group of people to share this whole adventure with and all of us talked like we were old friends. It was hard to leave, but darkness was approaching. Oh, and we did see one moose in the distance that I took a picture of, but, it is just a dot. I saw it later cross the road, but not in time to get a better picture.

To get back to camp, we had to drive back up to the visitor center on the tundra at the top and then take the paved road back into town. It was getting dark and we were awed by the scenery with the moon coming out and clouds in the purple mountains. We were concerned navigating the tight curves and with the dimming visibility. 

It was not as bad as the one way gravel road we came up on, but it surely was worse than we expected. It was tense. Once on a 15 mile an hour hairpin curve, we surprised a young spike elk crossing in front of us. I don't know who was more scared. Twice coming around curves we had deer in the middle of the road. I was glad we were going slow and I was very glad to finally see the lights of town in the valley.

We had packed our lunch but not dinner as we had no idea we would stay that long, but it was worth every minute. We came home ready to relax and were more than happy kids with a dinner of a beer, cheese and crackers. This was our best day yet!

Stay Tuned

Please stay tuned as I add the last several and one of the best days of our adventure. We have had a string of campgrounds with no wifi or ones with very weak service. We did better in the wilds of Alaska. So much for traveling on back roads.

Some Great Choices 9/21/15

We woke to a clear but very cold morning. Ben's water dish was frozen solid. Our little space heater was not enough so we finally turned the furnace on. Bob built a fire outside and it smelled so good but was just a little too nippy to sit out there with coffee as I'd pictured.

Bob went over and chatted with our nice Father and Son neighbors that had let us stay in their reserved spot. He offered our fire and told them we would soon be on our way. As Bob walked away, he yelled out, "Hey, for a camp stealer, you're not a bad guy!"

We stopped a few times as we drove down the mountains. The air was wonderful with the fresh scent of pine. It was Heaven!

We went through a burned out area and the lack of ground cover prompted warnings to watch for falling rocks and flash floods and ended with the command to climb to safety. You bet! 

All of a sudden, our dash light came on again with a warning bong that our trailer brakes weren't connected. Bob checked and all seemed well, but the warning kept coming on. He decided we'd better stop in Fort Collins were he could get stuff to clean the connections and hopefully fix it. Fort Collins is a very nice college town but it was sad to be back in crowded traffic, flat land, and 84 degree temperatures.

Meanwhile, while Bob worked on the trailer, I happened to think Matt Goodrich and his wife, Anne lived in the area. He grew up with Chad and was his best man in his wedding. I texted Chad and he gave me Matt's number. We didn't want to intrude on such short notice, but Matt seemed happy to hear from us and gave us directions to his house. Much to my happiness, we headed back into the mountains on Highway 34 just south of Fort Collins. It was a fabulous drive along a boiling river with tall Rocky walls up each side.

 We went as far as the four corner village called Drake to meet up with Matt. We left our trailer in a small dirt commuter lot at the base of the mountain. The dirt road up to his house was to steep for us to take the trailer up.

After a 15 minute winding very steep climb, we reached the top and came out in a small community of cabins on large rolling lots. It was so peaceful and beautiful with a lovely breeze and bird songs. Matt and Anne's house is rustic in style with lots of wood and fabulous views. We sat on his deck and relaxed in the air just catching up with lives. 

It was grand. Matt had work to do, both he and Anne work out of their home, and we had to decide where we were going next. So after goodbyes, back down the mountain we went.

We had no real plan and we just weren't done with the Rockys yet. We looked at the map and saw that Estes Park was not that far. It was on the recommended list from the kids and we had always wanted to see it.

It was a great drive with more wondrous beauty and we checked in at the Estes Park KOA at the edge of town we were so impressed with our nice, end site under a pink with our picnic table on our own little deck. 

Right away we met friendly people and everyone had suggestions for things to do. We decided to stay two nights and go into the Rocky Mountain National Park. We also were long over due to do laundry and we did not feel like hurrying for anything. There would be plenty of time to go home if we left Wednesday.

We texted with Matt to thank him and asked him for recommendations for restaurants as we felt like celebrating. We chose a delicious Mexican restaurant called Ed's Cantina right on the end of main street. It was a perfect find, and, as we sat enjoying our meal, elk came right down the street and crossed by our restaurant and went in to the park. We took turns running out to take pictures of the two cows and two calves and then there was the bull. It was so awesome and I was a happy girl!

