Cottonwood RV Park, Idaho Springs, CO, to Monument RV Resort, Grand Junction, CO:  I was up early this morning and putzed around until Mike got up.  We left at 10:30 and Mike started driving.  I would have been okay driving I guess.  It wasn’t too bad.  We continued west on I70 and went through several tunnels—the longest being the Eisenhower Tunnel.  After Vail the landscape changed to a more desert environment and soon we were dwarfed by huge mesas.  We wanted to find a place to stop and fuel up and eat.  But there are no truck stops west of Denver.  Don’t know how the truckers do it.  We finally stopped at Glenwood Springs to check out a Shell station there.  They did have diesel, but we had to go down the road and turn around in order to enter the station in the right direction.  That was fun.  We finally got turned around, gassed up and left the station and turned around in a mall parking lot so we could get back on I70.  A beautiful part of the drive was through Glenwood Canyon.  The Colorado River runs through this canyon and it gets so narrow in places the eastbound lane of I70 is underneath the westbound lane.  And the river is roiling right now with all the snow runoff.  I70 really sucks through Colorado.  The bridge transitions are horrible and every time we hit one of them I was afraid we’d have a blowout or worse.  I looked in the mirror at one point to check and realized the right tail light had been knocked off and was hanging by some wires.  We stopped right away at a rest area and put it back, but it ended up getting knocked out again.  We never did find a place to eat and change drivers, so Mike drove all day.  Thankfully, it was only 4-1/2 hours.  We were in our park by 3:00.  Tomorrow will only be a 2 hour drive to Moab.  We’ll be there for about 10 days.

 

Lots of snow still up there.

Entering the Eisenhower Tunnel.

Starting to see more red rock.

Going through Glenwood Canyon.

Right along the roiling Colorado River.

 

KOA, Goodland, KS, to Cottonwood RV Park, Idaho Springs, CO:  An easy drive today.  Well, until we got to Denver.  I drove to Limon, CO, where we stopped to eat, fuel up, and change drivers.  A short while after leaving Limon we started seeing the ghostly image of the snow covered Rockies off in the distance.  There’s still a lot of snow up in the mountains.  In fact, they’re still skiing in Vail.  Going through Denver on I70 was not fun.  A lot of traffic.  But going through the mountains out of Denver was worse.  We haven’t been in the mountains for a few years—the Rockies anyway.  I was freaking out.  A lot of steep ups and downs.  We finally got to the exit for our RV park, which is 20 miles west of Denver.  The park is small, but we have a pretty decent site right on a rushing mountain stream.  Hummingbirds are everywhere.  No TV to speak of.  Three channels—and one is a Korean channel.  Korean?  I told Mike we will definitely be returning a different way.  The weather is beautiful—80s and sunny.  We’re at 7000 feet and feeling it.  I’m enjoying a vodka tonic right now.  

 

I70 approaching Denver.

Downtown Denver.

Mountains outside of Denver.

Campground cat came for a visit.

Campground cat wants in and started scratching our screen door.

             

Lawrence, KS, to KOA, Goodland, KS:  Drove across Kansas today.  Most people think Kansas is totally flat, but it really isn’t.  A lot of rolling hills—especially in eastern Kansas.  Today was our longest driving day, so we left early—8:00.  I drove 3 hours and Mike drove 3 hours.  We were in Goodland and set up by 3:30.  Really it’s 2:30 because we’re now on Mountain time.

 

Sculpture of Louis IX--St. Louis's namesake.

St. Louis Art Museum

 

We went to the STL Art Museum while we were home to see an impressionist exhibit "LeGray to Monet".  This is a painting by Monet. Beautiful!

Sun, May 25:    St. Louis to Lawrence, KS:  We’re off again—this time to Moab, UT, to meet some friends of ours.  And we got an earlier start than I thought.  We were pulling out of our storage area by 8:30. Raining hard as we left and at times it was a deluge.  We both got soaked hooking up. I drove to Columbia, MO, where we stopped for some breakfast and then Mike took over driving. By now the raining had stopped and the sun was out in all its glory. Pulled out of the restaurant at noon and Mike had driven for less than an hour when we heard this noise and the power steering, brakes, and air conditioning stopped working.  So, we pulled off at the next exit (mm84) and parked in the rear lot of a Stuckey’s.  Turns out the serpentine belt broke and we’re dead in the water.  On a holiday weekend.  The clerk in Stuckey’s told us of a diesel repair facility back in Boonville that’s open.  So we called and he came out to fix it.  He had to drive back to Columbia to get a part.  So, long story short, four hours and $772 later we were on our way again.  We’re staying in Lawrence, KS, tonight which is about 25 miles west of Kansas City.  We were there and set up by 7:30.  All in all, we were lucky.  We might have had to spend the whole weekend in that Stuckey’s parking lot.

 

Waiting for the repair guy to show up.

Cute little barn nearby.

 

Home Sweet Home:  Spent the last couple of days sorting the mail, cleaning up leaves, and getting tax stuff ready.  Lots of mail. I got it sorted and sent the junk mail to the recycling bin.  Now just opening it all and doing something with it. I'm ready to have some fun now. And my car started right up. Great car!

Some of my mail.  Mike's pile is even bigger.

KOA, W. Memphis, AR, to St. Louis:  Left around 8:30 this morning.  The rain had finally stopped, but the fog was pretty bad for a while.  By the time we reached Sikeston, MO, the fog had lifted and the sun made an appearance.  Stopped at the Flying J, fueled up and had a big breakfast.  Mike took over driving.  While I was driving a Fed Ex truck pulling doubles passed us and lost control a little bit, swerving into our lane.  He almost side swiped us.  I didn’t even have time to react.  But, other than that, the trip was without incident and we arrived safely back home.  Pulled into our storage area, unloaded the food and were home by 3:00.  Temps in the 50s.  Ugh!  But, all in all a great trip. Now we have to decide what we’re doing this summer.  Maybe a trip to Europe.

A lot of fog this morning heading out.

The landscape is pretty bleak.  Do you see any leaves on these trees?  No, but we'll get to see them burst forth soon.  Any day now.

On I270 going around St. Louis.  Always a lot of fun--6 lanes of mayhem.  I usually feel more secure doing the driving.  A control issue maybe?

Birmingham South RV Park, Birmingham, AL, to KOA, W. Memphis, AR:  Left this morning at around 9:00.  Stopped at a Shell station just before getting back on I65 which was a really tight fit and the place was really busy.  But we fueled up and got out of there okay.  Back on I65 and was glad to get through Birmingham and onto Rt. 78 (or Interstate 22) which crosses northern Alabama and Mississippi.  A really pretty drive through forested rolling hills dotted with little lakes and some trees in bloom. Very rural and very few towns. We stopped just east of Tupelo for fuel and food and Mike took over driving. While he went in and paid the fuel bill, I practiced my backing-up skills and backed into a parking space beside a couple of trucks.  Walked to McDonald’s next door and got my Big Mac fix.  As we approached W. Memphis the sky turned pretty dark and by the time we pulled into the KOA it had started sprinkling and the wind was whipping along with thunder and lightning. Fortunately, Mike got everything hooked up outside before it started raining in earnest. We’ll have to keep an eye on the weather for tomorrow and hope there’s nothing severe in the forecast.  It actually made it up to 71 briefly.  This is our last stop.  Tomorrow we should be home.

Bridge over the Mississippi in Memphis.