We left Colorado Springs and the drive to Great Sand Dunes was worth all the angst through Kansas!  We had spectacular scenery with great white puffy clouds in a cobalt blue sky with snow capped mountains, what more could we want?!!!

We didn’t know what more we could want until the Sand Dunes loomed ahead surrounded by piñon forests and mountains.  This is the most spectacular place, if you are anywhere near you should come to see it.  

If you can picture the movies you’ve seen of the Sahara Desert you can get a bit of an idea what these are like.  Luanne was just at the Indiana Dunes and she is in awe of these.  They go on and on and on, the pictures I’ll post with this can’t begin to do it justice.  

The campground is great and we are all pretty close together.

This morning we hiked down the dune trail to the water which flows at the base of the dunes.  There were kids all over playing in the shallow flowing water and the dogs loved it as much as the kids.

Carly wore me out just watching her race around!  She climbed the lower dunes twice and still was chasing sticks when they got back.  

Time for a midday rest.  Thinking about a hike this afternoon on the waterfall trail.

TODAY'S EXCITEMENT

The day started off with a great visit to The Garden of the Gods and the climbers were out scaling perpendicular walls. One of them gave us a real scare when he slipped, thank God he was roped to another climber because he was on his was to a horrible fall.

After lunch we headed to Manibou Springs, people watched and shopped around.  Luanne and I needed to get fishing licenses and Jeanne was nice enough to take us to the fly shop, about ten minutes away.

We walked in the door of the shop and Luanne discovered her wallet with EVERYTHING she had with her was gone.  PANIC TIME!!!   We headed out the door to get back to Manitou Springs, I was on the phone with the police station when she had a call.  It was from her credit card company, the person who found her wallet was smart enough to call them and ask the CC company to call Luanne.  They actually patched her through to the young people who had found it to arrange a pick up point.  Talk about relieved, she was beyond upset, and this at the start of our trip.  Restores your faith in human kind!

Off tonight to a nice little Italian restaurant we discovered the last time we were here.  Tomorrow, Great Sand Dunes National Park, and probably no more posting until we get to Durango.

The drive from Goodland KS to Colorado Springs was blessedly a piece of cake after the storms of the day before.  We arrived at Garden of the Gods Campground to be met by Jeanne and Partly who traveled from North Carolina to meet us.  

The campground is packed and not much communing with nature, but the location is perfect.  There is a trail running along a creek which takes us into Manitou Springs and Garden of the Gods is in our backyard.  We're off to both this morning.  

Here are just a few pictures, not too much exciting yet.

This mosaic was under an overpass as we walked the Manitou Springs Trail.

Old shed must have once been along the road.

Who belongs to these feet?  Diane's lock on her storage was sticking so if you travel with us you needed no more hint to know that Wilson was at work yet once again!!!

 This was a great overnight stop, Deer Creek RV Park in Topeka, KS.  Really nice people and well cared for!

Tonight finds us in Goodland, KS after a very difficult day of driving.  Although there were no tornados in our path, the skies were heavy and full of swirling, gusting winds and heavy rains all the way across the state.  It's a day which would have made the Wizard proud!  We are grateful to be safely in our sites for the night with winds still gusting and the sun once again shining.

We were within walking distance of a Pizza Hut for a cold beer, salad and pizza.  As we went in I noticed this huge metal easel and after dinner we took a walk over to discover The Sunflowers!  Made me wonder if the winds had blown us to Paris!

Tomorrow Colorado Springs and the mountains!!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Wow!  It's been a while since I've posted to the blog.  It's not that I haven't been traveling, just that we've been to places I'd already posted about before.  We've had trips to Hunting Island, Fall Creek Falls, Trout Lake and spots in between.

Last fall I bought a new 23 foot Four Winds Siesta that I love.  It is more compact than Saffire I
but has everything Teddy and I need to continue having fun and hopefully many miles on the road.
Saffire II already has almost 4,000 miles and we're getting ready to add lots more when we leave for Colorado and Utah with several of our WAC friends.

Our itinerary includes stops in Colorado Spring; Great Sand Dunes National Park; Durango; Mesa Verde; Monument Valley; Moab and other points unknown.  I've long wanted to see Mesa Verda and have been fascinated by the story of the Anasazi.  And the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge RR is also something I've wanted to do, so stay tuned for trip reports and pictures to come!