Day 70 – Living Large In A Small Space, A Toast To The Last Night In The Aliner (For Now) – June 30, 2018

Today was a long ride out of the Rockies and onto the Colorado Plateau. We spent a lot of time slogging up and down steep stretches of the interstate through various passes at 7000 to 8000 feet. This region has spectacular rock formations in colors ranging from red, pink, orange, brown and white. Last year, we spent three weeks exploring the area and it was good to get another quick view as we made our way to our next stop.

Karen called ahead to the Beaver Canyon Campground to see if we could get a space for the night. They told us there was one campsite left, but they would not reserve it – first come, first served. We’d heard about the campground from Laurie and David and we were willing to take the chance to see if we could get in when we showed up.

At about 3:00PM we pulled into the campground to learn there were no regular spaces available. However, the ‘emergency’ site was available for a reduced price. It had a 20 amp electrical hook-up and that was good enough for us. The site is right at the entrance to the camp, but this is a real quiet place. 

The owner, Dave, checked us in and asked us if we wanted to see an old car. We walked back to an old shed where there was a shiny yellow and black 1957 Studebaker Hawk. Dave was pretty excited to tell us how it was all original (except for the paint) and how he uses it as his daily driver.

Karen made friends with one of the campground cats, Peter, who helped her with the paperwork at the front desk. Dave told us Peter was part of a trio, Peter, Paula and Mary. Sadly, Mary is now deceased so it's up to Peter and Paula to control the local rabbit and gopher population.

This is a family owned campground and there’s a very good Mexican restaurant located right in the campground. It opened for dinner at 4:00PM and cars from the local area started pulling in to the parking lot at 3:50PM to line up at the door. We managed to get in. It’s a one room log cabin with about 8 tables and good food.

Earlier this morning as we were preparing the Aliner for departure, we managed to bump into each other (believe it or not, this has happened at least once or twice before on this trip), which prompted Karen to state, “you’re living too large, in too small of a space!”. I thought this was pretty funny - and probably true, so it’s one of our headlines for today.

During dinner, we toasted our last night of the trip sleeping in the Aliner. We plan to get a hotel room tomorrow in Las Vegas before taking the last leg back home. After dinner, we took a walk through the nearby ranches to have a look at Beaver Creek. The elevation here is just below 6000 feet and we’ve enjoyed how it cools off in the afternoon and evening.

 

Next: Nevada

Days 68 and 69 – Goodbye Laurie and David, Passing Time In Palisade - June 28 and 29, 2018

Thursday was a record setting day for Greeley: not only did they have lots and lots of people attending this year’s Greeley Stampede, but they also had the highest temperature recorded for this date – 103 degrees. We used this as a good excuse to stay indoors the entire day. We did laundry, watched a Sandra Bullock movie, ate steaks and played cards.

Laurie and David were very welcoming hosts and made us feel right at home. It was fun to visit with them. Thanks for everything Laurie and David! We enjoyed your company.

Summer has arrived in full force in the west. It seems each day is progressively hotter than the previous one. I’m sure some of this is attributable to a certain degree of road fatigue on our part. We’ve been at it since April 23 and we can hear the faint call of our hometown.

We decided to set aside our peripatetic ways and make our way back to Fullerton. This means there are still several places we have yet to visit, but we now know how to make the most of our time on the road. This will come in handy on future trips.

Friday morning we got an early start and got onto I-70 West. This road takes you right up over the Rocky Mountains. Much of the first part of the day was spent going about 45 mph up the eastern face of the mountains. I’ve been up I-70 through to Vail a few years ago, but everything west of there was new to us.

This highway is something of an engineering marvel. The Eisenhower Tunnel is at about 11,000 feet elevation and you can feel the altitude even when you’re sitting in the car passing through the long tunnel under the mountain. Further west, you get to the Glenwood Canyon section of the highway, which has spectacular scenery and amazing road design. 

The gorge through the canyon is very narrow and somehow they got a four lane highway through there. There are sections where the westbound lanes are elevated above the eastbound lanes, and where winding tunnels go right through the mountain. They put several rest areas within the 12 mile section of highway that are designed to let travelers get a closer look at the towering canyon walls, the Colorado River, Hanging Lake and other natural features.

We couldn’t get a confirmed campsite ahead of schedule, but Karen called the James Robb State Park and found out that there was a good chance we’d find a walk-in site. Sure enough, we got to the campground and they let us in. Located just off the highway along the Colorado River, it’s just what we need for tonight.

It’s Friday night out on the town, so we headed a couple of miles west to the town of Palisade, CO. Palisade bills itself as the ‘Peach Capital of Colorado’. This is not peach season, so we didn’t get to try them out. However, we did have dinner at the Palisade Café 11.0 (the current owner is the eleventh owner). The locally grown heirloom tomato appetizer was great. So was the deep fried avocado taco and the locally brewed beer.

After dinner, we walked over to the Palisade Brewery to try some more beer. We chatted for a while with the brewer, who gave us a sample of this year’s special brew, ‘Love Potion Number 8’. Apparently, they’ve made a special Love Potion each of the years they’ve been in business and this is the 8^th year. Karen told him he really needs to pull out all the stops for next year’s ‘Love Potion Number 9’.

