Day 9 Wednesday 23 Sept 2015

Day 9 and I'm leaving Horsethief headed into Moab.  It is overcast this morning and that's not good for taking pics.  I should have taken some pics yesterday when I was on the way in but I was tired so I decided to put the photography off until today.  That was a mistake.  You can't see the brilliance of the red in the rocks.  Rats.

The color is just washed out.  Where is my red???

Aren't these rocks cool?  The diversity in the landscape on this drive is just marvelous.  It's really interesting.

We're back to all the little green blobs again.  They really brighten the landscape and add lots of interest to it.

Such an interesting terrain in this area.  That valley was pretty deep too.

Round rocks, flat rocks, big rocks, small rocks, whole rocks, split rocks.  We've got it all here.  Rocks everywhere.

Here's a little bit of that red, but it still isn't what it should be.  Look at that sky too.  And those poofy white clouds.  Gods handiwork is really awesome and sometimes He likes to show off a bit on beautiful days like this.  I don't blame Him.  If I could create something this beautiful I'd be proud as a Georgia peach too.

I've left Moab and have decided to get on I-70 East and head home.  I gotta tell ya.....usually the drive along the Interstate highways isn't anything to write home about, or blog about, for that matter.  But this drive along I-70 is magnificent.  And it goes all the way to Denver.  Hundreds of miles of mountains and beautiful views.  This is another MUST drive if you get a chance.  They were doing construction and road repair in several places so the pace was slower.  That gave me lots of chances to take pics as I was driving.  So I did.  Normally the oncoming traffic is on that elevated road but not today.  I'm sharing my side of the road with those going west.  They were very appreciative of that.  It saved them having to walk.  I can be nice when I want to be.  But I have to be in the mood for it.

Driving with one hand, snapping pics with the other.  Talent?  Yeah....I got it.

I could be mistaken about this (just kidding) but I think this is the Colorado River that meanders along side of the highway for miles and miles and miles.  It's really a pretty sight.  Normally people would be zipping down this road at 70mph but because of the construction I have enough time to actually take a look at the scenery and get these pics for you.  If not for that I'd have to risk life and limb to bring home these power shots for y'all.  You're worth it.  But I'm grateful for the slower pace today.

Ditto on the river.

I was trying to snap another great pic for all of you and this darn tree jumped up and photo bombed me!  Just totally hogged my shot.  I will  be speaking to the Colorado Department of Transportation about that tree.  That's unacceptable behavior for any tree, much less one along our nations highway system.

Some of this road is an engineering marvel.  If you don't have enough room for 4 lanes, just stack 'em up.

I think this pic is really cool.  Whoever took it did a fantastic job.  And so did the engineers.  They dug the west bound lane through solid rock without knocking the whole side of the mountain off.  What a wonderful feat of engineering and labor.  And no small feat to take this pic while driving, I might say.

All of a sudden the mountains get red!

Then the red mountains are gone and we're back to green with dazzling aspen trees.  Such a variety of color, terrain and scenery.  This drive along I-70 is a winner.

Pictures don't do it justice.  The colors are much more brilliant than you can capture with a camera.  Good thing I had my eyeballs there to see it for myself.  Y'all will just have to be envious of me.  Sorry.  Can't be helped.

Wish you had all been here with me to see this.  You really missed out.  I have to say:  a trip with Dee is better than no trip at all.

This is another one of those quaint little hamlets in the ski area.  It's north of Breckenridge.  I think it's Foster, Colorado.  They had about 3 whole blocks of main street torn completely out, right down to the dirt.  They better get that new street poured in a hurry before the snow starts.  This pic is part of main street that wasn't torn up.  Nice little place.  And a good sized town too.

I left Moab, Utah around 9am Wednesday morning and drove straight through to Tulsa.  It was about a 27 hour drive.  I stopped 3 times along the way and took quick naps to keep me from getting buggy.  It was a nice trip.  I drove about 2750 miles and the trip took 10 days.  I went through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma.  I saw some breath taking scenery along the way.  God was with me the whole trip, finding me some good places to camp and always providing what I needed.  Most of the trip I had the road to myself except for when I was on I-70.  That got a little hairy as I hit Denver right at 4:00pm in the middle of rush hour.  But I made it through without any problems.  I give all the credit for this trip to God, Who created such an awesome planet on which we live.  The USA is a beautiful country with a tremendous diversity of terrain.  If you have the means to travel and see the USA, do it.  You will never regret it.  

Day 8 Tuesday 22 Sept 2015



It's Tuesday morning and I'm leaving Dinosaur Park.  You can see these mountains from the camp ground.  There is a river that meanders through the camp ground too.  It's a nice area.  I can just imagine a whole herd of dinosaurs buried deep in this rock waiting to be discovered.

