Of course, the night before we’re scheduled to head out on
an adventure – neither one of us sleeps well.
Up early and the little “burro” was loaded. Lights and timers checked, water turned off, house and garage
locked – let’s go! It’s been a bunch of
years since we’ve been out west but the route was the same – US24 to Ft Wayne
and beyond. When my sons were small we
used to travel the same route each summer when they got to spend time on my
sister & brother in law’s farm in western Indiana. US24 went straight thru Ft Wayne and the
boys delighted in watching the traffic lights change from red to green in front
of us ALL the way thru town. Then the expressways came on the scene and we
circled the town via Rt469 around the south end of town and then a shortcut
back to 24. Now Rt 24 has been switched
to around the north end and it threw me for a loop but we regained our bearings
and on we went! US 70 took us from
Indiana to Central Illinois with a night in Effingham.
With the sunrise at our backs we continued on and slid into
the backed up “go to work” traffic in East St Louis! We were
catapulted over a bridge and had to fight our way thru
one-way streets to find a parking spot near the National Park that sits on the
edge of the river. The Gateway Arch is the same but now has an awesome museum
and new entrance nestled below the towering shiny metal arch. It’s still dizzying to stand at the base and
attempt to look up to the top! We
waited our turn and then obediently climbed into the “dryer tub” drum and held
our breath as it slowly churned its way to the top,
along with the captive
folks in the 7 other freshly painted “canisters”. At 630 feet high, the narrow, curved viewing area was noisy with
the excited chatter of visitors jockeying to get a good view of the Mississippi
River on the east side or the old courthouse and downtown on the west
side. In the early morning sunlight,
the arch cast a long dark shadow over the Park’s campus and buildings below! On our way back to the “dryer tub” to return
to terra firma, I was overheard making a comment about how dark and steep the
steps down to the transfer tub was, so we were given #3 to wait for instead of
one farther down! Down and out into the
humid and hot downtown weather we quickly found our way back to the patiently
waiting Jeep and headed west across Missouri and entered into Kansas.
When we traveled on the big red motorcycle (back in our much
younger days) we always said: It took
us 4 days to cross Kansas - one afternoon! This time we stopped in Topeka for
the night!
Abilene was next on our list
of places to stop to explore. The town
was founded in 1857 and was named after a Bible verse: Luke 3:1, which
described Abilene - a region in Galilee as the City of the Plains. Wild Bill Hickok with the Chisholm Trail
came next! Now the town’s claim to fame
is “the town that raised a president” as this is where Dwight D Eisenhower grew
up. We found his childhood home and his
Presidential Library but again, we were too early so we walked the grounds and
then continued our westward route.
In Oakley Kansas we found the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center
and it’s twice life size bronze sculpture of Buffalo Bill Cody on his
horse,
Chisholm - pursuing a buffalo! 25 miles
south of Oakley we bravely followed the seemingly endless, excessively dusty,
gravel road to find Monument Rocks, which were out in the middle of NO
WHERE! Also called the Chalk Pyramids,
these 50 ft majestic chalk spires are the eroded remains from sedimentary
deposits from melting glaciers and seaway – 80 million years ago!
Eastern Kansas is agricultural. Western Kansas
is – WESTERN – dry and tan – as is eastern Colorado. Limon was as far as we dared travel that day since Denver was the
next Mega Town that we would need to endure.
Our bodies were still on Ohio time so we were up at 5am Colorado time –
7am Ohio time. On the road just as the
sun was climbing out of its slumber in the eastern sky – we ended up in “go to
work” traffic crawling thru the Mile High City! On the far side of Denver, the terrain changed from flat and
brownish gray to colorful rock formations and mesas standing high above the
winding expressway below. Imagine
taking a beach bucket and standing a brick inside it. Then fill it with damp sand and turn the bucket over – letting
the drying sand gently fall down the sides of the brick. As we passed one unique formation, yet
another would appear on the horizon.
The winding, ever climbing Rt70 followed the valleys and narrow passes
thru the Rockies and let us stop at 12000 ft and the ski village of Vail. Even in 80 plus degree weather the upscale
resort area was busy with tourists strolling in and out of small boutiques and
up and down the brick walkways. Our
strolling was done and it was time to move on!
One more stop was at a scenic
turnout, complete with a serene little
reflection lake and bright yellow Aspens glowing on the mountainside behind
it. UTAH was our destination - Green
River the town.
