We did it -- 45 days, 7,374 miles!!!  We truly thank God for a safe trip.  We have enjoyed seeing an awesome part of this country.  We are already talking about where the travelling4 will go next.

a great adventure ends

PS: Ken and I will be leaving Little Rock Sunday after church.  Our grandkids, Courtney & Kyle are at camp not far from here.  We are going to surprise them on Visitor Day.  From there we will go on to Dallas to spend a few days with Kelley/Eric, daughter & son-in -law.  Look for us in Davie Co the week of June 23rd.

Today HAS been an ordinary day.  We left Kansas this morning, drove through Missouri and into Arkansas.  We are parked just outside Fort Smith in Alma.  We got here around 4pm.  Once we got everything set up, we drove into Fort Smith to a really nice park and enjoyed a pleasant walk along the river.  After our walk, we had dinner at Cracker Barrel.  Tomorrow we will be back in Little Rock.

It has been another interesting day -- both good & bad.  It has been sunny and not as warm as yesterday -- good.  We had another tire issue.  That's the third of the original four -- bad.  This time David replaced both number 3 & number 4.  As Desi said to Lucy "somebody's got some 'splainin' to do".  We are parked in Louisburg, KS, not far from the Missouri border.  It took David several phone calls to find a WalMart with two of the tires he needed.  In fact we ended up Belton, MO.  After getting the tires, we had dinner at a really great BBQ place (Odens) in Belton -- good.  What will tomorrow bring????

Today started out as just an ordinary travel day.  We left Colorado and entered Kansas.  We stopped in WaKeeney, KS which is half way between Denver and Kansas City.  Still an ordinary day.  We were each doing our set-up jobs.  I was bringing some things in from the truck when I stepped in a hole.  I said "oh" which caused David to turn around -- then he said "oh".  What he saw was a SNAKE.  It was 3 to 4' ft long.  We called for the calvalry (maintenance man).  By this time it had slithered under the camper to the other side and down a hole.  Mark, the maintenance man, told us it was a gopher snake (non-poisonous) which has the same coloring as a rattlesnake, but no rattle and a smaller head.  He ran water down the hole.  It took a while but eventually the snake came out.  Mark collected him on a shovel, put him in his vehicle and took him away.  We don't have any pictures because the camera was still in the truck.  David & Ken were busy watching the snake capture and Mary Lee and I weren't going outside.  Wonder what adventure we will have tomorrow :~)

We ARE in Kansas, Toto!

Kansas state seal

It has been a great day.  After church with the Pikes Peak congregation in Colorado Springs, we drove on to Pikes Peak.  We took the 1+ hr cog railroad train ride to the top of Pikes Peak.  The weather has been glorious.  One of the best days weather-wise that we've had.  The sun was shining in a Carolina blue sky.  I loved how the sun shone through the Ponderosa pines and the Quaking aspens.  We only had a little over 30 minutes at the top.  We took a few pictures, visited the gift shop and got back on the train for the trip down the mountain.  From there we wandered around the streets and shops of Manitoba Springs.  After dinner, David and Mary Lee went to chase the sun in search of the perfect sunset.

Pikes Peak Church of Christ, Colorado Springs

the sky, the pines & the aspen -- a view from the train

Marmet seen from train window

Mary Lee wanted to be the tallest

the train waiting for return trip

view from summit

 

Sunday sunset was not "perfect" -- this is the one Mary Lee took on Saturday

 

 looking for perfect sunset, Mary Lee & David saw this Prairie Dog

Not much to write about today.  We drove from Fort Collins, Co to Fountain, Co (near Colorado Springs).  Again the wind was blowing hard which creates a challenge for David to drive in.  Once we got set up Mary Lee and I did the laundry.  We are getting ready to grill hot dogs.  More tomorrow:~)

For Mary Lee and me this has been a very relaxing day.  After David & Ken left to go to a car show, Mary Lee and I went for a long walk around the campground.  Then I read, talked to the girls, caught up on my games -- I know I'm behind again already -- and took a nap.  Mary Lee read, talked with her brothers and kids, and worked on her quilt project.

Ken and David thoroughly enjoyed the car show.  There was an estimated 2000 cars at this show.  Mary Lee and I were surprised they got back before dark.

a partial view of the cars

 

It is Thursday night.  We have had a long travel day.  We didn't get out of Rapid City, SD until shortly after 12:00.  We had another tire problem.  This time David found a patch in the "brand new" tire -- there will be a refund.  While David & Ken were dealing with getting a new tire,  Mary Lee and I went to another quilt store.  I thought it was a really neat store and I don't even quilt.  When we left there, we happened to see, just across the street, a little cafe/bakery.  We got tasty sandwiches/salad for lunch AND scrumptious bread pudding for dessert.  We drove from South Dakota, through part of Wyoming and arrived in Colorado early this evening.

