Smelling the Barn

We drove through Kansas on the Pony Express Highway (Hwy 36). There were signs along the highway pointing out the stops where the riders and horses were exchanged as they carried the mail from the east to the west. Several of the stations, where riders and packets and horses were exchanged, are still there. We drove from Norton, Kansas into Nebraska's SW corner.  We were in the state for all of about 10 miles before entering Colorado, but we were in Nebraska and saw the welcome sign, so it counted!

Driving through northeastern Colorado, we drove past the feed lots and the beef processing plants. This is a big employer here. There were thousands of cows there, and we sent them a silent thank you for their service to feeding all of the people who eat beef.

George's cousin Katie, and her husband, Anthony live in Greeley.  They have two adorable children, Julia, 3, and Leah, 1.  As soon as the door opened, they were all smiles and so happy to see us.  It was so good to see them, and to catch up on how they are doing.  Katie and Anthony had just returned from a backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon to celebrate their 5th anniversary, so they had lots to say about that grand adventure.  How exciting.

The next morning, we took off from Greeley, and headed to Estes Park, the gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park. After stopping at the Estes Park Visitors center, we headed for the park. Taking advantage of what George calls his "geezer pass," we entered the park and made our way, slowly, very slowly, over the Trail Ridge Road. Up, up, and up until we were well past the tree line and the air was thin and cold. We stopped at the summit (12183ft/3713m) to take it all in.  We had officially made it back to the west!

After leaving the park, we hooked up with Hwy 40 and drove to Jensen, Utah, where we stopped for the night.  We were starting to "smell the barn," but we were determined to resist it as much as we could.

The RV park we stayed at was near the entrance to the Dinosaur National Monument.  So the next morning, after we cleaned the house, we went to check it out.

Besides, it would be one more stamp for the National Parks Passport.  Wow, was the Quarry Exhibit Hall impressive.  They've designed the building to surround the rock wall with the fossil bones still in it.

The exhibit encouraged touching the bones, and discouraged climbing on the bones. It was pretty cool.


The Green River valley was a beautiful view from the Quarry Exhibit Hall. But the river is blue.

After our brief visit, we headed toward the Great Salt Lake, bringing our Great Lake total to 6!                                                                                 The drive to the lake between the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains was really quite lovely. We skirted Salt Lake City, and stopped at a nice picnic spot on Willards Bay north of the city to have lunch and admire the view.   Then it was off to our stop for the night in Mountain Home Idaho.                                                                                                                                             Mountain Home was only only about 100 miles from the Idaho/Oregon border, so our drive the next day was short (relatively speaking), and we set up camp at the Hot Lake RV park south of La Grande.  Miriam, Asher and Eden came out to visit and take advantage of the hot tub.  It was good to see them. 

Before we left Portland, we applied the state map to the RV and added the states we had explored on prior trips (Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada).  With Utah, we had added all of the states we could on this trip. We did a little improvising with Ontario, Canada, but we did cover a lot of territory on this trip! We have some traveling to do in the south, clearly. But that's another trip for another time...the fall, perhaps?

The barn is so close. With the trip back to Portland tomorrow, we will have racked up 7320 miles and some really good memories in our four week journey.

We are already talking about the next trip. 

The Midwest

So the next morning we took off from Promised Land State Park in NE Pennsylvania before 7am and drove all day.  We made it to Ben and Abby's house at 8:30 that evening. In the process we drove through Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio on our way to Indiana.  Long drive.

Ben and Abby's seven acres of paradise has a lovely home with lots of grass and trees that surround it. Maddox has a place to ride his collection of vehicles, which he does. We found wild strawberries in the grass on the hillside, and a robin's nest in one of the smaller trees.  But the biggest surprise was the Hawk nest we found in one of the larger trees. When we spotted it, it looked like there were two baby hawks.  However, after a closer look at the picture that George took, we discovered that there were, in fact, three.  Cooper's Hawks, we think. What a cool find.

We spent 4 days and nights at the John Hartford Memorial Bluegrass Festival. This event is held annually at the Bill Monroe Music Compound, in Bean Blossom Indiana. Since Bill Monroe bought the property in the early '50's, it has been the site of music festivals, concerts, workshops and barn dances. The place fairly reeks of music. We heard performances by the Dillards, the Travelin' McCrorys, and dozens of other
bluegrass ensembles, some with national renown, and some just bunches of local folks. We heard a 15 year old girl, a banjo player from Macon Georgia, and Sam Bush, who must be pushing 80, with his band. Ben and I got a chance to play our instruments in informal jam sessions that lasted well into the night. We thoroughly loved this place, and this experience, and we will be back.

We rolled through Crawfordsville Indiana, looking for the house where George lived while his father was on the faculty at Wabash College. The campus is much bigger, and with lots of newer building. We couldn't find the house, and headed West through Illinois.

We crossed the Mississippi River at Hannibal Missouri. We stayed at a campground located on the site of the caverns, discovered in 1813, featured in Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  There is a burr oak tree, almost 300 years old, that was certainly there when young Samuel Clemens explored the place. We strolled through the historic district of downtown Hannibal, among vintage buildings and along the riverbank, trying to soak up atmosphere. Then we climbed back into the truck, and drove about 485 miles, all the way across Missouri, and most of the way through Kansas. 

Today, we are headed to Greeley, Colorado to visit some family there.