Heading for Home!

7^th Sept.

The family running this camp at Manitou Springs turned on a Pancake breakfast. We drove to the car park for the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. Pikes Peak is one of the 14,000’ers in Colorado at 14,150ft. For most NZers, Pikes Peak is famous for its hill climb dominated by Steve and Rod Millen. The Cog Railway climbs from Manitou Springs right to the summit. A Cog Railway uses a centre toothed rail and a series of cogs power the train instead of the friction on the outside tracks.

This means that it can climb a 25% gradient. The ride to the top is only 9 miles but it takes 1.5 hours each way. It is the longest and highest cog railway in the world. Our trip was 4 hours with a ½ hour stop at the top. At 14,150ft you can certainly feel the effect of the altitude! The track was installed in 1891 and the present train has been used since 1964. It was a great relaxing ride with fantastic views from the top. After lunch in the car park we drove a short distance to Lake Pueblo State Park for the night.

8^th Sept.

We shopped at the Wal-Mart in Pueblo. We even managed to fill our propane tank (LPG). We are now on the long drive to Dallas where we will be storing ‘Ernie’. This trip is about 750 miles and will take us 6 odd days. As per the usual Megget ‘modus operandi’ we are not following the main interstate highways but the two laned country roads thru many small towns in Kansas, Oklahoma and north Texas. We headed east on the ’50’ and into Kansas. The land is flat and all farming. Lunch was at a park in Las Animas and our overnight stop was at a free Wildlife Area at Hamilton. It is a long time since there has been water in this lake! It was a nice place but the flies were horrendous. There was a feed lot for cattle 2 miles down the road which may be the reason for the flies. In the evening we sat outside and watched the lightning illuminating inside the huge clouds.

 

9^th Sept.

Breakfast in lovely sunshine before heading further east. Driving was a bit tough with a strong SW wind buffeting ‘Ernie’ and we stopped at Dodge City. This is Wild West country and the sheriff was Wyatt Earp. We walked thru the town but it was all a bit disappointing. We had lunch in a car park before continuing on to Greensburg where we camped, again free, by a fishing lake. The temperatures during the day are around 37C. It did not cool in the evening and sleeping was difficult, not helped by another time zone change, until rain and a wind change, brought the temperature down. Greensburg’s claim to fame is that in May 2007 the largest tornado on record in the USA destroyed the town and killed 12 people. We must be crazy staying here!!  

10^th Sept.

The weather is much cooler and the wind is now behind us making the driving much easier. Eventually we left the flat farmlands of Kansas and crossed into the rolling country of Oklahoma. The small rural towns are fascinating most with a “Main St” with two storied brick buildings. Like everywhere, however, the small shops have closed, replaced by one supermarket. We stopped for the night at Roman Nose State Park. (named after a local Indian Chief) In the evening we rode our bikes to a couple of natural springs, one with a waterfall in a cave.

11^th Sept.

We followed the ‘281’ for 100 odd miles zig zagging thru small Oklahoma towns and eventually took a slight detour west to the Wichita Mountains. For mountains read hills but in this part of the world anything can be called a mountain! We checked out the visitors centre before finding a great camp site in this Wildlife Refuge. On the way we spied some long horned cattle. We overlooked a small lake and sat in the afternoon enjoying the sunshine thinking we would do a bike ride and a longish walk tomorrow. There is a total alcohol ban in this park so we had to be slightly discreet with our evening drinks.

12^th Sept.

We woke to the pitter patter of rain which slowly got heavier and the wind increased. It was also cold. So much for our bike ride and hike. We spent the day inside reading and a few odd jobs. I even fixed a couple of bike punctures in the kitchen sink. The heavy blanket came out tonight.

13^th Sept.

Pancakes for breakfast and we even ran the gas heater for a while. We headed further south thru Oklahoma to the Lake Murray State Park. After lunch we biked down the road to the next camp for a view of the lake. Our route home was the Anadarche Trail. This turned out to be a “challenging” but nice ride with mud, rocks and steep bits. (had to walk some parts!) We deserved a beer when we got back to ‘Ernie’.

                                     14^th Sept.