Yesterday we went to Mt Rushmore.  It is awesome.  The walkway to the viewing terrace is lined with state flags. We watched the movie and explored the museum -- both very informative.  We walked the Presidential Trail which shows the "faces" from different angles.  Just a side note -- there are approximately 400 steps on this trail.  Thankfully, the way we went, most of those went down.   At 9:00pm there is a Lighting Ceremony.   We came back for that.  It was super.  A ranger gives a short talk, then the film "America's Lasting Legacy is shown", next is the song "America the Beautiful" followed by all of us singing "The Star-Spangled Banner".  While we were singing the "faces" slowly light up.  That wasn't the end.  When we finished singing, the ranger asked all military (current & former) to come on stage.  They grouped around the flag and did a formal flag lowering.  After that each person introduced themselves and said which branch of the military they served in.  It was so moving -- lots of applause.

Between our original visit and the evening lighting ceremony we had quite a bit of time.  The next thing on our list was the Crazy Horse Monument.   This is quite an ambitious project which gets no government funding and is years and years from being finished.  We thought the focus would be on Crazy Horse, who was a great leader of his people.  However, Crazy Horse is meant to represent all Indian tribes and the focus of the facility is the sculptor, Korczek Ziolkowski -- his life and work on the sculpture.  We took a short bus tour around the bottom of the mountain.  It is an interesting story, but we were somewhat disappointed that we didn't learn more about Crazy Horse himself.

We still had time before the evening lighting, so we rode back into Rapid City.  David & Ken decided to go see Star Trek in 3D.  Mary Lee and I checked out the local mall.  After we picked them up following the movie and had dinner, we went back to Mt Rushmore.  A long, but fun day.

We were so excited to see this sign

 

It was still cold and the wind was still blowing.  Thanks to Lib Leonard for making my hat.

 

as seen from the viewing terrace

why these four presidents

flag walkway at night

after lighting ceremony

Crazy Horse as it looks now

Model of the final concept

 

Today has been a traveling day.  We left Sheridan, Wyo this morning and are set up in Rapid City, SD.  The sun has been shining all day, but the wind continues to blow -- not as hard as yesterday (as we say in the south "it has laid down some").  We have had a little misfortune.  Somewhere along the way we ran over a nail and now have a flat tire.  Fortunately, Dave has the equilivant of AAA for travel trailers, so we are waiting for the guy to come change the tire.  Then the tire will need to be plugged if possible.  All in all a fixable problem.  Update on tire -- it wasn't a nail, the tire had separated.  We've been to WalMart and now have a new tire. 

The wind has been our nemesis almost from the beginning of our trip.  Today has been no exception.  Yesterday just about dark, the wind picked up and it began to rain.  It continued all night.  This morning the sun was shining brightly; but the wind was still blowing.  We left Cody, Wyo headed to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana.  Before we got to far down the road, it began to rain again.  For these four southerners it has been a cold, wet day.

Even with that, we found the Little Bighorn Battlefield very interesting.  We took a van tour of the battlefield, watched a short film and attended a ranger talk.  The ranger was fascinating.  He is a retired history teacher.  He brought the battle to life.  He had such an extensive knowledge of the battle as well as the background of both the Native Indians (especially Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse) and the soldiers (Custer & others).   It was really a battle between two extremely different cultures where the Indians won the battle, but eventually lost the war.

All over the battlefield are white headstones and red/brown headstones.  These mark where soldiers/scouts/civilians (white) and Indians (red/brown) fell and died.  Custer's has a black shield on it.  The original burial sites were shallow.  The remains were later re-interred. Custer's remains are buried at West Point.  Some of the others were transferred to eastern cemeteries, the rest were buried in a mass grave around the base of the memorial.  After the battle, the Indians removed their dead. 

We left there headed back into Wyo to Sheridan.  Wyoming and Montana are beautiful.  Shortly before we got to the Wyoming border, the sun came out, but the wind continued to blow.  It's been a good day -- looking forward to tomorrow.

Custer (black shield) & other markers on Last Stand Hill

base of memorial on Last Stand Hill

 

Montana/Wyoming landscape

We began our day in Wyo, drove to Montana & ended our day back in Wyo.

