Colorado - 07 Steamboat Gardens

Kathy was in 7th heaven today as our morning bike ride took us by the Yampa River Botanic Park. Of course we had to stop for her to preview the gardens. Coincidentally there is a tour tomorrow by a noted gardening author. We all know Kathy will be in attendance .

Steamboat Springs is a great town. We both commented that we would like have a place here to visit both in the winter and summer. Unfortunately so would alot of other people. The housing market is very high. Our Des Moines house and property would probably be worth $2 million or more.

I had a real treat this evening for supper. Kathy made Cincinnati Chili. As most of you know we love this style of chili.

Colorado - 07 - Grand Junction to Steamboat Springs

The city of Grand Junction is very cosmopolitan. Modern roads, beautifully keep older homes, great shopping areas and loads of restaurants. Their old downtown has been converted into shops, bars and gourmet restaurants. Last night Kathy and I had cocktails at a quaint little restaurant after dinner and listened to a jazz duo play several of our favorite songs.

This morning we made to decision to move on to Steamboat. Grand Junction is great but the temperatures for the next several days are forecasted to be in the mid to high 90's.

The ride east on I-70 through Glenwood Canyon made us marvel at the engineering feat of building this highway. It took 13 years to construct and much of it is two levels as shown in the photo.

We made it to Steamboat Springs about 2 pm. The temps here are 80 daytime and high 50's at
night. We both decided we have been to busy for the last week so we are going to take a couple lay days here. Maybe bike, hike, and take naps.

Colorado - 07- The Black Canyon of Gunnison

Here are a couple of photos of the Black Canyon of Gunnison, near Montrose, Colorado. It is hard to believe this 48 mile long canyon, 2772 feet deep only recently, 1999, became a national park. There are multiple vantage points along the south rim from which to view the canyon. Each view was more impressive than the last, the tall spires, the narrowness, the sheer drop-offs, and the marbling in the walls. This photo doesn't do the canyon justice, no photo could. You have to be there to experience the beauty and magnificence.



The second photo is a shot of the overlook from the visitors center. The overlook is a peninsula jutting out from the edge of the canyon. The short walkway has a fence on each side but it wasn't enough for Kathy to have the confidence to walk out to the end with me.

Tip: Double click on photo to enlarge, click on the back arrow (top left) to return to normal.

We are in Grand Junction tonight and will probably be here on Sunday evening as well.

Colorado - 07 - Jeeping & Hot Springs

We decided last night to take our jeep on a trip over one of the many trails. We saw no less than a hundred jeeps in the area, most of them specially setup for rough mountain trails. We stopped at the Visitor Center for advice in selecting a trail. With our stock jeep we did not want anything too tough. We selected Ophir Pass which is considered to be a moderate degree of difficulty trail.

About 18 miles up the mountain highway, we found the turnoff for the Ophir Trail. The beginning was relatively straight forward. The narrow one lane rock trail climbed up the side of the mountain with rocks on the upside and nice big trees on the downside. It was not long till the trail got rougher with large rocks in the road and steeper drop-offs on the side. We continued to climb up the mountain for about 30 minutes and reached the tree line at 10,000 feet. Now all there was around us was rocks and water running across the road at various places. The switchbacks scared us both as we slowly crawled around them in low range 4-wheel drive. We reached the summit (11,789 ft.) in about an hour and decided to take a break. The views on the way up and when we reached the top were incredible.

The drive down the other side was even scarier than the drive up. It was steeper, narrower, if that is possible, and had much larger boulders to contend with. (Remember, this is considered to be of moderate difficulty). About 1/8 mile down, the trail took a sharp right turn (switchback), so sharp we had to backup to complete the turn. Kathy gave me her advice on how far to pull back before we would tumbled over the edge and down a 1000 foot drop-off. An hour later we made it to the town of Ophir, nestled in the Aspen trees at the foot of two mountains. If this was a moderate trail we do not want to experience difficult. Not yet anyway!

