Colorado Finally

September 3

Today we left Dodge City, Kansas headed further West.

In only a couple hours we finally entered Colorado.  It's already getting cooler.

We stopped at a Colorado Visitors Center in Lamar, Co.
Here we stocked up on information because we plan on being here for about a month.

We thought about staying around Lamar.  It seemed to be a real nice area, but we pushed on.

Different ways to get out West

Blade from a wind generator (that's me way down at the end)

It has been an interesting transition.  A cool(er) front went through last night (we actually heard a little (very little) rain on the roof last night, plus we are gaining altitude.  Tonight we are at 3,800 feet in the John Martin Reservoir State Park at Lake Hasty Campground.  The temperature is in the 70's.  We set up the RV and for the first time since leaving NC, we do not have the air conditioners on.  The windows are open and a nice breeze is blowing through.  It's really nice not having all that noise.

Lake Hasty Campground, John Martin Reservoir State Park

The campground is just below the Army Corps of Engineer flood control dam.

This afternoon I took a nice long bike ride around the area.  As I rode, I reflected on the federal governments projects of the 1930's and 1940's - that's when this dam was built.

As we look around at some of the great things that the government accomplished back then - the great dams, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the tremendous infrastructure development and a multitude of other LASTING, ENDURING projects that we enjoy 60 - 70 years later, I can't help but think of the tremendous waste of our government today and how little future generations will see of the tremendous amount of  money being spent.

Sunday, September 4

We drove casually across Eastern Colorado, stopping when something of interest got our attention.

I try to stop at National Sites of Interest.  One that we ran across today was the Boggsville Historical Site near Ls Animas, Co.  It was a settlement on the Santa Fe Trail.

It is the burial place of Kit Carson, a famous settler and pioneer.

The site is rather isolated, and I don't think it has a lot of visitors, but it was interesting to see the 150 year old homes and to read about some of the history.

As we were driving into Pueblo, Co, we saw a sign for an aviation museum and of course, I had to stop.  It was a huge museum that has been built over the past 50 years or so, with most of the aircraft in two huge building that have been built.  They have a rare B-29 as their centerpiece.

The T-37 that have on display is the same as I flew in pilot training, only ours were not painted.

We've made it to the mountains.  Tonight we're in an RV park just outside Colorado Springs.  We are finally getting into the Rockies.  It has been cool all day and it probably will be in the 40's or 50's tonight, certainly a lot different from a couple days ago when the lows were in the mid-80's.

Golden Ranch RV Park, Colorado Springs, CO