Friday, November 26, 2010

Delivery to Louisville, Kentucky RV Show

A foggy morning ride to pick up 35 ft Winnebago Vista at Forest City, IA. Sand with slashes of Paprika! It would be camouflage in the desert except for the slashes! Parked it in our yard and packed it up ready to take off the next morning.

A clear dark sky with stars shining down on a dry road with wind to our back makes for a good start in the early morning. Shadows of clouds appear ahead as the eastern horizon gets lighter. A stop for coffee before crossing the Mississippi into Illinois.

View from the windshield:
  • Acres of harvested and tilled fields sit waiting for a restful covering of snow.
  • An area with stacked pieces of windmill dotting the landscape waiting for the crane crew to lift them in place.
  • A few trees with red & gold leaves highlighted by some sun shining thru the clouds.
  • Indianapolis still has miles of road construction projects!
  • Headed south nearing the Kentucky border. Acres of woods interspersed with rolling farm land.
  • Horse stables with miles of wooden fences.
  • Shades of pink, mauve, & blue appear in a clear sky as the huge orange sun sinks to the western horizon.

Thank-You, Scottsburg, IN Super Walmart for letting us park in your lot overnite.

Bookwork, catch up on correspondence, supper at Long John Silvers. Grilled taliapia with mixed veggies is excellent choice, but the shrimp special was delicious, too! Another couple delivering motor homes stopped in to share experiences!

Snug in our sleeping bag as we heard rain falling in the early morning hours.

We ate a breakfast on an English Muffin at Subway. First time for us & not impressed! Coffee was good.

Filled unit with last few gallons of gas need to get us to the Kentucky Fair Expo Center in Louisville about 35 miles ahead. Drove through rain, checked in, Hi’s & hugs to friends we only see “along the way,” phone calls for release number, check atlas for direction and on the road west.

Through the windshield as we drive in the haze & rain across southern Indiana:

  • Not good for sightseeing so staying with I-64.
  • Rocky precipices are visible thru the leafless trees in the Hoosier National Forest. Green pines, rust-red & brown grasses and some late clinging leaves. Low tree covered mountains on the horizon as we curve though the valleys.
  • Rain stops, but still cloudy
  • Past an open pit coal mine
  • Into an area of large farms with fields of green winter wheat interspersed with acres of harvested fields on the large farms as we near the Illinois border.
  • Driving across the Wabash River into Illinois and north on state road #127
  • Acres of flat farmland. Large farms with long driveways leading to their farm buildings and farm names on large signs by the road.
  • Through small towns. Each with its own "character." Greenville, Illinois has an interesting historic section with many shops in old buildings, a museum and a neat park just west of town.
  • Some blue sky between the clouds allows the sun’s rays to shine on the tall dry grass and harvested corn stalks making them appear to glow like gold!

A good night's rest at a Motel 6 on the edge of Springfield. A map of the city and the Lincoln sites was available for us to do some planning. Tomorrow we will be driving on the Lincoln Heritage Trail into Springfield, Illinois to check out some of the historical sites.

Walking tour:

  • Arriving early to the museum we took off walking around the Old State Capitol past the Surveyors Museum, which was hosting a IPTV program after opening. Past old buildings with curved fronts, an area with information about the shops that were in the area when Lincoln was in the state house.
  • The Donner Party started in Springfield.
  • The Pottawatomie Indians went through Springfield on their relocation march from Indiana to Kansas.
  • Dentistry in this era consisted of pulling the loose teeth that people tended to have. False teeth were made from ivory, metal and wood!
  • Mary Todd Lincoln was the daughter of a Kentucky aristocrat. Lincoln was the son of an illiterate Kentucky farmer. Mary was ambitious for her husband and assertive in giving him advice on proper clothes, social behavior, and political decisions. (In that time women were considered responsible for the guardianship of the family morality & Christian conduct!)
  • In 1854 after Douglas, senator from IL, pushed the Kansas-Nebraska petition thru US congress which would overturn the 1826 MO compromise line Lincoln feared the spread of slavery to western territories. He gave a 3 hour speech at the Old State Capitol! (Later we learned that when he was 19 years old he and a friend took a cargo of meat, flour & etc down the Mississippi to New Orleans. He observed the slave market. It made an indelible impression!)
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

An impressive building. What a contrast with a log cabin standing under trees on one side and the tall pillars of the White House on the other side.

