Final day of trip

We arrived home on Friday, Sept. 10th. It is great to get home. We travelled over 5200 miles in the west in our motorhome. We saw lots of terrific scenery and had a lot of fun, from the Badlands with Sam and Will to the 4 wheel hummer ride in the desert of Utah. The weather was great the whole time. When it was really hot in Utah, Idaho, etc, the low humidity helped a lot. Beth didn't like the low humidity as much as Bill did. So, who knows where the next trip will take us.

Camping in Kansas

We are really roughing it a state park in Kansas. It is Glen Elder State Park, on the Glen Elder Res. in north central Kansas. It is very quiet and we have a really scenic sitebythe water. Besides that they have WI-FI also. Pretty neat. We had spent most of the day travelling but did stop at Nicodemus National Historic Site in Nicodemus, KS. It is a community that was founded by 300 African Americans after reconstruction. I just learned from Blake that this lake is one of the best Striper Bass lakes in the midwest. Wow, here I am without a license and the proper equipment.

Pike's Peak

We decided to go up Pike's Peak via the cog railroad. Anyway it is 14100 feet high. We experienced some low oxygen symptoms at the top. The winds were 38 mph and the temperature was in the 30's and the wind chill was in the low 20's. What we didn't realize is that the startoff place for the railroad is on the edge of a community (Manitou Springs, CO>) Also, there was a huge art fair going on. So, it was crazy driving through the narrow streets with cars parked everywhere, with a full size motorhome. With help from the parking guys at the railroad we found a parking spot.

This is the Durango-Silverton Train going through our campground.

Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge RR

We spent the day taking a train ride on the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. We left Durango, CO at 9 AM and arrived in Silverton, CO around 2PM. The scenery of the Colorado Mountains and the river gorge was fantastic. This railroad has been used in a lot of westerns. I had to add the picture of Lola'a Place, and old bordello in Silverton.

Bear Tooth Pass

In all fairness to Mary this was what we looked at before we drove down the pass to Red Lodge. There were lots of 15 mph switchbacks. Everyone except Mary, said it was a beautiful drive down the mountain. I had the steering wheel in a deathgrip and didn't bother to look at the scenery.

Will & Sam

I wanted to add this because according to these guys, the Badlands National Park is the best place of all, It is great for climbing.

Motorhome in Canyonlands

This picture didn't comeup in the previous blog. I was standing a long ways up ontop a huge rock.

Canyonlands Nat. Park

On Sept. 1st, we spent the day at Canyonlands National Park, near Moab, Utah. However the first couple of pictures are of our Hummer ride the night before. Canyonlands is huge. Some parts haven't even been explored yet. The last picture is of our motorhome when I climbed a Huge rock. The weather is very warm in the days but cool at night. It is typical desert weather. This trip has given me a new appreciation of the complexities of desert wildlife. Of course as we go along, I keep buying T-shirts. Todd would appreciate that. Tomorrow we head for Colorado to take a train ride on the narrow gauge railroad in Silverton, CO.

Hummer Ride in Moab, UT

Hi. on Aug. 31st we rode in a 4 by 4 Hummer in the LaSal Mountains. It was a sunset safari. The scary part was we came back in the dark. Anyway, the first hill of rock which is pictured is a 38 degree climb. We had no idea what a 4 by 4 ride in the desert would be. It was up and down steep hills at a slow speed. It ranks up there with white water rafting. Our grandsons, Will & Sam would have loved climbed those hills. More coming.

Arches National Park

We spent the day at Arches National Park. near Moab, Utah. It is a very large park with some interesting steep grades. It is a beautiful park. Then in the evening we took a jet boat ride on the Colorado River. There were petroglyphs and arches all along the river. We then had dinner afterwards as part of the package. On the 31st we are planning on doing very little until after supper when we take a 4-wheel drive tour of the area at sunset. On the 1st we plan to spend the day at Canyonlands National Park which is also near Moab.

