Retired and Trippin

The day started with a treat - a drive/ride through the Rocky Mountains in northeast Colorado - BEAUTIFUL! We left our crappy hotel in Fort Collins, CO at 8:00 under blue clear skies with a temperature of 68. Hwy 14 west through Poudre Canyon was fantastic with great scenery. Over Cameron Pass (10,276 feet elevation) with some great mountain scenery. After a fuel stop and rest in Walden, CO we cruised north on 125 into Wyoming. Along the way we saw our first pronghorn antelope of the trip and throughout the day we saw many. Hwy 230 and 130 northbound in Wyoming took us through Saratoga to I-80 westbound into Rawlins, WY. In Rawlins we toured the old Wyoming State Prison and enjoyed lunch at Buck's Sports Grill. From Rawlins, 287 took us north to Muddy Gap, where Carl refueled and we took 220 north and east into Casper, WY. Along 220 we stopped at two landmarks on the Oregon Trail. Devil's Gate Independence Rock  We traveled 341 miles today with a lo...

As we departed our hotel in McCook, NE at 8:30 it was sunny and 72 degrees. We drove west on Hwy 34 to the Massacre Canyon State Historic Site. This was near the site of the last battle between the Sioux Nation and the Pawnee Nation. There are two faces on opposite sides of the monument. I assume one represents the Sioux and one the Pawnee. We continued west on 34 to Trenton, where we turned north on Hwy 25. At Hwy 6 we were westbound again. A construction zone at Paradise, NE slowed us down a bit but we eventually made it to Imperial, where we turned southwest on S15A, which took us a short distance to Champion, NE. We spent some time here lollygagging around Champion Lake and the Champion Mill (which was not open - thanks to COVID-19). two petite boys (Carl & Charlie) relaxing by Champion Lake Hwy 6 took us further west into Colorado where we stopped for lunch in Sterling at the J&L Cafe. From Sterling, Hwy 14 took us west all the way to Fort Collins, where we sto...

We're off on another road trip with brother, Carl, and Marge - headed to Montana, big sky country. "They" say COVID-19 is ramping up again but we feel relatively safe headed north into sparsely populated country. Chris and I left home at 7:45 and drove to meet with Carl and Marge at their house. It was sunny and 75 degrees. We departed Shawnee at 8:10. Our route was 7 north, I-70 west to exit 206; 232 north; 18 west; 24 west; 23 north; and 83 north to McCook, Nebraska. Our first stop was in Junction City for gas. The Kansas governor recently mandated the use of masks at indoor businesses so I wore my mask into the gas station. Upon entering I noticed that nobody was wearing a mask, not even the employees. I took mine off. West of Salina on I-70 we drove through a very large wind farm. There were hundreds of million-dollar wind turbines and hardly any of them were spinning. We stopped again, for gas and lunch, in Lucas, KS. The K-18 Cafe provided a LARRAPIN goo...

Some time ago I ran across this web site while perusing Facebook ( http://kansastravel.org/littlestrangerchurch.htm ). This Little Stranger Church and Cemetery is located in rural Leavenworth, KS. The web site had a link to another web site featuring beautiful and historic churches in Kansas ( http://kansastravel.org/kansaschurches.htm ). Four of them were in Leavenworth and Atchison. Chris and I decided to make a day trip of visiting these churches. We left home at 8:40 AM under sunny skies with a temperature of 73 degrees, a great top-down morning. We drove north on I-435 to Hwy 5, which took us north and west to Leavenworth. Our first stop was at the Little Stranger Church and Cemetery in rural Leavenworth, KS. (My Nikon shot craps so all photos today were captured with my iPhone.) It is believed to be the oldest wood frame house of worship remaining in the state of Kansas. The first service was held on May 12, 1868. The church was active for 50 years before closing durning th...

After saying our goodbyes to John and thanking him for his hospitality, our travels started at 9:45 AM. It was cloudy and 70 degrees, though it felt cooler than prior mornings because the sun wasn't out. Our route today was 5 north, 135 north through Stover, M north and west, V west through Bahner and 65 north into Sedalia (home of the Missouri State Fair), where we stopped for lunch at Colton's Steak House & Grill. From Sedalia it was 50 west, I-470 west, I-435 west, 69 north and I-35 north. Our route covered about 160 miles and our high temperature was 80. The sun broke through before we arrived home. To see the few photos taken today click on the following link:  Day 3 Pics

We departed at about 8:30 and rode a short distance down Highway 5 to have breakfast at a restaurant in Greenview, MO. I think the name of the restaurant was Stewarts. It was a good breakfast. At about 9:40 we were riding south on Hwy 5 again. Our route today was 5 south, 7 south, 17 south, 32 east, 19 south, 160 west, 63 north, 60 west and 5 north back to the Lake of the Ozarks. I hope I got all that right. We stopped for gas (and butt breaks) twice. It was a beautiful 385 mile day with sun and a high temperature of 80 degrees. All photos were taken from the moving Poonie. To see all the photos taken today click on this link:  Day 2 Pics

The Spring Ride was a no-go this year due to COVID19. Today, Gary, Bill and I attempted to make up for that by taking a ride to the Ozarks area of Missouri. We may dip down into Arkansas too. We met up at the Quik Trip at 151 Street and 69 Hwy in Overland Park at 9:00 AM. The weather was excellent; sunny and 68 degrees. We departed at 9:05 and rode south on Metcalf. At 247th Street we turned east, rode into Missouri. At Cleveland we turned south a short distance to Hwy 2, which took us east to Freeman. From Freeman we rode back roads to Archie, where enjoyed a late breakfast. We were back on the road at 11:00 AM. From Archie, county road B took us east and then Gary started ad-libbing on our route. We took a circuitous route (we actually went through Blairstown) on back roads until we intersected with Hwy 7 at Creighton located north and west of Clinton. Hwy 7 took us into Clinton where we picked up Hwy 52 east. This route took us through Calhoun, Windsor and Cole Camp. We sto...