There are two holographic and special effects theaters that make his life and times come alive.

Inside the log cabin a wax figure of young Abe is sitting by the crackling fire at night with his dog at his feet snoring!

As a lawyer Lincoln and his partner Herndon argued 380 cases in 17 years before the State Supreme Court. He was very lenient with disciplining his children. Tad & Willie would visit his office and play ball with the papers, scatter ashes, climb on the furniture, etc while Abe worked.

A display in memory of reporter, Tim Russert, lets you witness the 1860 Presidential Election as though it was happening today, complete with television news coverage and campaign commercials! There were 4 candidates. Lincoln was campaigning for the preservation of the union and the constitution. He actually only campaigned in the North. Douglas campaigned for popular sovereignty. Breckinridge campaigned for states rights and John Bell campaigned for peaceful compromise! Lincoln won the election with 40% of the popular vote, but 180 votes from the electoral college.

After the election 7 southern states immediately left the union. Lincoln appointed men to his cabinet that had been his political foes. It was an interesting mix of backgrounds.

In his inaugural address he stated that he would not fire the first shot in the upcoming war between the states. The South obliged by firing on Ft. Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861. (There is a display showing all of the communications between him and his cabinet members leading up to the first shot. He really tried to not have a war.)

He and Mary were criticized from all sides, personal and political, during his presidency. The executive mansion furnishings were broken and tarnished with wear when the Lincoln's moved in. Mary worked to refurbish it, receiving criticism for even doing this.

One of his stovepipe hats made from felted beaver fur is on display. The supporting band on the inside is slightly stretched because he stored letters and notes inside his hat!


They had both had a lot of grief in their lives, including the death of 2 sons. Willie died in the White House from typhoid fever while 500 guests dined and danced at a celebration of the redecorating of the White House. The Lincolns had spent $1,000 of their own money for the party.

One display shows the Civil War in 4 minutes highlighting each battle in succession and the total number of casualties. The north had 80,000 more casualties.

Lincoln would go to the telegraph office daily to receive current information on the war from the front. While he was there he wrote the Gettysburg Address. He was not even the "main" speaker at the dedication of the cemetery. It was a famous orator, Edward Everett, who spoke for two hours before Lincoln took the stage. Lincoln was asked to say only "a few appropriate remarks" and the organizers did not even know if he would show up!

His funeral train took 15 days to travel from Washington, DC to Springfield. More people viewed him dead that saw him alive.

We spent over 4 hours just in the museum! The displays using realistic wax figures are awesome. The information presented is easy to read & understand. It would take more than a day to see all of the historical buildings in this city!

There was a gentlemen at the parking garage paying for his parking, who graciously explained how to operate the kiosk. I think we had a big question mark look on our faces as we approached!

Headed Home:

Took state highways up to Macomb, IL going through the town of Havana, which has a water tower that was built the same year as the Eiffel Tower. It is the 4th oldest water tower in Illinois still in use. Looks like a tall brick tower with a metal silo on top.

We shared our Motel and restaurant in Macomb with deer hunters! And probably some UNI fans because they played the next day at Western Illinois University.

First experience with a gyro at the local restaurant. Very good.

Crossed the Mississippi River at Keokuk and drove the Great River Road through Ft. Madison. Over to Hwy #218 and the avenue of the saints and home.

Thank you for traveling with us!
Prairie Schooners








Monday, November 8, 2010

Red Deer, Alberta, Canada delivery in August

Difficult start:
All ready to go at 8 AM when made call to see if we could have the unit to Red Deer. It's a "go!"
20 miles down the road and car is making a very-loud-not-good noise! A local mechanic graciously checked out the exhaust system and fixed it. On the road again.
At pick-up had to wait for some paper work before taking off with unit.
Because all Minnesota license plates were in
use, we had to drive a 2 lane state highway to the South Dakota border instead of Interstate--time consuming!
Even with all the delays we did enjoy a partly cloudy pretty day driving through the green Iowa flat farmland into the rolling hills near the IA/SD border and the Big Sioux River. Then instantly we were in Cowboy Country!!

On the road
again after a good night's sleep in Mitchell, South Dakota. Thank-you Walmart for letting us park on your lot.

