On Down the Road to Coaldale, CO

 There are so many places in Colorado that we want to see, it would take months, not week to see them all.  We decided to take a short trip down into the valley to Coaldale.  The ride was amazing.  As we left the higher altitude of ranches and with grasses and trees, we dropped into a valley with rock formations on both sides and the Arkansas River.  No, not the Arkansas as in the state, well yes the same name but it has nothing to do with the state.  It actually begins high in the mountains and flows through this beautiful area.  There are lots of activities that involve the river from fly fishing to rafting to swimming and probably other things that we just did not see.

We stayed at the Big Horn RV Park right on the banks of the river.  Our site was on the end directly adjacent to the river.  Here the river runs through a small canyon and the water is crystal clear; I can report that is was cold too!

There were lots of things to see and do in the area.  One day we visited Salida.  We ate lunch at  the Boathouse Cantina.  It sits right on the banks of the river.  The perimeter is lined with garage doors that were opened to allow the clean air to cool everyone.  Outside, the river was full of activity.  There were swimmers and rafters and lots of families and children, everyone was enjoying the day.  Of course there was shopping too.  Lots of wonderful, quirky shops to browse through.  I found a small wine shop that had some interesting red wines.  I bought a couple of bottles to try later with some grilled meat, mmmm mmmm mmmm.

The next day we went in the opposite direction to Westcliffe.  Westcliffe is up in elevation once again.  The land we drove through was barren of trees but great for grazing cattle.  The little town is alas, slowly declining.  It seems that the harsh climate and lack of tourist and other traffic is slowly eating away at the population.  Still, it was an interesting little town to walk about and browse — yes — shops.  We found one shop that handled great hand made wood art.  These wonderful pieces were made of Aspen wood.  There were pieces of all sizes and shapes.  Some of them were left natural finish with just a light coating while others had a shiny finish.  I was drawn to the natural ones.  We usually purchase something from places we visit that are representative of the culture, these certainly do.  I ended up with a unique vase made from Aspen that has burls, something most Aspen trees do not develop.  It is stressed and beautiful.

It was a lovely trip.  Tuesday morning we packed up and prepared to go back to the ranch.  Before we left, we heard music — specifically someone singing and the echo through our little canyon.  We walked toward the sound and found a woman standing facing the rock face singing.  What an amazing sound; her voice was angelic.  She turned as the echoes of her last song faded and was surprised to see us watching.  It turned out that she comes here every day to pray and sing.  At our urging, she agreed to sing another song for us.  It brought tears to our eyes.  What a spiritual way to end our trip to Big Horn RV.

We headed back to the ranch glad we had visited this special place.

The Wonder of Nature....

At the end of each day, we are treated to some of the most beautiful sunsets imaginable.  The sky lights up and the colors streak across the sky in magnificent glory.  I had to post these beautiful pictures for you all to enjoy as much as we have enjoyed them.

Once the last rays of the sun are gone and the stars rise, the sky is magical.  On clear nights, the inky blackness makes the perfect backdrop for the stars.  I wish I were a good enough photographer to take pictures so you could see the amazing sight.  The Milky Way is clear overhead.  I remember when I was a child in Mississippi, we would lay in the grass at night and look up at the Milky Way.   With all the ambient light from towns and cities, one rarely gets the opportunity to see it any longer.  But here, on this wonderful mountain all we need to do is walk outside and look upward.  The silence is absolute and peace — well you just have to visit.  We love it!

Final Destination, Colorado

We said goodbye to South Dakota and headed on down the road.  Our last stop before Colorado was Sidney, Nebraska.  We stayed at Cabella’s RV Campground.  Yes, I know Cabella’s is a well known sporting retailer and who would believe that they have an RV campground as part of their establishment?  Certainly not me, but they do and it was quite nice actually.  So far on our trip, we have not encountered any real issues with truck or RV.  However, that luck ended here.  We discovered a tire was beginning to separate in places, yikes!  So, we found a tire dealer and bought a new set of trailer tires.  Good we discovered it before anything bad happened, bad that we had to spend the money.  Oh, well on we went.

We arrived at our final destination, Colorado early in the next afternoon.  We joined up with our friend Bonnie for a nice visit.  We are basically out in the middle of the beautiful mountains on a 35 acre ranch.  All around us are mountains and beauty that takes your breathe away!  The air is cool and refreshing, just what you would expect at 9,000 foot elevation.  Setting up our camp was a bit of a challenge as the ground had a pretty good slope, but being “old salts” at this, instead of using the auto leveler system we did it the old fashioned way, manually with a level.  How wonderful to throw open the windows and let the air inside and the girls were thrilled to get to explore.