Tip: Double click on any of the photos in the blog to enlarge, click on back arrow (top left) to return.

Later that afternoon the hot spring fed pool in Ouray was a great way to take the stiffness out of our muscles after an exhilarating ride on these infamous trails. There were several different temperature pools from which to choose. They ranged from 85-105 degrees. We both like the hot pool. We an excellent dinner at the Outlaw, an old time local bar/restaurant with a honky-tonk piano player.

Colorado - 07 - On to Telluride & Ouray - Thursday

Thursday - posted Saturday due to lack of Internet service.

This morning we headed to Telluride (photo). The shortest route, 100 miles, was out of the question. Our RV and Truckers Guide recommended that all vehicles over 30 feet detour around this route due to the three major mountain passes to Ouray. This route was a narrow two lane road with sharp switchbacks and thousand foot drop-offs. Our new route was 160 miles, but it is also part of the San Juan Scenic Skyway, so the drive was incredibly scenic. There were a couple of passes we had to cross going into and out of Telluride, but the road was considerably better than the shorter route.

Telluride is a quaint and upscale ski town. We stopped for lunch at The Brown Dog Saloon. While seated at the bar, we struck up a conversation with a young guy (owner) that turned out to be a player on the University of Michigan team that won the 2000 National Championship. Following a great pizza we headed to Ouray, considered by many to be the Jeeping Capital of the World.

We set up camp at Ridgway State Park a few miles out of Ouray. As you can see from the photo the mountains are a beautiful backdrop for our camp site.

Colorado - 07 - Durango/Silverton Railroad

The ride on the Durango/Silverton Railroad Line provided us with some magnificent views of the San Juan National Forrest. The line is still using the old coal fired steam locomotives. The one that we were on today was 125 years old. During the 3:45 ride to Silverton we had to stop to take on water twice over the 45 mile route. We also stopped twice to drop off back packers into the forest. The rugged terrain and narrow ledges on which the tracks were laid made the ride quite thrilling. At times we were hundreds of feet directly above the river on a very narrow ledge.

The town of Silverton is pretty much supported by the tourists who arrive on the 3 daily trains. The elevation is 9500 feet and they receive a lot of snow during the winter months. So much snow that the train doesn't run all the way to Durango in the winter. The towns summer population of 3000 shrinks to 500 during the winter.

The road to Silverton is just about as precarious as the train route. It goes over two 10,000 ft. passes and has many twists and drop offs with no guard rails.

We enjoyed the trip a great deal. We purchased a beautiful piece of "Horse Hair" Indian pottery. Tomorrow morning we depart for Telluride and then on to Ouray.

Colorado -07 - Mesa Verde

Sorry for the delay in posting our Tuesday activities. We headed into Durango for the evening and met a couple from St. Louis. They are both bicyclers and may join us next year for Ragbrai. In any case we had our share of drinks and got home fairly late.





We spent the entire day visiting Mesa Verde. It's one of the largest National Park in the U.S. with over 4500 archaeological sites, with 600 cliff dwellings. This photo is of "Cliff Palace" the largest cliff dwelling. In order to access the site we descended over 100 feet into the structure and climbed out over a series of carved sandstone steps and five 8-10 foot tree ladders. The park itself is not in the best of shape. It has suffered three fires over the last 11 years. New growth is coming back in many of the areas but the location of most recent fire in 2000 has minimal growth.

Colorado - 2007 - Durango

We departed Canon City this morning about 8:30. The drive west on U.S. 50 followed the swift running waters of the Arkansas River. The views were beautiful and the road had numerous curves but was fairly flat. When we reached Poncha Springs we headed south on U.S. 385. As we climbed out of town we encountered our first pass through the mountains. Poncha Pass, elevation 9010 feet was a fairly easy climb, a 5% grade. Fortunately it opened up to a valley some 60 miles long and 10 miles wide and a road as straight as an arrow.