View through the windshield as we listened to the audio book about the building of the Panama Canal, "Path between the Countries" by David McCullogh, our favorite history author:

Very green except wheat stubble left after harvesting.
Fields of corn, sunflowers, sorghum, hay & pasture.
Stacks of large round bales dot the
countryside.
Grain elevators & ra
nch buildings can be seen in the distance.
Many, many signs advertising all the places you can stop and see "stuff" or eat or sleep or play--including an 1880 town used as a set for the movie "Dances with Wolves" & Wall Drug!
The edge of the Badlands is visible from I-90 and the landscape becomes sandy grassland pasture.
The edge of the Black Hills covered with pine trees are also visible. In the distance they do, indeed, look like "Black Hills."


Into Wyoming on hwy
#212 shortcut with miles of grass pasture, stacks of bales, cattle & antelope grazing together, occasional ranches are visible or a drive to a ranch marked with a sign made of metal cutouts and long trains in the distance!
Mountain time zone.

Checked with our office at the border and
all papers are in order.

Into Montana. Oops! driving through some road construction with loose gravel over tar. No de
tour. Dealer cleaned off motor home and Jim had a Saturn with tar to clean when we got home.
Sunny, very warm with 99 degree temperature, but no humidity under the big blue sky of Montana today.
Large black shadow of the Rocky
Mountains in the distance as backdrop.
Middle of wheat harvest season.
Combines in fields. Trucks headed to the elevators.
Straw bales lined up like soldiers in formation or stacked in long high piles with a fence around.

Red wheat has a deep red brown color. White wheat is more golden.
One elevator had a huge pile of wheat stacked on the ground.
More metal cut-out signs with interesting na
mes mounted on tall poles to show ranch entrances.
You can see where the river flows by the green trees, shrubs & fields growing along its banks in contrast to the brown grass of acres of pasture.

Life lesson: Deep roots into God's life giving water in His Word will result in recognizable growth even in our dry world culture!!

Very windy and we are driving into it!
Lots of bugs hitting our windshield!

Into Canada: Border crossing went smoothly and l
earned the hard way that we needed to stop at every inspection station even with papers in order.
Mind is calculating kilometers into miles on the road and liters into gallons at the gas stations. We are paying $3.43/gal for gas!

Very hazy almost like a fog with only about 3 miles visibility. Some light rain.
Through car wash, to dealer, check in went smoothly.
Found a Super 8. Relaxed, caught up with book-work, & went for a walk.
We found out that British Columbia was having a series of wildfires. Smoke from the blazes was picked up by high winds an
d driven east into Alberta. Enough to prompt an air-quality warning for the week-end. This also resulted in very poor visibility for sight-seeing. After our walk around the near-by mall we were experiencing itchy eyes and scratchy throat.

Plans changed--no sightseeing in the Canadian Mtns because of fires so headed south back to the US. Because this was prime vacation time we booked a motel for the night with the points we had accumulated in previous trips giving us time for sight-seeing.

The sun is shining through the haze as we near the border. W
e can see the tall peaks of the Rocky Mountains of the park ahead. The tallest have patches of snow shining white in the sun.

While we waited in line to cross the border we ate 2 apples. Okay to bring them across the border in our stomach, but not in the ice chest!! But did have to pay a "commercial fee" because we delivered a motor home into Canada.

Babb, Mt-- A cafe beside the Sinclair station and across the street a locally owned motel. The Babb Cafe served an excellent thick & juicy Swiss Mushroom Burger with a fresh leaf lettuce mixture, tomato, dill pickle & onion on the side. Cole slaw with a creamy
garlic dressing & potato salad seasoned with dill pickles.
Herbs were growing in a window box.

The newspaper clippings on the bulletin board told stories of the winter of 1947 when the town was completely isolated from Dec 16 until Jan 20 due to a blizzard dumping 10 ft of snow in the area. The people had plenty of food, but the fuel for oil furnaces and cook stoves was getting low!


Glacier National Park

We entered at St. Mary and drove the "Going-to-the-Sun" road past two large lakes. Unlike rivers, glaciers erode wide-bottomed, steep-sided, and u-shaped valleys. Deep glacial lakes fill in the bottom
s of the larger glacial valleys.

The clear blue sky was reflected in the lake. A beautiful sunny day. Wildflowers including purple asters, red cardinal flower and deep pink fire weed bloomed along the edges of the ro
ad. Huge sharp mountain peaks in all directions. Magnificent! Awesome!

