July 31, 2013

West Texas irrigated farms, hundreds of wind turbines around Fluanna, Snyder, Roscoe area. The city of Sweetwater uses a wind turbine blade for their welcome sign.  Ranches, cattle, and many goats - the "Meat Goat Capital of America", occasional deer and bison.

We stop in Austin to visit with Matt and have a pleasant Greek lunch near his house.  Good catch-up, and then we head for home - another 3 hours.

 Arrive home 6:12 PM, having completed 13,772 miles.   Our neighbors, the Herritages, have taken great care of the house and yard, so it is a welcome sight.

July 30, 2013 Colorado - homeward bound

Tuesday, July 30

Started off at 58 degrees, following the Arkansas River today.

  After some canyons, the landscape began to open up into many large ranches.  Near Westcliffe there are a few Amish homes and signs for horse and buggies.   We’ve seen deer and antelope and then come across a large herd of bison.  Part of Wolf Creek Ranch, but this must be how this area once looked.

Some large and neat ranches, some hardscrabble and in disrepair.  Lots of dry creek beds.

At 11 AM, we enter New Mexico along the old Sante Fe Trail. 

There are a few mountains  here and there, and we stop at Capulin Volcano National Monument, which we’ve passed by several times in the past.  This extinct volcano still shows the cinder cone and lots of lava rocks.  We hike the trail to the rim.

As we continue, the land becomes very flat.  Dozens of antelope.

At 2:20 we hit the Texas border at Texline.   Back to sagebrush, antelope, jack-up rigs, wind turbines.   We decide to take a bit different route, so head south to Lubbock where we stay at an RV Park on Loop 289.  Decent, clean and thankfully we can use the AC because it is very hot, even at 10:00 PM.

Call Matt and plan to meet him for a late lunch tomorrow. 6 ½ hours away.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Today we headed into Salt Lake City and went first to the Museum of Church History of Later Day Saints.   Had read an article recommending it, and it was very well done, tracing Joseph Smith and Brigham Young’s journey, persecution, revelations, etc. and the founding of Salt Lake City.  Some was religious, but much was history of the times. Wanted to learn a little about Mormons and this did the trick without any pressure.

They had an exhibit on 100 years of Scouting, including a dozen or more Norman Rockwell originals, which was very nice.

Next we walked around Temple Square which is a huge complex of LDS buildings, including the Tabernacle, where we listened to a short organ recital – incredible acoustics!   Went into a few other buildings, including the Assembly Hall and a home that belonged to Brigham Young.  Beautiful flowers everywhere, and smiling guides/greeters, many who were foreign.

 Had lunch at their cafeteria near Lion’s House – Pork Pot Pie, with mashed potatoes, zucchini and a huge roll.  Greg had a sandwich/salad.

Downtown was very clean and we walked through City Creek, which had many fountains, including these umbrella ones we thought were great.

Nice shopping areas, civic center, free trolleys.

We wanted to see the Great Salt Lake, so we headed out to Antelope Island which is in the lake.  Saw many shore birds and some of the 5-600 bison that live on this 15 mile long Island.  It is mostly sagebrush and grasses, very arid. 

There is a ranch near the southern end which you could tour.  Pretty horses!

The Lake itself is huge, but we got the impression it is not used a lot.  Brine shrimp, brine flies and a few types of algae are all that can live in it.  It is 5x saltier than the ocean and the only people we saw swimming were probably tourists doing it for the novelty.  We passed.

We continued south and stayed at another Walmart in Orem, near Provo, home  of Brigham Young University .  

Sunday, July 28^th

Decided to make some miles today so we headed south and east, toward Arches National Park.  Route 70, leading to the Park, goes through some spectacular scenery, much of it part of the San Rafael Swell.

early morning clouds

Arrived in Arches around 1:00, had some lunch and went to many of the overlooks and trails. 

Balancing Rock

Window

Delicate Arch

We especially liked Windows, and Delicate Arch.  The scenery is amazing and so huge and splendid that it can’t be captured in a photo.

Decided, after talking with a ranger, to take Route 128 when

we exited and this was a beautiful road of canyons along the Colorado River.

 We stopped at a BLM Campground called Dewey Bridge and were the only ones there (6-7 sites).  After sitting outside for a bit, we were treated to quite a show of lightning and had to batten down the hatches due to heavy rain. 

Monday, July 29, 2013

Woke early and the sun was just beginning to light the canyons around us.  Beautiful lighting.

We rejoined Hwy 70 and after an hour or so, were welcomed to Colorful Colorado!

Stopped for some doughnuts at a shop that had been in business since 1954, and then at the Visitor’s Center in Fruita.   Decided to head south instead of going through Denver, and made our first stop at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

 

Some great scenery here, carved by the Gunnison River.  Interesting visitor’s center film and then some good viewpoints and short trails.  

Saw some fallen rocks on the road and overheard the ranger talking about how he had to wait for a bull dozer to remove rocks after a storm last week.

Stopped in the town of Gunnison and found their library so we can catch up a bit on the blog.  Libraries have been great on this trip, from the tiny one in Tok, Alaska where you were asked to remove your shoes, to the beautiful one in Lewiston, Idaho.  Most all had a busy computer section and friendly librarians.

We finished listening to Dick Frances’ “Dead Heat” and continued through the Rockies to Salida and their popular Walmart (15 trucks and RV’s.)  Made tacos for dinner and then had to close things up again as extremely strong winds threatened to take off the roof vent  and brought more  rain.