Our real challenge came on CO 160 near Pagosa Springs. Wolf Creek pass, 10850 feet, had our palms sweating and wondering if this route was a good idea. The climb up the 6% grade was over 9 miles long, but our diesel chugged away at it. The 9 mile descent with 7% grade was a little hairy. I used the pack brake all the way down the hill but at times I had to use the motorhome brakes because we began to accelerate too quickly. The runaway ramp in the photo is one of two used quite often hill by runaway trucks and campers. Fortunately we didn't need it!

Durango is a very interesting city. There is a ton of things to do. The Chamber had lots of tips and advice for us. Tomorrow we are going to Mesa Verde National Park to see the cliff dwellings. For Wednesday we purchased tickets for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad trip to Silverton. There are also numerous jeep trails and bike trails we'd like to check out if time permits. Maybe we'll have to stay longer?

For those who have never seen me cook, check out the second photo.

Colorado - 2007 - The Royal Gorge

Before departing on today's adventure our camping neighbor called this area the "Royal Gouge". He said the $24 ($19 w/coupon) was a ripoff, "the area is getting to commercialized". He's probably right, there are trinket stores and rafting companies up and down the road. But the Royal Gorge is truly magnificent. The $19ea. ticket included just about everything but the Bungee Flying (too bad). The walk across the wooden plank 1/4 mile long, 1000 foot high bridge is intimidating for us flatlanders. Kathy was determined to go, with much encouragement from me. Her first try was a failure, she turned back about 500 feet out. The second try was successful as she gripped my hand and walked swiftly down the center, with sweaty palms. We took over 50 photo with our digital camera, here are a couple.

We also took the incline down to the bottom of the canyon where we watched the rafters shoot down the class 3 rapids on the Arkansas River. During lunch we listened to a musical group play memorable tunes from the 70's, Neil Young, Credence, etc. I couldn't talk Kathy into taking the aerial tram with me across the gorge, she shopped in the stores. Some of the other interesting stops were the zoo, with an albino buffalo, the western town, and a ride on the old time Merry-Go-Round.

Late afternoon we drove along the river to watch the rafters come down the rapids. Monday morning we are headed for Durango. We have two mountain passes to cross over. We'll see how good the brakes are on a 40,000 pounds of rig coming down the steep hills.

Colorado 2007

The mountains are a little intimidating for us flatlanders. After arriving in Canon City this morning we headed into the mountains with our jeep. The information center in town told us that if we really wanted to see some rugged terrain to take the Phantom Canyon road to Cripple Creek. Road, that's a joke. It started out as blacktop for the first 3 of a 30 mile trip. As soon as we began to climb, it turned to gravel for the next couple of miles. It then turned to a totally unpaved road for the remainder of the drive, compacted only by the vehicles. The road winds through the canyon with steep drop-offs, no guard rails and much of it one lane wide. Both of the tunnels we drove through were blasted from solid granite and have no support timbers. The scenery is gorgeous, pictures can't describe the area.

Tomorrow the plan is to see the Royal Gorge. Kathy is a little apprehensive about walking across the worlds highest suspension bridge. We'll see it she chickens out.

On the Road Again - Colorado-07

Here we go again! The temperatures in Des Moines for the month of August are projected to be in the mid 90's. So why stay in Iowa when the mountains are only a day's drive away and the temperatures are 20-30 degrees cooler.

A week ago we decided that rather than travel in September or October when the weather is nice in Iowa we'd head out in the heat of summer for a couple 2-3 weeks.

The current plan is to head to Canon City, then Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Gunnison, Grand Junction and maybe even Steamboat. But who knows the plan could change in a couple of days. At this point we are pretty sure we're going to Durango. There are a lot of places to take day trips around Durango.

We'll try to post each day as long as we have access to the internet.

