Day 30: Ranger is a happy dog

We continued east on I-80 through Iowa and about 200 miles along we turned north toward Cedar Rapids.  They had serious flooding there in the past few days, and coming through the downtown area on I-380 you could see LOTS of sandbags around houses and stores. The water  is receding now, but many roads are still closed.

And then we arrived at Tim and Pam's in Marion, and Ranger is SO happy.  He loves their fenced in backyard where he ran and ran in circles when we arrived.  He loves having a house to go into, especially since it's a house with lots of dog toys (all Lola's property).  And when Megan came over for dinner last evening with her kids, and they played fetch with him in the yard, well, that was the best.  Lily (grade 3) and William (grade K) were willing to throw the ball over and over and over, and Ranger played until he was exhausted.

Lola and Ranger seem equally jealous of attention, however, so they are constantly pushing in when one is getting petted by anyone, like "My turn, my turn!".  They do seem to get along pretty well, otherwise, especially playing "chase me" around the yard.

Pam had prepared an excellent dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, and corn---a real treat.  Dan is looking forward to messing around with Tim's new pop-up camper, testing out systems and fixing whatever is needed.  

Day 29: Across Nebraska and into Iowa

Leaving North Platte in the morning, we hopped back onto I-80 and continued east.  I could simply post yesterday's photo of the Nebraska countryside: the view was the same, mile after mile.  There was a brief change going through Lincoln...but not much.  After a lunch break at a nice rest area, we traveled on through Omaha, crossing the Missouri River.

And then we were in Iowa---Hurray!   A little prettier, with rolling hills, and yes, plenty of corn.

We stopped in late afternoon at Prairie Rose State Park, between Council Bluffs and Des Moines.  We actually had stayed at this park before, about five years ago, but driving in, neither of us had a clear memory of it.  It is nice, not at all crowded on a Tuesday night in late September, with our site just across the road from a small lake.  The weather is sunny and breezy, and it is oh, so quiet outside after dark, compared with the sound of all those trucks along the highway in North Platte!

Day 28: Leaving the West behind

This morning we had to leave our comfortable site at Cherry Creek State Park and start heading east.  We took I-255 and I-70 to connect to I-76 which goes northeast toward Nebraska.  Eastern Colorado is boring: flat, dry, very little vegetation, a few cows.  Entering Nebraska seemed almost exciting by contrast:

From here, we will travel along I-80 for the next few days, heading for Tim Dorgan's place in Iowa. (It's right outside Cedar Rapids; we hope the predicted flooding does not cause a problem getting there.)

With the time change (Mountain to Central) we lost an hour of travel time today.  We pulled into Holiday RV Park in North Platte in late afternoon. Not fancy, a bit old, but basically clean and satisfactory for one night.

Days 26 and 27: Exploring the Denver area

We are spending the weekend at Cherry Creek State Park, and it is one of the nicest parks we have visited on this trip.

We had a lazy Saturday, staying around the park.  Both mornings were chilly, low 40's, which Ranger really enjoyed.  I was able to get laundry done---much needed, requiring four washers in the park's clean and spacious laundry.  We lazed around in the afternoon, talking about plans for the remainder of the trip and making necessary reservations.  In late afternoon, we checked out the "DOLA": Dogs off-leash area.  It is HUGE and much-used.  We did not actually take Ranger in but had a nice walk along one of the many walking paths in the park before clouds moved in, making it uncomfortably cooler.  We scurried back to the RV for an evening spent warming up around a campfire.

At dinner on Friday night, Beckie gave us some suggestions for places to see around Denver.  So on Sunday morning, we started with Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

You can tell that Ranger would have liked to stay around for this evening's show by Gregg Allman.

From there, we drove to the top of Lookout Mountain:

Looking west, you can see high mountains, some with snow at the top.  Looking east, there's the city of Denver.  And closer in, just below, the city of Golden.  Yes, that's the Coors brewery in that third picture.  What else is Golden famous for?

We traveled down into Golden, where we had lunch and browsed the main street.

And finally back to our campsite, to enjoy the last few hours before we head out again, driving east.

