Redstone to Crystal, Colorado

Pictures:
#1- Lizard Lake
#2- Road to Crystal
#3- Old Mill
#4-John, Betsy, Jamie&Tipper, Elaine&Katie

Enjoy the Views

#1 Waterfall above Telluride
#2 John,Jeff, Rocket & Woodrow, Karen, Elaine
#3 Last Dollar Road scene

The Western Slope

So sorry we been out of touch for so many days. Quite simply we have been having
time of our lives! Oh, the things we have seen and done. The western slope of the Rocky Mountains holds so many visual wonders. We have had the very best tour guides anyone could ever have—John and Elaine Merkert. We took off for Ridgway State Park which is in the area called the Switzerland of the Rocky's near Ridgway Colorado, Ouray & Telluride. If you are interested in some awesome pictures I’ll be happy to burn you a disc and send to you.
We met up with John and Elaine’s friends Jeff and Karen and they all took us in like we were old friends. What a cordial, wonderful group of people and dogs! We ate, toured, and laughed so hard we cried.

John and Elaine took us on our first 4-wheel jeep tour on Last Dollar Road over the mountain from Rigway to Telluride through high mountain meadows, Aspen groves, rushing mountain streams and by old abandoned ranches. I was not sure if I would like the experience and now I am hooked on seeing the mountains “up close and personal.” Betsy

Betsy is correct, we've seen some absolutely beautiful sights. The ride over the mountains to Telluride was spectacular.
But my favorite was our second Jeep trip from Redstone to Marble and then on to the tiny town (about 5 or 6 cabins) of Crystal.
Our driver, Cousin John said that if you see pictures of Colorado scenery it was probably taken in this area. We four wheeled
up paths that I think a mule would have trouble with. We were about a mile from Crystal and met a couple walking down the
path. We stopped to talk and I noticed that the man had a Notre Dame hat on. I ask if he was a fan or from Indiana and he said "both". He and his wife were from Elkhart! He told us to be sure to stop at his friends house in Crystal and buy some books about the area. We did stop and discovered that the authors wife and the only other customer in the "shop" were both graduates of Indiana State University!! So we had the authors wife, the customer, Betsy, Jamie, and John all in little Crystal, CO and graduates of good ol' ISU!

John and Elaine's friends, Jeff and Karen were so nice. Jeff is so laid back. Karen on the other hand is a female version of Ed Merkert. I'm not sure what planet Ed and Karen came from, but I think it was the same one. The last day at Ridgway Jeff and I took a wonderful trip in his two person kayak. We found a waterfall that emptied into the lake and positioned the kayak so that on the left was the waterfall and the right were the spectacular mountains. You couldn't help but say WOW when you looked either left or right.

The whole Colorado portion of our trip was so special because of John, Elaine, Jeff and Karen. All four are slightly nut's but in a good way.

We returned to Denver and Chatfield State Park on Tuesday to regroup. On Wednesday evening we invited John and Elaine to our campsite for our first dinner party in the trailer. I cooked dutchoven stew and Betsy whipped up a peach tart. The stew took almost all afternoon to cook because of the altitude.

This morning we left Denver and headed north into Wyoming per John's directions. We are now in Lusk, Wyoming(population 1500) which is located in the east central part of the state. Tomorrow we head east into Nebraska and then north to the Black Hills area. I purchased a gold pan in Denver that I'm just itching to try out. The store offered two sizes of pan's and I selected the big one because I plan on finding a lot of gold. JK

Picture #1-Aspen grove
Picture #2- John, Elaine, Jamie, Tipper & Katie Kazoo

???- I've lost track of the date! I think it's August

What a beautiful sunrise in the Colorado foothills to the Rockies. We are camped at Chatfield State Park on top of the mesa looking over Littleton, Colorado to the north, the Rockies to the West and towards Castle Rock to the south. The sun is shining and beautiful hitting the mountains out our front window. We were able to take it easy this morning waiting till John calls to go pick up his jeep.

