Day 13 - New Mexico and home

Day 13 started in Sante Fe with the promise of clear and hot all the way home. We packed up and headed out at a reasonable hour - neither of us too sorry to say goodbye to our last night living out of a suitcase. A quick stop at a convenience store for coffee and tea and we were off. We were plagued with assorted 5 mile construction zones off and on but nothing much else of interest. We were parallel to the Rio Grande but you couldn't see it, just a line a trees off to the side - then desert between the trees and construction. After 12 days of hanging together we decided that maybe it was time for someone else's voice so we plugged in an audio book and cruised on down the highway.  We arrived in Truth or Consequences, NM around noon so made that our lunch stop. It felt good to get out of the car and stretch. We swapped drivers and headed off again. The audio book really helped and almost before we knew it (although our cramped muscles did) we were back in AZ - and whaddya know? we found that hour we had lost 12 days ago. We stopped in Wilcox for a stretch and a snack and then hopped back in the car for the final leg. We pulled into my driveway almost exactly at 5 PM. It probably took Monica another 30 minutes and the loop from our Road Trip was closed. Home sweet Home!

Day 12 - wildfires and rain

We woke up to overcast skies and cool weather (so glad I kept out my hot weather gear). We were back on the freeway heading to Colorado and points south. As we moved into Colorado and approached Denver, the surrounding countryside became more densely populated - as did the highways. As we neared Colorado Springs we saw some signs of the wildfires on the hill sides. We didn't see any burned out houses and the rain clouds were hanging low so we also didn't see any smoke. As we got to the South side of town we saw signs for the Garden of the Gods park. We decided to take a break from the drive and headed into the park for a short walk and fresh air. The park included some really interesting rock formations and there appeared to be a number of rock climbers giving lessons to novices on the rocks. We spent about an hour at the park before resuming our journey south. From that point on we played tag with the rain. First a drizzle, then a downpour and then dry pavement. The temperature dropped from 81 to 58 in about 10 miles. Most of the rest of the drive it averaged in the upper 60's. It was great! We pulled into Sante Fe at 6 PM. I'm glad to say that the drive between Cheyene and Sante Fe did not include a single sea gull!

vacation sidebar - trailer parks

Why is it that there is always a trailer park in a low lying area next to water? I have seen these being washed out by high waters in pretty much every town I've lived in. And then they just re-"build" in the same spot. Hello?!

Day 11 - weddings, cattails and back to the freeway

Its day 11 of our fabulous vacation. I woke at 8 this am to find Monica already gone to help her sister, Marsha, with the catering for the wedding reception. So Monica spent the morning playing sous chef to her sister while I had a lazy morning. At noon we headed to the park for the wedding reception (party). I hadn't been clued in on the details but the party was on the banks of the Platte River. While Monica did the family thing I took a walk along the river. The river level was up and the flow was moving along at a good pace. The river looked perfect for floating along in a canoe - but I didn't have one so I just walked along and enjoyed the breeze and the sounds of water flowing. I took pictures of the river, cottonwoods and cattails. I didn't walk too far, just up to a bluff overlooking the river where the view prompted today's vacation sidebar on trailer parks. After my walk I did go back and do the social thing while enjoying some of the yummy eats provided by Monica's sister. We were sitting there chatting when I saw the inconcievable - a seagull sitting on the lamppost! I thought I had already established that seagulls belong next to the sea! not on the prairie! We left soon after that and got back on the freeway heading south to Cheyenne. The first portion of the drive included more prairie. We did get a better view of that wind turbine farm and it was really large... very encouraging. Antelopes in small family groups contined to be the only wildlife on the horizon. As we closed in on Cheyenne the skies were darker and darker until they finally opened up and the rain began to fall. Just as we pulled out on our exit it turned into a deluge - yea! Fortunately there was an Outback across the parking lot from the hotel so we did not need to get lost in Cheyenne in the rain. Another great day of vacation.