On the way back to the car, we stopped at the Palisade Distillery, whose specialty spirit is a pear brandy. The distiller told us they start off by carefully hanging empty brandy bottles on pear trees, then let the pears bud out and grow to maturity inside the bottles. After that, the rest of the process takes place.

We’re back at camp now and the temperature has finally dropped to the low 70’s here at 4700 feet elevation. It’s strangely comforting to be surrounded by the high mesas and buttes of the west. We plan to get up early and get over to Utah tomorrow. 

Day 67 – Gollum Rides the Carousel and So Do We, Greetings from Greeley - June 27, 2018

The electrical power was restored by around 11:30PM last night, so we got the A/C running again and cooled things off. We made an early start in anticipation of the drive to Colorado.

The landscape gets progressively more arid as you cross western Kansas and get into eastern Colorado. You also begin to gain altitude as you travel the long slow climb up toward the Front Range. It also gets steadily hotter (they say it’s not usually this hot in June), too. It wasn’t long until we were into triple digits.

Speaking of digits, just outside of a town called Bovina (the surrounding fields are dotted with the animals who inspire the name), our car trip odometer turned to 7777.7 miles. Although no coins came spewing out of our steering column, we counted ourselves lucky that we’ve had such a great trip so far.

Just inside Colorado, in the town of Burlington, is the Kit Carson County Fairgrounds. It is the location of one of the roadside attractions visited by Alison and Karen on their ‘Aveo Across America’ trip in 2008. Karen suggested we stop to see the Philadelphia Toboggan Co. Carousel #6.

The so-called Kit Carson Carousel dates to 1905 and features hand-carved wooden animals, numerous oil paintings, and a 1909 Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ. For 25 cents, you get a 10 minute historical lecture, a ride on the carousel, and a look at how people got entertained a century ago. There is quite a history to the carousel, and it’s all out there on Google.

The carousel animals are a mixture of domestic and exotic creatures. Riding on the back of one of them is even something that looks a lot like a certain creepy J.R.R. Tolkien character. Once the ride gets going, it’s going fast. The ride operator told us it goes twice as fast as a regular carousel. The animals do not go up and down like most carousels, but you don’t notice this when you’re hanging on to keep from being spun off the ride. The organ sounds like an entire brass band and it’s so loud, the ride operator wears the same ear protectors you see baggage handlers wear on the airport tarmac. It’s a rousing experience.

With our ears still ringing and our heads still spinning, we jumped back into the car and headed for the Denver area. When we got about 25 miles from the city, the skies were dark, the temperature was high and the highway signs warned of excessive ozone levels and advised people to stay indoors. We turned north toward Greeley, and the air started to clear and the temperature dropped back down into the low 90’s.

We’re staying with Laurie and David at their home in Greeley. Laurie and Karen used to work together at the tax firm. Laurie and David recently moved to Colorado this past December (Laurie and David are also Ashley’s parents – Ashley and her husband, Roger, are staying at our house while we’re on our trip) and have a nice house here in Greeley.

 It was great to have some home-cooked chicken enchiladas after a long day on the road. We’re looking forward to our visit with Laurie, David, Josh (their son), Jake (their big dog) and Roxie (their small dog).

Next: Laundry and Trip Planning

Day 66 – Hustle to Russell – June 26, 2018

Karen came up with today’s headline and it tells you all you need to know about how we spent the day on I-70. Starting off, however, was punctuated by some lively thunderstorms this morning in the campground here in Missouri. At dawn, I walked down to the pond, where everything was very calm and peaceful. But I’ve learned that when my weather app says there’s a 30% chance of thunderstorms, it means it’s really for sure going to rain a lot.

The road through western Missouri and eastern Kansas is straight and goes through cornfields and green prairie. I thought it would be much drier and brown/golden in color, but we were surrounded by green, except when we passed through the crimson and blue Jayhawk zone of Lawrence (yes, Andrew, we felt the power), KS.

In keeping with the ‘Presidential’ tone of the past few days, we zoomed past the home of Harry S Truman and saw the signs directing tourists to the home and presidential library of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Our goal today was to get to Russell, KS, the hometown of two former presidential candidates, Bob Dole and Arlen Specter.

Russell is a town of about 4,000 people. When we stopped at the local grocery store, the young guy bagging our groceries told us he was from California, too. It turns out he grew up in Chino and moved here a few years ago with his family and finished high school in Russell. He said we should move here, but I don’t think so – the 91 degree temperature with 70% humidity made it feel a lot hotter.

The billboards on the interstate proudly proclaim Russell as Bob and Arlen’s home. Once you get off onto the main drag though, everything seems a little anticlimactic. This is a town where they roll up the main street before it even gets dark (see below).

We have a nice RV park tonight, complete with an ‘oil patch’ museum and a miniature golf course that has gone to seed and now serves as a pasture for miniature horses. The name of the street we’re on even has a familiar sound to it.

As I’m typing up these notes tonight, Karen’s turned on the air-conditioner and the electrical power has failed…I’m back now, after frantically trying to figure out which fuse we may have blown. It turns out that the entire north side of the interstate is without power, compliments of a huge lightning storm to the south of us. We're now on propane and battery power. It’s 10:30pm, 78 degrees, with 82% humidity. 

Toto, I think we’re in Kansas now.

Next: Colorado