Retired and Trippin

It was sunny and 77 degrees when we left our motel in Hays, KS this morning. We did a little lollygagging around, as you can tell. The motel did provide a nice complimentary breakfast - with BACON! We blasted east on I-70 all the way home with one stop. Upon arrival we did not go straight home. We enjoyed taco Tuesday at Margarita's, gassed up the car, and acquired a few groceries before making it home. Our total trip mileage was 2,975 miles over 13 days. It was a great trip with fantastic scenery.

There was a hiking and bicycling path behind our motel in Colorado Springs. A stream ran beside the path. Chris and I took advantage of the path for a short hike before we took off for Hays. Along the path we spotted two deer and several rabbits. And I always enjoy the site of Pikes Peak when I'm in the Springs. We departed for Hays, KS at 8:55. Skies were blue and the temperature was 70 degrees. Our route was Hwy 24 eastbound, Hwy 94 eastbound, and Hwy 40 eastbound into Kansas. We stopped at a roadside park (of sorts) in Weskan, KS for a picnic lunch. Along the way we lost an hour as we drove into the central time zone. At Oakley we got on I-70 which took us on to Hays. We checked into our motel in Hays and while Chris was setting up house I went to wash bugs off the car and get some ice for our cooler. When I returned to the motel Chris was in the motel pool so I joined her. We also took advantage of the motel's hot tub. At 6:30 we went to the home of Gary and Tere...

This morning was a leisurely one at our motel in Canon City. After our complimentary breakfast we left at 9:00 (66 degrees and cloudy) and drove to DiNardo's in Canon City to buy some of their cherry cider, which is quite tasty. We drove north and slightly east to Colorado Springs where we hooked up with my cousin, Deb, and her husband, Jim. Their daughter Laurie was also there and it was good to see her. They are family but they are also friends. We enjoyed a nice visit, lunch, and a movie with them. The highlight of lunch was strawberry shortcake, homemade by Jim. We checked into our motel in Colorado Springs around 5:00. It looks like we may enjoy the available pool and hot tub before calling it a night. The sun came out when we arrived in Colorado Springs and the high temperature was in the 70's. BEAUTIFUL day! No pictures were taken today. I intended to take a photo of Pike's Peak and of Deb and Jim, but I failed to do either.

When we left our motel in Cortez this morning it was sunny and 65 degrees. We drove east to Durango and hopped on Highway 550 north headed up to the Million Dollar Highway. It is one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on and in many places there are no guard rails which can pucker the ole orifice. If you click on the link to the photos taken along here I hope you don't get tired of mountain views because I took quite a few. There are a few photos of mountain streams and waterfalls also, which Chris really likes. We got in some exercise by walking in Silverton. It is a bit of a tourist trap but I enjoy the scenery and we did a little shopping. We also grabbed lunch at the Brown Bear Cafe before leaving town. To see all the pics taken along the Million Dollar Highway click on this link:  MillionDollarHwy At Montrose, CO we took US Hwy 50 eastbound headed to our day's destination, Canon City, CO. Along the way we drove by Blue Mesa Reservoir ( BlueMesaWate...

Breakfast was obtained at the restaurant associated with our motel. We shared a Denver omelette and it was LARRAPIN good! The guy in the office at the Circle D Motel in Escalante told me that Hwy 12 east of Escalante was the most scenic of the whole "scenic 12" route. He was right. The scenery varied from rocks to mountain forests and it was all beautiful, except for the 20 minute delay for road construction. At Torre we turned eastbound on Hwy 24 through Capitol Reef National Park, another pretty area. We did not stop to do anything, just drove through and took pictures. At Hanksville we stopped for gas and a little snack to hold us over until lunch (that would be late again today). The convenience store at the gas stop was built into the rock wall. With guacamole flavored chips in hand we departed Hanksville southbound on Hwy 95. This took us through the northeast end of the Glen Canyon Recreation Area and over the Colorado River. In this area an old town n...

Another BEAUTIFUL day! We left Hurricane, UT at about 8:15 and drove north to Cedar City. From there we turned on to Utah Hwy 14 eastbound. My map has this route designated as scenic and I definitely agree. At one point we could see a large canyon area way to the south. In looking at the map I'm sure it was the edge of Kolob Canyons or Zion National Park. Also along this route we saw areas of black rock, which I believed were volcanic rock. Very cool looking. At US Hwy 89 we turned north and drove until we reached Utah Hwy 12, which took us east. The Red Canyon area was very pretty. At about 10:30 we arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park, where we opted to use the free shuttle for transportation around the park. That ended up being a smart thing to do. There were so many folks in their own cars that the parking lots were packed. People would drive around and around waiting for a spot to open. Bryce Canyon was beautiful. Chris and I hiked from Sunset Point to Inspiration Po...

After a very good complimentary breakfast at the Best Western Motel in Kanab we departed at 8:15 for Zion National Park. It was cool, in the 50's, under blue clear skies. Thirty miles later we arrived. Chris and I drove through the park once before (in the winter) but we had never done the scenic drive accessible only by shuttle buses. Today we did it. It is a beautiful area as you'll see from the pictures. It is so immense, however, that pictures don't really do it justice. The shuttle bus starts at the visitor's center and makes 9 stops up into the canyon. We got off at stops #8 (Big Bend) #9 (Temple of Sinawava) and #5 (Zion National Park Lodge. Carl and Marge wanted to get home earlier than Chris and I do so, when Chris and I got off at stop #5, Carl and Marge went on back to the visitor's center and started the long ride home. Safe travels to them. It was great traveling with them - again. Chris and I took a short hike up to the Emerald Pools an...

