2015 Western Trip – Days 63 & 64 – Traveling to KC

We got on the road from Denver a little before 10am and had an uneventful trip to the KOA in Wakeeney, KS.  I’ve been a fan of KS roads since we began RVing and this day was no exception.  While CO was working on their part of I-70, they have a ways to go and the road surface improved noticeably as soon as we crossed the KS state line.

The drive scenery was about as expected with crops either harvested or about to be and some giant wind farms – one was about 20 miles long.  It never ceases to amaze me how much is grown in the plains and we can only see a few miles on each side of the road rather than the couple thousand miles north to south between the US and Canada – it’s about the same distance, east/west as well.

The Wakeeney KOA was a decent park and not as tight as many KOA’s and while not fancy, they are a great overnight stop as they have long pull-thru’s that can easily accommodate big rigs without unhooking the car.  Check-in was smooth and efficient and we were guided to our site.  

2015 Western Trip – Day 61 & 62 – Hanging Around Denver

Our car has been making a funny hot smell for the past couple of weeks but we were getting no alarms and the gauges showed A-OK, but since the campground was only a mile from a Buick dealer and it was under warranty, we decided to take it by resulting in a nice down day for us and they fixed the problem.

Since we did nothing on Tue, Wed got a little busier as we went out for breakfast at a place called Café 13 in downtown Golden and while it got high reviews (mostly as a stop for coffee and pastries), we were disappointed with our meals.  Oh well you can’t win them all.

After that, I left the girls in downtown for some shopping while I headed back to the RV to do a little planning for the next day’s drive to Kansas.  Golden looks like a nice little town and is home to the Coor’s Brewery and the Colorado School of Mines.

2015 Western Trip- Days 59 & 60 – The Special Part Of RVing

When we got into RVing, I thought it was because I wanted to see America but after four years I now find the best part of RVing is meeting Americans, especially bloggers and RVers and while in Denver we got to do a 3fer.

It began with our third visit with Bob and Lea Ann (Cooking On The Ranch) and included blogger Heather (Rocky Mountain Cooking) and LA’s goddaughter Stephanie at their new digs in Highlands Ranch for a casual dinner party.  All of these shots were taken by various phones and sent to me - my camera was in the car.

2015 Western Trip – Day 58 – Headed to Denver

We left Grand Junction for the pretty drive along I-70 to Denver, beginning with a great view of the Palisade area from the elevated road and all of the agriculture that covers it.  From there we traveled through steep canyons carved by the Colorado River, over the 10,662’ Vail Pass, and across the continental Divide at the 11,158’ Eisenhower Tunnel.  The big diesel comfortably moved us up the mountains in third gear at a respectable 40mph with no engine temperature issues.

We passed through a canyon just east of Grand Junction and the very pretty Glenwood Canyon further east – unfortunately we couldn’t enjoy it as it was two-way traffic with one side of the interstate closed.  The road through the canyon is pretty much two bridges and the river looked to provide some great white water rafting thrills.  There is also a bike path along the road - here are a couple of shots from the web.

2015 Western Trip – Days 56 & 57 – Grand Junction Area

After three days of driving, I didn’t care whether or not we did much for the first day in Grand Junction, but I was up for breakfast at a place in the railroad station complex called Pufferbelly Restaurant (Pufferbelly = steam locomotive) with our kind of menu.

2015 Western Trip – Days 53-55 – Driving East

I try not to drive more than two days in a row, but after we revised our trip to shorten it a little, we needed to get from Sisters, OR to Grand Junction, CO (960 miles) and there was no where we wanted to spend an extra day so it was three straight behind the wheel.

We took route US-20 from Sisters to Caldwell, ID and I think it may have been the longest 313 mile drive I’ve taken.  We went through desert, agricultural areas and curvy mountains.  By the time we got into the Ambassador RV Park, I was pretty whipped but check in was a breeze and the park was very nice with concrete patios and river rock parking spots – first time I’d seen that and I’d definitely stay there again.

2015 Western Trip – Day 52 – Cascade Volcanoes

If you have any knowledge of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980, you are likely aware that the Cascade Mountains has several volcanoes – that was my trivial understanding until we visited the area.

The Cascade Volcanoes (also known as the Cascade Volcanic Arc) are a number of volcanoes in a volcanic arc in western North America, extending from southwestern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California, a distance of well over 700 miles.