Day 4, august 6

We are in Berthoud for today again and will leave tomorrow morning for Mt Rushmore, leaving plenty time along the way for interesting looking stops.

We love visiting with Lane and Eric, but unfortunately Eric is ill and on the verge of pneumonia so he's resting and trying to feel better.  He had an ER visit yesterday afternoon but they did not feel the need to admit him.  Poor guy!

We have done some laundry here and found a little time for art.  I have not touched my watercolor supplies in almost two years.  I brought along a 9 x 12 art journal in which to do little quick studies.  They are not fine art but instead fun exercises.  Actually fun to play with a different medium for a change, but my heart belongs to oils!

Lane is a beekeeper and I got some nice shots of her today decked out in her bee suit taking care of her little creatures.

Lane and Eric have two sweet labs...Cobble and Jade.  Our three little munchkins stay in the RV and we visit with them several times per day as well as sleeping out there.  They enjoyed a nice little walk in the cool air this morning.

We will say our farewells tonight and then pull out early headed north.

Berthoud, Colorado, day 3

The RV park just south of Colorado Springs last night has pluses and minuses.  On the plus side, it was nestled into the mountains with beautiful scenery.  On the minus side, just dirt and weeds and electrical problems at the actual site where we parked.   Ended up being an ok stay.  Had a fun time visiting with the neighbors and their dogs. 

 Left this morning and drove up to Berthoud to visit with our friends Lane and Eric.  Lane and I are former co-workers in the cosmetics industry and have stayed friends all these years.  They have an incredible house.  Pictures below of the house along with the view of the mountains from their home.  Wow!

Nice, huh?

Day 2, august 4, 2014, Monday

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We stayed at the Oasis RV park last night and it was really wonderful.  If you are ever in the need for an RV place in Amarillo, it is top notch and only $31.50 per night.  Full hookups and concrete pull thrus.  They also have a restaurant, pool, adults only spa, propane on site, and great restroom and laundry facilities.  Enjoyed sitting out on our concrete patio enjoying the cool evening.  Dogs liked it too.

Driving 287 north out of Amarillo this morning.  Wide open spaces are the views.   Guess I'm not much of a wide open spaces kind of woman.  I prefer my scenery to include water, trees and /or mountains, but I know my son, Freddie, loves the look of the country here.  73 degrees this morning and this afternoon we will be in Colorado Springs.

11:30 AM....crossed the state line into New Mexico.  First mountain sighting on this trip is Rabbit Ear Mountain, below.

12:45 mountain time....Colorado!  Scenery is much more interesting and has been for the past half hour or so.  Love hills and buttes and there have been lots of those.

Above, the tall peak in the distance with the snow is Blanca Peak at  14345 elevation...just SLIGHTLY smaller than Mt Ranier at 14411.

On the road! Post #1

We drove out from Fort Worth about 7:30 this morning.  Spent the day yesterday loading the trailer and wearing ourselves out.   So much to take for a month long trip.  Plus the fact that we need clothes for cool and warm weather.  I will say that I believe this is the most organized our take alongs have been due to the fact that we took our time and tried to get things in the correct places for convenience.

We are so looking forward to beautiful scenery, fiery sunsets, evenings sipping wine around a campfire, seeing new parts of this country and enjoying how wonderful our lives are.

The dogs are ensconced in their car seats, Cooper up front on the console seat and the girls, Emma and Hana in the back Solvit seat.  They are pretty good little travelers.  Just have to give Cooper anti nausea meds to keep the car seat nice and clean.  Hopefully he will get his "road" legs on this trip finally.  Lol!

Cooper above.  Below are Emma on the left napping (such a good girl). And Hanna on the right, popping up every few minutes to check things out. 

Tonight we will stay in the wonderful (not) city of Amarillo.  This stretch of 287 until we get out of Texas is NOT my favorite piece of road nor my favorite part of Texas.  

A glance at why I feel that way.

But tomorrow, COLORADO!  Yay!

Test post

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Cooking!

We prefer to cook in our RV rather than eat out when we travel.  Better food, healthier and doesn't require dressing up and driving somewhere.  So Jim is making some of our favorite dishes and we are freezing them in serving sizes in zip lock bags.  Makes for easy dinners!

Counting down the days!

We will be leaving our home on August 3 for our longest RV trip yet.  Jim and are are both so excited to see new parts of the country.  We will stop off near Fort Collins to see friends for a couple days then on to Mt Rushmore. In that area we will also visit Deadwood and the Crazy Horse monument as well as maybe a tiny side trip to Sturgis, where the huge motorcycle rally will be happening.  My only interest in going there is to snap some photos of interesting looking characters for painting reference.  That all depends on how much extra time we have.  I also want to visit the wild horse preserve in South Dakota.

Next up will be several days at Yellowstone after which we work our way toward the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  We plan a one night stop at Utah Lake state park and then a couple nights in Zion national park.  After the Grand Canyon we will be working our way back to Fort Worth.  Plan to get back home on August 28.  I'm so excited also to miss the Texas August heat!  WooHoo!

So lots of news and photos to come.  Stay tuned!