A walking trail through the forest took us back to the Barring Falls. It was eerie walking through an area where the pines had died from a disease. The branches were black and curled downward with no needles. A walk across the tree branch bridge offered us a view of the falls!
Since this was prime vacation time the park was full of cars and people. We could not stop at the visitor centers because the parking lots were full. If we were doing it again at this time of the year we would seriously consider paying to ride on the white shuttle bus or one of the red buses with open tops. They take you into the visitor center and drop you off regardless of how full the parking lot is!

Also, this is prime road construction time and there is only one road so traffic stops and waits sometimes up to a half hour. This does give one time to really "see" the area.

We drove past areas with sliver threads of water meandering down the slopes from the melting glaciers to the valley floor, a weeping wall!

We could see hikers following trails on the sides of the mountains. The hikers were stopped on one tra
il by mountain goats.

A great day's drive.

Travel Lodge in Kalispell, MT for the evening.
Made a reservation for Super 8 in Livingston, MT putting us just outside Yellowstone tomorrow.

Montana scenery

Headed South and kept passing fruit & vegetable stands that advertised "sweet cherries" for sale. Stopped at one that had an orchard behind it. Bought a quart size bag of them! They are huge compared to what we have back home in the super market. We call them bing cherries! Sweet & juicy! We asked about huckleberries, which are also advertised. They are like blueberries only more tart and at this time of the year we could only purchase them as jelly or jam.

A new sign along the road--"cell phone pullout 1/4 mile." It would be very dangerous to be driving the mountain curves, which require both hands and talking on cell phone!


The highway takes us arou
nd Flathead Lake. Blue with mountain peaks surrounding and dotted with white sail boats today.

Past the National Bison Range. We see more buffalo through our kitchen window than we saw driving past here (-:!

Grant-Kohrs Ranch

The Grant-Kohrs Ranch in Deer Lodge, MT preserves the strongest symbols of the American West. Wide open spaces, the hard-working cowboy, his spirited cow pony and vast herds of cattle. It is free. You can walk around the grounds and at certain times a guide will take you through the house.
  • Conrad Kohrs was born in Germany in 1835, left home at 15, sailed the world as a cabin boy, searched for gold in California & Canada & in 1862 this part of the Idaho Territory that would become southwest Montana. He made his fortune not by panning gold but by raising cattle. He arrived in the territory with only the clothes on his back and his bedroll. He had learned the rudiments of the butchering trade from relatives in New York & Iowa. He worked as a butchers assistant and soon owned his own shops in many gold camps. Johnny Grant sold him cattle to supply his shops and in 1866 sold his ranch to Kohrs.
  • In the 1890's Kohrs' cattle grazed on more than ten million acres of public land in four states and two provinces. In time he purchased 30,000 acres for his home ranch.
  • The Cattle Barons were a new breed of entrepreneur that had to adapt to the problems of harsh weather, disease, rustling, economic fluctuations, homesteaders and the barb wire fence!
  • Their dining room table extended with 13 leaves for entertaining.
  • In one room was a bed that folded up into the wall because the cowboy that lived with them would not make his bed in the mornings and Augusta Kohrs insisted on a neat home.
  • He provided a heated room with a wall of windows for Agusta to grow plants and flowers.
  • Augusta, his wife, and Kohrs were childhood acquaintances in Germany. They dated for about three weeks before they married in Iowa in 1868. (Wonder what he told her about the frontier he was taking her to??) She preserved her heritage and as the family prospered she acquired fine pieces of furniture and art balancing the cultures of the Old World and the New.
  • A fold-up cabinet desk with two wings hinged on a center shaft. About 4 ft x 4 ft x 4 ft when closed and locked was interesting.
  • Because they sold meat, he preferred the Hereford from Europe rather than longhorns. The longhorns do trail long distances but have less meat and could not stand the winter. He built a railroad spur in order to ship his meat type cattle east to the stockyards in Chicago.
  • They had hot and cold running water in the house. A large tin tub insert in a wooden box.
  • It would take three wheelbarrows of coal a day to keep the water from freezing in the 1800's.
  • The kitchen stove had a huge hood to keep the heat collected and vented out. It also had a couple of small pull-down shelves mounted on the back of the stove for warming food.
  • A barn with antique buggys and carts used by the family that included a buggy station wagon used by the family on vacations.
There are some interactive exhibits that the children will enjoy and a chuck wagon with a cook that serves coffee and stories about trail rides!