South again and into Texas. These must be God faring folks! The churches are huge, mostly Baptist, and everywhere. It is hard to imagine where everyone comes from on a Sunday to fill them. We stopped at a Wal-Mart for a few things before continuing on to the Ray Roberts Lake State Park. This was much dearer than last night in Oklahoma. Some State Parks charge a day fee as well as the camping fee. This is a huge park and we cycled 3 miles of pathways before heading down a track to some cycle trails. Unfortunately we got thoroughly lost and ended up again on “challenging” tracks going round in circles never seeming to come to an end. Eventually, to our relief, we recognized part of the track and found our way back to the camp.

15^th Sept.

This is our last day on the road. It was a short drive thru ever increasing traffic into the outskirts of Dallas and Fort Worth. Our first stop was at the storage facility where ‘Ernie’ will have a well earned rest for about 7 months. We were thrilled with the professional looking outfit where we signed our rental agreement and saw our storage site. It was a short drive to the camp we had booked for the next three nights, to clean and prepare the camper for storage on Thursday.

16^th Sept.

You are not allowed to wash vehicles in this camp so we headed down the road for a couple of miles to a car wash. They had a bay big enough for ‘Ernie’ and we soon got the hang of the system. It cost us $4.50 which we thought was cheap as it included the shampoo. Back at the camp I cleaned and service the bikes and a Val did a wash. In the afternoon we sat in the shade reading. Most nights we watch an hour’s worth of DVDs, either half a movie or an episode of two TV series which the girls gave us. We watched the very last episode of ‘Outrageous Fortune’ (thanks Nicola) and will watch the last episode of ‘Call the Midwife’ (thanks Claire) tomorrow night.

17^th Sept.

This is our last full day in the USA. Val washed the bedding and we put the mattress out to air. It did not take long as it is about 37C. In the afternoon we worked inside with the air con on cleaning and packing. Tomorrow morning we have a taxi booked from the storage place to the Dallas Fort Worth airport where we have a flight to L.A (3 ½ hours) and then the long flight home. It has been a great 6 month trip. We have driven 9,500 miles and visited 13 states as well as B.C., Canada. The trip has been more varied this year with the coastline, mountains, Alaska cruise, the Rockies, the Prairies and the flat lands of Kansas,  Oklahoma and Texas. Next year we will start by heading south into Louisiana and New Orleans.  

Back to Colorado

28^th August

It was a short distance to the visitors centre at the Scotts Bluff National Monument where we were transported to the top of the bluff, thru three tunnels, by a friendly ranger.

There were great views in every direction but heavy clouds were all around. We hurried back down the 1.6 mile track to ‘Ernie’ just making it before the rain set in. We drove west, thru torrential rain, over the Nebraska/Wyoming border. There were many oil wells with huge rakes of rail tankers waiting to transport the crude oil south. There was also a huge open cast coal mine with an equally big rail freight terminal. Our camp site for the night was at Guernsey Reservoir on the North Platte River. Eventually the rain cleared and we spent a pleasant evening overlooking the reservoir.

29^th August

We left the State Park and headed south on the I-25 to Cheyenne where we shopped and had lunch before going further south to Greeley which is 50 miles north of Denver. It is Labour Weekend and campsites are scarce so we have booked for 3 nights at this little country town. The main attraction is the model railway museum which we will visit tomorrow. We skyped the girls as this is the first time we have had internet and a weekend all at the same time! NZ being 18 hours ahead makes for tricky timing!

30^th August

We hopped on our bikes and rode a couple of miles back into the town and the Colorado Model Railway Museum. What a place! I have seen some pretty good layouts but this was by far the best. You start the tour overlooking the complete display from a gallery and then you descend and follow around all of the tracks and scenes. There were about 10 trains running on this huge layout, each controlled by an operator who walks with his train and stops at all the signals etc. He is also in communication with an overall controller. (not fat!)

The trains were enormous (up to 100 wagons) and travelled at just the right speed thru towns, over viaducts and trestles and thru tunnels. The scenery was great with rivers, bridges and towns. There were also many little surprises like a forest fire (complete with flames and smoke) and police pulling a car over in one of the towns. A quick summary of the facts: Period – 1975, HO gauge, 5,500 sqft, 2,000 wagons and 150 engines and 20,000 trees of all types. We spent about 1.5 hours there before exploring the rest the town of Greeley.

