New York City, August 15-19, 2014:  Off to NYC to meet my daughter and took my step-daughter, Laurie, with me.  We had a great time and the weather was perfect.

Schlepping around Central Park.

Lunch at the Boat House Restaurant in Central Park.
Picture by Laurie

Grand Central Station

With my daughter Michele.
Picture by Laurie.

NY Public Library--5th Avenue.

Laurie and I somewhere around World Trade.

Freedom Tower

Times Square

Fountain in City Hall Park with City Hall in background.

Beautiful New York skyline and Brooklyn Bridge.

Out for a sail in New York Harbor.

NY skyline dominated by the Freedom Tower.

Bethesda Fountain--Central Park.
Picture by Laurie

Water Lilies in the Bethesda Fountain.



We were told this fountain is the one from the opening credits of the TV show, "Friends".  Not true.  That fountain is in a Burbank studio.  Beautiful fountain though.  Originally a watering trough for horses.

Cottonwood RV Park, Columbia, MO, to St. Louis:  Left this morning at 8:00 and were home and unpacked by 10:30.  It’s great to be home from this trip.  We may go back to Door County for a few weeks.  Not sure yet.  Just great to be home.

 

St. Louis Arch

 

Milford Lake State Park, KS, to Cottonwood RV Park, Columbia, MO:  Another windy driving day today, but not as bad as a couple of days ago.  We set off at 9:00 and after two hours of driving Mike took over.  We stopped in Oak Grove, MO, for fuel and food and continued on.  Arrived at our park and were set up by 2:30 and immediately headed to the laundry to do a couple of loads.  Got that done and headed back.  It’s hot here—93.  Tomorrow the weather looks good and it’ll only be a two hour drive or so.  Looking forward to getting home.

 

Rick, Andrea, me, and Mike--Canyon Lands National Park.

Daisies in the desert--Canyon Lands National Park.

 

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.