Gary & Kathy

Key West 2007 Sunday Back in Des Moines

The Key West adventure is over. We arrived home at 4:30 Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately we couldn't find our key to the house so Kathy had to drive to our son's house to get the extra one. Tomorrow we'll start the process of unpacking. What a great trip this was. But, it's great to be home!

We thought this picture best sums up the beauty of our trip to Key West. There were beautiful sunsets, ideal weather with plenty of wind and a quaint town to explore. But certainly the best part of the trip was the time we spent with friends who joined us during our stay.

A special thanks to Keith and Betty Gordon for luring us to Key West with their stories from previous visits.

Key West 2007 Mt. Vernon Walmart

When we awoke this morning at 7:30 the temperature at McKinney campground was in the mid 20's. That's about 25 degrees colder than their average temperatures this time of year in the Atlanta area. When we arrived here we thought about staying fir an extra day since we had heard it was so cold up north. Unfortunately the cold front dipped all the way into the south.

(No, the photo is not from Mt. Vernon, just another pretty shot in Key West)

So we continued our trek north to Des Moines. We drove about 450 miles today and arrived in Mt Vernon, Ill. about 4:15. We stopped here on our way to Key West in February and found a Walmart with a nice flat lot in which to spend the night.

Since Sunday was Easter we found a Catholic church to attend Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. It was an extremely long service that started at 7:15 and wasn't over till past 9pm. When we arrived back at the motorhome Kathy watch a movie as I dosed off for the night.

Tomorrow, Des Moines and the cold!

Key West 2007 Hot to Cold

Last night when we arrived home from Universal Studios the temperature was still in the mid 70's, having reached 80 earlier in the day. Early this morning the temperature dropped to the low 50's. The forecast for today was for a high in the low 60's so we decided we had better look for our long pants and sweatshirts.

Our goal for the day was to drive to McKinney State Park, northwest of Atlanta, about 435 mi. We made pretty good time until we got to Macon. Then the slowdown began. First the traffic built until we could only run about 50 mph. Then about 30 miles from Atlanta the real backup began. It was stop and go for the next hour and one-half. As we approached the bypass a traffic sign said I-285 was backed up due to an accident. So Kathy suggested we take I-75 straight through Atlanta. Aside from a slow down through the center of town it turned out to be a good call. We drove our 60 ft. rolling rig in the far left carpool lane right through the city. We received some funny looks but not any tickets.

We arrived at McKinney Park about 5pm and got the last campsite. This is a beautiful park about 30 miles northwest of Atlanta. I read some glowing reports about it on the Internet. The sites are humongous and totally surrounded by trees. Tomorrow we'll decided whether to stay another evening or continue north into the cold.

Key West 2007 Marilyn Leaves Me

I met a cute young gal today named Marilyn and fell instantly for her. We visited a number of attractions at Universal Studios. In all, we saw at least ten different shows but the 2 best were "The Mummy" and "Terminator". In order to avoid the long lines I bought each of us an Express Pass. They sell a limited number of these passes and it allows the holder to bypass the long lines. It's spring break and there are a lot of families making for long lines and waits. Some of the attractions had more than a 1 hour wait.

Marilyn and I had pizza together and watched a great Rock'n Roll group at Mel's 50's style diner. Unfortunately at the end of the day she dumped me for a younger man.


But as luck would have it I met another gal. Her name is Kathy. We jumped into a time machine at "Back to the Future" and the next thing I new, we were married for 38 years, had 3 children and 7 grandchildren. Boy time goes fast when you're having fun.

Tomorrow we head for Atlanta.

Key West 2007 Monaco Regional Center

There are a couple of things on our motorhome that are not working properly so I thought we would stop by Monaco's Regional Service Center in Wildwood, Florida. This is quite a facility. They have an RV park with 50 full hookup campsites and room for an additional 20 in overflow. There is no charge for use of the campsites while your coach is awaiting or undergoing repair.

