Tuesday 9-29-09

Ruins of houses

CLiff Dwellings

Colors

Mem touching all four states, utah, new mexico, arizonia & colorado

Four Corners

Thought I had better do this tonight as don't know when we will have wi-fi again. Hopefully we will have good cell coverage for the next couple of weeks so I can use the cradle point with the cell phone.
Today Larry and I went to the Four Corners Monument. Everyone says it isn't that much to see but for us we felt since we were here we wanted to say we had done it. After that we went to Mesa Verde National Park to see the cliff dwellings and the beautiful colors.
I told Larry when we got back that my brain had about absorbed all it could for a while. There is no way you can see and do everything in one trip out here. Bill Dorris that comment was for you so we have to come back together.
Tomorrow is a travel day of about 225 miles so I will add to this when I can.

Saturday, Sunday, & Monday 9-26-28-2009

We have had a another wonderful 3 days in Colorado. I think that most of you know that Saturday was the "down day" to do laundry, clean and rest. We did go 'Uptown" Silverton for a little lunch, which consisted of halfing a sandwich so that we could have peach cobbler.

I took some of the jewerly that Charlotte Amaya had brought me from Arizonia lots of years ago and was blown away at the value of it. Needless to say now I am afraid to wear it for fear of losing it but I am going to wear it anyway.

Sunday we drove into Durango with 3 other couples to catch the train back to Silverton. It is the old fashion steam train that Larry told Noah was 125 years old. Noah said, Papa that is older than you. What beautiful views we had from that train. There is just no way to describe to you what this State of Colorado looks like.After we arrived back in Silverton, Pete drove the guys back to Durango to pickup the two cars we left over there.

Monday found us traveling on to Cortez Colorado including a stop at Wal Mart. This is the last one we will hit before arrive at the Balloon Festival.

Arrived at the campground, got settled and just visited outside with each other since the weather here was great for sitting outside.

Larry is now installing a CB Radio for the Coopers .



Tomorrow Larry and I are going to 4 Corners so we can say we have been there and I think then we might try and hit Mesa Verde National Park for a while.



Later..................

Coming in to Cortez, Colorado

Leaving Silverton

View from train

View from Train

Engine of our train

Getting ready for train ride from Durango to Silverton 9-27-09

Tuesday 9-22-09------Friday 9-25-09 Colorado

Red Mountain

Avalance Shelter

Black Caynon

True Grit Cafe, Ridgeway, Colorada

Museum in Telluride

We left Lake City on Tuesday morning heading to Ouray, Colorado by way of the WalMart in Montrose and the True Grit Cafe in Ridgeway. The movie True Grit starring John Wayne was filmed in Ridgeway. We had a great lunch and then traveled into Ouray.

Wednesday Jim & Nan Cooper and Larry and I went to Telluride. I have heard so much about it that I wanted to be able to say we had been there. We visited a museum which was the towns hospital from 1888-1964. The first bank that Butch Cassidy ever robbed was in Telluride. We took a gondola ride up to the Mountain Village and had lunch. The gondola was opened in 1996.

Some of our group did some more off road jeeping and had some problems with the trails, which made me even more thankful that I did not go.

Thursday, Larry and I took a day trip to the Black Caynon National Park over between Montrose and Gunnison. The park is the Colorado version of the Grand Caynon. The Gunnison River is what created the caynon. Water is a powerful force.

Friday morning we geared up for the 23 mile trip from Ouray to Silverton by way of Red Mountain Pass, 11018 feet. on the Million Dollar Highway. Talk about white knuckles. Larry did a great job of driving but it was not confortable at all. We met 2 semi trucks plus a lot of cars. The road is very narrow and lots of time no guard rails on either side. I am very glad that trip is over. I saw my first avalance shelter and lots of old mines.

Tomorrow, Saturday is going to be a down day for us. Some of the group is going jeeping again. I am going to do a little shopping as well.