Day 10 - South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming (again)

On this 10th day of vacation we woke up to glorious rain! It felt like we had dodged fires all the way except in Yellowstone so it was nice to see some precipitation. We packed up from the Super 8 and drove off into the mist. First stop was the Roughluck falls. Monica had lots of memories of this place so we charged off following her memories until we reached a dead-end. Backtracking we found the signs pointing the way which actually took us where we wanted to go. The water fall was beautiful - sort of shaped like a tuning fork. A little ways further downstream we were able to see brown trout laying in wait for tasty insects and the like. After that we headed on through Spearfish canyon on our way to Rapid City. It was a lovely drive through the forested region. The forests are kept thinned out there making it all look more park-like than wild. We saw a couple of deer and plenty of birds (but no seagulls!). Where are the rabbits? On this 10th day of communing with nature I have yet to see a single bunny. Weird. After a brief stop in Rapid City we headed to Mount Rushmore. We took the trail down to the sculptors studio which had like a million steps and then went through the exhibits there. Ice cream and shopping was our reward for surviving all the steps. From Mount Rushmore we took the short hop over to the Crazy Horse monument. Everything there seemed a bit pricey but I thought it was worth the trip. It is surpising that it is taking so much longer to sculpt than Mount Rushmore did - based on the progress to date. The "welcome center" is much more than a gift shop - it is full of Native American exhibits as well as the usual assortment of tee shirts and key chains. After Crazy horse, we still had a long way to drive to get to Casper so we headed South through the prairie. We went through the Olaland grasslands - huge expanses of rolling hills with grass that appear to go on forever. I had to close my eyes to imagine them covered with Bison (yes it was okay to close my eyes - monica was driving). We saw small family groups of antelope but not much else. We entered Nebraska while we were driving through the grasslands. Monica claimed the South Dakota grasslands were more fertile than the Nebraska grasslands but it all looked the same to me. After a while the prairie stared to be more broken up with more trees and small gorges. Apparently Elk live there as well as deer and the rest. As we headed back into Wyoming we saw train after train after train hauling coal - monica tried to count the cars and claims there were 138 coal cars in one train. After traveling through a lot of wind I was finally rewarded with seeing some wind turbines - since no one seems to live out on these plains and the wind continues to blow - seems like a good thing. We arrived Casper safe and sound and were able to join Monica's family for dinner before retiring.

day 9 -hightailin it across Wyoming

After 4th of july fireworks we woke up to haze and clouds. We had slept later than intended so we 'got the heck out of Cody'. We had great US Highways to follow for about half the way - the first part was prairie where the deer and the antelope played. Then we hit the Big Horn Mountains and started climbing - and climbing - and climbing. 9666 was the elevation of the Powder river Pass. As we climbed the mountain we passed oodles of bicyclists - apparently a group from "cycle america" was on the move over the mountain. Congrats to all of them! Once over the Big Horn we stopped for lunch in Buffalo. We jumped on the interstate and rushed on over to NorthEastern Wyoming to catch up with the Mother Ship at Devils Tower - apparently, however, we were too late. We walked all the way around the tower and no sign of it! On the plus side we did meet some Firefighters from Sedona AZ. They had been sent to Edgemont, SD to help with the fires there. (They were definitely the best looking group of firefighters that I have seen outside of a calendar.)We took some county roads on our way back to the freeway and were astonished to see something crossing the road in front of us - a mother turkey herding her 6 chicks! They just walked across the road in a perfect line and off into the tall grass on the other side. We made it the rest of the way to Spearfish with no issues. One more "first" for me though, as we returned from dinner the tornado siren was going off. It sounds just like the old air raid siren from the 50's - so I had a temporary flash back to hiding under a desk (although what good that would have done I have no idea).Watching the news and then this day of vacation is complete.

Day 8 - Goodbye to Yellowstone

We started the day by checking out of the lovely TravelLodge in Gardiner, MT. We were lucky enough to be on the 4th floor overlooking the Park and the Roosevelt Arch. It was our last day in Yellowstone so we headed out East from Mammoth Springs to Tower Falls. We cruised along enjoying the scenery stopping at several overlooks including the Overlook for the Undine falls. As usual we saw some Bison but not much other wildlife. As we approached the entrance to the Petrified tree overlook we noticed that there were a lot more cars than could be justified by one rock-tree. Up on the hill strolling about the meadow was a grizzly bear! It was too far away to be more than a moving brown smudge on the hillside to the naked eye but fortunately we had binoculars. It was incredible! it was like a festival in that pull-out... everyone ooh'ing and ahh'ing. We could have spent all day watching him. That was a once in a lifetime moment. We finally moved on and went to Tower Falls. The overlook had a good view of the falls but there was a trail down to the bottom that we took. It was pretty steep but of course nothing to us veterans of QueensGarden/NavajoLoop trail at Bryce canyon. The sad news was that the trail to the base of the falls was closed almost at the bottom of the trail. We could have gone the rest of the way to the river but not to the falls so we just hiked back up. From there we took the road up and over Mount Washburn and started on our way out of the park. We said goodbye to Yellowstone at around 3:30 and headed East to Cody arriving at our hotel at 5 and here we are. Fourth of July fireworks should begin in downtown Cody at 10 tonight.