Back to I-90, past the Pintler Scenic route that we had driven a couple years earlier. You can see the Anacanda copper mining tower from the interstate.

As we wind through the valley the sun is like a giant spot light making "glory" rays between clouds then spotlighting mountain slopes or our valley between the area of hazy blue-grey rain showers. Thank-you Lord for our personal theater production!!

Supper at a super Chinese restaurant in Livingston, bookwork, but no internet connection. We can hear the wind howling outside. A reminder of 2 years ago when we drove through the Bozeman pass in the winter winds.

Yellowstone National Park
This is the picture that you always see and think of when you hear the word Yellowstone National Park--Old Faithful!

Yes, we waited on the benches and visited with the people around us, listened to a rancher speak about it and the animals in the area and then we saw it in person!!!

Walked through the Old Faithful Lodge and it's awesome carpentry! The huge rock fire place, the banisters and railings crafted from natural shaped logs, and the massive size of everything.

In the ranger station we learned that this whole area is the cone of a volcano. Since Jan 1, 2000 they had had thousands of small earthquakes. None could be felt. If they would have happened at one time it would only be a 4 on the Richter scale.

Beehive geyser near old faithful spouts intermittently also.

We were warned by many signs to stay on the board walk because of the fragility of the surface around the geysers. But a huge buffalo that evidently cannot read was walking up beside Old Faithful just as it finished spouting!

We entered the park through the original entrance on the North near Gardiner driving under the rock arch.

Mammoth Hot Springs is a small village with motels, visitor center, shops, Historic Fort Yellowstone and a herd of elk that grazed on the lawns!

The fragrance of sulfur is in the air, steam is visible, the multicolored Hot Spring terraces loom up before us. Signs tell us that the colors are due to microorganisms in the hot water, but when it is done flowing it turns white. It is dangerous to walk on the surface because the acid will eat through the sole of your shoes and the earth crust will break without warning. We walked the boardwalk path. It gets changed as the flow changes.

As we drove through this area of the park we would see steam coming up from holes in the ground along the edge of the road. It sounds like a percolating coffee pot!

Saw a herd of mule deer and a herd of buffalo.

Drove a 6 mile one-way one-lane gravel road through the Blacktail Plateau. Wild flowers and green grass.

Stopped at Tower Falls to walk out on the observation deck to see the falls. Lots of tourists!

Many acres showing previous burns. Dead trees either standing or laying on the side of the mountains with new growth starting.

Lodge pole pines have branches and green needles only at the top of the tree with a bare trunk. Resemble a forest of Christmas trees on top of telephone poles!) Their pine cone is glued shut and needs fire to melt and dislodge the seeds for new growth. Fire is good for that purpose!

Grand Teton National Park

Driving south on Hwy 89 headed to Jackson Hole and our room at the Super 8 we had a magnificent view of the Grand Teton Mountains.

Into the Park the mountains with rugged peaks sprinkled with snow towered above the blue Jackson Lake.

It was the end of the day so did not take time to cruise any of the roads leading into the mountains.

This was a fitting ending to a great day discovering yet another part of God's creation.


Headed Home:

View from the windshield:
  • Beautiful sunrise as we drive in 30 degree temps watching the sun highlight rocky, pine covered peaks.
  • Through Hoback Canyon we watch fog rising from the lake surface.
  • Acres of grassland with mountains in background, ranch & beef country, herds of antelope grazing, stacks of bales surrounded by a "tall" fence in the middle of the hay fields.
  • Past South Pass, a National Historic Landmark. a major feature of the Oregon trail traveled by western immigrants during the 1850's.
  • Many, many Cruise America rental RV's are on the highway this summer.
  • Into Nebraska. Interesting shaped bluffs form a background to acres of farmland and pastures. Brilliant yellow fields of sunflowers accent the gold wheat and green corn & hay.

A good night's sleep in Ogalala, the Cowboy capital!
Back across the Missouri River and into Iowa.
The Prairie does look good!

Thanks for traveling with us via the web!
See you along the way!

Prairie Schooners














Thursday, November 4, 2010

Draper, Utah Delivery in September 2010

We picked up a Navion Itasca motor home at Forest City, bringing it to the Prairie to be packed for an early take off the next morning. It has a Mercedes Benz diesel getting 12 to 13 mpg on a Sprinter chassis with a compact & attractive interior.