Being at altitude is interesting; shortness of breathe at the slightest exertion and a little headache is a constant.  At night, once the lights are out the darkness is like a curtain covering everything.  The silence is absolute except for the occasional Coyote calls in the distance.  The temperatures drop into the 50’s or even the 40’s so we snuggled up under the blankets and even turned on the furnace!  With the dawn, life is all around us.  There are all sorts of birds, lots of hummingbirds and cows.  Yep, cows roam freely on this open range.  You can hear them mooing to each other and the girls had an absolute fit!  I started mooing to them and they to me while Charlotte looked from me to the cows to Jim as if to say, what???  So funny.

 We went into one of the little nearby towns to enjoy a music festival.  It is a tiny place with some interesting establishments and other eclectic collections of vintage, rusting cars among other things.  There are all sorts of folks that came down from the various ranches.  True mountain men and women who live life on their own terms.  I saw more beards of every description some of them were….well yikes would cover it.  We danced and drank and had a ball. The locals are so very friendly and welcoming.  It was a good time.




Here are pictures of the beauty of this wonderful place.  We are loving "dry camping" and waking each day to the wonder of nature.

Our lovely vista.

11 Mile State Park

Fixer Upper

Interesting gate marker

Alpaca Ranch nearby

Donkeys beside the road

He was near our RV one morning

Unusual markings for a donkey

This fella came running to us braying away, guess he wanted some food.

Lovely ranch tucked at the base of this ridge.

Badlands National Park

Just saying the name “Badlands” bring to mind visions of vast wasteland, deserts and landscapes without color.  But nothing could be farther from reality.  We headed out to visit the park mid morning.  The drive from Hermosa took about 90 minutes.  As soon as we were out of town, we passed a herd of Bison!  I was totally unprepared as my camera was still in the case.  Rats!  Ah well, I have seen them before but still….

The landscape passed through grasslands and ranches of cattle and Bison.  A pretty drive with everything green and lush.  Gradually, we began to see rock formations in the distance; we were finally approaching the park.  Badland Park contains waste land, desert-type areas but it also contains grasslands with cattle and farms with corn etc.  It is an amazing place.  Pictures tell the tale.

Large herd of Bison was a surprise.

Lone Bull Bison

Prairie Dog basking in sun.

Yep, two happy campers!

On the Road to Hermosa,SD

Before I begin sharing our next adventure, you need to know that for much of the time we are out of cell and/or wifi.  When wifi has been available, the signal has been so weak that publishing has been impossible.  So, please enjoy even though they are not timely.  Bobbye

Leaving Medora behind, we headed to South Dakota.  The landscape changed from the flat prairie to rolling hills.  There were more cattle farms but the ever present corn was also all around.  Many of the farms grow Alfalfa to be used for hay.  Apparently, this is the time of the year when it is harvested and baled.  It is interesting that we saw large numbers of bales between the highway shoulder and the fencing for the farms.  We asked about it and it turns out that farmers can apply for permits to plant this area and harvest the hay along with their fields.  It is a neat way to keep the highways clear of weeds and make extra income at the same time.

It is amazing what you see as you travel along the way.  We saw this plane flying low in the distance.  When we were close enough to see what it was doing, we realized that it is was dusting the Sunflower fields.  He swooped low over the rows in the field and banked and climbed at each end.  Amazing to watch the process especially since we both flew and know the skill it takes.

At Bowman, we came across some interesting airplanes on the road side.  I have no idea what they were designed to be, but they sure did catch our eye as we drove past.

Our destination, Hermosa is on the far side of Rapid City.  On the near side, lies the small town of Sturgis.  We had been told that our arrival day coincided with the beginning of an annual Motorcycle event.  It is a week long “party” and riders come from all over the place to attend.  There were groups of bikes on the roadway as we drove in.  Campgrounds were filled to the brim as far as 100 miles away!  It looked like it was going to be quite a party!!  But as they say, what happens in Sturgis, stays in Sturgis.  In all honestly, it is not just about partying, they raised money for charities and had events for children and all sorts of things.  Bikers are more than leather and loud noise, they are good citizens.

After setting up camp, we decided to make the most of the balance of the day and head for Mt. Rushmore.  I have seen pictures many times, but like seeing Lady Liberty, it just does not do it justice.  The figures left to right are Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln.  We would have loved to see them at night when they are bathed in light, but we wanted to move on to our next stop.

About 30 minutes from Rushmore is another mountain of rock that is being carved with the likeness of Crazy Horse.  The Indian people wanted a carving to represent their contribution to our great nation.  They also wanted to establish a museum of their culture and history as well as a university.  The work began in 1948 with the first explosion of dynamite.  In the ensuing years, the museum has been completed and the university has also been established.  But the carving itself, well you can see the picture.  When completed, it will depict Crazy Horse astride his horse, his right hand holding a spear and his hair blowing in the wind as he rides.  Since the project is strictly funded from donations and no government monies are accepted even though it has been offered a couple times, it could take many more years to complete.  We were a bit disappointed but Rome was not built in a day!