Sunday...Day 6.

We had a bit of a misfire on RV park selection with the bison ranch.  It wasn't very nice so we vacated after one night and moved down to a resort park in Loveland, CO right on the route to Rocky Mountain Park.  It was a wise move and we enjoyed our stay in Loveland.  We even had a chance to break bread with Alex and Erin Wilson.  They shuttled us to a bar-b-q joint that was very good.

Today was a real nice adventure.  We had originally planned to go into Estes Park at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and spend some time there and shuttle into the mountains and spend the night in Estes Park.  Once there, we decided to just move through at a leisurely pace...which is the speed limit, 35 mph most places.

So we left Loveland and ventured west.

The recent warm temperatures have the rivers roaring from the snow melt.

The excitement builds as the mountains on the horizon grow larger.

After a stop at the Estes Park visitor center we entered RMNP and almost immediately encountered wildlife.

We saw many elk as well as prairie dogs, marmots, and mule deer.  We also encountered many cyclists.

I can't imagine the "fun" they're having.  It's a 5000 foot elevation climb over a 20 mile distance.  I guess the payoff is going back down the mountain.

The vistas we had all day long kept us in awe.  Here we are still in the "warm" sector below the tree line.

As we continued on, we encountered snow at about 10,000 feet, I'm thinking.

It was in this area that we saw a few mule deer...at least that's what I think these are.

Continuing on to "forest canyon"  We're at a pretty high elevation here and it was very windy and required us to put on jackets.

Absolutely beautiful scenery at every turn in every direction.

The marmots were all over this place.

They look like a groundhog.

Well above the tree line there was still a bit of snow.  The "Trail Ridge Road" that we were traveling just opened last week.

That's snow on the right and a steep slope to the bottom of the hill on the right.

Half way on the trail near the summit, is the Alpine Visitor Center.  There's a gift shop, small eatery and NPS information center.

At the Alpine Center, my GPS shows the elevation and our distance traveled from Oxford.

So leaving the Alpine Center, it's left back to Estes Park, right to Grand Lake, or straight for the express route down.

I really don't remember exactly where it was, but somewhere around this point we crossed the Continental Divide.

We'll float toward the Pacific from here on.

So we continue down now.

The scenery still amazes us.

We descended to an elevation where is was t-shirt temperatures again and stopped at a trail head for lunch.

Kathy's trail mix packets "inflated" on our trip over the mountain.

We thought the sight seeing was probably about over, but the trip down I-70 was equally scenic from Vail, CO to our destination at Silt, CO.  The route follows the Colorado River valley.

We ended the trek today at about 4:00 pm and pulled into a KOA along I-70 at Silt, CO.  It's a nice little place and very well kept.

Our site backs up to the freeway but we run a fan at night so any traffic won't be a bother.

Most of the vehicles we see are from western states.  We see very few license plates from states east of the Mississippi.

This park is along the banks of the Colorado.

It's a roaring river now.

There's a pair of eagles nesting near the park that we went to see.

That about capped the day.

On to Utah tomorrow.  Not sure how well that will go.  It was really hot here today.  Went from a pleasant morning to snowy cold on the mountain to desert like heat this afternoon.

Day 4 and it's still a barren landscape.  

We headed north out of Sidney, NE toward a couple attractions on the Oregon Trail.

First stop, Chimney Rock and the first hint of anything beyond a rolling hill.

This is a geological formation that marked the route to the Oregon Trail.  Travel south of this point, and you'll add many miles to the journey.  To the north are the impassable Badlands.

This formation could be identified from miles away.

A 30 minute drive to the west is Scott's Bluff Pass.

This was the only available route through the area.  Although only a 30 minute drive, it was two day's travel for the pioneers from Chimney Rock to this pass.

South of the pass is a ridge that would have been impossible for a wagon to cross.  The formation to the left is known as the Capitol Dome.

The park service maintains a road to the summit of Scott's Pass.  There are vehicle size restrictions on the road and our unit just qualified to use the road.  The park service provides a free shuttle bus to the summit so I opted to use their fuel and brake pads.  

From the top looking north over the Platte River valley.

Along the rocky ledge of the north side of the summit.

The vistas are infinite.  This view looks east back toward Chimney Rock which is just barely visible on the horizon at left center of the frame.  The hiking trail to the summit is visible in the center right.  It was closed (darn it) due to a rock slide.

We moved south from Scott's Bluff and found an RV park at a bison ranch just south of Cheyenne, WY.  The campgrounds in the area are all full for tonight and tomorrow so we'll sit tight for a day and let the weekenders clear out of the woods on Sunday and head toward Estes Park, CO and the Rocky Mountain National Park.  We can see snow on the mountains from here and are looking forward to ditching this 90 degree heat of the plains.

It’s day three of the great western trek.

We got up and around and left the Double Nickel campground about 8:00 am.  About an hour west of I-80, we stopped at Kearney, Nebraska and the “Platte River Road Archway”.  It’s an arch built over I-80 that houses an interpretive center about history of Nebraska and the Lincoln Highway that runs from coast to coast.  It took us a couple hours to go through it all and was very informative.

