It's H-O-T in Illinois!

Monday, August 9^th: We arrive at Edwardsville, Illinois just in time to experience one of the hottest summers they’ve had in a few years. Ugh! In line to check in is Jerry & Sandy, Gary and Doris and then us. Looks like they cut a big patch out of the cornfields to make the Red Barn Rendezvous Park. The 30 sites are surrounded by lots of tall corn.

Ever wonder where the world’s largest catsup bottle is? I know this must have been on your mind for years now…….Well, it is in Collinsville, Illinois, about 10 miles from the RV Park. Here is proof that we did indeed find this local attraction.

On Tuesday afternoon, my cousin Jim Eckardt and his wife Deb, drove over from Florissant, Missouri to see us. We hadn’t seen Jim since 1977! Here is a picture of Jim and I in front of Bully’s restaurant, where we went to eat lunch. Don and Jim really enjoyed the pork steaks.

This is Deb and Jim outside our 5^th wheel trailer. We had a lot of catching up to do during those few hours.

I was able to capture a beautiful sunset at the end of the day by standing in the bed of Sandy and Jerry's truck! Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Missouri Misery...

Our second day of traveling east had us winding up in Columbia Missouri, at the Cottonwoods RV Park. Nice grass, well maintained park, quiet, nice spots to park in: those were the good things. However, it was HOT and HUMID here! The word "miserable" came to mind right away. When we opened up the door to the 5th wheel, it was 100 degrees inside. I would compare it to being in a sauna, but completely clothed and without a towel to wipe my forehead. You know it's hot when the stick of butter that I sat on the counter for an hour completely melted!
Here we are, both of us lined up to check in. You can see Doris and her dog, Molly, walking over here to greet us. Doris and Gary (official scouts for the day) got here about 2 hours ahead of us.
Jerry, did your glasses also fog up after you got out of the truck like ours did? It has been awhile since the 6 of us had to deal with humidity like this. Guess we better start getting used to it. There is more to come!
The 6 of us had retreated to Doris and Gary's motor home for supper, while our air conditioners were working furiously to cool down our 5th wheel trailers. After the sun went down it was finally nice enough for us to sit outside.
Looks like Doris, Gary, Don, Sandy and Jerry are all talking about how they've solved the world's problems in only an hour! Kudos for them! Or maybe it is just a bunch of bluffing.....you get a get a few glasses of wine/beer into them and it becomes interesting at times!

Summer travels, 2010

This is what it looks like at sunrise at the Waukeeney KOA in Kansas.....a lot of white trucks and white trailers! Already at 6 AM we saw people pulling out and heading for places unknown. No wonder: this is not a place you want to stay for more than a day unless you have to. It was 104 degrees when we got here, and the "town" is quite small. There are no major, or even minor attractions here!
Looking out east with I-70 in the background. Time for us to get our things together and head for Missouri!

The Rockies, Part II

We decided to take a full day to drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park, across and then down the other side. This took us on Trail Ridge Road, pictured above, which is the highest continuous road in the U.S. As you can see, there is still snow and the temperatures are chilly at these heights.
It was windy at this spot, as attested to by my "hairdo". Don and I were "divided" as to who should stand where at the Continental Divide sign. It looks like the arrows were pointing directly at us! From now on you can refer to me as Atlantic Ocean drainage, or "Atla" for short. Don can be called "Pod", short for Pacific Ocean drainage. Or maybe we should just go by our given names, which is less confusing for us.
Our first hike was the Coyote Valley Trail which took us through the Kawuneeche Valley. "Kawuneeche" is the Arapaho word for Coyote. This area was added to Rocky Mountain Park in 1975. In the 1920's this area was home to the Never Summer Ranch and other dude ranches. Before that, the Utes and Arapahos traversed this beautiful valley.
This beautiful guy was one of the 5 elk lounging in the meadow here. He looks like he posed for this picture. No, I wasn't that close to him. This is where my telephoto lens came in handy.
The antlers from one elk seem to blend in with another set here.
Our next hike was to Adams Falls, and the trail head is close to Grand Lake. The hike was a shorter one, but it was steep! Us "old fogies" had to stop along the way to catch our breath, and the next day, my calves were a bit sore. It was still worth it.
Our third hike of the day was on the Shadow Mountain Trail, which led us around Shadow Mountain Lake. I was happy to have found two Columbines along the trail, the Western Red Columbine pictured above, and the Blue Columbine below. Don saw a moose, which I missed since I was ahead of him on the trail. On the way back to the truck, a bald eagle flew directly over us! Couldn't have asked for more.