Slumgullion Pass & Creede Colorado 9-21-09

Earthflow at Slumgullion Pass

Downtown Creede Colorado

Headwaters of Rio Grande River

San Cristobal Lake 850 years old

I am hoping this is working for labels on my pictures but who knows.
Today we traveled over to Creede Colorado byway of the Slumgullion Summit, 11530 ft in elevation. Guess the labels did not work but the anyway I guess I have to work on that somemore.
Lake San Cristobal is 850 years old and was caused by too much water, called an earthflow. We crossed the Continental Divide again. We saw the headwaters of the Rio Grande River which is the third longest river in the U.S. We have now seen where it starts and where it ends at South Padre Island, Texas. We had lunch in the little town of Creede and then just walked around the shops. Most everything is getting ready to close for the season. We saw a cattle moving truck moving cows down to lower ground for the winter. There is a lot of open range in this area.
Until next time

Larry and Mem at Cinnamon Pass.

Sunday 9-20-09 Off Road Jeeping in Colorado

Mem & Larry at Cinnamon Pass

Mountain Goats

Engineer Pass

Well, let me just say Oh SHIT...What did I get myself into today ? We left the campground around 7:30 am and off we went on an adventure. The first few miles were not bad then Chuck decided it was time to check out an Old Ghost Town and off the main road we went. I looked at Larry and said, is this what you and Bryant did in Nelson County Va. and he said Yes, my reply was no wonder I never went. He says to me, no wonder we never invited you. Well let me tell you it got worse from there.
This is a 58 mile loop known as the Alpine Loop and is suppose to take 5 hours if you just ride but we of course were stopping for pictures, views and lunch. We went from somewhere around 8200 ft elevation to 12,800 ft at Engineer Pass. We saw deer, a herd of mountain goats and lots of chipmonks. When we finally got to the top and started down IT decided to rain, sleet, hail , snow and have lots of wind. Larry said that I did a lot better than he expected and he didn't have to tell me to hush at all. I did a lot of holding on, sitting on my hands, praying and closing my eyes.

Saturday Sept 19, 2009

Madison, 10 year old grandaughter

Taylor, 15 year old grandaughter

Today was another travel day however it was full of beauty. We traveled from Salida over Monarch Pass, 11,312 feet high into Gunnison and then on to Lake City, Colorado.There is not a lot to do in Lake City except off road jeeping in the mountains which we plan to do tomorrow. We picked up the jeeps tonight so we can get an early start. The Alpine Loop that we are doing takes about 5 hours of just driving, that is not counting stopped taking pictures, bathroom stops, yes they have some along the way, and eating a picnic lunch.
The quaking aspen trees are starting to turn colors and it is amazing. I have seen a lot of color over the years in Michigan but these are quite different to see.
We are settled in for the night with all packed for tomorrow so I will close for now.
I am posting a couple of pictures so that you can see new pictures of Taylor and Madison. Will do more tomorrow night.

Thursday 9--17-09 Travel Day & Friday 9-18-09

This has been a much better day than yesterday. We left around 8:30 am and drove over to Salida, Co. Stopped in Canon City, Co and toured a Colorado State Penitentiary Museum. I can actually say we have been to prison but are OUT. It was interesting to see and listen to how the prisoners lived and were treated.
Found our campground, Heart of the Rockies and also found Nan & Jim Cooper from Naples, Fla. We had seen them in Ohio and knew we would meet up with them in New Mexico but it was a surprise to see them today. After resting a while we all went into Salida for dinner at Quincys. Filet Migeon, bake potato, bread and salad for $7.95.
Today is going to be just a "down day", doing whatever we feel like doing or NOT.
Tomorrow we move on to Lake City for 3 nights.

Wednesday 9-16-09

We had a great parking spot in Goodland Kansas last night. They let us park in the back area of the garden center so we had our own private area. I fixed dinner for all of us with grill cheese sandwichs and homemade vegetable soup that I brought from home. Jim treated us all to ice cream at the DQ after dinner.
This morning we headed out for Colorado and stopped at a Flying J for fuel and breakfast. Things started to go downhill from there. We started having trouble with the bus not wanting to excelerate which had happen to us in Georgia in March. The fuel filter was clogging. We stopped outside of Colorado Springs to see what could be done and by then it was doing better. About that time the skies opened up or as I said Colorado Springs sprung a BIG leak. We had lightening, thunder, small hair and rain, rain, rain. The streets were flooding and it was hard to see where we were going. We finally made it to the Cog Railroad Station only to be told there was no where to park the rigs. Well, that meant we missed the last train up to Pikes Peak so we headed to the campground. It was a long struggle to go 6 miles but The Big A Bus made it very slowly. We got our sites, unhooked the car and when I tried to start it the battery was dead as a doornail. Chuck came and gave us a jump and then he, Larry and Jim proceeded to check the fuel filter which was clogged but good with major gunk. We then proceed to decide what to do this afternoon and decided to go and visit the Garden of the Gods which was beautiful. I will try and get some pictures posted a little later.
Hopefully tomorrow is going to be a better day. We will travel about 135 to Salida and spend 2 nights there.