In the early evening we cycled back into the centre of Greeley and had a drink at a nice pavement bar. The clouds built up as usual and we had a quick ride home just before the rain.

31^st August

Our original plan was to visit Denver today but the public transport did not work out. We will see Denver later. Plan B was to go for a bike ride following the Poudre Trail. Luckily Val spotted Goats Head Thorns in our tyres. We had these last year resulting in 4 flat tyres. Fortunately we only had one flat tyre this time so I took an hour to sort that out. We drove to the start of the trail at the other side of Greeley and then set off with our lunch following a flat sealed cycleway along the Poudre River. It was a nice fast ride but after about 7.5 miles another storm started to brew up so we turned tail, deciding not to eat our lunch,  and raced back to ‘Ernie’ again just beating the thunder, lightning and rain. We are getting very good at dodging these storms now! Back at the camp the sun came out and we spent the afternoon reading.

1^st Sept.

We head east for the last time this trip thru very populace areas of Evans and Loveland suddenly leaving the plains and the cities and up the Thompson Gorge into the Rocky Mountains. It was a long climb thru the gorge, with lots of traffic around, as this is Labour Day, a public holiday. We entered a plateau with a large tourist town of Estes Park which was jamb packed with cars and people. After negotiating this town we came to the Rocky Mountain National Park, our last N.P. on this trip. As everyone was leaving to go home we easily found a camp site.

In the afternoon we hiked a trail up to Cub Lake, 6.5 miles. The views were great. On the way home we encountered a large herd of Elk including a huge bull. Back at ‘Ernie’ we sat up a hill behind our site and watched the sun set with a beaut view of the Rockies. This camp is at 8150ft so the nights are cool.

2^nd Sept.

There is a great free shuttle bus service in this N.P. and we caught it up to the other end of the valley to Bear Lake. After consulting a ranger we set off for an 8 mile hike up into the mountains where we enjoyed 4 alpine lakes reaching an altitude of 10,200ft. It was a great day’s walk with spectacular views, and we were surprised that we coped with the altitude so well.

Back on the shuttle buses to our camp where we have decided to stay another day. At sunset we sat on ‘our’ hill enjoying the view and watching the herd Elk including two bulls fighting. It’s that season.

3^rd Sept.

The weather is still perfect so we caught the shuttle bus back up into the mountains and hiked a slightly less strenuous trail to yet another beautiful lake with the mountains in the background. Most of these mountains are over 14,000ft. 

It was a long zigzag trail back down to the shuttle stop. In the late afternoon we returned to ‘our’ hill and enjoyed the views.

 4^th Sept.

We left the Rocky Mountain National Park and drove thru the foothills to the Golden Gorge State Park visitors centre. The lady informed us that all the camping was back up the gorge road we had just driven. This trip also included some road works so we decided to continue on to the city of Golden where we were intending to be tomorrow night after our visit to Denver. We camped at the County Fairground and had a late lunch before checking out the route to the light rail station for tomorrow. It was only a short walk. The weather has cooled and it started to rain in the evening.

5^th Sept.

It was gray and overcast as we walked to the light rail station and purchased tickets to Union Station, Denver. The light rail has only been extended to Golden in the last year and was cheap, clean and quick. The main interesting part of Denver is 16^th St Mall which runs from the beautiful old Union Station up the pedestrian mall for about a mile, to the State Capitol Building at the top end.

The weather improved and we enjoyed the walk thru the busy retail and restaurant areas to the State buildings which are set in lovely gardens. It was lunch time as we walked back down the mall and we stopped a nice café and had lunch right on the pavement.

There are pianos in the middle of the area and anyone can play them. We were entertained by some guys during their lunch break. The beer I am drinking is called a “Big Bad Baptist”; I just had to try it! Back at Union Station we caught another light rail to a Model Railway Shop (Caboose Hobbies). It was huge but did not have anything I could use. Interesting though. Back on the light rail and the walk (in drizzle) to “Ernie”. We both decided walking around cities is more tiring than the hikes we have been doing.

6^th Sept.

We headed south out of the Denver area passed Colorado Springs to a small camp near Manitou Springs where we have booked a trip up Pikes Peak on the Cog Train tomorrow. The camp is small but there are many families enjoying one of the last weekends available in the mountains. We sat in the sun and had our lunch but the usual afternoon clouds rolled in, rain, thunder and lightning followed. There is good internet so we publish this blog.