"Take a hike!"

Someone said, “Take a hike…”. So we did just that! Should we have taken that statement literally? Hmm. Well, anyway, we took the day and drove to Carter Lake, Pinewood Reservoir and then Rocky Mountain National Park to check out different hiking trails.

We hiked the Shoshone Trail that starts out by Pinewood Reservoir in the morning, enjoying the cool pines and wildflowers along the way. Here is a picture of a beautiful Blanketflower taken by the reservoir.

Two hours later we were up by the Morraine Visitor Center, one of the five visitor centers in Rocky Mountain National Park. An elk grazed lazily, ignoring us while we drove around him in Glacier Basin Campground.

Then we headed back to the meadows by Morraine Campground. The valley was awakening from its winter slumber, providing fields of gorgeous Yellowbanner flowers and wild purple Iris among the new green grasses.

Yeah, I know this photo is slightly askew, but I kind of like it that way. I had to get way down on the ground to capture the flowers with the mountains in the background, and it sure gets harder to do that every year! Don't worry, no flowers were harmed during this picture taking session.

Don ambles along the path, checking every footstep. We discovered this is a very well used path, not only by hikers, but also by people doing horseback rides. “Horse evidence” was everywhere!

The meadow path also took us along a small brook for part of our hike. We were treated to sunshine, wonderful mountain views, a plethora of wildflowers, an elk sighting and Magpies who entertained us. What more could we have asked for? Homemade pie??? We did manage to find the bakery in Estes Park on the way home. We came home with 2 pieces of pie: Cherry/peach and Apple/Strawberry. It was the perfect way to end our day!

It's Lovely in Loveland

Yes, it is lovely in Loveland this time of the year. We started our walk around the nearby lakes at 9 AM, and it was 65 degrees outside. When we checked the weather for Phoenix, we saw they are predicting 110 degrees this weekend. This confirms why we leave before the heat sets in! We pass by fields of Blue Flax and yellow Salsify flowers.

I manage to get Don, Tatum and Nate to stop a minute so I can take a quick picture. Okay, Tatum, am I that funny looking that you have to giggle? Just deal with it!

It was a great nature walk this morning. We saw osprey, pelicans, geese, rabbits, fish, a frog, Killdeer birds, redwing blackbirds, a Western Grebe and even a beaver weaving it’s way among the cattails in the pond today!

One of our finds: a broken Robin’s egg along the path.

Nate checks out one of the informative signs along the way. Don't know whether the grass is itching him or he is doing a flamingo impression.

I loved this picture of the pelican with the snow capped Rockies in the distance. For the people still at home in Arizona, does the snow make ya feel just a tad bit cooler? If not, you may have to concentrate a little harder.......If all else fails, I'll send you the picture via email, which you can print out and paste on your window!

Don't overlook Overlook Mountain!

Our daughter, Lisa and her husband Ken decided that we needed to go to Overlook Mountain. Is this something I really can’t overlook I think as we drive up the narrow winding road in Golden, Colorado? Will it be worth it? It is a long way down that hill....

Yes, it is worth it! Look at the stunning view from up here! A little hazy maybe, but we can still see for miles and miles. Below us is the town of Golden, famous for the Coors Brewery. I toured there many years ago, and was one of the few people to pass up the free beer. They still do the tours, and I still Hate beer!

Overlook Mountain is also the burial place for Buffalo Bill, who was famous in the early 1900’s. He was buried here in 1917, according to his wishes. His wife's grave is next to his. We had been to his original home in North Platte, Nebraska two years ago. The house and barn there were definitely more interesting.

Sure can’t miss this sign as you walk up the mountainside! Wonder who is buried there??

We have one last look at the scenery before we start back on the Lariat Loop Byway and head off to Idaho Springs for some great BBQ.