Day 25: Over the Rockies

Yesterday afternoon, we visited Rifle Falls State Park, just four miles from where we were staying.  The ranger at our park said that we MUST see the falls.  And they were very nice.
There were also limestone caves to explore.

While there, the wind started gusting up, so back at our campsite, we had dinner inside and skipped the campfire we had planned.  Having checked on the weather, which indicated rain during the night, we also put everything away---chairs, mat, etc.  

.... which was a good thing, as the rain moved in during the wee hours.  At 3 am we were awakened by the flapping of the cover over the slide-out, and to be safe we pulled the slide in, giving us a much smaller space but without fear of a tear in the cover.  And at 7:00, it was 41 degrees with steady rain.  Even Ranger refused to get out of bed for his walk.

The rain let up a little around 10:00 and we set off to cross the mountains to Denver, following I-70.  What a drive!  Miles and miles of uphill, with rain continuing for the first 100 miles.  We went over two passes, one over 10,000 feet (at Vail), the other 11,000 feet (at Loveland).  The poor RV chugged along at 25 to 30 mph, working as hard as it could to pull the CRV up those mountains.  (And of course, poor Dan was shifting and watching the RPM and so forth, while trying to be patient with our slow progress.)

It was definitely autumn in the higher elevations.

And of course, then it was down, down, down....through miles of curves.  Two hundred miles of stress and we arrived at our site for the next three nights---Cherry Creek State Park, on the east side of Denver.  Being east it is flat and open.  But we have an excellent site, tucked back in the trees.

We are now awaiting the arrival of Kelly's friend Beckie Walter who lives in Denver and is coming over to have dinner with us. 

Looking forward to the next few days with good Wi-fi, hot showers, and a very nice laundry!

Some photos, finally

We are sitting at a Starbucks in Rifle, Colorado, catching up on business that requires Wi-Fi.  For the past few days, we have had little to no phone service (so can't use the phone as a hot spot), though occasionally some emails came through on the phone.  

The car was totally filthy after being towed through rain, picking up lots of road dirt, so we took it through a carwash and I'm now enjoying a Pumpkin Spice Latte, to celebrate the first day of fall.

So here's where we have been:

 Goblin Valley SP, Utah

Dead Horse Point

 

Rifle Gap

Day 22 and 23: Dead Horse Point State Park

We are now at Dead Horse Point State Park, just outside Canyonlands National Park.  It was hard to get a reservation here, so the site we managed is a small one but it has a covered cooking area (which given the weather---first rainy day of the trip) is a good thing.

It was a hot afternoon when we arrived.  We left Ranger for awhile in order to check out the visitors center at the state park and also the one at the national park, about ten miles down the road.  On the way back to the campsite, we drove up to the actual “point” from which you could see for miles, including the very green Colorado River way down in the canyon.

While taking a late afternoon walk, Dan and Ranger saw a kit fox crossing the road in front of them!

When Ranger and I headed out the next morning around 7:00, there was Mr. Fox again, this time about 25 yards from the door of the camper.  He and Ranger stared at one another for a few moments; then Ranger barked.  This did not seem to frighten the fox, as he moved a few yards closer.  Then, as if having second thoughts, he turned and headed off. An hour or so later, he was back, this time right in front of the RV.  He sat nicely while I took his pictures, not intimated at all.

Dan, Ranger, and I went out for a hike in the state park in the early morning, figuring on that being the cooler part of the day. (This proved wrong----more on that later.)  We took the 1.5 mile East Rim Trail, which had great views of the canyons below.  The trail took us back to Dead Horse Point, which Dan and I had visited the previous day.  From there we picked up the 2.5 mile West Rim Trail which led back to the campsite.  Enough hiking to leave all three of us ready for a rest and lunch.

Dan and I left Ranger in the RV in early afternoon so that we see some more of Canyonlands.  However, by now, clouds had moved in, the wind picked up, and the temperature dropped into the mid-60’s.  Not having carried along a jacket or rain gear, we visited a few overlooks and then headed back to the RV.  We did manage to see Mesa Arch, one of the more famous parts of the park.

Although I have been able to pick up email on my phone in this location, it’s still too weak to post photos.  Hoping the next location (in Colorado) will allow me to go back and put some of the pictures up from the past three or four days.