It is now Sunday afternoon. We've been to church, even though the church had moved a mile east of the address we had and had changed there meeting time by 1/2 hr.  At the original address we met a very nice young man from southern TX who had the same info we did.  He quickly used his I-phone and got the correct address.  We all walked in together -- 1/2 hr late.  We did get there in time for communion and the lesson.  Good lesson, good people.  After lunch, Mary Lee and I did the laundry.  Now it's time to just chill -- David is cooking brats for dinner.  YUM!!

We are in Cody, Wyo.  After we discovered we couldn't go to Glacier Park, we decided to head toward The Little Big Horn/Mt Rushmore -- that general direction.  A good stopping point was Cody, Wyo.  When we were here a few days ago, we just visited the Buffalo Bill museum.  Since it was now June, several events have begun.  We were told when we checked in that the Irma Hotel (built by Buffalo Bill) served wonderful prime rib.  Plus it was the season opening night of the gunfight.  It was a cute 45 minute skit performed in the middle of the street in front of the Irma.  The actors were not professional, but had a good time.  There were dancing girls, Calamity Jane, Doc Holiday, Rooster Cogburn, Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, an old sheriff named Fred & the bad guys.  The bad guys robbed the bank, the good guys saved the town -- there was lots of gunfire (blanks) in a wild finale.  It was also opening night for the rodeo season.  Opening night admission was only $5 -- how could we pass that up.  We thoroughly enjoyed it -- lots of action & excitement.

We got there early -- there was a good sized crowd by the time the fun began.

Opening ceremony

 

 

On May 24th we left Salt Lake City. We traveled through Idaho, Montana and arrived at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. One of the things we discovered when we got to our campsite was that there was little to zero cell/internet service in the park. I am surprised how attached we are to our "technology". I would like to say that after a week, we decided we did not need cell phones, laptops & ipads; but the truth is we are very happy to be "connected" again.  I felt very isolated and out of touch.  I will try to recap our week -- sort of a Readers Digest version.

We saw lots of animals:  buffalo, elk, wolf, bear, big-horn sheep, mule deer, and moose.  Mary Lee got closer to a bear than she ever imagined.  She was walking from our campsite to the trash bin when she saw a bear three campsites over from ours (about 20 ft. away).  Thankfully, the bear did not notice Mary Lee.  She hurried back into the camper.  We spent the next hour or so watching the bear in and around our general area.

The weather:  It was cool & COLD.  We had it all -- rain, sleet, snow and a thunderstorm.  One day was a complete washout with constant rain.

Things we saw and did:  Mud Volcanoes (sulfuric gases escaping though the earth, creating smelly, very smelly mud pots) unreal looking.  Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone where we took a ranger guided walk from the Upper Falls to the Lower Falls; from there we went to Tower Falls -- awesome.  We visited Old Faithful -- the most famous geyser, I suppose.  We also went to the Norris Geyser basin which has lots of geysers and boiling springs.  We drove the Firehole Lake Dr where we actually saw a small geyser erupting.  Because geysers & boiling springs are so hot and so acidic not much can survive in the area around them -- creates a bleak landscape.  On the day we went to the Norris Geyser basin we also saw Gibbon Falls -- a treat after the starkness of the basin.  One sight I had not thought about seeing was the fire damage.  We heard a ranger say that fire is a part of the cycle of life in the park.  The main tree in the park is the lodge pole pine.  The only way to release the seeds from its pine cones is fire.  However, there has been so much fire.

Places we went:  Cody, Wyo.  In Cody, Ken and David went to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum.  Mary Lee and I took a side trip to a quilt store.  When we finished there, we joined the guys at the museum.  It is a very well done museum.  It has an extensive gun exhibit, a great photo gallery plus the life story of Buffalo Bill.

Jackson, Wyo.(aka Jackson Hole, Wyo.)  On the way to Jackson we stopped at the Visitor Center in Moose, Wyo.  Shortly after leaving the visitor center, we actually saw a moose.  We took the scenic drive to Jackson and got to see an awesome view of the Grand Tetons.  When I think of mountains, I visualize the Grand Tetons.  Jackson is a pretty town -- very clean, lots of flowers and antler arches.  On the way back to our campsite, we saw a rainbow.

All in all it was a good week.  A must see part of our country.  Our next stop was to have been Glacier National Park in Montana.  Ken and David talked to a ranger and found out that one of the main roads through Glacier was still closed because of several feet of snow and would probably not open until mid-July.  We are making an adjustment to our plans.

buffalo with calves

wolf

Mamma Elk with calf

Mary Lee's bear 

Big-horn sheep

Moose

Mule Deer

Mudpot

Upper Falls in Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Lower Falls in Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Tower Falls

Old Faithful

Norris Geyser Basin

Gibbon Falls

Fire damage

The Grand Tetons

Jackson, Wyo

If you look very close, you can see the rainbow