Retired and Trippin

Chris and I are at the end of a week long trip. We started off by staying with Deb and Tim at their home near Montrose, IA. As always, we enjoyed our visit with them and their family. We followed that with a trip to Monroe,OH to visit with Uncle Richard and Aunt Joann. While there we stayed with my cousin, Wayne, and his wife, Susan. It was great to see all of them. This was our third attempt this year (3rd time was a charm). We had to cancel our prior two trips due to one crisis after another. Yesterday we drove from Ohio to Farmington, MO and today we did some exploring. Our first stop was the Pickle Springs Natural Area. Chris’ cousin, Caroline, visited here earlier in the year and her Facebook post inspired us to check it out.  It started out cloudy but the sun soon broke through making it a great weather day! To see all the photos taken here click on this link:  Pickle Springs Natural Area For lunch we drove back to Farmington, where we decided t...

It was a cloudy cool day but Chris and I decided to visit a couple spots along the Missouri River to see if we could see any pretty fall foliage. We drove the Mustang to Weston Bend State Park. And then to Atchison, KS. It was misting in Atchison so I used my iPhone to take photos here. We enjoyed lunch at the Depot Restaurant in Leavenworth, KS and then visited good friends Frank and Terri. To see all photos taken today click on the following link:  Today's Photos

Day 1; November 3, 2017 This is Gary's annual ride south into Arkansas to check out the fall foliage. Chris and I are no longer riding (a motorcycle) but we were invited to go in our car. I recently purchased a 2013 Mustang GT convertible and was looking forward to taking it out on the road. We met at the Quik Trip at 151st and 69 Highway in south Overland Park. Our travel group consisted of Gary, Carl & Marge, and Chris & I. We took a circuitous 400 mile route to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Mama's Kitchen in Archie, MO was our location for breakfast. In Lebanon, MO we stopped for gas and a butt break. We stopped at the Bull Shoals - White River Visitor Center for another break. It had been cloudy all day but between Bull Shoals and Berryville, AR we ran into fog and mist. Our lodging in Eureka Springs was great. It was clean, reasonably priced and they had chairs outside for post ride get-togethers. They also supplied us with rags to clean our vehi...

Today we drove home, reversing our route from Day 1, excluding the side trip to the winery. It was sunny but cold this morning. When we left the motel at 9:00 it was 33 degrees. Carl and Marge, who were on their motorcycle, were bundled up and had their electric jacket liners plugged in.  It was only 40 degrees 120 miles later. After another 8 miles it reached 50 degrees and it was 61 when we arrived home at 3:30. We ate lunch at El Toro Mexican Restaurant in Chillicothe, MO. No other photos were taken today. Our total trip mileage was 690. Another great trip with Carl and Marge is in the books. THE END

Another complimentary breakfast at The State House Inn and another day of exploring Springfield. It was BRRRR-TITTIES today; 39 degrees and it might have made it up to 40. Clouds with occasional drizzle and sleet completed the wonderful weather for today. Our first stop today was at the Oak Ridge Cemetery, location of Lincoln's tomb. It was quite impressive. Next stop was the Camp Butler National Cemetery. These are always sobering places to me but today, as we entered the cemetery, they were concluding a burial. Carl, who did some research on things to see in Springfield, thought I'd like to see the Illinois State Police Heritage Foundation Museum. It was supposed to have some old police vehicles along with other memorabilia and it was supposed to be open today. When we arrived we found it closed. One old state police vehicle was parked out front near the road and it was not notable at all. We tried to visit it - and brother, Carl, had very good intentions. We th...

The day started at 8:30 with an excellent breakfast provided at the State House Inn. Then we were off to explore Springfield at 9:45. It was a cloudy, windy, chilly 41 degrees. We explored the Abraham Lincoln Museum, the old Springfield Union Station, the old capitol building, and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. It was an interesting day with much walking. We enjoyed lunch at Gallina's Pizza, where we can vouch for their pizza, spaghetti & meat balls, lasagna and humongous side salads. You won't go home hungry after eating at Gallina's. A guy at a neighboring table ordered a calzone that came out on a pizza plate it was so big. When we returned to the hotel at about 5:00 it was cloudy, windy and 41 degrees. It may have been a little warmer during the day, but it wouldn't have been much. To see all the photos taken today around Springfield click on the following link:  Day 2 Photos