Prairies & the Parks

14^th August

After a shop at Shelby for some hardware to fix a pump problem which has been slightly annoying us (me!), we continued our drive east along the ‘2’ across the prairies of Montana. This state is called the “Big Sky State” and we could appreciate why. The land is basically flat and the sky seems to dominate. It is mainly wheat and grains and grasslands with huge grain silos at each small town. We drove about 190 miles, stopping at a nice shady green park in the town of Havre for lunch and a rest. Our overnight stop was at the town of Malta where we were in a RV park behind some motels.

I tackled the pump wiring problem and it seems to be much better. We will not really know until our house battery is low.

15^th August

Back on the road east. The sky and the landscape are huge and we are really enjoying the isolation and the majesty of it all. We left the ‘2’ and headed south for a few miles to Fort Peck Lake where we found a nice cheap camp overlooking the lake.

This is a hydro lake with the 3^rd largest earth dam in the world and forms a lake with a coastline longer than California. It is damming the Missouri River which, when it joins the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico 1000s of miles to the south, virtually the whole length of the USA.

16^th August

We had a big electrical storm in the night with heavy rain and wind. We drove across the earth dam (4 miles) but very low and passed the power station.

It is quite small only generating 185MW. (Clyde 432MW) Back on the ‘2’ and more wheat growing areas. Near the North Dakota border we started to see oil wells and ‘donkeys’ pumping oil. We crossed the Montana/North Dakota border and suddenly there were oil rigs, drilling rigs and construction everywhere. There were miles of road works and construction camps. We stopped at Watford City but struggled to find an RV Park as they were all filled with permanent residents. Eventually we found the city park where there were two ‘tourist’camp sites. This town has a population of about 3000 but there are around 30,000 temporary oil workers crammed into any available accommodation, mostly mobile homes, portacoms, or old RVs and 5^th wheelers on any available land.

17^th August

We were quite happy to leave Watford City early and head the small distance to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Turning off the main road into the Park was like going into another world. From the oil wells and construction to the peace and quiet of the park. We had no trouble finding a camp site as this is a very isolated National Park and has not many visitors. We rode our bikes to a 1.5 mile interpretive walk up a coulee which is a valley between the rocky outcrops. This is the ‘Badlands’, so called because it is hard to get thru and the land is useless for farming.

On our bike home the road was blocked by a large herd of Bison. There were bulls, cows and even some calves. They are huge and seem prehistoric. Theodore Roosevelt had a ranch here in 1883 and said ‘he would not have become president if he had not spent time here’. We drove a 10 mile road to the other side of the Park and walked to a great view point with the Little Missouri River below.
 In the evening we went to a ranger talk on the Bison.

18^th August

We left the north part of the Theodore Roosevelt N.P. and drove 80 miles south to the other part of this N.P. We found a great camp site overlooking the Badlands. After lunch we biked 5 kms to the start of the Jones Creek trail and walked about 2 miles up a very isolated trail into the hills following the creek.

19^th August

We are staying another night in the south National Park. After a relaxing morning we drove a 30 mile loop stopping at all the view points. Near the end of the drive we came across a huge herd of bison on the road and had to very quietly drive thru them. It is the mating season and the bulls are very aggressive.

A bull can easily turn a car over so it’s not like driving thru cows going to milking in NZ! The other interesting animals we saw were Prairie Dogs. These are like very big squirrels with short tails and live together in a ‘town’ which is a field covered in burrows. They are called ‘dogs’ because they bark but it sounds more like a yelp! There are also many wild horses in this park.
In the evening we went to a ranger programme on the night life in the park.

20^th August

We had a long drive south thru North Dakota and across the border into South Dakota. Eventually we left the oil fields behind and drove miles on rolling farm land with very little to look at.

I am not a great fan of ‘cruise control’ but it has been getting a fair work out in the last few days. We have reached the “Black Hills of Dakota” as in the old song and will explore the area tomorrow.  At one point we passed the geographic centre of the United States. We have stopped in a lovely RV Park in Spearfish which has a nice swimming pool.

