Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Monument Valley

Black Canyon of the Gunnison was a nice park if you are a hiker, so definitely not for me!  Only spent about a half day there.  The best thing was I finally got to see some Bighorn Sheep (rams)!  

Long frustrating drive to Monument Valley.  About the time I was arriving the van started making a bad, rubbing noise in the front end :(  Decided to try touring Monument Valley park, however with the recent rains, it wasn't recommended that I drive the valley since the van has such low clearance.  Was able to get some good pics from the visitor center however.  It's cool seeing how the weather has formed these rocks.  

On the way back to the campground, van still making a bad noise, so I decided to check into mechanics - only problem is I was in the middle of nowhere on a weekend with nothing available for miles!  

Limped my way to Moab (2+ hours) on Sunday and today (Monday) waiting to hear the verdict on what's up with the van and what it'll take to fix it.  One good thing - cool and rainy the next couple of days so at least I won't boil up!

Colorado has been a blast!

 Spent 4 1/2 days with Ethan at Rocky Mountain National Park and the town of Estes Park.  It was great getting to spend time with him and he was a tremendous help since I definitely had to use my portable oxygen for the whole time!  

The first day we drove Old Fall River Road in RMNP and it was awesome - totally exceeded expectations.  The scenery was spectacular and the audio guide I had purchased for the trip was really helpful - got lots of entertaining information.  We also drove Trail Ridge Road & got to see the Continental Divide.  We managed to see 2-3 moose, but couldn't get a good pic since they were hiding among the trees.

The following day we drove the Bear Lake Route and got to see out 1st herd of elk in the "wild".  I say in the wild because there were elk in the mornings and evenings to greet us around our 1st floor room at the hotel.  It was great to wake up to the elk calling to each other and stepping out the door to watch them.

Of course we spent a day checking out the town of Estes Park - lots of shops to check out (with pretty high prices).  We definitely managed to find some goodies and the necessary taffy, etc. while there!

After dropping Ethan off back at home I headed off for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  It was cool when I woke up at my campsite, there were donkeys right outside the door of my van!  At the national park, I finally managed to see some bighorn sheep (rams)!

Here are some of the highlights:

 

Rainy morning on Fall River Road

Bull Elk in our "front yard"

All the "girls" and babies in our front yard

Days 2 & 3

Spent yesterday driving through Tennessee and Kentucky to get to Missouri.  

I had forgotten about the roads in Tennessee - winding up through the mountains with blasted rock on both sides (see pic)

When I got to Kentucky the rolling hills and horses reminded me that I'd like to spend some real time there!  

Spent the night in Missouri and then took off for my next stop here in Kansas.  Something interesting about Missouri roads - they are all letters of the alphabet; it went all the way from A - Z and the AA - ZZ.  I never did figure it out - maybe the single letters are North/South and the others East/West?  As usual, there was plenty of road construction to get through.  I saw a  nominee for the dumbest warning sign ever - "Water on Road when Raining" (yes it was an actual DOT sign!)

Of course everything here in Kansas is about the Wizard of Oz.  I'm settled in at the campground for the night and gladly have time to organize things a little better.  The more time I spend in the van, the more I can refine it.  One thing, I definitely brought too much "stuff" with me!  

Definitely looking forward to getting to Colorado and some cooler weather.  Its been unseasonably hot so far (99 degrees yesterday afternoon; miserable in Missouri) - at least there's a breeze here in Kansas.

 

Day One

Finally on the road!  Drove from home through most of Georgia, stopping in Calhoun, the northwest corner of the state.  I survived the "white knuckle" drive on an 8-lane highway through Atlanta which was crazy with traffic even though it was 2 in the afternoon.  Definitely glad I planned shorter 6 (ish) hour drive days - not exhausted when I stop for the night and don't feel like I need to rush through the drive.

Looking forward to the variety of scenery on tomorrow's drive - going through Tennessee and Kentucky with an overnight in Missouri!