We left our motel at 8:00 under blue clear skies. It was cool all day today. Highway 89 took us south of Page a few miles to the Horseshoe Bend parking lot. From there we walked three quarters of a mile to the rim of the canyon where the Colorado River carved a giant horseshoe shape in the rock. It was very pretty but there were no guard rails or fence preventing people from falling in, which made me a bit nervous. Hwy 89 then took us further south before we turned west onto Hwy 89A, which took us back north and then west across Marble Canyon and the Colorado River on the Navajo Bridge. To see all the pictures taken at Horseshoe Bend and Navajo Bridge click on this link: Bend&Bridge Still on 89A we drove west and north to Hwy 67, which took us south to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The last time Chris and I tried to visit here Hwy 67 was closed due to snow. We had lunch at the Lodge on the North Rim before wandering around and taking a few photos. Chris and I did th...

We are blessed with another beautiful day. When planning this trip Chris and I were noting temperatures in this area over 90 degrees and it was 91 when we arrived yesterday. Today the highs were in the upper 70's under sunny skies. The only draw back with today's weather was the wind. Our first activity today was a guided tour of lower Antelope Canyon located just outside Page, AZ. We took the Dixie-Ellis tour, which had been recommended by our friend, Whitney. She also suggested going as early in the morning as possible. We made the 8:30 tour. Natasha was our native American guide. The tour was amazing and the sights in the slot canyon were beautiful. I took my new DSLR camera intending to use it on the tour. Due to the blowing sand, however, I opted to use my iPhone camera. On a recommendation from the guide I used the "chrome" filter. Natasha took the group shots using my camera. To see all the photos saved from Antelope Canyon click on this link:  Antelope C...

June 11th, 2017: It was in the 50's when we left Chama, NM for Page, AZ this morning. Another beautiful day! We drove/rode through Dulce, Bloomfield and Farmington to Shiprock in New Mexico. We stopped to take a photo of the Ship Rock: Somewhere along Hwy 64 in New Mexico we drove along a stretch of road where a dozen or so small prairie dogs were playing a real life game of Frogger running across the road in front of us. One was sitting straight up at the edge of the highway like we didn't bother him a bit. I did not hit any that I was aware of but it's a miracle I didn't. From Ship Rock we drove into Arizona through Teec Nos Pos, Mexican Water and Dennehotso to Kayenta, AZ, where we stopped for lunch. All that was available was fast food so we ate at Church's Fried Chicken. We finished up the day riding through Kaibito to Page, AZ. There were pretty areas in an arid, desert, and rocky sort of way. It was windy and 91 degrees when we arrived in Page at 2:...

June 10th, 2017: What a beautiful day in Chama, NM! Temperature and humidity was BUENO! We slept in and then met all my cousins for breakfast at the Elk Horn Restaurant about a mile down the road from our motel. Chris and I walked - because we're athletes. On the way we crossed the Rio Chama River.  Later, around noon, we went to "downtown" Chama and did some shopping. All of us bought something except for Carl. Well, Carl bought quite a bit for Marge. I bought a sweet new lid for the wedding. Before heading back to our motel we indulged in some ice cream treats for lunch. To see my pics from Chama click on this link:  Chama After some R&R at the motel we attended the wedding. It was a pretty setting and they had some very good chow afterwards. Again, it was good seeing relatives. To see the pictures taken at the wedding click on this link:  Clay & Ashley's Wedding

June 9th, 2017: After a complimentary breakfast at the Cobblestone Inn & Suites in Lakin, KS we took off westbound headed for Chama, NM. Within a few miles we were in the mountain standard time zone and then a few more miles and we were in Colorado. Our route took us through LaJunta, Walsenburg (where we had a picnic lunch at a city park), Alamosa, and Antonito on our way to Chama, NM. The route from Antonito was particularly scenic as it took us over La Manga Pass and Cumbres Pass, both over 10,000 feet in elevation. This photo was taken along that route. As you can see there was still plenty of snow up there. On this same route along Hwy 17 I saw an elk and we both saw two deer. I couldn't get any pics of the wildlife. In the evening we drove to the location of the wedding tomorrow, where we were treated to a rolled taco rehearsal dinner. It was remote out in the boonies with a long stretch of nasty gravel road. We were glad we had the car because it was the type o...

My brother, Carl, his wife, Marge, Chris, and I are on our way to Chama, NM to attend a wedding. One of our cousin's sons is getting married there on June 10th. It should be a good time. We left Shawnee, KS at 8:00 am and took off westbound, Carl and Marge on their Goldwing, Chris and I in our car. We stopped for lunch at Mary's Restaurant, a little hole-in-the-wall place in Great Bend, KS. The food was very good. Our next stop was Jetmore, KS. My mother's maiden name was Schechter and she grew up here. We stopped at the old Schechter home to take some pictures. It is hard to believe that all nine of them lived in this small home. It is proof that you don't need a boat load of money and a big house to raise children who grow up to be wonderful successful people. The Hodgeman County Courthouse is in Jetmore and they have a war memorial on the grounds with names of war veterans inscribed in the monument. We found three of my uncle's names. To view all...