                                                      21^st August

A great leisurely drive up the Spearfish Canyon stopping at three waterfalls before the town of Deadwood for a Bison Burger and a beer. The Bison meat was great and very lean. The correct name is Bison but they are also frequently called Buffalo. Deadwood was a wild gold mining town made famous by Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. The skies opened and we had a wet walk back to ‘Ernie’ getting soaked. The drove was in torrential rain which cleared as fast as it started and we camped in a forest park at Pactola Lake. Another electrical storm drove us inside for dinner.

22^nd August

We left the lake and drove south to Keystone and on into the Mt Rushmore National Memorial where the famous carvings of the presidents are in the granite of Mt Rushmore.

It is very popular and therefore has a huge car parking building etc but once you got passed that it was spectacular. It was created to attract tourists and carving started in 1927 with 400 workers supervised by Gutzon Borglum. The heads are 60ft high and you can leave the crowds and walk right below them. From left to right they are: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Work stopped in 1941 because of the war and they have never been finished and will stay that way by act of government. We were impressed by this monument. We drove on south to Wind Cave National Park and found a very peaceful site in this small N.P. A cycle to the visitors centre to check out a cave trip tomorrow. Unfortunately the trip we wanted was fully booked but we are on standby. This park is in what they call mixed prairie and we enjoyed a short interpretive walk around the camp site.

There are many Bison, Elk, and Pronghorn in this park. In the evening we went to a ranger talk on fire in the park.

23^rd August

We had a relaxing morning and then rode to the visitors centre for our cave trip. Unfortunately our standby did not come thru so we joined another tour which was very good. You descend into the cave system via a lift! Only in the USA. But the trip then wound thru some tight passages and thru larger caverns. This is a dry cave so has no stalagmites or stalactites. It does have the world’s largest selections of Boxwork caused by the limestone being washed away leaving the harder material in the cracks. This is a huge cave system and the name ‘Wind Cave’ comes from the constant wind blowing in or out of the caves.

There are only two small natural entrances and depending on the air pressure outside determines whether the wind blows in or out at around 10mph but can get up to 50mph. When we exited the caves there was another storm brewing but we managed to cycle back to camp dry. The storm seemed to go right around us. In the evening we went to yet another ranger programme where a lady ranger told us the history of the area in poetry, song and stories. She was very good and it was interesting.

24^th August

We are off to another National Park called ‘Badlands’ passing the largest city in this area, Rapid City. These badlands are quite different from the ones in North Dakota. There are many jagged, unusual and dramatic rock formations formed by erosion.

The camp was very open and there was a strong wind blowing. We parked to shelter our door from the wind but the ‘Host Camper’ told us were not to park like that so we changed sites! We drove to the visitors centre just up the road and planned our visit. Driving the scenic drive up onto the plateau overlooking these rock formations was great and we stopped at a few view points. The colours were beautiful and the rocks are always changing as the sun shifts. In the evening we watched the light playing on the rugged rocks.

                                     25^th August

We drove back up into the main part of the N.P. and walked a 4 mile loop thru the rocks and back thru the prairie. Val nearly stood on a snake which we first thought was a ‘Rattler’ but in fact was a Bull snake, harmless but aggressive! We relocated to a more popular area of the park and walked a couple of short tails to spectacular view points and then climbed a more difficult trail up into the rocks. This trail included a log ladder to get onto the higher trail and then followed some narrow ledges to a great view point. (not many tourists up here!) Back to camp and enjoyed the great view from our camp site. This National Park is quite close to the I-90 so is very popular.

26^th August

It rained heavily in the night and is cool and cloudy today making for comfortable driving.

We are on isolated roads passing farmland with many crops including fields of sunflowers. Eventually we crossed the South Dakota/Nebraska border and after about 200 miles driving stopped for the night in a State Park at Chadron. We sat outside for a while but the clouds built up and the rain came. Inside the lightning and thunder roared and we could hardly hear ourselves think as the hail hit. Boy it can rain here.

27^th August

Back on the road south thru the farmlands of Nebraska. We are in an RV Park at Scottsbluff. This is a town named after a huge rocky outcrop dominating the area. As we arrived it started to rain and this has continued thru the afternoon. We will delay our visit to Scotts Bluff till tomorrow when hopefully the weather may clear. As there is internet here we will publish this blog.