There are many displays and you wear a headphone to get a narrative as you go through the exhibits.

At the window overlooking I-80 passing underneath the arch, they have a radar gun that records the speed of the passing vehicles.  Cars are typically around 80 mph and trucks 65 to 70 mph.  We have been traveling at about 65 mph and rarely have to pass anyone.

This is the arch from the freeway.  It looks like the Oasis rest stops around Chicago.  When I mentioned that, the people there had never seen the Chicago facilities.

An hour farther west, we went into North Platte and found the Bailey Railroad Yard.  This is the largest rail yard in the world.  There are about 150 trains that enter this facility every day.  They process 10,000 rail cars a day.  The observation tower is the Golden Spike Tower.

I don’t remember the dimensions, but it’s something like 1 mile across and 5 miles long.  I couldn’t get my panorama function to get the whole thing.  This shot is about half the yard.

Looking to the west…

…and looking to the east.

The single rail car that is in the background just to the left of the tall pole, and looks tipped left to right, is a car that is exiting the “hump”.  This is where the cars are separated and sent down to any one of several tracks to connect to its proper outbound train.  It is all an automated process.

We had plans to end up near Denver today, but didn’t make it.  Instead, we’re parked at Cabela’s campground in Sidney, Nebraska.

Tomorrow is a bit of a cleanup tour of the NW corner of Nebraska and the Oregon Trail before heading south into Colorado.

This mountain time zone isn’t very agreeable to my biological clock.  It’s like 8:00 pm and I’m spent.

Progress...I think.

The last 600 miles has kind of all looked the same.  Sometimes flat, sometimes a bit hilly, but always EXTREMELY rural.

Started out this morning traversing Iowa.


It's a couple hundred miles of rural farms and hills.  You're rarely driving on level ground.  The semi's go 60 mph up the hills and 75 mph down.  It gets to be a challenge for my consistent 65 mph.  I thought the hills would kill gas mileage on the RV but I actually did a tenth better today than yesterday.  The absence of wind might have helped that cause.

Into Nebraska and just west of Omaha, Kathy directed me to our first tourist stop.


It was the Quilted Moose Quilt Shop in Gretna, NE.  She said it was a great quilt shop.


Judging by the sack she left with, it must have been OK.  I'm expecting she'll whip up a new quilt in time for our Yellowstone evenings.

So, onward across Nebraska.  Looks just like Iowa except flatter.


We stopped mid-state near York, NE.  It's a nice little campground just off the interstate.


The campground is right next to a golf course.


And the hole closest is a little par 3 over water.  The campground has a swing near the tee to enjoy the tee shots.


So we're going to continue west tomorrow.  I thought we would get to the Denver area, but that looks to be a long drive so the plan is to get into Colorado and then decide on Friday how far to venture into the mountains.

Sorry about the post.  I can't seem to get the pictures to load properly.  Perhaps it's a restriction on our free wifi in the camp.

Day 2 is history.

The Journey Begins...

We packed up the Minnie Winnie and headed for points west.  Today's goal was to just get on the road and get west of Chicago.  That's been accomplished and it was an uneventful trip across rural Illinois.

We've traveled to nearly the Iowa state line on I-80.  Total mileage today was a little over 400 miles.  That's about 40 gallons in motorhome lingo.  We haven't been to a gas station yet.

We stopped at a small private campground in Geneseo, Illinois.

The campground is well kept and along the banks of the Green River.

Hmmm...wonder how it got that name?  This flows into the Rock River which flows into the Mississippi not too far away.  The river is LOADED with bluegill on their spawning beds.

As an added attraction, I was sitting at the table, heard a big collision and looked up to see a silver SUV spinning in the road at the park entrance.  It was a significant collision.

Looks like the red pickup slammed into the rear of the SUV.  Didn't appear to be anyone seriously injured.

So here we sit, sipping on our Canadian Breezers enjoying the first night in the land yacht.

Day #1...successful.

Westward Ho!

I've been debating for something like 4 months now, how to move forward during life after boating.  After failing to make a deal on a 37' Sea Ray a couple months ago, we decided to take a different direction.

A "land yacht"!

It's a 24' Winnebago Minnie Winnie.  Pictures won't do it justice.  This unit is truly in "showroom" condition.  34,000 miles on the motor, 69 hours on the generator, and a showroom shine you wouldn't believe...inside and out.

We traveled to Greensburg, PA to get this gem.  While we were traveling to look at it, the owner had received an additional 9 calls from as far away as Florida and Texas.  These smaller motor homes that are in good condition are in high demand.  We feel fortunate to find this one.  We're expecting delivery in about a week.

Some other views...

Interior looking forward.

Interior looking aft.

Dash

Watch for future posting of our "cruises" this year.  Reservations at Yellowstone are already made.

In other news, boating will not be completely forgotten...just downsized.  I'm taking delivery of the new "ship" next week.

So maybe life after Play Dough won't be so bad after all...maybe.

Well, finalized the sale of the boat today.  Future plans are unclear.  Just going to step back from the slipped boat for the time being and go do something new for a while.

In the meantime, it's time to head south and look forward to our cruise to Aruba.