Our fuel gauge has been working sporadically, our main slide does not fully extend and the ice maker has quit functioning. We thought we would have the problems checked out since the facility was only 10 miles from our route and we had a couple of extra days before we headed north to Des Moines. Appointments are usually made 2-3 months in advance, but they have emergency repair for those with problems traveling through the area. Unfortunately it may take a couple of days before they can find an opening.

Today we drove down to Orlando, about 39 miles, and checked out all of the attractions. Tomorrow we plan on going to Universal Studios. It will probably be crowded so we will by the "Fast Track" pass that will let us by-pass the long lines.

Key West 2007 A Visit with Tom & Marilyn

We had a good nights sleep. Tom stopped by with breakfast from Dunkin Donuts. Tom is an real estate agent and gave us an excellent tour of the surrounding area. We visited a number of new developments with furnished model homes. They ranged in price from $300,000 to $5 million. Several of the communities were on waterways and had a boat hoist. It's easy to see why so many people move here.

Following a nice lunch at a Bradenton Marina we headed to Wildwood, Florida. Monaco Motorhomes has a regional facility here. We have a couple of items on our motorhome that we would like them to checkout for us. This facility is equipped with 50 full hook-up sites in which you can stay while they are working on your motorhome.

Key West 2007 Monday Another Skyline Chili

I know it's hard to believe but we found another Skyline Chili Parlor, (Cincinnati's favorite), in Naples, Florida. You'll recall that early in our trip we found a Skyline in Ft. Myers. Kathy and I are crazy about their chili, our kids are too. Finding a parking spot was the toughest part. There is no parking on the streets near the restaurant and the lot was full of cars. We ended up pulling our 60 ft rig onto the grass on a side street. We gambled that we could eat before the police showed up to ticket us. We were successful!

Following lunch we drove to Bradenton to visit Kathy's brother Tom Moeddel. He lives in a beautiful gated community west of town. Since RVs are not permitted in his complex we parked in a lot near the guard house over looking a beautiful pond. It was one of the most peaceful and pretty sites we've had on this trip. Tomorrow, Tom is going to show us around the area.

Key West 2007 Dolphin Stadium

We headed out today at 8am because we wanted to go to the Dania Marine Flea Market. I hear it's the largest in the country. It's held at Dolphin Stadium parking lot, Thursday to Sunday at the end of March. There were about 500 exhibitors. They have everything you can think of for boats. Some of the items are salvage from hurricane boats and misc stock overruns. About half the stuff is new and half used. Our goal for the day was to find a new inverter for our boat. Kathy would like to be able to use our microwave when we are anchored. We found a 1200 watt continuous duty Coleman for $80. They typically run about $200. We think we got a good deal. Time will tell. We also bought a new life ring for our boat for about 30% of new.

We headed for Naples around 3:30 with tired feet and a lighter wallet. We found a nice campground about a mile off I-75, Club Naples RV Resort. Following a swim in the pool, Kathy made dinner and we tuned in the satellite TV. Tomorrow we head to Bradenton to visit Kathy's brother Tom and family.

Key West 2007 Last Day in Paradise

Our last day in paradise was rather uneventful. Saturday morning Kathy and I decided we needed some exercise so went for a bicycle ride on a small key east of Stock Island. It was primarily a residential with canals behind each of the homes. There were several for sale so we picked up the flyer's in front of several of the homes. The nicer homes started at $1 million and went up to $3 million. We saw a fixer upper for $785,000. Most of the homes are 1800 to 2500 sq. ft. Clearly, paradise comes at a price if you want to live there.

The remainder of the day I spent getting the motorhome ready for our departure on Sunday. Kathy spent the afternoon getting ready for our evening dinner party with Keith, Betty, Greg and Sandy. We thought it would be fun to get together once last time before we each departed on Sunday. Keith and Betty are sailing back to Ft. Myers to store their boat up river for the summer. Greg and Sandy are headed to the Bahamas for a couple of weeks before they begin their trip back to St. Louis.