Preparations for our trip (today) have been moving ahead for the past two days with lots of visiting in between. We even had breakfast with our Indiana/Missouri friends Kay and Ernie in Lakewood, Co. They were in for the weekend visiting their grandchildren.

We will probably be out of wifi for the next few daysin the southwestern part of the state. We will take lots of pictures and catch up when we return to Chatfield Park on Tuesday. bk

August 6,2008-Oakley, Kansas to Colorado!

Oakley, Kansas to Littleton, Colorado. We survived a, normal for them, wild for us thunderstorm on the high prairie last night. The trailer was swaying wildly and the lightning was flashing but it finally calmed down enough so we could fall asleep. We passed several sunflower fields in bloom and loved the site. As we were getting close to Denver we got off the interstate onto SR 86, the scenic route into Denver. It was lovely. Rolling hills and cattle ranches all the way in. We arrived at Chatfield State Park south of Denver and settled in. The view is spectacular!!! The weather is hot and sunny but in the west it is so dry you don’t mind the heat at all.

After 25 years between visits, we arrived at John and Elaine’s (Jamie’s cousin) and were happy to see them and meet their pup Katie. She and Tipper had a ball playing in their beautiful back yard. BK

Picture one is the High Plains Campground in Oakley Kansas, #2 is of the sunflower fields as we whiz by.

Aug 4, 2008--Topeka to Oakley, KS

Good Grief, we're still in Kansas! They really need to break this state into two states--East Kansas and West Kansas. We started today from Topeka and headed south to Council Grove which is the start of the Santa Fe Trail and is smack dab in the middle of the Flint Hills which are really very pretty. From Council Grove we drove south to the Tallgrass Nature Preserve which is a ranch that was donated to the Nature Conservancy but is run by the Federal Park Service. All of the buildings were made of limestone that was quarried locally. Quite impressive was the stone outhouse. Being from Indiana and being old enough to remember and actually use an outhouse a time or two, I was totally awestruck by the stone outhouse. I have heard of a brick s---house, but had never heard or seen one made of stone. I guess we can go home now as I've probably seen the most impressive sight. After our little side trip we headed back to I-70 and continued to slog our way west. What's the difference between Arizona and Kansas in a heat wave? Nothing, except Kansas is green. Our in truck thermometer at one point showed the temperature as 106 and it was 100 or above most of the afternoon. I've talked with some locals and they assure me that the western boundary of Kansas is "just up the road a piece". I think we've actually slipped into one of those old Twilight Zone movies. JK

I enjoyed the Tallgrass Prairie and adding one more stamp to my National Parks passbook. Picture one looks out over the Flint Hills and three is of the aforementioned outhouse, both at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. The second picture is one taken as we were traveling into Council Grove on KS 177 which is a scenic byway. They had different metal sculpture posted on the hills as you came into town, very cool. It was a great drive to see the largely undisturbed grassland of the prairie. BK

Aug 3, 2008--E'town to Topeka

Yes Tipper, we are in Kansas!! We hit the road at 4:45 AM today and really weren't planning on driving just over 600 miles, but about the time we would have normally headed for a campground it dawned on us that with the temperature at 100 degree's we would be just as comfortable in the truck rolling down the road. Betsy mentioned that it might be nice to stop and look at something on the way. She wasn't aware that all attractions are closed when the temp is this high, and besides it's Sunday.
Our dusty, treeless campground leaves something to be desired in the area of attractiveness. But they do have an on site storm shelter!! After seeing some of the permanent residents I think I'd rather stay out in the storm. We hooked up the electric for A/C, and the hose for water and then retreated into the trailer to escape the heat. We also closed all the curtains to help the A/C cool our little trailer. As we sat there, in near dark conditions, listening to the hum of the A/C Betsy commented -"this camping is really neat"!
jk
No pictures today. Just imagine a haze of heat rolling off aluminum.
Betsy