Here's that river I was telling you about.   I think it's the Greene River or something like that but it looks like pure mud.  Just as brown as it can be.  Dirty looking.  I wouldn't eat any fish that came out of it.  But in this part of the country I guess any water at all is better than none.

I've wandered and roamed all day and here I am at Horsethief Campground north of Moab, Utah.  I wanted to stay at Dead Horse Point State Park but the campground there was full.  Dead Horse is where Thelma and Louise took the plunge.  It has some killer views there.  Beautiful park but they charge $10 just to get in to it.  No, thanks.  I'll keep my money.  The lady at the ticket office was kind enough to recommend Horsethief as a good place to stay.  It's run by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and it was a wonderful campground.  I even took a pic of the vault toilet for you to see how nice it was.  Horsethief is just a few miles from Dead Horse so it wasn't out of the way for me to get here.  If you are ever near Moab, you MUST take the drive off the main highway to Dead Horse Point State Park.  It is stunning.  The rock cliffs are bright red.

My camp space at Horsethief.  I'm surrounded by lots of juniper bushes and trees.  They have the most unusual shapes to them.  Quite gnarly.  Some are tall and lean, others are short and squatty.  They grow in all kinds of shpaes.

Here's one of those short and squatty ones.  This one was in my camp space.

These camp spaces are very well equipped.  They all have a nice steel picnic table and a fire ring with a cooking grate.  There's that Pookie on the tail gate again like a bird on its' perch.  She was guarding the ice chest.  That's where the sausage and eggs are stored.  She likes the ice chest.

Sunset at Horsethief.   These junipers cast some strange shadows.  It's prettier than the picture.  Really.

We had a pretty sunset.  The neighbors next to me rated it an 8.  They said the previous night it was a 9 or maybe even a 9.5.  Guess I was a day late again.  But I was happy with this one.  God did mighty fine by me.

Here's that sunset through one of those junipers.  I just thought it was cool so I took a pic.  Hope you like it too.

Day 7 Monday 21 Sept 2015



Monday morning.  Stopped by the Visitor Center on the way out of the park for the last time (I stayed 2 nights here.)  Snapped a couple of pics at the center.  They have a film they play every half hour for the tourists that talks about the canyon and the river.  It's very interesting.  I'm glad I watched it.  Another camper here recommended it.

This is right behind the Visitor Center.  It's a grand view.

The Black Canyon is well behind me now.  I'm on my way to Dinosaur National Park.  I'm still in the mountains but they look a lot different now.  I stopped in the middle of the road and took this pic.  I had the road to myself so I could do things like that.  I took quite a few pics while driving down the highway.  I just held the camera up to the windshield and hit the button.

These mountains are very pretty.  All the little green blobs are cool looking against the grey dirt.  Lots of sage brush and some small cedar trees.  It's really nice even though I made fun of it.  Looks like I was half off the road for this shot.  Sometimes I live dangerously.

I had to go over a mountain peak to get to Dinosaur Park.  It was a beautiful drive.  Took a couple of hours to get over the crest but the scenery was really great.  It was nice to have the road to myself so that I could take my time.

See....I really did go to Utah.  It ain't real unless you have a pic.  I took this pic doing about 65mph.  I'm really good.

Another one of my famous "on the fly" shots.  The mountains have a rugged feel to them.  Lots of sage brush here.  A zillion acres of land without a single grazing cow or horse.  Just too arid for animals to live on.

Here's my camping space at Dinosaur Park.  Very spacious, just like Black Canyon.  Lots of room between campsites. I like it like that.  I stayed in a couple of RV parks along the way and you get that "sardine" feeling.  There were no giant birds here or mule deer.  It was warm when I got here (85) and I was upset about that but it cooled down nicely that night.  Down around 55 I think.  All the campgrounds I stayed in were nice and also quiet.  I think Pookie's on the tail gate in this pic too.  She's one tail gating little dog.

Day 6 Sunday 20 Sept 2015


I decided that the sleeping bag was too much to sleep under so I took it off the bed.  What to do then?  Well, if you need help in this country you call the military so that's what I did.  I put my old Navy blanket on the bed.  Go Navy!  It was just about perfect along with the two other blankets I had on the bed.  Comfy and warm.

 The Black Canyon of The Gunnison.  I stayed on the South Rim.  From what I understand that's where the camping is so I didn't mess with the North Rim.  Sometimes a person just has to choose.  The views are beautiful but the scenery didn't photograph well.  It was early in the morning and the sun was not at a good angle for taking pics.  So the pics are what they are.  No, you can't have your money back.

If you strain your eyes and look closely you can see the Gunnison River at the bottom of the canyon.  It's a long way down there.  The river isn't what it used to be years ago.  Upstream damns have curbed the flow and tamed the river.  But I looked at this through my expensive binoculars and there is still plenty of water roaring down the canyon.

