Home Again, Sunday, May 23

I am home after almost 2400 miles....Saffire is emptied save for the gear under the bed...the first load of wash is in....and I'm already dreaming about where we might go next!

There are lots of pictures of me in this final post because I have Luanne's pictures to post. It looks like I had a really good time!

In thinking back over the trip, it strikes me that Saffire is an enabler. She enables me to see people and places with a kaleidoscopic view, to be a participant in life, experiencing the first view of the snow capped mountain; the flash of the rainbow trout as it strikes a lure; the sparkling silver and deep turquoise of the Indian jewelry; the swirling dust of the poverty of the Pueblo Indians; the majesty of the bear and his dominance of the natural world; the amazing sound of friends laughing and sharing; the power of nature in the towering rock formations and thundering waterfalls; the fun of finding shapes in the billowing clouds; the satisfaction of a tired body after an active day.

I realize how very fortunate I am to be able to travel and share these experiences with family and friends.

I hope you've enjoyed taking this trip with us. We'll likely be back for a summer outing to one of Missouri's beautiful streams for kayaking and a campfire. Then in the fall to Big South Fork with the whole WAC group. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Saline, KS KOA Bathroom

OK, I know you're thinking "what the heck" but this bathroom had to be photographed. This is a small, family run KOA right off Interstate 70 in Salina. We were walking the dogs after arriving and Luanne made a quick trip in, only to come out and tell me I had to go check it out.

Prairie Museum, Colby KS

Yesterday morning in the Garden of the Gods Campground we met a Dad and his 11ish year old daughter Olivia from Erie, PA. They were on a big adventure through the west with the Mom and a 16 year old sister. Olivia said her two favorite places were the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the Prairie Museum in Colby. They were a really nice family.

So when we were trucking across boring, flat Kansas we realized we would be passing right through Colby and decided to make a stop and check it out. It is a little jewel for anyone who likes history and "things". The woman who donated all her treasures to the museum must never have thrown a single thing away, from buttons, marbles, dresses, kitchen ware, musical instruments and on and on and on. The second part of the museum was a replication of a typical Kansan plains town.

Out we went, the only people in town. We walked into the plank house and I felt like I was walking into my Grandmother's time, from the crocheted table cloth made by Tante Gusta to the crank phone on the wall. There was a Victrola with 78 rpm records like Grandma had in her basement. There was a piano that Luanne promptly played and we had early evening entertainment!

Our next stop was the one room school house where I promptly took charge as teacher, ringing the class to order.

Luanne's favorite spot in town was the sod house, or the "soddie". It was a typical pioneer construction on the outside but the inside was nicely finished and Luanne decided to move in.

She practiced rocking the baby with her foot while doing her knitting and darned near spent the afternoon doing it!

The barn was huge, and beautiful for a barn. The church was Evangelical and Luanne found a pump organ and was once again regaling the congregation.

We spent last night at a campground in Salina KS. Once again, we have great weather except for the winds which are blowing steadily at over 20 mph with greater gusts. We are headed for Columbia MO tonight, about a 5 hour drive. Luanne leaves Sunday morning for the north and I'll head for the last couple of hours drive west and home.

Saturday late afternoon

We've made it to Columbia after driving through the heaviest winds we've encountered anywhere save our torndadic dust storm in Taos. It was gusting and swirling and we really knew we were in Kansas! We stopped at a rest stop and it was literally hard to stand up against the winds.

Now sitting with a Bloody Mary and enjoying not having to drive any more today! I'm about two hours from home but too much to even think about going tonight, besides, one more night laughing with Luanne before the trip is over!!

LAST DAY OF PLAY, GARDEN OF THE GODS, CO

Today is our last "real" day of vacation and we are making the most of it. We leave for home tomorrow morning, planning to drive to Salina, Ks; then on to Columbia, MO; then Luanne will head north and I'll have a short drive east to be home Sunday.

We woke to clouds and the promise of a beautiful day. It may be 70 degrees and a soft breeze is blowing. I really like what I've seen of Colorado Springs. We went to a dog park this morning to let Teddy and Tucker run. It was a beautiful park with trails and a flowing mountain stream. I think it took Luanne to another dimension.

She has her mountain bike racked on top of the car. As we came out of the park she drove through craters, honest to God holes that reached to China, and claims she never saw them. The groaning and snapping of steel and the thunk of the bike on the top of the car told us she'd done some damage. Her rack snapped, so down came the bike onto the top of the car and she'll have to get a new rack when she gets home.

Saffire has been carrying my bike in a rack that will also hold hers, so she won't have to put it into the A to travel, which makes things much easier. Luanne is off right now mountain biking at Garden of the Gods. We got some final pictures of her in case she the God's decide to keep her!!

We went from there to the Garden and spent the morning walking in the spectacular rock formations. We saw rock climbers who are out of their minds scaling perpendicular faces. We ran into a bunch of German students here for a ten day tour. I spoke to them for a bit and they loved Teddy. They took a bunch of pictures of him before we went on, it was great fun for me.

We passed the yarn shop where I bought the hanks of yarn yesterday and Luanne says she will wear whatever it is the loom produces, and my challenge is to have a scarf ready for her before the fall trip. So if you are coming to Big South Fork look for a beautiful blue color around her neck, but don't look too closely!!

The pictures today are of the climbers; the "Kissing Camels"; the "Buffalo"; the "Dogs", well OK, it really is Tucker and Teddy and a few miscellaneous pix too.

This will probably be the last post before getting home Sunday. Hopefully there is nothing

but easy travel between now and then. I'll give you a final update from St. Louis!