St. Charles Missouri 9-13-09 & Monday 9-14-09 Travel Day

Arrived at St. Louis Mills Shopping Center around 12:30pm today. Tolsons and Campbells arrived shortly after we did and we got the coaches parked where Jim was told to park and off to the mall for lunch. Larry and I came back to the coach after lunch to rest some and then our friends Dallas and Shirley Gronefeld came over to visit. The other four continued in the mall and did a a little shopping and a lot of looking. Chuck and Donna did buy some Crocs (shoes) which Dallas declares are the ugliest shoes he has ever seen.
Around 5:30 we went over to a restaurant called the Beefeaters where we had eaten last year while here and met two other friends that live in Alton, Il. Rhodes and Mary Rich. I went to high school with Rhodes in Georgia and we have re-connected in the last several years. It is always good to see them and Rhodes and I just pickup where we left off and talk about lots of people in Georgia that we know. Mary always laughs at us how we just fall right back into it.
We are leaving Monday morning around 8 am heading on to Kansas for the night. Larry and I are trying to get our bodies adjusted to Central Time and about the time we do it will be changing to Mountain Time, by the time we get back to Virginia in November we WILL NOT know what time it is.
Today, Monday was a travel day. Finished up with Missouri and moved on into Kansas. Spending the night in a Wal Mart in the Topeka Kansas and on to Goodland Kansas tomorrow.

Time in Indianapolis with Family

We arrived in Indy around 2:30pm on Thursday to find two grandchildren waiting on the back porch of their house for Mimi and Papa. The third one was in bed with a promise of Mimi coming in to get her when she woke up from a good nap, which her Mommy said she needed very much. As usual it was a busy time. Noah, who is being Home Schooled this year, had to go to cross country practice at Horizen School and he had a great time with the other boys and girls. He is a very active child and needs to run off some energy. Kate was very happy just to be with Papa and ride her "new" bike that her cousin Madie had sent to her. It is very good for her to ride and exercise that leg that was in a cast this summer. Her arm is doing fine and will be out of the cast soon.I told her yesterday when we left that the next time we come to visit I hope she is without a cast of any kind. Miss Bella is going through the "no" and "why" stage. We enjoyed being with them and it is always very hard to leave them. Ally & Doug are both very busy with their active family and we don't have much time to spend with them but every little bit is appreciated. We left Saturday afternoon (9/12) and drove to Effingham, Illinois to a Wal Mart to spend the night and will travel on to St. Charles, Missouri today to meet the "group". We are having dinner with two sets of friends who live in the area. Rhodes & Mary Rich and Dallas and Shirley Gronefeld. Rhodes and I went to high school together in Georgia and we met Dallas & Shirley in Iowa three years ago.

The Big "A" Bus is headed to New Mexico

We left Virginia today (9-9-09) heading West with Donna and Chuck Tolson. We traveled to Gallipollis, Ohio(2145 Eastern Ave.) and are in a Wal Mart for the night. Tomorrow we get to see three of our grandchildren in Indianapolis for a couple of days. The Tolsons are going on to Terre Haute In. to meet Jim & Lois Campbell and then travel on to Alton, Illinois to visit friends and we will catch up with them on Sunday. Monday morning Tolsons, Halsteads and Campbells will head out to Colorado. We will spend two nights Kansas and then start our Colorado tour. We plan several days of off road jeeping and other fun things. Will catch you up with our Indy visit and new pictures of the kids, especially Kate with her new cast on her arm this time.