Millford Lake State Park, KS:  Well, we didn’t think yesterday could get any worse, but it did.  A line of bad storms was heading our way.  I took the NOAA weather radio to bed with me, and the alerts started at 11:00 p.m.  They were saying these were very dangerous storms and we should seek shelter in a sturdy building.  Since we’re in a campground, the only sturdy building was the restrooms just across the street from our site.  So, I told Mike I was heading over there.  I noticed on the men’s room door there was something flopping around in the wind.  Thought it was some kind of debris kicked up by the horrendous winds.  Put my flashlight on it, and it’s moving!  It was a SNAKE!  A pretty large snake.  And it was about 5 feet up on this door.  Not sure how it was able to stay up there.  Anyway, I hotfooted it back.  What in the world is next!!!  Anyway, I could barely get the door to the fifth wheel open because the wind was so strong.  But we survived the night.  I didn’t get to bed until around 3:00 a.m.  Today dawned sunny and nice.  I found out from the host that some guy got the snake down sometime this morning and killed it.  I don’t know why people do that.  It wasn’t a harmful snake and if the Park Ranger had just taken it down and released it in the woods, all would have been fine.  But it was killed.  Such a waste!  So, today we headed over to Ft. Riley which is home to the 1^st Infantry Division—Big Red One.  I thought it was some kind of helicopter regiment.  This is a very impressive base.  It’s like a pretty big city.  Nice housing, a wonderful Post Exchange and Commissary, and has its own hotels even.  The U.S. Calvary museum is in the old post (circa 1850s).  I loved this part of the base.  The buildings are all made of limestone blocks and the post has a very impressive history.  After the museum we came back and Mike grilled some chicken breasts.  We ate early.  Tomorrow we head out again and will be staying in Columbia, MO.  Hopefully it will be a better day than yesterday!

 

U.S. Cavalry Museum--Ft. Riley, KS.

This sculpture is dedicated to the over one million horses and mules that died in the Civil War--either killed in battle or died of disease.

One of the buildings in the old post.

Officer Housing in the old post.

Oldest house in the old post--circa 1855.

"Chief"--foaled in 1932, entered military service in 1940, retired in 1949. Upon his death, he was the last cavalry mount on the rolls of the U.S. Army.

The building that housed the museum.

 

KOA, Goodland, KS, to Millford Lake State Park, KS:    Today was all about wind.  Extreme wind.  I started out driving and didn’t notice the wind until after an hour or so.  In the ten years or so we’ve been traveling around this country, this was the worst winds we’ve experienced.  There was a tornado watch for the whole state of Kansas, but the skies were mostly clear.  That didn’t stop the winds, however.  We had to stop twice for fuel, but we didn’t even stop for food.  I just wanted to get this drive over with.  We’re at the Milford Lake State Park for two nights.  Mike wanted to go to Ft. Riley, home of the 7^th Air Cavalry—a helicopter regiment (we think).  We made it here in one piece, which is amazing.  An RV on Rt. 80 turned over in the extreme winds.  Hopefully, by the time we leave here the weather will have calmed down somewhat.  I had to pry my hand from the “Oh God” bar in the truck.  A couple of glasses of wine later and I’m okay.

 

Silverton, CO.

This house was the site of the bicycle scene from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" movie.  Just outside Durango, CO.

 

 

KOA south of Pueblo, CO, to KOA, Goodland, KS:  A much better driving day today.  Headed north on I25 and exited on Rt. 24 in Colorado Springs which will take us to I70 and Limon, CO.   After leaving the outskirts of Colorado Springs, Rt. 24 is very rural high prairie.  At one point we were at 6500 ft., 1000 ft. higher than Denver.  Saw a herd of prong horn.  The road wasn’t bad, even though it was only two lanes.  In a little over two hours we were in Limon and stopped at a Flying J to fuel up and get something to eat.  Then Mike took over.  I never noticed the wind on Rt. 24—probably because it was coming out of the south and was behind us—but when we started heading east on I70 you could really feel it, hitting us broadside.  We arrived at the KOA in Goodland and were set up by 3:00.  I was really glad to see Colorado in our rear view mirror—the mountains, at least.  88 here in Goodland.