Our foggy, cool drive to pick it up turned into a hot muggy, sunny afternoon of packing.

Early AM, Tuesday, we headed south & west avoiding bridge reconstruction thru rain and lightening.

Daylight on I-80 west through rolling hills covered with golden brown crops waiting for harvest with occasional green pastures for contrast.

We discovered that Pilot Travel Centers and Flying J Travel Centers are one company and points are interchangeable. No more cash discount on gas, but the points for purchases will apply to meals and other purchases from their store.

Drove thru fog and rain for several hours on Wednesday heading west. Passing fields of corn, soybeans, sugar beets, & sunflowers; pastures with cattle; irrigation rigs; and long trains.

Into Wyoming under a sunny blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

Views thru the windshield:

Cattle grazing around oil wells scattered over the rolling pastures. Tall white windmills lined up along the ridges. Refineries, storage tanks, oil wells, power plants, tall poles carrying electrical wires, & communication towers scattered over the landscape. The tall peaks of the Rocky Mtns with splashes of white snow provide a backdrop. The leaves on the aspen trees are turning gold making a brilliant accent to the brown grass and green pines along the water ways in the valleys. New wooden snow fences are lined up in formation like soldiers waiting for the battle to start. Signs giving warnings about the dates of the closings of certain rest stops. Areas with prairie dog mounds. Herds of antelope grazing.

The rolling hills turn into pine covered mtns and rocky cliffs. Each curve in the road provides a different vista of the country. The fluffy white clouds turn into dark clouds and drop rain and strong winds. “Strong Wind next 5 miles” sign is frequent for the rest of the day. Over the Continental Divide. Past a large area that had recently been burned. We could still smell the acrid odor of smoke & ashes.

Thank-you, Walmart, for allowing us to stay overnight on your parking lot!

Good Eats: Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken Salad. ½ of a salad is generous and just right with a baked potato for a meal. The salad also contains cranberries and blue cheese chunks and is served with a Pomegranate Vinaigrette Dressing. The Spicy Chicken Caesar was not so good.

D-day: We living in mountain time, but our bodies are programed for central time, so up early and driving under a full moon. Know we are missing some beautiful scenery. The moonlight highlights mountain peaks as we climb and curve through the valley but also will miss some of the morning commuter traffic near Salt Lake City.

Our printed directions contained street names, but the streets are actually numbered. Thanks to "Gertrude," our Garmin, we found the car wash & dealer. Fast check-in.

Scenic Drive (Our First Fall Colors of the Season!)

In the Saturn and headed south on I-15 out of Salt Lake City to SR 89 for a scenic drive. Utah is definitely using our “stimulus money” for road construction! They even have a sign to let us know that we are paying for it! The mountains in the background are covered with shrubs with red leaves.

Thru the windshield:

Lots of mountain wilderness with occasional small homes until the valley widened. More small and large ranches. Interesting businesses: Ranch Rental for small or large groups. Commercial Pheasant Hunting.

Lunch at the Home Plate Café. We parked our little Saturn between the local four-wheel drive pick-ups with deer antlers on their dash! Enjoyed a good, but not outstanding meal while listening to the conversations of the local people

Two lane Highway #31 curves thru the canyon with spires of green fir and spruce trees and neon yellow/orange of aspens.

Our first fall colors of the year! What a treat! Not only did God create trees for our use, for our protection, but also for our enjoyment year around!

Signs seen: “Snow plows operating both directions in your lane”

“Frequent Deer Crossing”

“Cattle Grazing” because this is open range.

We did see a flock of sheep walking up the middle of the road and around the curve was a sheep herders trailer parked under the trees in the pasture. It looked like a wagon on wheels with a curved roof. His horse was tethered to the side of it.

Many trails for ATV’s and hiking.

Streams and lakes for fishing.

Wasatch Plateu: Transition between Colorado Plateau on the east and the Basin & Range province to the west. At the timberline.

Mammoth bones discovered in August 1988 when digging a dam to control the flow of water thru the mtns. An area museum has the bones. The mammoth probably died in Noah's flood?

We drove past several lakes formed by dikes. The water level is very low. They have had very little rain in Sept. this year. One lake covers an abandoned coal mining town from the l870’s. A vein of coal was discovered and coke huts were constructed to burn impurities from the coal making it burn with a higher heat to use for making steel. Coal mining is still taking place in other areas of the valley. It is used for the power plants.