Aug. 27-29,2010

Hi again, After leaving the KOA in Arco, ID we stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument; It is really huge. See photo of Beth, ' It covers many thousands of acres. We stopped in Hagerman, ID to see the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument. Because of fires, it was closed. We did stop at the visitor center though. We camped along the Snake River that night. Many waterfalls across the river from us. Then we saw Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls, ID. We then drove to see the Golden Spike National Historic site in northern Utah. The wind was terrible as it gusted up to the 50;s mph while we drove. We stopped at Willard State Park, Willard, Utah which is on the Great Salt Lake on Sat. night. Bill waded in the lake. The last picture was taken on the shoreline as a storm was coming in. On Sunday morning we headed for Green River, Utah. One has to drive through the Salt Lake area to get anywhere in Utah. The drive was beautiful but fought high winds again. We learned while driving there was a high wind warning. Of course we were in the middle of nowhere when we learned that so couldn;t do anything bu keep driving. Tomorrow we hpe to visit the Arches National Park.

Mary trying not to see the scary Beartooth Pass

Latest News: Mary watching the scenery of the Bear Tooth Pass

Aug. 24th-Trip West

We camped at the Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks, MT after dropping off the Hagedorns in Billings. As I reflect on the first 9 days of the trip, we had perfect weather. Probably that happend because we had our own meteorologist (Mary) along. The great weather continues. There were moose warning signs at the campground this night. Beth anxiously watched but no moose appeared. We then drove to Bannack State Park near Dillon, MT. on the 25th. This is the best preserved ghost town in Montana. The 3 pictures show the drug store, the Meade Hotel (which was the first capital building of the Montana Territory, and the Bannack jail with a well known prisoner in it.
Then we drove on to camp at Clark Canyon reservoir, south of Dillon, MT. On the morning of the 26th we drove to a KOA in Arco, Idaho. It is near the Craters of Moon National Monument in central Idaho. Also, we are able to bring this blog up tp date and watch the Packer game tonight.

This is Beth & Bill at the top of Bear Tooth Pass, 10,400 ft.

Aug. 22, 2010, Teton Raft Trip

Aug. 22nd, we all boarded a raft and floated down the Snake River in the Tetons for almost 4 hours. The scenery of the Tetons. in amazing. The trip was fine until the rains and high winds arrived in the last third of the trip.Fortunately, the guide has rain ponchos for us. We were all pretty happy to reach the end of the trip at Deadman's bar on the Snake. We then had a great dinner at the Jackson Lake Lodge. They have a huge window so you get a full view of the Tetons. As we ate a great dinner, a storm sytem moved in, which changed the view of the mountains and of course, Mary, the meteorologist was really excited about that.
On the 23rd we headed north from Colter Bay, through all of Yellowstone and onto the Bear Tooth Pass. For those of you who haved driven on the Bear Tooth Pass, there is a warning of vehicles of 40ft or longer not to drive it. At the start of it, the towns of Silvergate and Cook City, Wyoming are located. The 2 federal forest campgrounds are closed there because of recent grizzly attacks. We didn't see any bears there but were told by a ranger that a brown speck seen along the northeast part of Yellowstone, was a grizzly.
Anyway, Mary was really worried on this trip as I drove up a narrow road up and over the 10,400 ft. mark. It was snow flurrying there. The picture of Beth & I was taken there. The temperature was down in the low 40's or upper 30's.
We then camped in Red Lodge , MT. One tuesday, the 24th, we drove to Billings, MT where Todd, Mary, Sam & Will boarded an airplane and flew back to Wausau. After being with them in our motorhome for 9 days, the quiet was really strange. We sure had fun with them and miss them as we continue our trip west. I miss my helpers, Sam & Will, as they were very important in setting up and taking down the campsite each day.

Teton's, Aug. 21, 2010

On Aug. 21st we drove from Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons National Park. We stopped at Moose falls at the south end of Yellowstone. Since Mary's nick name is Moose we decided to rename the falls as Mary Falls or Mariweather Falls. We then checked in at the campground at Colter Bay on Jackson Lake in the Tetons. The campground there had all the hookups. After all of us bought some reall neat t-shirts we took a boat ride on Jackson Lake. The scenery is awesome (to use Will's adjective). Large Moutnains and no foothills. One of the largest mountains in Mt. Moran (over 13,000 feet). I wonder if it was really named after Gib Moran. The largest is the Grad Teton at almost 14,000 ft. Both have numerous glaciars on them. Sam & Will were given the chance to run the boat and we all survived. Our camping consists of jubilant card games called War, Ladder ball and Foxtail. Willwins at cards and Sam is the Ladderball and foxtail champ.