Wednesday, Garden of the Gods, CO

Wow, are we happy! While we are missing Deb and Nancy and feel so bad that Nancy is still in the howling winds, we are very glad to be where the trees aren't bending sideways!!

We arrived in Colorado Springs to a rainy day which has turned into a beautiful evening. The forecast is for a high of 70 and mostly sunny tomorrow. The drive over today was easy. After we arrived and looked at the bad weather moving across Kansas and realized that we are literally a two minute drive from Garden of the Gods and about five minutes from Manitou Springs we've decided to stay a second night.

Julie, Kristin and I were at the Garden of the Gods on a trip we took to Colorado years ago.

It is even more beautiful than I remembered. The name of the Garden came about in the 1800's when two businessmen were exploring the property and one said he thought it would make a great beer garden, the other said "it's not a beer garden, it's a garden of God".

We drove through today and found out we can take the dogs anywhere in the park.

After the Garden we went into Manitou Springs. Luanne realized she had been there a couple of years ago, she hadn't gone anywhere except to the cog railway to go up Pike's Peak. We walked all over town, shopping a little and looking at the old houses. I bought a small loom in Taos and we found a yarn shop here where I bought two hanks of beautiful blue yarn. The idea is to make a scarf, we'll see how it turns out!

Dinner was at an outstanding Italian restaurant, not only was it great tonight but will be good again tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to walk the trails in the morning. They also have mountain biking trails an Luanne is going to ride in the afternoon. I'm going to continue my book, The Glass Room, which I like a lot.

The pictures today are of the Garden of the Gods with two pictures I took in Manitou Springs.

The knife holder, merchandised as "Ex", was one of the weirder things I've seen anywhere, pretty sick actually but I couldn't resist a picture. The second was on a T shirt I would have gotten for Nancy which has her Indian name on it. I had to settle for a picture because the shop was closed. The last picture is posted for Deb, a picture of a painting in a gallery, taken because we know how Deb loves her margaritas!

Tuesday, Lathrop State Park, CO

Nancy saved Teddy’s life today! When we got up this morning he was just not himself. He was listless and his eyes were dull and I couldn’t get him to drink. I didn’t want to overreact but the altitude has been affecting all of us and I was afraid he was getting dehydrated. Nancy (also known as Dorothy because the winds follow her, and Just In Cast because she always has everything you could ever think of needing) had a hypodermic I could put water in and squirt into his mouth. It did the trick, and after sleeping while we drove today he was back to racing around like a fool with Tucker.

Today was a day of parting. Deb left first headed back to Gulf Shores, hoping to arrive in time to attend an auction at her condo complex. Nancy is staying two more days in Taos and then is headed to Chama, then on to Las Vegas where she will meet her daughter Susan.

Luanne and I left Taos and headed north through Questa, NM and on into Colorado. It was a wonderful drive. We went from huge, open vistas with snow covered mountains looming in the distance to a long pull up the mountain pass and a very fast trip back down.

Coming out of Taos I saw the most amazing purple and brick red house..I just wish I hadn’t been driving and could have gotten a picture. In the middle of nowhere a church perched on the top of a peak, the Way of the Cross. I’m going to have to find out more about it.

As we came down out of the mountains there was large rock to the left of the road with a deep cleft in it. As we came alongside I saw statues and candles lining the wall, it was a roadside shrine.

Just a bit further on was a perfect FedEx commercial. One of their trucks was zipping along a dusty, lonely ranch road back to the highway after making its delivery.

The winds were kicking up when I saw a huge bolt of lightening high in the sky that appeared to touch the ground in the distance. Just about then I saw our turnoff to Lathrop State Park in Colorado, and I was glad we weren’t going to drive into the storm.

This is a beautiful park, the view out my bedroom window is the lake with the snow capped mountain as a backdrop. The lake is full of fish, if we were going to be here longer I’d have to buy a license. We took a walk and the dogs played in the lake for a while. There are all kinds of wildflowers blooming here in a whole host of colors. I think the bluebells are my favorite.

Luanne came over and we finished the last of the margaritas, agreed that we really enjoyed traveling together (really!! not the margs talking), had left over chili for dinner and called it an evening. It’s about 7 and Teddy is chasing balls in our small space, Luanne, Tucker and Jeepers are in the A with their wind rope on. It should be very quiet and very dark here tonight.

Addendum...Wednesday morning

Quiet, no way Jose!!! The winds came up almost immediately after we went to bed. I kept expecting Luanne and Tucker to show up at my door. Saffire was rocking and I knew the A had to be much worse. We think these may be the worst winds of the trip.

I finally fell asleep after closing everything up tight and saying my prayers!! This morning Luanne said she didn’t sleep at all. That wind strap was the only peace of mind she had...oh, and the trees. Both our sites are lined by pinon pine trees which did serve as a bit of a windbreak. She says she got out of bed to double check the latches as she was afraid they were vibrating loose in the gusts.

Now....next challenge...closing the A as it is still gusting upwards of 50 miles an hour.

Monday Evening, Taos

We had a wonderful day at Coyote Creek State Park. It's really too bad we didn't discover this park earlier because we would have left Taos and gone there several days ago.

The fishing was spectacular, Luanne and I each brought in two beautiful, wild, big rainbow trout, it was absolutely wonderful. The stream was flowing and had several "ponds" and the stream had good paths to fishing spots. We were the only ones there!

We're all heading home tomorrow, Nancy going on west. Luanne and I are heading to Questo and then into Colorado and southern Kansas heading for Wichita and then a decision about 70 or 44 the rest of the way home.

Deb is heading south to Gulf Shores.

It's been a wonderful trip and going home should be a new adventure. I'll post if we have wifi, otherwise I'll see you in St. Louis for a final report.