Spruce Beetle is killing trees. The Forest service is removing the dead and dying trees to encourage aspen growth. Aspens are a natural fire resistant tree.

Out of the canyon and into the wide valley surrounded by rock mountains. It looks like the inside of a super gigantic gravel pit! Small ranches & farms with grazing livestock, hay, wheat & clover fields where irrigation is available.

Took the Interstate to Salina to find a motel for the night. $3.14/gal for gas. One of the highest prices on the trip.

Hwy 24 east is an excellent road taking us past a gypsum plant, rocky mountain peaks, drilling rig for natural gas, oil wells & equipment & pipes are scattered along the valley along with ranches.

In the Fish Lake National Forest the yellow blossoms on the creosote bush mingle with the soft greens of the sage, the shades of brown grasses and splashes of neon yellow aspens in the high peaks in the distance! This area was known as Grass Valley when Brigham Young and the Mormon settlers arrived. Such contrast.

Driving along the top of a mountain we can see a patchwork of fields with ranch buildings resembling toys set in the corner of each area! All irrigation systems are running in the valley! We stopped at a local gas station convenience store for a cup of coffee. It also sold fishing poles, lures & horse bridles! The owner said that it had been very wet this spring. The second cutting of hay was a foot tall before the bales from first cutting could be removed.

Along the valley near Bicknell, Utah we found the Nielsen Grist Mill built in 1893. The water was channeled from the Fremont river and dropped 27 ft into the mill wheel. They ground grains into flour, gemade (could not find out what that was), bran and shorts(?). A farmer received a sack of flour for 3 bags of wheat. The sacks were sewn by hand. They could not grow hard red wheatin this area. It makes the best flour so eventually trucked in the four rather than wheat and closed the mill. All the equipment is in usable condition now.

Capitol Reef National Park

What is the Capitol Reef? It is a giant buckle in the earth's crust that stretches across south-central Utah. It is called a waterpocket fold, forced upwards probably during Noah's flood, which has eroded into colorful cliffs, massive domes, soaring spires, twisting canyons and graceful arches. The basalt rock, which makes up most of the ocean's floor weathers to a reddish or greenish tint. In this area it is mostly reddish.

The Fremont River flows through the area creating some grass land and large trees. We saw two huge cottonwood trees.

The early Morman settlers planted orchards which still produce cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, apples and plums as well as almonds and walnuts. You are welcome to stroll into any of the unlocked orchards and pick and eat for free or pick and take for a fee.

Are the petroglyphs left by the early Fremont Culture from 700 to 1250 the first Facebook profiles or the first blog or first "tweet"?

Awesome formations and canyons.

Headed home

It was time to head home. Back to I-70 east, 80+ temp, clear blue skies with only a few small white fluffy clouds lined up in formation over the distant mountain peaks.

Interesting signs: "Eagles on Highway"

At some of the exits: "No Services" "Ranch Exit"

Facts about Utah:

State emblem is the beehive which symbolizes industry and the pioneer virtues of thrift and perseverance.

State insect is the honey bee.

State tree is the blue spruce.

State Mineral is Copper. Kennecott's Bingham Canyon mine in Utah is the world's largest open-pit copper mine.

State Bird: California Seagull. It saved settlers by eating crickets destroying their crops in 1848.

The people of Salt Lake City consume more Jell-O per capita than any other city in the Untied States.

The federal government owns 65% of Utah's land, including 5 national parks, 7 national monuments, 2 national recreation areas and 6 national forests

Personally, I had always considered Utah as desert country, but was amazed to see all the mountains, canyons and irrigated farm land.

We chose Hwy 50 through south western Colorado. Good road curving through the Rocky Mountains with ranches in the valleys. The leaves on the bushes are shades of pink, red to purple & green with occasional neon yellow gold aspens. Velvet covered mountains with gold jewels! A nice farewell before we enter the brown fields being harvested in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.

Life lesson: Notice the mileage signs along the Interstate. They are located every so many miles to keep you informed of what is ahead. They always list the closest town and then a city far in the distance. My "mileage signs" are in God's word. Reading daily to let me know where I am in my spiritual life, strength and guidance for the day, focus for now. But also what is ahead in the future, the promise of what He has provided through faith in Jesus shed blood. Eternal Life with Him! Thank-you, Lord!

Thank-you for traveling with us!

Prairie Schooners