 

Durango to Silverton train ride.  You can see how high up we are.
Picture by Mike

Kayaker in the Animas River.
Picture by Mike

Rafter in the Animas River.
Picture by Mike

 

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO, to KOA, south of Pueblo, CO:  Today started out great.  A nice, sunny day.  We continued east on Rt. 160 through the San Juan Mountains.  We found a place to pull over in Pagosa Springs, CO, one of our favorite towns in Colorado.  Had breakfast in the Rose Restaurant and then Mike took over driving.  Good thing, because we had to drive over Wolf Creek Pass, and just before the summit the truck overheated.  Luckily, we had a large place to pull over.  We had to sit there for well over an hour for the truck to cool down.  Mike had to put a lot of water into the radiator.  Finally, we were able to go on.  I was freaking out.  The only thing that would have made this debacle better would be if David were with us.  Then, David and I could have freaked out together.  Poor Mike.  He continued driving because we still had another pass to go over—La Peta Pass.  We got over that okay and finally made it to our park.  After cleaning and setting up, I made myself a stiff drink.  At least we made it here in one piece.  I think it’s time for a new truck.

 

On the way to Wolf Creek Pass.

A cute little ranch.

 

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO:  Had breakfast at Denny’s this morning, ran some errands and then came back to the park and relaxed.  Since the laundry room is right behind our site (more or less), I decided to do a couple of loads.  Got those started and sat in the adjacent patio and read my book.  While I was taking care of the laundry, Mike was getting the reservations for the rest of our trip.  Another beautiful day here in Durango.  And it’s a really nice town.  I just couldn’t take the winters.  And we’re still in high desert.  I’m always having to put hand lotion on my hands and lip balm on my lips.  Dry.  But we leave tomorrow for the rest of the trip home.  I must say I’m looking forward to it. But then I'll be looking forward to going back out again as well.  I guess I'm a gypsy at heart. 

 

Mike and I in our seat on the train.

 

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO:    Up at 6:30 this morning to catch our train to Silverton.  The train travels up along a deep gorge cut through the mountains by the roiling Animas River.  In some areas it’s shear rock.  In other places steep mountains covered with pine and aspen rise on each side of the tracks.  Definitely a beautiful trip.  In the deepest part of the gorge the tracks are on a narrow shelf just wide enough for the tracks and you look down into this abyss with the Animas River at the bottom.  We had a guy in period costume on the way up who was supposed to be General Palmer, the guy who built the railroad.  On the way back we had an Indian woman, Chipeta, who provided the narrative.  She was a Ute Indian who was married to Ouray.  We arrived in Silverton at around 1:00 and walked around for a while and then had lunch at Grumpy’s Saloon.  A girl there played a honky tonk piano for the lunch crowd.  She was excellent.  Bought one of her CDs.  Boarded the train at 2:50 and we left at 3:00 for the trip back.  We were all pretty tired.  On the outskirts of Boulder we encountered a deer who raced along with us for a while.  I’m sure she was pretty scared.  Up near Silverton there were a couple of autos that didn’t quite make the curve on one of those damn “shelf” roads up here in the mountains.  They went down a long way.  Doubt there were any survivors.  The train arrived back in Durango at about 7:00.  Back to our park and crashed.

 

Our ride.

 

 

The Animas River.

The honky tonk pianist at Grumpy's Saloon.

Our Indian narrator, Chapita.

 

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, CO:  Went down into the 40s overnight, so it was hard to get out of bed until the furnace warmed things up a bit.  After our morning ablutions we bought our tickets for the train tomorrow and then drove to old, historic Durango and walked around some after finally figuring out how to use the parking meter.  Had lunch at a little French restaurant.  Drove back, stopping to pick up some groceries.  Relaxed the rest of the day.

 

Elegant Strater Hotel

Sculpture of three foals on the streets of Durango.

Lunch at the quaint little Jean Pierre restaurant.

What a neat stone building!