What City Did We Stay in Last Night?

Despite the fact that I am typing this in Laramie, Wyoming, it is still hot as the dickens, even at more than 7,000 feet elevation. Thank God we did not take this trip in August! You will be happy to know that my stomach has been fine and dandy since I last wrote. You can imagine the days are running one into another, so it is good that I can get this down before I can't remember what state we were in when I took the photo! Without further ado, let's travel through Kansas, Colorado, and barely into Wyoming.

In nearly every town in Kansas, we saw huge grain elevators as a co-op which I have yet to research. Any of you know how that works? We took SR 50 out of Dodge City which took us nearly to Colorado Springs, with little to no traffic. Good stuff though. We took the business route near Holcomb, KS, and came across this yard filled with wind turbine parts.

Once we turned around and got back on West bound SR50, we came across a HUGE plant which turned out to be Tyson's Chicken. I was googling that when I discovered we were in the very area that the family was killed as the world learned about from Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

So very hard to imagine when you see how little there is out in this part of the country. Because there is so little to see, when a tiny yellow plane appeared in the sky, well, you know what I do.

After a few hours we stopped for Bruce to take a break, looking very hard to find a shady spot. We came across a really nice high school which had this tree that Baxter and I laid under to have a break from the heat. I have no idea what kind of tree it is but we, indeed, enjoyed the shade it provided.

We set off once again and before too long we stopped and not because we wanted to! A parade to celebrate the County Fair as explained to me by these folks.

One thing that driving across the country shows you is that we are a very diverse nation. Of course, we all know that, but seeing it up close is something entirely different.

This is the float, if you will, carrying the Veterans from the county. Once I learned what was happening I walked back to the vehicle to let Bruce know that he could take another nap.

If memory serves me right the announcer proclaimed this the best float in the parade.

They went slow as molasses and then they turned around and went back the same way!

The horses pulled up the rear...

Eventually it was over and we were on our way again, finally getting to Colorado which bills itself as colorful, but I'm not buying it.

Green, brown, and the blue sky pretty much is what Colorado has to offer. Plus, the road was the worst we encountered to date.

Another stop for these trucks to turn the corner onto SR 50---wind turbine blades again!

While in the Dodge City hotel, I had a little chat with some folks about our travels. The gentleman told me to watch the horizon while in Colorado, saying what you think are clouds, might just be the mountains in the distance. Sure enough--do you see them?

For a good bit of our drive a railroad track sat adjacent to the road. Both Bruce and I were super surprised when there were at least 50 of these cars pulled by one engine.

Plus, who knew there was a sugar plant in Colorado? Since 1905 apparently! You know you are in a small town, Bent Fork, when the only place to eat is a Dairy Queen. The courthouse building belied the size of the town.

Finally we drew closer to Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak came into view.

We stayed at a lovely Doubletree that actually had sliding glass doors onto a grassy area for Baxter--sold!

The heat and the glare of the sun, not to mention having Baxter, has made us both tired at night, and looking for ways to get creative for dinner. As it turned out, there was a fantastic pizza place a block away where I went for takeout. Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom if you are ever in the area. I went outside with my camera, to photograph whatever was available, and much to my surprise, there was a large group of Canadian geese in the parking lot!

Nosing around, I found water!

Water oftentimes means water fowl...

To tell you the truth, it felt good to see something familiar. I wonder how our little ducklings are doing back home?

Next stop was a suburb of Dallas this morning for Bruce to check on an air conditioner problem at the Earls which is across from a Seasons 52!

Baxie and I found a shady spot and waited for him to figure things out. While I was sitting there I came up with a new route to Laramie, Wyoming. As it turns out, not my best move as we went through copious amounts of traffic but eventually we got into wide open country again.

On the other hand, had we gone on the interstate, we would have missed this wonderful French place in Longmount, CO.

When asked if we could bring our dog, the young woman said, "of course!" No argument from us! He was amazingly good sitting under the table quiet as a mouse,

while we enjoyed delicious food and drinks.

Because of our stop at Earls, our route today was shorter than typical and a good thing that was as it took us forever with all the traffic. Finally we were rewarded with peace and beauty.

A very welcome sight although you might think Wyoming could do a wee bit better on their welcome sign, or, at least, those were my thoughts.

The population of Wyoming is just a bit over 500,000 people although it ranks as the ninth largest state by area. The countryside, or at least the little we've seen so far is just lovely.

In fact, it is so large, we will still be in Wyoming all day tomorrow, heading towards Yellowstone. Hard to know what we'll see tomorrow but it's a safe bet it probably won't involve a whole bunch of people.

yours truly,

Gail