Apr 29, 2013 - La Junta, CO

Josh picked the 2007 Columbia Crest cabernet for dinner last night. Was very good and went well with the flat iron steak. Today is a work day so I was up at 6:30 to work out at the gym before we left. We packed up our food, clothing etc. and were on the road by 9:00. Another warm, beautiful day. We are going to the Great Sand Dunes National Park which really is NOT on the way to anything else in particular. However, it is a very unique environment with incredible sand dunes, high desert, wetlands and mountain alpines. We took CO 25 south...

Oct 17, 2012 - Bent's Old Fort

A great stop! It was a trading post (the first in this part of the USA). It eventually rotted away but a engineer of that time period had drawn exact size and dimensions of the fort and the National Park Service went in and recreated everything to the exact duplication. It was a great find and stop for a passport stamp. We have passed this fort on highway 50 many times this time we took the time to visit it. This will also mark the end of the road trip. Hope everyone enjoyed seeing my photos and hearing about all that happened.

Sep 6, 2012 - Time to get outa Dodge

We left Dodge City this morning on the Santa Fe Trail. Since we would be traveling along the trail all the way to our overnight stop in La Junta, CO, I wanted to try one more time to see the trails still left in the prairie by the wagon trains. We stopped at a place called Charlie’s Ruts. As I was walking over to the gate in the fence to walk out to the ruts, 2 guys from California were walking back and one of gave one of those shoulder shrugs that says he couldn’t see the ruts. As I said yesterday, I guess you have to use your imagination....

May 8, 2009 - Heading to Colorado

Miles Today: 337 Day: 8 Total Miles: 1038 We had a bad storm come through Hutchinson, KS at about 3:30am this morning. A lot of rain, thunder, and wind. While in Kansas, I worry a little more about storms, but it ended about day light without any problems. We all lost some sleep over it though. They had a “Hitch-Up” breakfast this morning so that everyone could tell their new and old friends good-bye. About 9am, Don & Alice Faye, Bill & Cheryl, and Bonita and I left Hutchinson, KS with our caravan headed west. It was very windy driving all...

Oct 17, 2008 - Trying to follow the sun and warmth!

Left Brighten after celebrating Ben's 10th birthday with a new 21 speed bicycle and banana cream pie. Grandma cried when leaving. Gonna miss those little boys that are growing so FAST! We spent one night in Limon CO at a KOA and then headed south on Hwy 71 to La Junta. This is cattle country. Lots of steak on the hoof. We even saw some Texas longhorns out on the prairie. They also grow a lot of feed corn in amongst the yuccas and choyas. We'll be heading east from here along the Arkansas River, a muddy looking body of water! Our plan is to...

Apr 12, 2008 - We're Finally Outta Here!!

It's been a horrendous week: We were shocked to learn last Tuesday that Tinkerbell has bladder cancer, and only has a few more months with us. We have started her on an anti-inflammatory that may temporarily reduce the tumor that is making it difficult for her to urinate. The best result that we can hope for (from this medicine) is that she'll maintain her current quality of life for about six months. But there are no promises that this medication will work, and we will not extend her life if it means she will suffer (such as the...

Oct 7, 2007 - Movin' On to Limon, No Wait, Make That La Junta, CO

Sunday, October 7, I woke up at 6:30. There was no snow last night; not even any rain. The low was only 46 degrees. I'm sure Mike and Donna were glad as they caught their early morning flight out of Denver this morning. Since the skies looked like they might clear, we got out the campground books and maps and made a plan to move. We axed our notion of going to Colorado Springs in favor of moving farther south before it's too late. So we packed up quickly by 10:06 and pulled out at the same time as two other RVers. We went east on Hwy 14 to...

Aug 14, 2006 - La Junta, Colorado

8/14 Seventy-one miles brought us to a Wal-Mart parking lot in La Junta, Colorado. There were a couple of things we wanted to see in La Junta, the first was Bent's Old Fort. This adobe fort was completely reconstructed by the National Park Service and opened in 1976. The original fort was documented to be in existence in 1833 and was partially destroyed in 1849 (but parts of the fort were used as a stage coach stop until the end of the stage coach era). The fort was the largest trading post in the area. We got an excellent 1.5 hour tour...