When we got back to the trailer we got another text from Matt saying to check out the sunset. 

It was so cool that we were looking at the same mountain. What a great end to a great day. We are thankful!

It all Works Out 9/20/15

We woke in the morning to a crisp 33 and clear skies. We enjoyed our coffee and chatted with some other travelers. There were several regulars that stay in this camp to fish and they weren't quite as friendly. We chuckled though at one of the campers who scuffed by dressed in black with boots and a cowboy hat walking a tiny white poodle. His image was a little tarnished.

We headed east along Highway 70 and saw Fly Fishermen all along the Eagle River. It was beautiful but with lots of traffic and we were happy to turn north on 131 to Steamboat Springs. As we turned we saw two eagles in the tree watching the river. The river was named well.

We were back to open range and cattle crossing signs as we climbed up and down through the mountains.

Steamboat Springs was a very pretty ski resort town with mountains all around, ski lodges and incredibly beautiful homes. The town had many quaint shops and sporting goods stores, not to mention the river, parks and a great bike trail. Everyone was out walking. 

We parked in a bank parking lot as we saw another RV there, put Ben on a leash and strolled the streets. 

We stopped at a taco stand and got take out and went back to the trailer in time to see a guy's car being towed away. We decided to forget enjoying lunch there, eat in the truck and get moving.

Brad had mentioned seeing Strawberry Hot Springs and we decided rather than just hurrying on, we should give it a go. We put it in the GPS and it routed us around to the other side of the river, through a residential area and right back by the bank parking lot. We were laughing so hard, that we missed our turn as the GPS lady kept yelling, "Make a U turn! Make a U turn!" We did see some interesting homes and more of the beautiful bike path. 

Anyway, we curved around back roads heading towards the hot springs and finally turned up the steep, narrow gravel road with tight switchbacks. Looking at the navigation screen in the truck and seeing those turns, I understand why they call them hairpin. Part way up signs warned of the steep grade and only four wheel drive vehicles were permitted. Keep in mind we have a truck with a four wheel drive, but we were pulling a 24 foot travel trailer with no shoulder to the road and no place to turn around. Bob kept going and I kept whining and he said, "I have to go up, I can't back down these curves." Meanwhile college aged kids were flying by on the way up in Jeeps or similar vehicles as they gawked at us in disbelief. Finally we saw a no trespassing sign on a drive into a small ranch. We trespassed and got turned around and went back down with brakes whining right along with me. 

Whew! It was such beautiful country but hard to appreciate till we were safely down the mountain. We never did see the hot springs, but Brad told us it was a beautiful spot with a natural pool formed by the hot water from the spring and the cold water from the river. Maybe we can see it another time.

We watched our navigation to get out of town trying to avoid the town center and take back roads and I'll be darned if we didn't come out right by that bank again. We did get a couple of miles down the road and realized we needed gas and guess what. There we were by the bank again. I was happy to leave Steamboat springs behind.

We went up over Rabbit Ear Pass and drove through every kind of landscape again from open range to rocky peaks to tall timber mountains. Driving down these highways, the scenery seems to constantly change with each area having it's own beauty.

We finally saw seven antelope and that encouraged us to keep carefully looking. We then saw many Mule Deer.

We were getting tired and looking for a camp and pulled into the Moose Ranger Staion which was part of the State Park. 

We got a great spot in the Ranger Lake Campground that even had electricity. Ben loved it! We had a large private site with a trail into the woods beside us. The Ranger also told us of a drive we could take to look for moose and elk.

Right after we settled in and were eating dinner, a guy and his son pulled in and said we had taken his reserved spot. The Ranger had told us we could take any open spot and we didn't realize some were tagged as reserved. He was very gracious and told us we could stay since we were leaving in the morning. He camped next to us for the night. We were so relieved as it just seemed like too much work to move.

We took a long drive and never saw elk or moose but nearing our camp in the dark, we twice came around curves to have deer right in the middle of the road. Poor Ben got thrown on the floor, but was ok. He did give Bob a look. 

The Stars were brilliant, we were in the woods and we were happy to settle in for a lovely quiet night.