This trip was planned back in July. Carl, Marge, Chris and I traveling to Springfield, IL, staying in a downtown hotel for three nights and touring the sites in Springfield. We left home shortly after 9:00. It was sunny and 58 degrees. Carl and Marge were on their Goldwing. Chris and I in our Ford Fusion. We took I-35 north out of Kansas City and at Hwy 36 we headed east. After stopping for gas and a break in Chillicothe, MO we had lunch in Macon, MO at the Apple Basket Cafe. Hwy 36 then took us east to Hannibal, where we crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois and caught I-72 eastbound. Outside New Berlin, IL we stopped at the Danenberger Family Vineyard, where Marge scored a couple bottles of vino. We arrived at the State House Inn, Springfield, IL at about 4:30 and got settled in. The hotel is only one block from the Illinois State Capital. After dark Chris and I walked around the capital and took some photos. To see all the photos taken today click on this here lin...

Today was interstate highway 70 day, all the way home. When we left Colby, KS it was 49 degrees with rain and it rained most of the way to Salina. At times the rain was quite heavy and we experienced some hydroplaning a few times, which caused a little puckering of the sphincter. Chris took this iPhone picture out the windshield immediately after a swipe of the windshield wipers. This was pretty much our view all the way to Salina. Along the way the Fusion rolled over 58,000 miles. The average miles per gallon of the Fusion were always above 33 and the best it ever showed was 33.9. We really thought it would pop up to 34 the day before, but it never did. Chris really wanted a baked potato from Wendy's for lunch but no Wendy's appeared on the exit signs around Topeka so we settled for McDonald's at one of the turnpike rest areas. We arrived home at 2:10, where it was 88 degrees. We drove 367 miles today, which made for total trip mileage of 5,131. It was a fantasti...

The weather started today like it was most of the day, cloudy with light rain. We departed our motel in Fort Collins, CO at 9:00 and the temperature was 47 degrees. We drove east on Hwy 14. Due to the weather we could not take one last look at the mountains and Chris was a little sad that there would be no more aspens to see this year. 😒 In Ault, CO we saw this scenic byway sign and wondered how in the world a route across eastern Colorado could be scenic. It ended up being a route through grasslands with prong-horned antelope all over the place. Along Hwy 14 we also saw a feedlot for sheep. Neither of us had ever seen that before. At Sterling, CO we turned south on Hwy 61 and we soon came across a field of sunflowers. Where I stopped to take pictures there were these two pretty youngsters standing with a whole field of senior citizens. At Otis, CO we turned eastbound on Hwy 34, but before we did I photographed the city limit sign and the water tower. Otis is one of t...

The day did not look promising as we drove away from our motel in Leadville, CO at 8:15 this morning. It was 40 degrees with a drizzling rain and fog. It snowed in the night at higher elevations and we could see snow on mountains where there was none yesterday evening. We drove Hwy 91 north to I-70 and along the way we saw beautiful aspen trees and a pretty reservoir. I-70 took us east to Silverthorne and Hwy 9, which took us north to Kremmling, where we turned eastbound on Hwy 40. The highway pretty much followed the Colorado River and the yellow-gold aspen and narrow leaf cottonwood trees in the river valley were gorgeous. As you can see, we had blue skies by this time. At Granby we turned north on Hwy 34 headed to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). Before arriving, we stopped at the Kawuneeche Visitor Center for a bathroom break and to look around. While there, we found out about Adams Falls, a water fall nearby that we could hike to see. It was back down Hwy 34 at Gra...

Today, the first day of autumn, we were looking for the aspen trees at altitude, hoping the leaves were changing to the beautiful yellow-gold color. We left our motel in Grand Junction, CO at 8:30. It was 68 degrees and sunny but clouds were moving in, which provided off-and-on light rain all day. The highest temperature we experienced today was 72 and the lowest was 41, on Grand Mesa at 10:00. Grand Mesa, just east and south of Grand Junction, was our first destination to look for the aspens and we were not disappointed. On the way up Grand Mesa we came across an old ski slope (from 1940) called Mesa Creek Ski Area that had some pretty aspens on the slope. We stopped for a couple photos. After walking about half way up the slope we had a beautiful view of the valley below. On Grand Mesa we made a few other stops for photos. From Grand Mesa we drove down the south side to Hotchkiss and then started northeast to Redstone and Carbondale. After driving over McClure Pass, where...