Looks like the govt actually surveyed the Canyon.  It's amazing what we get for our tax dollars.  Elevation:  7761'.  Glad I took the elevator.  lol

This is looking up the canyon.  WAY up the canyon.

Another pic of the camper with Pookie on the tail gate.  She's a good little watchdog.  Nobody stole our tail gate the whole trip.  She jumped off the tail gate on the first day.  She decided that she didn't want to do that again.  And she didn't.

Half asleep enjoying the sun on her tongue.  lol  I see that my hat is there behind Pookie and not on my head that day.  Must have been one of my better hair days.

I'm not much into birds but this one hung around my camp area while I was there.  I wouldn't normally take a pic of a bird or post it anywhere but this bird is different.  The darn thing is almost the size of a bowling ball.  At first I thought it was a wild turkey but it wasn't.  I have no idea what it was but it was big.  It gave me nightmares of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".

Day 4 Friday 18 Sept 2015


Well, I've been traveling a few days now and I've learned that everything else likes to travel too.  It seems that all of America loves to cross the road.  I've discovered that deer love to cross the road.

Not to be outdone by some simple deer, elk like to cross the road too.  Look at the rack on this one.  I've seen a lot of blondes in my life but none with a rack like this.  Sorry, I digress.

Even farmers like to cross the road.  (Does no one ever stay home anymore?)  Why would a farmer cross the road?  Is it not green on his side of the fence too?

Maybe the farmer crossed the road to look for his cow that also crossed the road.  I tell ya, this little community is just a beehive of activity.  Rush hour must be a sight to see!  (Melba, is this your cow that keeps getting out?  Tell that bad girl to quit crossing the road.)

Heck, around here even the rocks cross the road.  I can't stand it anymore.  I'm leaving this community for someplace, ANY place, where nothing crosses the road.  Go home rocks.  You're not wanted on this side of the road.

Day 5 Saturday 18 Sept 2015

I stayed in a pretty nice rv park Friday night.  $43.  Pretty steep price but Silverton is a very small hamlet and there's not a lot of choice of places to stay.  The bathrooms and shower facilities here are very nice.  Best I've seen yet.  Went in to town on Saturday morning and had breakfast at the Brown Bear.  Very good food.  I got my order to go so that Pookie wouldn't be in the cold truck while I ate.  So I brought it back to camp and ate it so that she could be warm and have some breakfast too.  We had the daily special:  grilled pork chop, 2 eggs, hash browns, and toast.  Yum.  

I'll be leaving Silverton this morning and heading to Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  I'm hoping that I like it there so that I can camp there for several days.  Then I can get up and make my own breakfast.  I'll be leaving here by 11am.

Vicki wanted to know if the aspens were turning yet.  YES!  Here are some on the mountain across from the rv park where I stayed Friday night.  They are very pretty.

Here is a foto of the mountain behind me.  The aspens are golden yellow.  I'm literally surrounded by mountains here in Silverton.

This is Silverton downtown.  It's very quaint and really cool.  The whole town is about 5 or 6 blocks long and 2 blocks deep on either side of Main St.  Not much bigger than a postage stamp.

Isn't this a cool old building?  Yes, Dee.  It's a cool old building.

You want gold leaves and County Courthouses in one shot?  I knew you did so I took this shot for all my little peeps.  Gotta keep the fan club happy.

Aspens for sale.  Dime a dozen.  They're cheap right now because there are so many of them around.  And they are beautiful.  They just glimmer like diamonds when the sun hits them.

Rock, rock, everywhere, and not a stone to throw.  That's because they're all globbed together to make this mountain.  This is on the road between Silverton and Ouray.  Gorgeous drive.

You like road construction?  We got that too.  Traffic down to one lane.  Only had 2 to start with so it's kind of narrow.  Be patient.  Don't try to pass.  It's a long way to the bottom.  In this picture I'm waiting my turn.  I'm good like that.

Ouray, Colorado.  Beautiful little city in the mountains.  Bigger than I remember from when I was there 16 years ago.  What?  Things change?  No!  Another quaint place designed to get your money.  THAT never changes.

Ok.  Enough of the mountain pics for awhile.  Time for a little game.  What is hiding in this picture?  Hint:  it's a critter of some kind.  No, children.....it's not a sasquatch.  Another hint: this is in the campground at Black Canyon of The Gunnison.  (I know, I know.  That wasn't a good hint at all, was it?)

Ok.  You've waited so long to find out the answer and you've been so good! Here's the answer:  It's a female mule deer that lives in the camp area where I'm camping.  Actually there are 3 of them.  This mama has 2 babies.  I only saw the third one on one occasion.